Chapter 3

When Epiphany checked in at ten minutes to two on Jason Morgan, she saw he looked exhausted, but did nothing more than make a note in his chart. At one point, she might have gone the extra mile for the handsome young man in the bed, but not now. It was almost two years since her son's death. A death this man and his pal Spinelli had promised to look into.

Instead her questions had been tossed aside, just like the love she had seen in his eyes for her now emotional ruined nurse. Elizabeth Webber was turning herself inside and out, trying to achieve some goal, a goal she knew was connected to the man in this bed.

Walking to the door, she looked around then couldn't help thinking that when any of his so called friends were patients here, Jason would be there, night and day doing his all to help him, yet when he was the one lying in the bed, none were seen unless he was awake to be complained to.

"But then, you did the same to Elizabeth. You couldn't be bothered when she was recovering from the Toxic ball incident, an incident that was the result of your war with the Zacharas. Funny, how when Sam was a patient you fought to be with her. You, Mr. Morgan were a waste of poor Elizabeth's time and love. You fought for the whore and tossed away the angel."

Jason had been pretending to sleep since she had entered. He had seen through his eyelashes her checking on him. Hearing her comment, he knew she was right. He had pushed away the angel and took up with the whore. But that was what he deserved. Elizabeth deserved better than him, he had been convinced of that the day he had heard her shouting at him to get her baby back.

After all it was his fault their son was stolen away for the second time in his young life. Thinking back on what he had to assume was a nightmare, Jason felt sick at the proof that he had only been the latest in a long list of people who had let Elizabeth down.

Rubbing the scar from his latest bullet wound, Jason decided he would be the last. It was too late for him to leave this world, so he would just make the break complete. Make sure that Elizabeth found her happiness, he would take care of Spencer and Cassidine let her have a clean break. Maybe have Diane encourage her to leave town, find a new life elsewhere.

Feeling his heart ache at the idea of not seeing her or their son, he reminded himself that he wasn't a selfish bastard, that the best thing he could do is let his family be free, for Elizabeth the best thing was to raise the boys without him.

"Let them be? Raise them without you? When were you EVER a father to them?" said the jolly looking man standing at the foot of the bed.

"I thought this was just a dream?" he asked looking at the man in front of him. "Why are you in my dreams, anyhow? I killed you for god's sake."

The dark haired man said "Because we are opposites of the same coin. You just don't see it."

"You and I have nothing in common, you are a rapist, you hurt Elizabeth in the worst way there is for a man to hurt her. Don't you dare compare me to you." insisted Jason as he glared at the ghost in front of him.

"Worse way there is for a man to hurt a woman? Really?" asked the man in front of him. "Strangely enough, I disagree, but then I never had a very good moral compass, kind of like those you have in your life. Now why don't we see what your friends, family and enemies were doing today, shall we?"

"Go away, I wouldn't go anyplace with you." he said only for the man wearing the orange uniform to grin.

"Fine, that just allows me to spend my one night on earth, drooling over my favorite obsession, a beautiful mother of two with no man in her life."

"Fuck you." said Jason coldly. Then seeing him start to disappear, Jason said "Okay, I will go with you, just stay away from Elizabeth."

Leering the man said "Okay, now who amongst your friends shall we start with?"

Seeing Jason glare, he said "Spinelli it is, shall we start with where he spent this morning."

Seeing Spinelli and Sam looking at something, Jason saw it was a necklace. "Do you think Maxie will like it?"

"She would be a fool not to." said Sam wishing he would just shut up for a minute. She had something to ask him before Jason returned and while she was sure the geek would agree, it had to be done discreetly.

Finding the time, she showed him the ring and said "What do you think? Does it remind you of Jason?"

"You are getting Stone Cold a ring?" he asked not sure that was an appropriate present.

"No, this is the ring I want you to arrange for him to send to me. I am sure he is going to propose soon and I refuse to wear a ring that has been marred by his one night stand with Elizabeth Webber."

"Okay." he said then left to see Maxie. Seeing his love outside Kelly's, Spinelli couldn't help recalling her sleeping with Franco and wished he could forget the images in his head as easily as Stone Cold had om regards to Sam...

Jason flinched. He hadn't forgotten them. They were his daily penance. His punishment for ever thinking that he had any right to bring the danger of his word to his family. When Spinelli told Maxie about the ring, he never mentioned anything about Sam wanting the ring, just that he was ordering it.

So when Maxie rather viciously made a point of telling Lulu who was with Elizabeth, Jason saw her flinch and then after the two blonds returned to work, she rushed into the ladies room and vomited until there was nothing left and she was dry heaving.

Seeing her tears, Jason wanted to say well you are marrying Lucky but he knew it was different. He always had known, but he had no intention of marrying Sam so he didn't. He just walked away with his guide and soon saw Carly talking to her mother complaining about Bobbie baby sitting Jake and Cameron.

When Bobbie took offense, Carly in a rather snotty tone made a comment she didn't realize her mother heard said "Two bastards by two different fathers, neither of which wanted her. When is she going to realize she is nothing and make our lives easier and either kill herself or die"

Bobbie waited until Carly left, then sat down stunned. Then when Jake came into the room and handed her a toy motorcycle, she took a good look at that little boy and said "Oh my god, Jason is your daddy."

"Daddy?" asked Jake. Then with a smile he rushed off to join the other boys playing in the den. Bobbie sat there, then realized Lucky knew and she knew enough of her nephew to realize EXACTLY what was going on. "Oh, poor, poor Elizabeth. What have you gotten yourself into?"

Thinking on Luke's attitude and Nik's she understood exactly what was going on, and found herself disappointed yet again in another member of her family even as she knew her daughter had more than likely played a part in destroying what ever fragile peace Jason and Elizabeth had made.

Pulling out her phone list, Bobbie debated for a few minutes, then seeing Michael entering to pick up Morgan and being a little snot to the two Webber boys, she knew. She knew what she had to do before Elizabeth was once again left with nothing.

Making her call, she gritted her teeth and then finally snapped at the person on the other end. Then calling Laura, she said "We need to have a talk."

Jason listened to what she knew and suspected and realized that Bobbie wasn't trying to protect her family, at least not her blood family but the woman he should have been protecting if she was right about this. And thinking on it, he knew she was, it was eating his gut, slowly and steadily as he tried to find a good way of ending this without anyone he cared about going to jail.

"Time to go." said the ghost and they were soon at the Jacks residence where Carly was talking to her little girl telling her how her Uncle Jason would be coming over soon, that he doesn't have any family. "There is no one that loves your Uncle more than me and soon you. He is going to be the perfect Uncle just like he is to Morgan and Molly and Kristina. He was your big brother's first daddy, he is going to be such a good daddy some day."

"Funny, I thought you were a father." said the ghost as they left and went to Alexis' house. Seeing Alexis with her two youngest daughters, Jason looked around trying to figure out why Sam wasn't there.

When Kristina walked off to the side of the room, she was on the phone and she suddenly passed out. Alexis screamed to the man in her kitchen and Mac came rushing out to help her. Calling an ambulance when the young girl didn't wake up, he found a pulse but her heart was pounding rapidly.

When the medics arrived, they were going through the usual questions when they asked "Does she use birth control?"

"no, of course not." snapped Alexis.

"Madam, could she have taken aspirin, or any of these other items." he asked. When Alexis froze, Mac went looking for the younger girls purse and handed it to the men.

They dumped it and said "Ma'am. Your daughter is taking birth control."

"No she isn't. She would need me to sign for it and I assure you I didn't." she said hotly.

Handing her the bottle, they saw Alexis sway then look at her little girl then Molly who was standing there wide eyes. "Molly, do you know anything about this?" asked Mac quietly. He had experience with daughters and he knew that they frequently told each other things they would never dream of telling their parents.

"Sam took her to get them. She said if Kristina was going to be losing her virginity to Kiefer she should use protection." said Molly.

Alexis turned to the medics who were rushing her to the hospital "What is wrong with my daughter?"

"There is a bad batch of pills, the company recalled them but we have had a few patients as a result, did you daughter have an underlying medical condition." he asked.

Alexis brokenly told him about her illness when she was young then they called the clinic on the prescription. Getting the doctor as they arrived at GH, Alexis was furiously threatening to sue the company that had made the defective product after her daughter collapsed.

"Ma'am, here is your daughter's chart. There is nothing on there about her having a history like this. Unfortunately, this affects the birth control. We are going to have to give her an antibiotic, but that is all we can do. I would suggest you discuss this with the woman who came to see me with your daughter. She is who you should be angry with. There is a reason we request a parent and it isn't because we are trying to stop them from getting birth control. Someone was sloppy, very sloppy."

"Why are we here?" asked Jason.

"I just wanted to show you this, did you know that the same woman that encouraged that girl to take birth control told your sister that the best thing to do to get over a rape was to get back in the saddle so to speak? Yup, she told your sister to sleep with her husband so she didn't lose him to another woman. And you think I am sick." he said laughing as they disappeared.

Ending up at the Spencers, Jason saw Elizabeth once again. Only this time, she looked bad. Like she was barely holding it together. Wanting to help, but knowing he had his own part in this, Jason could only watch as she slowly unraveled.

When Nik followed her into the kitchen, Jason did the same. Seeing them kiss, Jason felt pain but then moved closer as he realized he saw the same look in her eyes as when she was modeling for Deception.

"You know they say a rape victim either becomes a saint or a whore. I think Lizzie is becoming both. Sleeping with two brother while being in love with neither of them,. Tsk tsk." said Christmas present as they moved to yet another house.

Seeing Sonny talking to Olivia, and promising to have Jason look into something for her, Jason wanted to scream take care of it yourself. But he had put himself back into this situation, he and his need to protect. When they moved yet again, Jason found himself watching as Sam was talking to Michael. Wondering about that odd pairing, he got quite an earful.

"So, I was wondering if you would help me?" she asked with a smile.

"Sure, what do you need?" he asked. "I can arrange for a few of my dad's men to take care of it for you. But what did Elizabeth Webber ever do to you?"

"She stole something that belonged to me." said Sam with a sadistic grin. "You too. You like being number one in your uncle's life, don't you?"

"Well, I am the closest thing he has to a son. Of course he takes care of things for me."

"I am shocked, I wouldn't have thought your mother could keep a secret this long. Jason has a child, a little boy. I will leave you to figure out who that is. Now here, this is the address, remember, just have it trashed."

"No problem." he said. Calling up the two men he had turned, Michael gave the order while Jason stood there trying to stop him, but no one could hear him. "Don't let him do this, why aren't you stopping this?"

"Because I can only show you what is going on, I can't prevent it." he said. "Now shall we?"

"No, I need to prevent this." he said only for the man to say "Your chance to prevent this was years ago, but he his destiny was set the day you walked away and let Sonny Corinthos become his father. Your mistake, wasn't in what you do, it was allowing two people without a moral compass to raise that kid. Your good friend, she thinks that power and money are the be all end all, same with his father. And yet you thought your brother the alcoholic was a danger to him."

Jason watched as Michael laughed after giving the order to trash Elizabeth's car. Then he watched him go home and tell Carly he had run into Sam after going to the movies with friends.

Jason was happy they left, his guilt was starting to eat him alive but that went from bad to worse when he saw Monica sitting all alone in the den with her photo albums. Hearing footsteps, they saw Alice telling Tracy and Luke goodnight as they came in. When Monica did nothing more than look at her family, Jason said "Why are we here?"

"To see this." he said as Monica came to the picture of Jason. Seeing her grab the liquor bottle, Jason cringed until she slammed it into the fireplace as tears flew down her cheeks. "She is falling apart, but you, you are too busy saving Sam and her family. Carly and her family so that you neglect the people who have truly been there for you, waiting, accepting, finally coming to realize they will never matter more than your fake family."

"A couple more things as my time is limited." he said then they were at the penthouse where Spinelli was telling Maxie about Christmas' past. "Where were you two years ago?"

"I was trailing Stone Cold. I saw him at the house of his progeny and knew that couldn't be a good thing, so I called him claiming an emergency. Then I created one when I heard he was going to meet Elizabeth for New Years." he said beaming. "Last year I made sure that Stone Cold was too busy to mourn losing his son."

"But, if," Maxie was remembering Georgie like she did at this time of year and couldn't help it. She had to say it. "Spinelli, if Jason and Sam were so meant to be, don't you think they would be together without all of that?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Spinelli, love can't be forced." she said softly. "I should know. I am sorry, I think I need to go home."

"But we haven't kissed under the mistletoe." he said. "I promised Sam we would be here when she returned with Stone Cold to celebrate their pending nuptials." he said only for Maxie to think on things then say "Have you ever looked in that box up in the closet next to Jason's guns. I did one day. I think you might need to take a good look."

When she had left, Spinelli thought about it, then decided that if his true love thought he should do it maybe, just maybe he should. Taking the box down, Spinelli sat and opened it. Dumping the various items, he saw some jewelry. A ruby ring he assumed belonged to Stone Cold's marriage to the godfather's sister, a star necklace he knew belonged to Sam. Beaming when he saw that, he moved on to the other times.

A few picture of Michael as a baby, one that said Baby girl McCall, a few of an elderly woman he saw had Lila written on the back. Some of his sister and a few of two men. Looking at the back, he was surprised to see they were of his master's estranged father and brother.

The once of Jake, looked worn from being handled, making Spinelli think that maybe he should be helping his master retain some connection to his son. Maybe when he married Sam, they could fight Elizabeth for custody.

Jason was sick as he heard the geeks thoughts. But when Spinelli was opening the last package, Jason was furious when he threw them down shocked. "Stone Cold, why would you have picture of her?"

When Spinelli went through them and kept making rude comments comparing Elizabeth to Sam, Jason finally got it. "You sick freak, you want Sam. That is why you have been pushing me to get back with her. And for your information, Elizabeth is ten times a more beautiful woman than your precious goddess."

When he saw the computer geek toss his photos into the fireplace, Jason was shouting no, this can't happen."

"He can't hear you, and we aren't done with fireplaces." said the man laughing as he whisked Jason and himself away.

When they arrived at the cottage, Jason watched as Elizabeth opened a box and saw the shattered pieces of red glass. "So much for not taking back, Jason. She called, you ran. Well I hope if she is what you want, you find happiness, because god knows, this time I can't forgive."

Jason heard the footsteps, then Elizabeth rushing to the door. She saw the men outside, trashing her minivan and called Lucky.

Heading to the door, Elizabeth stayed inside, knowing it was more important to protect her family than something that could be replaced. Then there was the sound of nothing as Lucky pulled up.

"Elizabeth? Are you okay?" he asked checking on her and the boys.

"We are fine, they just drove away. Look, could you stay the night."

"I am on duty, I can't." he said regretfully while Jason cursed him.

"Okay, I understand." said Elizabeth as she went back inside while Lucky promised to file a police report saying "At least it is only dents and paint damage."

Elizabeth picked up the broken glass, cutting her finger as she did. With a sad laugh, she said "No one, is every here for me. I just don't get it, when did I screw my life up?"

Hearing her phone ringing, she answered it then snapped "No, Nik. I will call Lucky and said I am fine. You might want to remember that tomorrow, well today is Christmas and you have a young son."

Slamming the phone down, Elizabeth saw the gush of blood and tried to call the Drakes. Getting no answer, she was about to try someone else when she decided to just tape it up. Finally reaching Bobbie's cell, she told Carly she needed to speak to her mother.

"My mother is too busy to deal with your latest mess, why don't you call Lucky?" she said hanging up and turning the phone off.

Elizabeth was desperate she had even tried to Quartermaine's but Luke had snapped at her to stop bothering them. Finally she called Jax' phone.

"What will it take for you to get the message, solve your own problems." snapped Carly into the phone she had taken into the bathroom.

"Carly I need help. I am bleeding badly and they can't get an ambulance out to me since there was a huge pileup on the interstate, Lucky was called to it while he was here, please?" she begged.

"Why don't you drive yourself to the hospital or maybe do the rest of us a favor and die." she said hanging up then feeling slightly guilty she tried only to get a busy signal. "She can't be that bad, if she has the ability to call for help."

Jason was frantic, Elizabeth was becoming paler by the minute as she rushed up the stairs she swayed while getting the boys up. As she bundled them, Jason felt sick and was shouting at the man to help her. "She is going to die, don't you get that."

"I didn't think you cared. After all you let your friends and family use her as a punching bag. Didn't you say she could handle it, raising the boys on her own. Wasn't that what you really meant when you made her feel like a whore when you paid her to disappear with your son?"

When Jason just kept begging, the man in the prison orange jump suit took them out of the house and to an icy road where a mini van was driving too fast down the road.

Moving closer, they could hear her saying she didn't have brakes, and see the fear in her eyes as she looked at her little boys in the backseat. "Oh god, what have I done? If I stayed home, at least you two would be safe."

Seeing Elizabeth trying desperately to stop her car as blood spurted from her wrists. Jason was screaming until he was hoarse as the car went over the cliff. "NOOOOO!"

"We have one more stop." said the grinning man as they arrived early morning at a private corner of Kelly's.

"Here, the rest of the money." said Michael. "Did you do as I asked?"

"We even gave you a bonus." said the man grinning at the kid. "The women called the cops, so we cut her brakes."

Jason could see Micheal's expression and knew. He knew that his life was over. "Here."

With that he pulled out the money his father had given him for a present. "You have no idea how good that was."

"What do you mean?" asked the thug.

"There is nothing more for you here, head out of town." with that Michael left the diner, then called his mother. "Mom, did I hear right, was there a fatal car accident involving Lucky's son?"

Carly was hoping no one traced the call to her, knowing that Jason was better off this way, she said "Yes, we need to visit them today."

"Oh, I will be there." he said as he got into his car and sat there laughing. "Well, Sam should be happy now. What Elizabeth stole from her is no longer in existence."

Jason stood there shocked, looking on as Michael called Sam. Seeing the man who killed his son laughing and bragging about it after all he had given up, lost because of a promise he had made to this child as an infant and all Jason could do was cry.

"A little too late don't you think?" said Tom. Then he said "What was it you said earlier, about you and I having nothing in common, that I hurt Elizabeth in the worst way there is for a man to hurt her. I can't help wondering, do you still think that, knowing her sons are dead, both of them. Because of the child you put before her, before them."

"You precious Michael just killed your son, maybe you should threaten to kill him, no not a good idea. You don't tend to keep that promise do you?" he asked while laughing. "His mother could have prevented this by just once in her life being kind, but no, not Carly. Now when there was chance of killing off her greatest rival for her affection. Maybe you should have told her not to worry. That there is no one, not even your own family that is more important than her and your precious Michael."

Jason found himself in an empty cold spot, the ghost of Christmas present gone. There was only silence as he looked at the grave in front of him. There was no name on it, just three freshly dug holes, one twice the size of the smaller ones.

Feeling a bitter cold, Jason looked up into the face of the ghost of Christmas future and begged "Please, please god no. No more."