Author's Note:
It doesn't seem that anybody was very interested in this fic, but for those that are, here is the conclusion.Disclaimer:
I don't own the characters I merely abuse them.Distribution:
Ask first, I'll more than likely say yes.Begging:
Is it that hard to let me know what you thought?~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Bounce
Conclusion
~Sheriff's Department~
Elizabeth Webber stopped on the steps of the Police Station and took a deep breath. She'd only been inside the station for about 6 hours, yet she would swear air had never smelled so sweet. Taking another breath she couldn't help but gasp as the fish smell from the nearby cannery drifted in. Okay so maybe the air didn't smell so sweet, but the air was definitely fresher than the drunk tank.
"Thanks again Alexis," Elizabeth called to the disappearing brunette. Alexis waved and fell back in her seat when the cab she was in took off with a lurch.
Tugging absently at the too short T-shirt that Jason had somehow unearthed for her, she gradually became aware of the gaze of her companion on the steps. Turning slowly, her eyes found him easily enough. Jason was leaning against the old granite railing that bordered the steps she was standing on. Even in the dimly lit entryway she could see the amusement in his light eyes.
"Don't say it," she ordered turning away before she gave into temptation and smiled herself.
"Say what?" Jason asked.
"Anything," tugging on the shirt again, she shook her head at the giant shining big red heart that covered the pink shirt. Where had Jason found this shirt? She eyed his bike that was parked across the street a little warily, he didn't travel around with hot pink, hearted shirts did he? Well he did do laundry, she reminded herself with a smirk, maybe he had a clothes fetish.
"What's so funny?"
Elizabeth sobered instantly. "Nothing, I'm just glad to be outside."
Jason moved closer. "So you're not mad that I stayed around?"
Brushing some of the dirt off the top step Elizabeth settled down on it. She had decided she would rather have this discussion here rather then back at her studio, which was no doubt where he was going to drop her off and hit the door in a haste to get rid of her. "To be perfectly honest, I knew the moment you saw me, that you wouldn't be leaving until I did," she shot him a look through her lowered lashes when he settled in beside her on the step. "No matter how much I begged, pleaded, ordered, you to leave, I knew you wouldn't."
"Why were you so adamant about wanting me gone?"
"I don't know," she couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Could it be the solicitation charge I was facing?"
"But you didn't do that, I knew that before you even told me," Jason reminded her.
"It's still embarrassing. This whole night has got to be one of the most humiliating nights of my life," she couldn't help but frown in remembering another humiliating night. Her aborted wedding to Lucky … at least tonight wasn't as public. So far only Alexis and Jason knew what had happened. Alexis was bound by confidentiality to not say anything, and she knew without saying a word that Jason would never tell anyone what had happened.
The silence grew around them, the loudest noise coming from the crickets in the nearby bushes. It was a comfortable silence. After the loudness of the Sheriff's Department, the quietness was a welcome change of pace, and neither one seemed eager to break it. Without being aware of it Elizabeth shifted a little closer to him, until her left side was pressed against him.
Jason was very aware of it, but was careful not to react. He kept his focus firmly on the cannery across the street, even while Elizabeth settled herself more comfortably against him. She stretched her legs out, and the movement caught his attention. He had never realized how long her legs really were. She was so small, it seemed strange to him, but he wasn't complaining.
"I suppose you want to know what happened?" Elizabeth broke the silence after another couple of minutes.
"Only if you want to tell me."
"Okay," Elizabeth responded and began to count in her head.
Jason waited for her to speak, but she was silent. Unconsciously drumming his fingers on his knee he continued to wait. He wasn't the type to question people, if Elizabeth didn't want to tell him what happened, he didn't really have a right to demand to know what had happened. He'd just have to hope she would change her mind, or forget about it entirely. The drumming on his knee grew faster.
"So what happened?" Jason blurted out suddenly.
Elizabeth smothered a smile 236. He'd held on longer then she'd thought he would. "It was just your typical date from hell."
"Elizabeth."
She'd already gone through the story once with Alexis, so telling it again should be no problem. Except it was a problem. Jason was not Alexis, and although Alexis had been amused, she had also been professional. Jason on the other hand liked to tease her, she hated to give him this sort of ammunition.
"You don't have to tell me."
The unexpected out was very tempting, but she decided to go ahead. "It started simply enough, Lee, one of the waitresses at Kelly's, set me up with Bounce. He seemed nice and we hit it off to an extent. In fact everything was going fine at dinner until I remembered the deal I made with Emily. After that, things went downhill fast."
Having a feeling that this was going to be yet another rambling story, Jason barely resisted the impulse to groan. Unsure of what was going to come, but willing to give it a try, he went ahead. "What deal with Emily?"
"A few years ago we made a pact. If we went out with a new guy, we weren't really sure of we would do the switch."
Sometimes he hated to be right. "What switch?"
"You know switch your drink with his, just in case he spiked it," Elizabeth explained. "I really didn't suspect anything, I just remembered the deal Em and I made, so I switched coffee's with him when he wasn't looking. It's really a smart thing to do if you think about it. You never really know what kind of guy your with at times, especially when it comes to a blind date," sighing heavily she went on with her story. "And I have no desire of being drugged again. One night of lost memories is enough for me so…"
"Wait a minute. You were drugged." Jason interrupted sharply.
"You mean you didn't know?" Surprised she met his eyes, seeing the cold expression of anger on his face she realized she had unwittingly let out a can of worms. "No biggie, moving on…"
"Backing up," Jason countered. "When were you drugged? Who did it? Why? And did anything happen?"
For a minute Elizabeth could only stare at him in shock. "J-jason," she finally sputtered out.
"Answer me."
"You just asked me more questions in the last minute then you did the entire first four months we knew each other." She shook her head in surprise. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Don't change the subject and answer the questions."
Normally she would chafe under such an order. Normally Jason wouldn't give her an order, but she decided to let both slide. He'd done a lot for her already tonight, so she'd chalk his behavior up to tiredness, at least for now.
"Elizabeth?"
"It was during that whole mess with the dead cop. I went to a rave, I drank something, and it was spiked," seeing his expression she hurried on. "I knew it was more then likely spiked when I drank, yet I did it anyway. We needed information, and I knew I wasn't alone."
Jason rubbed a hand over his eyes, then down his cheek, trying to hold back his anger. The thought of what could have happened to her in her misguided quest to help Emily, was enough to make him snap. But since this had happened almost three years ago, he really couldn't get mad.
"Nothing happened to me. Lucky got me away from Zander, and apparently we talked. I don't know, I've never remembered anything that happened that night after a certain point."
"Zander drugged you."
Shit. She'd really opened a can of worms now. The only plus side as she saw it was the fact that Emily was no longer dating Zander. "Yes."
"Why the hell didn't anybody tell me that?" Jason demanded.
"Probably because Emily didn't want you to kill her boyfriend," she shot back. "Or maybe because of the way you're reacting now. This was years ago Jason."
"Why did he drug you?"
"Because…" she hesitated. "Because," frowning she stopped again. "You know I don't think I know why."
"Elizabeth…"
"Really Jason," Elizabeth cut off his complaint. "I've had maybe three one-on-one conversations with the guy since I met him. All the other times there were other people around. He's never mentioned it, and neither have I," crossing her arms over the glossy heart on her chest she considered that. "You know I'm going to have to ask him why he drugged me sometime. It's not like something I'll ever forget, unlike the selective memory of the rest of that night. In fact it's kind of creepy if you think about it."
Jason couldn't help it, he had to laugh. Elizabeth had managed to confuse him, and diffuse his anger yet again. No other person he'd ever met had been able to do both those things at the same time. After a moment of surprise, Elizabeth's laughter joined his.
"So you switched coffee's with the guy," Jason said after another minute. "What happened then?"
"Nothing at first, I almost forgot about it, until he started to pass out, even though he was driving the car at the time. He'd only had one beer with dinner, so I knew he wasn't drunk, but there he was almost nodding off at the wheel. I got him to pull over in front of this dive over on Front Street. I thought he was sick, then I saw his eyes, he was drugged. My coffee was spiked, the little pervert," she muttered under her breath.
Bounce. He was going to have to get the name of this Bounce and they were going to have to have a chat.
"I got angry," Elizabeth went on oblivious to the clenched fists of her companion. "I slapped him and tried to get out the car. He tried to stop me, and that was kind of pathetic, he was so clumsy, and I was so angry. I opened the door, right when he managed to grab my blouse. The next thing I knew I'm standing on the street, in my bra, he's got my shirt in his hand, and he's sprawled half in and half out of the car."
A nice long talk with Bounce.
"Well I kind of lost it and slammed the door on him," Elizabeth admitted reluctantly, trying to hide the smirk at the memory of his yelp when the door had hit him. "I ignored him and the only place open was that dive Oasis. I didn't even think twice, I just walked inside looking for a phone."
"Isn't the Oasis a strip bar?" Jason asked.
"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you know that Jason," Elizabeth responded studying him closely. "But you're right it is a strip club. I didn't know it then, but the blonde with the fake extensions, and fake boobs shimmying on a pole, was a huge tip off."
Jason smiled wryly. "I could see that."
"You better not," Elizabeth muttered.
"What?"
"Uh…" she colored slightly. "Where was I?"
"Strip club," Jason answered with a smirk. He didn't think she would repeat that. It didn't matter because he'd heard it anyway.
"I told you once that you didn't want to see me when I'm angry, well tonight would have been a good illustration of that. I didn't even notice the other people, I just made a beeline for the phone in the back. My mission was to call Lee and rip her head off, but Bounce had other ideas. He comes stumbling in after me, yelling that I was supposed to sleep with him anyway so what was the problem?" Elizabeth was starting to get angry all over again. "I swear I almost hit him, even though I said I would never fight without you there."
"We started to attract a lot of attention, then the next thing I knew the blonde on stage screamed and ran off the stage, knocking me into Bounce. Then the cops were there, yelling that this was a raid." She shook her head it was still confusing to her. Everything seemed to happen all at once. "Bounce had a hold of me, and I jerked free and swung at him, he staggered or passed out again, and I ended up hitting the Deputy behind him. He had to have been off balanced Jason. It's the only explanation."
Rubbing at his temples, he went ahead and asked the question. "Explanation for what?"
"Why the Deputy fell backwards and crashed into the jukebox breaking the window," she explained hesitantly. "I mean look at my knuckles," she shoved her hand at him until he took it in his. "After our little training session, my knuckles were red for days, but they're not red. And I haven't been practicing, it's not like I'm used to punching someone, I've gotten some slapping practice in recently but not punching."
Jason frowned down at the small hand he held in his. She was right, the hand was pale and soft, the skin unbroken, unmarred … perfect. "Weren't you arrested for solicitation not assault?"
"Exactly," she grinned at him. "I think the Deputy was embarrassed that I cold-cocked him. So, in order to save face I was arrested for solicitation, along with the other strippers. Another reason I think that's what really happened is the fact the rest of the strippers were released within an hour or two, all charges dropped, yet I was still sitting there, when you came in," pausing she focused on him again. "Why were you at the Sheriff's station anyway? Normally it's the PCPD that annoy you not the Sheriff."
"I needed some information," Jason explained shortly.
Nodding Elizabeth immediately let it drop. "Alexis agreed with me, I don't know what she threatened the Sheriff with, but here I am," she went to gesture and only then realized that Jason still held her hand, "free and clear," she went on but left her hand where it was.
"What is Bounce's name?" Jason asked.
"I forgot," Aware of Jason's intentions to her lamentable date Elizabeth reluctantly let go of his hand, got to her feet and stretched widely. "I'm kind of hungry are you?" she shifted mid-stretch to look at him.
Jason's focus fell on her toned, and exposed stomach, then moved up slightly at the now taut heart spread across her chest, before moving up to her face, and her mouth that was opened wide in a yawn. Acting on instinct he surged to his feet, catching her by surprise, both by the swiftness of his move and his nearness. She instinctively stepped back, and his hand snaked around her waist pulling her to his chest, so she didn't fall down the stairs.
"Thanks," she said a little breathlessly. "I mean for everything tonight. I was sitting in that station trying to figure out who I could call for help. And even though I wasn't going to do it, you were the first person I thought of."
"You can call me no matter what Elizabeth, I hope you know that," Jason lowered his voice and with his free hand he brushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "You can call me for any reason and I'll be there for you," he smiled slightly. "I might be a little late at times, but I'll be there if I can."
"I think I'm beginning to realize that," Elizabeth whispered, "and it's not as scary as I once thought." Coming to her toes she angled her head up, closer to him, her mouth looking for his.
Jason obligingly brought his head down and met her mouth. It felt like forever since he had kissed her, in reality it had only been days. But even days were too long. Their lips met and they poured into each other. The heat from his body grew, almost burning her, but she didn't care, she only opened her mouth under his and rode the pleasure. This was different than their other kisses. Those had been born out of desperation. Desperation that had quickly turned into desire. This kiss was pure and potent, full of possibilities like any first kiss should be.
"Still plying your trade eh Princess?"
Too tired to be angry Elizabeth merely broke the kiss and buried her head in Jason's chest.
"She's not a hooker," Jason snapped shooting a glare at the female Deputy.
"Whatever she is, get her off the steps," the Deputy shot back. "Now."
"Jason she's not worth it," Elizabeth slipped free and took his hand. With a slight tug she got him in motion and led the way to his bike. "You never answered me, are you hungry?"
"I could eat," Jason held out his helmet to her.
"Finally," she grinned and pulled it on her head quickly, before he could change his mind. "Do you realize this is the first time I've ridden on this bike since you left last year?"
"And yet you managed to live this long." Jason climbed on the bike before offering her a hand to help her. It was a little slower then usual, because of the tightness and shortness of the miniskirt she was wearing. There were those legs again.
"It wasn't easy," Elizabeth replied with a grin.
Starting the engine he waited for her to settle before shifting slightly so he could look at her. "So are you all done with Bounce's?"
"I don't think I need another one," Elizabeth slipped her arms around his waist. "I think I'm ready for the next step."
Jason's grin was quick and lethal. "Good." Turning around he put the bike in motion.
~Kelly's~
"So how did the date go last night?" Lee asked Elizabeth during the first break in the breakfast rush.
Elizabeth looked towards the door when she heard the bell, and smiled widely when Jason walked through the doors. His eyes sought her out, and her smile grew when he smiled at her before moving to a table in her section.
"Elizabeth did the Bounce date work like you hoped it would?" Lee pressed.
Picking up a coffeepot she headed for his table. "It worked perfectly."
