Max's car sped into the parking lot at Jake's, screeching to a halt in front of Jason. He ran out of the car and over to where they were, Jason sitting with Elizabeth's head in his lap. He noticed Jason running his hands over her face, whispering to her. Though he couldn't hear everything, he caught a few words, like Italy and seeing the light. He crouched down to their level when he reached them.

"What happened?"

Jason looked up at him, his eyes glassy. "Some guys tried to take her, but she got away. Then they shot her. I didn't get a good look at them, but I did get the plate number as they drove away. We need to get her somewhere safe. She said she wants to go to the gatehouse. Emily has Cameron. I don't think that's a good idea though. These people that want her dead might be connected to Sonny somehow, and I don't think she should be near there."

Max helped Jason pick her up and walked them both to the car, opening the door. After Jason climbed in, Elizabeth securely in his arms, he ran around and slid into the driver's seat.

"Where to then, boss?"

Jason looked down at Elizabeth's pale face. He had to get her someplace safe. In his mind, there was only one place he could think of.

"The studio. You know where it is. No one knows about it, and no one knows that I bought the building. It's the only place to keep her hidden for a while."

"Got it."

Max backed the car up and peeled down the road.

Elizabeth, pale and shaking, lifts her head from Jason's shoulder and looks up at him.

"Jason?"

He turns to look at her, his hand reaching up to move some hair out of her face.

"It's going to be okay, Elizabeth. I'm taking you somewhere safe, okay? You just got to stay with me."

"It hurts so much, Jason." She starts crying softly, hiding her face in his neck.

"Shhh. I know it hurts, and we are gonna get you better. But you got to promise me you'll stay awake okay?"

She nodded slowly, and then looks up at him.

"Cameron? What about Cameron?"

"Cameron is safe okay? He's with Emily, remember? I'm gonna bring you someplace safe, and as soon as you feel better, we'll bring him to see you?"

"But…mmmm….he needs his mother, Jason."

Jason takes her head in his hands and tilts her head up to look at him.

"Listen to me, okay. Cameron is fine. As soon as we get you someplace safe, and I know you are okay, I'll bring him to you. You need to calm down alright? For me?"

Elizabeth looks deep into his glacier blue eyes and nods slowly, her eyes closing and leans her head back on Jason's shoulder.

Jason closed his eyes and willed himself to be calm.

"Hurry Max."

Max sped up the car and drove down the road.

Emily stood there for a moment, lost in the chocolate eyes of the man who's been invading her dreams. Shaking her head, she moved aside and motioned for him to enter.

Sonny slowly walked in, his hands dug deep in his pockets, nerves suddenly on high alert.

"I um…just wanted to make sure everything was alright. I know Cam is staying over."

Emily closed the door then turned toward him, nodding softly.

"Yeah, everything is fine. He's sleeping right now. He's great to have around."

Sonny nodded. "Yeah he and Morgan seem to get along pretty great. I'm glad Elizabeth feels comfortable letting him come over, ya know?"

"Well, she knows you Sonny. She knows what a great father you are, and she knows that Morgan is a great kid."

"Well, I think it's more that you are here to keep an eye on things," he joked, a smirk playing on his lips.

Emily chuckles softly.

"Please, sit down. I was just having something to drink, do you want anything?"

"No, no I'm fine. I should go. I just wanted to check up and make sure everything's okay."

Trying to hide her disappointment. She looked down at her feet.

"Yeah, well if you have to go."

They stood there for a moment, both unwilling to look at each other or move.

Sighing, Sonny looked up at her and smiled.

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning. If you need anything, just let me know."

Emily simply nodded, not moving.

Hesitating only a moment he went to walk past her, brushing up against her. Stopping and swallowing hard, he closed his eyes at the contact that was practically burning his skin.

Emily looked up at him, her skin tingling from where they touched. Her face was inches from his.

Moving her head closer, her eyes focused on his mouth. Unable to stop, she slid her hand up around his neck and pulled him forward, her lips barely touching his.

"Sonny," she breathed softly as she tilted her head. Just as their lips touched, the ringing of his cell phone pulled them out of their trance.

Stepping back and clearing his throat, he pulled the cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open, placing it against his ear.

"Yeah."

"Sonny it's me. Listen, I need you to meet me at Elizabeth's old studio. You remember where it is?"

Sonny immediately heard the worried tone of Jason's voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. What's going on, Jason? What happened?"

"There's no time to explain, just get there as soon as you can. Tell Emily I will call her later and explain everything. I need her to keep Cameron there for a little while. Just get here as soon as you can."

"I'm leaving now." He flipped his phone shut and moved toward the door.

"I gotta go meet Jason. I need you to stay here and don't go anywhere."

"Sonny what's going on?" Her eyes were following him, her voice shaking with worry.

"I'm not sure, but Jason said he will call you later to explain."

She nodded, sliding her hands around her stomach for comfort.

He looked up and saw how scared she looked. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her upper arms, looking into her eyes.

"Just don't go anywhere and keep an eye on Cameron. I'll find out what's going on. Don't worry, okay?"

Emily shrugged a sad smirk on her face. "Can't help it. I always worry about the people l care about." Her eyes bore into his.

He took a deep breathe, wishing he was one of those people.

Nodding, he stepped back and turned, walking out the door.

Max pulled up against the side of the building and quickly got out of the car, helping Jason as he held Elizabeth close. They hurried up the stairs to the studio. Jason handed Elizabeth over to Max while he pulled out his keys, finding the one for the door. He quickly unlocked and opened it, taking Elizabeth back from Max and brought her inside. He took her over to the couch and laid her down.

"Max, go downstairs. In the back of the car is a blanket. We need to keep her warm."

Max rushed out of the studio and downstairs. Jason knelt in front of the couch, brushing hair away from Elizabeth's forehead. She felt warm to him. Not really knowing how else to check, he remembered what she did for him, and leaned in, placing his cheek on her head. She was burning up.

Swallowing the fear he felt, he unwrapped the shirt that was placed over the wound and tried to examine it. Just then, Max came running in with the blanket.

"Okay, thanks. Max, look in the closet. There should be a first aid kit in there."

Handing Jason the blanket, Max ran over to the closet and looked around. Finding what he was looking for, he grabbed it and handed it over to him. Taking the kit from him, Jason ordered Max outside while he worked on her.

Jason was unbuttoning her shirt and had spread it open, wincing when he saw the wound, all the blood making it look even worse. He turned and picked up the alcohol and some cotton balls, and set about to clean the area. He noticed that this was the exit wound. He thank God he didn't have to fish around for a bullet. He could just focus on stitching her up.

Elizabeth stirred slightly and opened her eyes, looking around at her surroundings. She noticed she was in her old studio, but the couch felt a lot more comfortable than she remembered. She turned her head and saw Jason cleaning out the wound, wincing when she felt the alcohol touch the sensitive area.

"Jason," she moaned.

"Shhh…Elizabeth just lay still okay? I'm just going to clean the wounds. I need you to be very still, because I'm gonna have to stitch you up."

"Mmmm…we're at the studio."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, it was the only place I could think of where you would be safe."

"But how…how? I don't rent it anymore…"

"Shhh..No talking okay. Save your strength."

"Brat.." she gave a small smirk then flinched as he touched her wound again.

"Yeah, that's me Webber. Just stay still." He searched the kit for a needle and thread, knowing that she kept it there when he was shot.

"Not…my couch..softer."

"No, it's my couch. The leather one remember? I put it in here because I didn't want to get rid of it." He kept talking to her as he cleaned her up.

"MMMM…love this couch.."

He sighed, hearing her ramble. He wished he had some medication to give her to alleviate some of the pain, but he had nothing.

He tried to focus as much as he could while stitching her up, her moans getting louder as he went on. He hated to see her in so much pain. It was killing him. The one person who should never be in pain was lying there shot, and it was all he could do to keep it together.

Finishing with the front, he leaned down closely next to her face.

"Okay, Elizabeth, I'm going to have to roll you to your side okay? I need to clean the back now."

She opened her eyes slowly, her vision foggy as she lifted her hand to his face.

"MMMMM…Jason," she whispered. "I should have…should have stayed…should have listened to you…didn't want to walk away…"

Jason's heart leapt into his throat. He knew what she was referring to. He needed to stay focused and not get distracted.

"It's okay Elizabeth. It's alright. I'm here, okay. I need you to roll to your side okay."

Elizabeth nodded slowly and he helped her turn toward the back of the couch.

As Jason was cleaning and stitching up the wound on her back, his mind kept going back to her words. Had she been regretting walking out on him? Did she still think of him? Could it be that he was not the only one with regrets?

As he finished up the back wound, he positioned her on her back again, pulling the blanket over her. She had passed out from the pain. She was so pale. He sat on the floor next to her and caressed her cheek softly.

"I hope I'm doing this right, Elizabeth. You have to be okay. We're gonna find who did this to you, but you have to be okay. People need you. Cameron and Emily need you. I need you. I need you so much."

Sonny was just walking up to the door of the studio and stopped, listening to Jason. He had always had a feeling that both of them still held feelings for each other, but never voiced his opinion out loud. Jason never liked people interfering in his personal life, and he wasn't as close to Elizabeth as he used to be.

Walking into the room, he noticed Elizabeth laying down, her skin pale and she was sweating, her breathing a bit shallow.

"Jason, what the hell happened?"

He ran over to the couch and ran his hand over her head.

"Damn, she's burning up!"

"She was shot. In the parking lot of Jakes. I saw the whole thing. Sonny, I need every available man on this. We have to find these people, and I will take care of them. Personally."

Sonny nodded. "You got it. Max will stay here and guard the door, that way you can focus on taking care of her."

Jason looked down at her sleeping form, his eyes glassy. "She looks so still. I stitched her up as best I could, but I don't know if that's going to be enough."

Sonny placed his hand on Jason's shoulders. "You did your best man, I'm sure it was fine. I'm assuming that you didn't bring her to the hospital to throw whoever did this off. I didn't even know she still had this place."

"She doesn't. After…well, after she left, I bought the building." He didn't elaborate. He didn't need to. Sonny knew what this place meant to both of them.

"Okay. You sit with her. I'm gonna go and call the doc. Maybe he can get some pain meds over here for her. In the meantime, try to keep her as comfortable as possible. I'm gonna go and check on Emily and Cameron." He walked toward the door and turned as he remembered something.

"What do you want me to tell Emily?"

Jason reluctantly turned his head from watching Elizabeth. "Um…tell her what happened and where we are. We can trust her. Besides, she's going to have to keep Cameron with her until Elizabeth gets better." His voice caught, his gaze moving back to her. "She has to get better."

"And she will, Jason. She has you taking care of her. She has all she needs."

With that, he turned and walked out the door.

Jason sat back on the floor in front of the couch, slipping his hand over hers. He watched her face contort in pain while she slept. A tear slipped from his eyes.

"Hang in there Elizabeth. I need you to hang in there. I need my best friend back, my more than friend. Please.."

He sat there, his other hand brushing back her hair, silently crying.