At Random: Impact

-OOO-

"Listen, Morgan," Sorel said, his voice oily and falsely respectful. It made Jason want to shower every time that he was forced to be in the bastard's presence, though hopefully this was the last time that he'd have to hear it. "We're playing by my rules."

"Show her to me or this is over." Jason said, voice monotone, though inside he was some volatile mix of fear and rage.

Sorel smiled and Jason knew that he was convinced that Jason had followed his instructions to the letter. Sorel obviously thought that the game was going his way. He'd called Jason, who had only just returned to town, and had put a terrified Elizabeth on the phone.

"Don't… Jason, please! Don't listen, they're…"

"Elizabeth!" Jason called almost desperately. He felt something in him clench at her sobs. Everything that he'd tried to prevent, everything he had stayed away for, was happening right in one moment.

"Mr. Morgan, good to speak to you." Sorel said. It was bold of him to speak to Jason directly. Normally some low player would be the one doing this sort of grunt work. Sorel was nothing but cocky, though, and this just proved it. The second Jason heard his voice, he silently vowed to destroy him.

"Sorel." Jason acknowledged, not at all trying to sound as though he was calm. He could try that, as though he didn't care about Elizabeth, but after hearing her he knew he couldn't pull it off. Sorel was playing with fire and Jason wasn't willing to let Elizabeth be burned.

The man laughed, "Your girlfriend is lovely company, but I'd like her much better if she was quiet. Too much screaming."

"Let her go." Jason said, though he knew it was useless.

"Come now, Mr. Morgan. I admire to you too much to hear those cliché's." Sorel said, making a tisk-tisk noise. "Wouldn't you much rather talk business?"

Jason didn't say anything, knowing Sorel would grow impatient. When he didn't respond, Sorel did as predicted. "You won't be telling Mr. Corinthos about this. Or anyone in his organization. I need your word, and if there's one thing I've seen about you that matches up to the myth, it's your inability to lie."

Jason didn't hesitate, "I will not contact Sonny."

"Or anyone in his organization." Sorel reminded.

"I won't talk to anyone in his organization." Jason said, and meant it.

Sorel sounded pleased, "And just in case, we're going to be watching Mr. Corinthos. Any sign that his organization is mobilizing against me, and Miss Webber can give your regards to the first Mrs. Corinthos."

The slight against Lily only served to make Jason angrier. "What do you want?" He said, all but growling.

"You." Sorel said simply. "What information about Mr. Corinthos I can force out of you and then your dead body. I imagine I'm in for a fascinating few days. Now, Mr. Morgan," Sorel told him, "You're going to follow my instructions to the letter, aren't you? Meet me…"

That had been yesterday and Jason had kept his word. Unfortunately for Sorel, he hadn't made Jason promise not to tell Carly, who had run right to Sonny. She'd managed to work as a go between for them as they worked out a plan without ever speaking to each other. To keep as inconspicuous as possible, should Sorel actually be tracking Jason, he'd met with Carly only once. After, she'd called him with a single word answer from Sonny.

Yes.

Right now he needed to keep Sorel going as long as possible. He wanted to give Sonny's men a chance to infiltrate Sorel's warehouse set-up as quietly as possible. If one of them gave things away and Elizabeth paid the price…

Still, his stall got him what he wanted. Sorel made an impatient motion to the man standing off to the side next to a door that he slipped through. A moment later Jason heard a struggle and some sort of muffled yelling. He didn't smile, but something in him unclenched the slightest bit when he heard her fighting back.

Elizabeth didn't look to be injured, not from the way she was kicking around. Sorel eyed her with distaste, "Miss Webber, we have a visitor."

She whipped her head towards Jason almost instantly. Whatever reassurance hearing her fight had given him was ripped away when he saw the dark bruise over her cheek, as though she'd been backhanded. "Elizabeth." He said quietly. He shut his mouth and clenched his jaw before continuing, "It's okay. Don't fight."

"Yes, Miss Webber. Thanks to Mr. Morgan here you'll be released. I trust you'll run to Mr. Corinthos, but that won't matter. We'll be far from here before you can do much." Sorel told her, mocking her and the way she kept her eyes on Jason.

"Let her go, now." Jason ordered, "You have me."

Sorel turned to consider Jason. "I suppose I do." He observed, as though he hadn't been sure that his plan would work. He motioned again to his men, "We're ready to head out." He stated, not asked.

"Yes, sir."

Jason paid no attention to Sorel, but rather stared into Elizabeth's terrified eyes. Trust me.

I do.

Elizabeth stared at him desperately and he could tell she didn't have much more fight in her. He tried not to let anything out, not that he was relieved or tense for the next part of their plans. He would not give anything away to Sorel.

The men were apparently aware of what came next without being told. They pulled Elizabeth away from Jason, dragging her to the door. He turned to Sorel, ready to ask where she was being taken, mostly to keep up appearances.

Instead, he was cut off by a bleeding man who didn't work for Sonny. Jason cut his eyes to Elizabeth, hoping Sorel's other men would get her out the door before this new guy could say anything.

"Sir!" The man panted. Sorel turned to him and narrowed his eyes, "Corinthos… outside…"

Sorel snarled and pulled a gun from his coat pocket. Jason made sure to keep his eyes on Sorel and away from Elizabeth, hoping that the man would take this supposed betrayal of their terms out on him and not through Elizabeth, that he would forget she was even there.

-OOO-

Elizabeth fought her guards as they began dragging her away from Jason. She was hoping to slow them down when they got outside so she could memorize whatever she could about the area. Sorel had said to Jason that they were leaving once she was gone, but anything she could tell Sonny would be a help in saving Jason.

Behind them, she could hear someone run into the semi-abandoned warehouse and start to speak to Sorel. She thought she could hear Sonny's name and her eyes widened. No, no…

She struggled to turn around and see something, anything, of what was going on behind them. One of the men trying to drag her out the door seemed to finally tire of her thrashing and slung her over his shoulder as though she were a sack of potatoes. Elizabeth screamed in frustration through the gag.

The only good thing that came from her uncomfortable new position was that she could lift her head and see Jason.

Sorel turned from a bloody man standing behind them to Jason, his face turning red. He pulled a gun from nowhere and shot Jason, point blank. Jason remained standing for a second before stumbling back, hand over his chest. Elizabeth felt a scream building in her throat, but she couldn't get anything out. Her eyes were glued to him as he fell down on the concrete of the floor, silent and still.

The door shut.

Outside the warehouse was like a warzone. Guards she recognized and some she didn't were on them in a second. Whatever Sorel had been told was obviously correct, though she hadn't heard a thing, Sonny was obviously here somewhere. She was dropped as the three men in charge of moving her were suddenly forced to defend themselves. Max, one of the guards she knew by name, grabbed her and pulled her away from the fighting.

"Miss Webber," He said, "Are you alright?"

She screamed again, whatever had frozen her before was gone. Now she needed to talk to him, to find Sonny and to get someone to help Jason. Max saw the problem and pulled the gag away from her mouth as he kept them moving.

"Jason," She croaked, her voice hoarse from the screaming. Max didn't react and pushed her through the door to a car that she hadn't noticed in her panic.

Sonny sat across from her, talking on a cell phone to someone that was probably somewhere close by. "Keep the silencers on… we can't let the police hear a thing. Has anyone gotten in the warehouse?"

"Sonny!" Elizabeth cried. He turned to look at her, but didn't pause in giving orders. "Jason's been shot. He's in the warehouse, I saw -"

"Where?" Sonny asked, before barking something else to the person on the line.

"Where?" She repeated, unsure of what he meant. "The warehouse, in that front room."

"No, where was he shot?" Sonny asked, clarifying what he meant.

Elizabeth closed her eyes as the image of Sorel shooting Jason flashed in front of her eyes. "The chest. Someone told Sorel you were here…"

"Listen, you keep as many alive as you can, I want information..." Sonny ordered, cutting Elizabeth off. He didn't seem nearly as concerned as he had a moment ago and Elizabeth felt something in her harden at the fact that Jason's supposed best friend couldn't seem to care less that he'd been shot.

"Sonny! Aren't you listening? Jason is…" She yelled, voice cracking as she raised it.

"Right here."

She turned to Jason, who stood outside the door of the car. He had his hand to his chest and seemed to be in pain, but Elizabeth could see no blood.

"Jason, get in the car." Sonny said, shutting the cell phone finally.

Jason did as he was told, but slower than she would have thought imaginable. She stared at him in shock. Sorel had been so close and he hadn't missed. She'd seen it with her own eyes. If Jason had lived, he wouldn't be walking. This wasn't a wound to the side, this was a point-blank…

"Elizabeth!" Jason called, sounding as though he'd done it before. She realized that she was practically panting. Everything seemed to be catching up with her. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" She said, her voice sounded a little more like a squeak than she would have liked had she even been paying attention. "Jason, you're shot."

"No." He said, shaking his head. He pulled his shirt up, revealing a Kevlar vest with a dent in it where Sorel had shot him. "But it feels like it."

"You okay?" Sonny asked as Elizabeth tried to catch up with what her eyes were seeing. This had all been a plan? Jason hadn't been hurt?

Jason nodded absently to Sonny before turning his attention back to her. "Elizabeth, are you okay?" He asked again, repeating himself from before.

"Yes… no… I don't understand." She admitted, tears welling up in her eyes. All she wanted in that moment was to curl up next to him and sleep for a thousand years.

"I'm so sorry this happened, Elizabeth. I'm going to call Emily or your Grandmother or whoever you want and set you up somewhere safe, I promise. I'll stay away." Jason said, his hand moving forward and barely touching her cheek before pulling back.

"No!" She cried, the tears really falling now. "I didn't go through all of that just so you could send me away again!"

Jason closed his eyes, his face tense. Sonny remained quiet in his seat. "They used you to get to me, just like I said they would."

"So?" She asked, "Clearly staying away isn't going to work, unless you'd like to run away again."

Behind her she heard a quiet wince that was probably from Sonny. She didn't pay him any attention. Jason stared at her and she'd of paid any price to know what he was thinking. She hated that their entire relationship boiled down to his word and told him so. She unleashed a speech that she never had the guts to before now and she could only blame the fact that she'd been kidnapped, held essentially hostage and then had been sure that she'd just witnessed his death. She screamed all her frustration out on him, sometimes calling him a hypocrite, or a coward or even once saying she loved him.

He didn't stop her, instead he just stared at her as though she was Taggart and he needed to keep from cracking.

"Well?" She hissed when she'd nearly finished, spots starting to dance in her vision.

"Well what?" Jason asked, his voice so calm she longed to start screaming at him again. She knew he felt things, and he felt them just as strongly as she did, but sometimes…

She took a shuddering breath, "What excuse are you going to give me that I haven't already answered for?"

Jason glanced behind her, probably at Sonny. Then his icy blue eyes were back on her, and she almost wanted to look away. She didn't, though, determined to prove that she could handle being with him. She had proved that she could.

He didn't say anything, but then with him that was okay. He kissed her instead and she melted against him. She held onto his jacket, pulling herself closer, but he pulled back after only a few seconds. They were both breathing hard, and not just from the kiss. After all, she was fighting passing out after everything that had happened and he had essentially just had a sledgehammer to the chest. He kissed her forehead and pulled her back down to lay against his shoulder. "Sleep."

"You're staying?" She asked, eyes already closing.

"I'm staying."

When I started this it was entirely different, so the word impact had more to do with things, but I think this works too. I'm having fun with this, so if there's still an interest to see them, I have a few already written. Let me know in a review!

And thank you to everyone that read and reviewed the last chapter!