Chapter 2

"Ok," Liz thought to herself, "here it goes." Carly was mean and vindictive on the best of occasions. Now, hearing that her best friend was marrying a woman she despised was sure to send her barreling over the edge. Liz braced herself for whatever Carly was about to say. The only thing that gave her strength to stand there was Jason's grip on her hand. She was absorbing his strength through the touch of each of his fingers on her hand. She took a deep breath and looked straight into Carly's face.

Carly knew better than to start a fight right here in the lobby of her hotel. It would be pointless. No, what she needed to so was to get Jason tomorrow while he was at work away from Lizzie's brainwashing and get him to admit that he was being forced into this. Carly looked at the petite brunette and rolled her eyes. How comfortable Liz seemed with Carly's man holding her hand. "Just wait," she thought to herself, "your days in bliss are numbered."

Instead of saying any of this out loud, she grinned at the two and said through gritted teeth, "Well I'll be damned. You two go on up to the restaurant and have anything you want on the house for tonight and tonight only." She thought that maybe by emphasizing the "tonight only" part of that speech they might get the idea that she knew this fake relationship wasn't going to last. She hugged Jason and he and Elizabeth turned and headed for the elevators.

Once safely inside Elizabeth let go of the death grip she didn't realize she had on Jason's hand. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I don't know why she always gets to me."

"No worries," he replied, "Carly's bark is a lot worse than her bite." He grinned at Liz and she forced a smile back. "Don't worry, sweetheart, Carly is not going to come between us this time. She can try all she might, but it's not going to work."

Liz tried to trust in his words, but she knew Carly. And she knew that Carly wasn't going to let this go without a fight, no matter how nonchalant she seemed tonight. She was going to wait and lure her into a false sense of security before she pounced. Liz just had to stay on the look out for it.

Jason knew Liz was just waiting for the other shoe to drop where Carly was concerned, but he didn't want any of that to mess up tonight. This dinner had to be perfect. Elizabeth…..his Elizabeth……deserved it. To try to distract her mind from Carly he began kissing on her neck. This got the giggle from Elizabeth that he had been hoping for and she turned to face him and kissed him softly at first and then passionately as he felt his arms tightening around her.

Meanwhile, Carly had gone to her office to make a phone call. She had to put a stop to this and she had to do it now. Dialing that all too familiar number, she waited while it rang.

"Hello?" Sonny said a bit gruffly.

"Hi Sonny," Carly replied, "got a minute?"

"Not really, I was just on my way out."

"Trust me, you're gonna want to make time for this," she insisted.

"Ok, Carly, just make it fast."

"Guess who I just ran into here at the hotel?"

"I don't have time for games," Sonny replied, growing somewhat exasperated at his ex-wife.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'll tell you. It was Jason and Elizabeth. And guess what? That good for nothing little tramp has tricked Jason, our Jason, in proposing marriage to her."

"Well, good for him," states Sonny. "I hope that they are happy together.

Carly couldn't believe her ears. Did Sonny not know how bad this was for Jason? For all of them? "What are we going to do about it, Sonny?" she questioned.

"I'm going to do nothing except wish them all the happiness they can stand, and I suggest you do the same." With that, Sonny hung up the phone.

"Aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh…….." screamed Carly. If he wasn't going to help, she was just going to have to figure out a way to put a stop to this on her own.

The elevator dinged as it reached the top floor of the hotel where the restaurant was located. Jason groaned as Elizabeth pulled away from his embrace and flattened her hair and her top with her hand. She just smiled at him and took his hand as the doors opened.

"Welcome to the metro court," they were greeted. "How many this evening?"

"Two," replied Jason.

"Right this way," the man replied and led them to a quiet table in the corner.

"Wow," Liz thought to herself. "This is perfect." No sooner had she thought the words than the elevator doors opened and there came Carly. Elizabeth groaned inwardly, "Not again," she thought. "I can't deal with her again tonight."