Bursting through his penthouse door, Jason's anger hits an all time high as he looks around at the half empty penthouse, his heart pounding faster and faster as he remembers the way things used to be. Like his wedding band that rests on his finger, the entire place mocks him, as if his failures were manifesting before his eyes, taunting him.

His desk. God, his desk! How many late nights had they spent making love to each other on that thing after he came home from one of his many assignments! How many times had she said she loved him, that he would always have her heart. Latching his hands onto it, Jason tosses the offending furniture on its side, not giving a care to the items that had been sitting atop of it. The anger has taken hold of him and all he could see was the red flash of rage.

The coffee table. Their sorry excuse for a dining table! How many meals had they shared at that pathetic thing? Talking of their days and all the complications that the people from their lives caused. How many romantic dinners had they shared as they reminded each other of all the reasons they still fought to be together? How many soft kisses had they shared as he had sat on that during their weekly bare all conversations?

Lifting it into the air, he throws it at the wall with such brute strength, sending a loud crashing sound to ring through the penthouse. The memories were just too much! So much they had shared, so much they had fought for, so much they had left to fight for! How could she just turn her back on that?! How could she do this to him? To THEM! How could she?

Couldn't she see that everything he ever did was for her? Couldn't she understand that he would never do anything to hurt her? That if he did it, there was no other way, no other choice for him to make?! It wasn't like he had plotted to keep it from her! It wasn't like he had sat at his desk, thinking of all the choices he had to make, and then choosing the one that would hurt her the most! He didn't have another choice!

"Drop that pool stick!" Carly's voice bellowed through the penthouse as he was about to smash his favorite pool stick to pieces against his pool table. "Don't make me hurt you, Jason!"

"Go away, Carly." he says with annoyance, setting the pool stick down despite his protest. "I don't have the patience to deal with you right now."

"Well, too freaking bad." Carly counters, shutting the door firmly behind her before locking. "Because I'm not going anywhere until I've had my say."

"Carly..."

"You know me, Jase, there's no use fighting it." Carly cuts him off before he can protest further. "So, if you want to get rid of me like I know you do, I suggest you sit your ass down and listen to what I have to say."

Begrudgingly, Jason plops down onto the couch, resisting the urge to flip the item on its side. It, like the desk, held many passion filled moments between him and his wife. In truth, even if he didn't understand it, the couch was his wife's favorite piece of furniture that resides within their home. She had even insisted that it was the only thing that would never leave their place, no matter what changes they had decided to make to their place. Looking at Carly, he braces himself for the lecture that he was about to endure.

Slowly making her way into her house after the longest walk she has ever had to endure in a while, Elizabeth leans against her front door, a deep heartbroken sigh escaping her lips as she does. It had taken everything she had in her to walk away from him, to say goodbye while he was almost begging her to stay. In spite of how she felt, she knew that it would be futile to give into his pleas.

It was the same song and dance. They'd want to try, swearing that they could get it right, then something would happen that'll prove they just weren't meant to be together. That they were just too different, their worlds completely opposite from the other, ending with them in pain and realizing that they were just fooling themselves. It would never work.

So, why, for the life of her, couldn't she put the final nail in their marriage? Why couldn't she remove her wedding band and accept that their lives would never be in sync like they had been the night they got married? Glancing down at her wedding band, the answer hits her like a ton of bricks. The only reason that she could never truly let go. She's in love with him. She always has been, she always will be.

No amount of logic will ever change that because love is not logic. Love is unpredictable, uncontrollable, and completely invincible. If it were anything else other than that, it wouldn't be love. So, no matter how logical it seemed for them to remain out of each other's lives, no matter how understandable it would be for her to just cast away her wedding ring like old jewelry, she couldn't do it.

"Elizabeth, open up." the birthday man himself voices from the other side of her door after a brief knock. "Its Sonny."

Rubbing her lips together as she takes a deep breath in, Elizabeth forces herself to move away from her front door, standing up straight as she prepares to open the door to him. Getting home, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and forget this night ever happened, but somehow she knew that she wouldn't get that much.

"Sonny." she says in greeting when she comes face to face with him. "Is your party over already?"

"Forget about my party." he says seriously, showing through his eyes what he was intending to do. "You and I need to talk."

"About what?"

"You know what." he counters with ease, gesturing at her living room. "You gonna let me in?"

Stepping aside, knowing there was no point in telling him to go home, Elizabeth waits long enough for Sonny to walk inside before shutting the door firmly. Though he has been keeping his distance with her, not wanting to make an already stressful situation worse, she knew it wouldn't last forever. Sonny just wasn't the sit back and watch type, he was a lot like Carly in that way.

"Do we really have to do this right now?" Elizabeth finds herself asking, knowing that there was no getting around it, but wishing there was.

"Yes, we really have to do this." Sonny meets her eyes, conviction surging through his. "Right now."

Accepting that she wouldn't be getting any sleep until she hears him out, Elizabeth moves towards her couch, slowly lowering herself down onto it before bracing herself for the lecture she was undoubtedly about to endure. In the back of her mind, she allows herself to feel the emptiness sitting on that couch elicited. Only one couch would do for her, too bad that couch still resides in the penthouse. What she wouldn't do to have that couch right now.

Staring at him as he sits completely still, face void of emotion, Carly would be lying if that look didn't shake her to her core. She had her fair share of moments when she would have been happy to see this day come. Where she could look Jason in the face and say a big fat I TOLD YOU SO, but not today. Not since she gave Elizabeth half a chance before quickly becoming her best friend.

The old Carly would have relished in this moment, but the woman she is now is overcome with a feeling of being broken. She couldn't stand to see either of them hurting like this. Knowing both sides of this crazy situation, she knew that they were both right to feel the way they do, but that they were also both wrong. What fight between a couple in love isn't like that? Both right and wrong at the same time.

"Obviously you know how stupid your wife is being, so I don't have to point that out." Carly says as her opening to her lecture. "I mean, she has to be stupid to..."

"Finish that sentence and you'll be seeing the other side of my door real soon." Jason snaps, call it instinct or whatever, but he still couldn't bear to hear her speak negative of Elizabeth. "Tear into me if that's what you want, but you leave Elizabeth alone. She had her reasons for walking away. None of which you have any right to judge on."

"You see that?" Carly points at him with conviction. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you sounded like a protective husband."

"I am a protective husband." he states irritably, realizing what she was trying to get at. "No legal document will change that. I will always be her husband and she'll always be my wife."

"Then why are you two being so stupid?" she questions with seriousness. "You both made mistakes, but that's life! Why won't you fight for your wife?"

"This is what she wants." Jason's heart aches as he speaks, but he knew that wouldn't stop until he had her back. "No matter what has changed between us, her happiness will always come first."

"You think she's happy?" Carly scoffs, shaking her head at him. "She's the farthest thing from happy a woman can get."

"You think I don't know that?" Jason knew that better than anyone, but what was there left for him to do? "As unhappy as she is, she hurts worse when I try to fight for her. I refuse to do that to her anymore."

"Forget this!" she snaps, tired of being subtle, hating that she even tried to play it the nice way. "If you two won't tell each other the truth, I'll do it for you! Brace yourself for this because, trust me, it'll knock you on your ass."

Jason listens as Carly lays into him about all the things that happened while he was keeping his distance from his wife for her safety. She tells him about all the late nights Elizabeth had stayed awake, waiting for him, before she finally gives into the fatigue, waking up the next day to find his side of the bed cold. Jason nowhere in sight. All the meals she spent alone.

"I know all of this!" Jason practically shouts when she starts to describe how lonely Elizabeth had been during that time. "If your goal is to piss me off, you're doing a damn good job at it, Carly!"

"I was simply establishing her state of mind during that time." Carly defends, smiling sadly as she stares into his eyes. "Because, I assure you, you have no idea about this next part."

"Spit it out already."

"While you were doing everything you could to protect your wife, your sister and that idiot boyfriend of hers, Nikolas, were doing everything they could to plant doubt in Elizabeth's mind."

"What?" the word slips from his mouth like a ten ton brick. Anger, hatred, and a full on threat behind that simple word.

"Every chance they got, they questioned your fidelity. Asking her how well she really knew you." Carly watches as the rage flares back up in his eyes. "Of course, it didn't help that she found your t-shirt with lipstick on the collar."

"I'm gonna kill them."

Jason couldn't believe that his sister would pull such pathetic stunts with his wife, Nikolas he could believe, but not his sister. He trusted her so completely, poured his heart out to her so freely, gave her all he had to give and more. To find out that she has done this, that she played a part in the way his marriage was ending, Jason saw nothing but red. Anger. Betrayal. Disgust.

Elizabeth listening to Sonny, giving him the respect that he deserved, but she was close to smacking Sonny upside the head if he dropped another insult in her husband's direction. She knows all the reasons why she's angry with Jason, she knows all the things that he has done to warrant her reaction. Sonny, on the other hand, had no room to judge.

Of course, anything she was about to say was halted by Sonny's explanation on why Jason handled things the way he did. She shouldn't be so surprised that her husband would act like that, but she was. She was also surprised to find that Sonny's "sister" had posed such a huge threat to her. Could she have really been that blind to the blonde's true intentions?

"That still doesn't excuse what he did!"

"No, maybe not." Sonny agrees, shaking his head as he realizes he's getting to her. "But you have to admit that you should have trusted him more."

"Maybe." she concedes, taking a deep breath before shaking her head. "Which is exactly why we would never work. There's just too much bad between us to think that anything good could really last."

"What do you mean?"

"First with Lucky...how I treated Jason...the way that ended..." she sighs, forcing herself to not look back on that time. "Then with Courtney...how easy it had been for the situation to take on a life of its own...for it to come between us..."

"You love him don't you?" Sonny cuts her off, forcing her to stay on point. "You're still in love with Jason, right?"

"Of course I am."

"Then everything else doesn't matter." Sonny insists, trying to get her to see reason. "Everything that your friends ever said to you...everything that happened because of the situation with Courtney...nothing matters but that."

"Love doesn't solve everything."

"But it does make it worth it." Sonny kneels down in front of her, staring into her eyes seriously. "I'm not saying it'll be easy, love wouldn't be love if it was, but it is worth fighting for."

"Sonny..."

"If you can look me in the eyes and tell me that you really want a future without Jason, I'll leave you be." Sonny counters, placing one hand on either side of her, keeping her from moving away. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that everything you had with Jason, all the love you still feel for him...tell me none of it matters to you. Tell me that Jason means nothing to you anymore and I'm gone."

Silence. That's about all that can be heard from Elizabeth as she stares at Sonny with tears in her eyes, unable to form the words that he practically dared her to speak. Did she really want a future without Jason? No, never. Not on her life. Jason meaning nothing to her? Their love meaning nothing? That's so absurd, it didn't warrant a retort. But...was love really enough to get past all their problems? All the problems that would undoubtedly manifest itself in the future? Were they really worth it?

"If there's a chance, no matter how small, that you and Jason could work...that your marriage can be saved..." Sonny lifts her gaze to meet his. "...don't you think you owe it to yourselves to fight for it? As long as you love each other, you have to believe there will always be a way to work it out."