A/N – Thanks for your comments.

Chapter 3

Jason pulled his car over. "Are you sure you're okay to walk?"

"It's not that far. I'll be fine," Liz said.

"I'm surprised your father didn't come after you."

"I called last night, and my mom and she said it was fine. Apparently, he was out of town for the night."

"I'm going to sit here until I see you go into your driveway and then I'll slowly drive by."

"Thank you for everything, Jason. You won't tell anyone, right?"

"Never."

Her eyes look so sad and he can't help but wonder what is really going on. She's so small and he hopes that Trevor isn't physically abusing her. When she turned into the driveway, he crept down the street in time to see her shut the door and then headed to a store to get some coffee.

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Elizabeth took a deep breath and opened her locker and then gasped. Someone had broken into it and left a picture of her and it was marked up in red, imitating blood, and the note above it said, "Next time, he won't be there to save you."

Her books fell from her hand and Jason ran towards her.

"Jase, let her go," Carly said.

Elizabeth ripped the picture down, but Jason saw it before she could put it away.

"Elizabeth, you have to report this."

"No! Please respect my wishes," she said trying not to cry. She shoved the photo into her math book and then grabbed the couple of books Jason had picked up.

"Elizabeth…"

She slammed the locker shut and hurried away.

"She's such a spaz," Courtney said as she moved to his side.

Jason ignored her and walked away, heading to the lavatory where he whipped out his phone and dialed. "Spinelli, where are you?"

"I have study hall first period. How can I be of service?"

Damian Spinelli is a freshman and Jason had needed some extra help on a project and had paid him for an assist. When the geek came through with flying colors, Jason made it known that no one touches him and Spinelli had offered him free computer services as a result.

"Can you hack into the security cameras and see who broke into Elizabeth Lansing's locker?"

His eyes narrowed. Elizabeth is very nice, and he doesn't like that someone had targeted her. "I'm on it. Meet you at the rendezvous at noon."

Jason shook his head. "Okay, Spinelli." He headed towards class feeling satisfied that the kid would come through for him.

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Elizabeth stared at the note that Jason had deftly passed her before going to his desk. It said to meet him in the boiler room in the basement at noon. Her gaze shifted to him and he smirked, making her roll her eyes.

The class took forever, but finally, the bell rang and Jason left before her. After waiting for the room to clear, she started to leave.

"Ms. Lansing, you seem distracted today. Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Sneed."

"Very well…"

Elizabeth hurried to the stairwell and ran down them and then through a hallway until she came to another doorway and she took that down to the janitor area. The basement is creepy and she really hopes that this isn't some kind of joke.

She moves into the boiler room area and spots Jason and Damian who look intense.

"Damian, what are you doing here?"

He smiled. "Fair one, I am helping Jason, who I refer to as Stone Cold due to his icy exterior, bring down the evil one who attacked you."

Jason rolled his eyes at his nickname, but Elizabeth thought it was funny.

"Did you find him?"

"I was about to show Stone Cold the video."

He pushed play and Elizabeth's mouth dropped open when she sees Franco's face.

"Oh my God, he was at the bleachers the other day and scared the crap out of me."

"Was he stalking you?" Jason asked.

"I don't know."

Jason took off so fast that Elizabeth and Spinelli just stared at each other in shock.

"You don't think—"

"—that he went to beat the crap out of Franco? Yes, I do," Spinelli said before closing his computer and shoving it into his backpack.

They tore up the stairs and then ran towards the track area where Elizabeth usually eats her lunch to find Jason already beating Franco Baldwin mercilessly.

"Jason!" Elizabeth yelled.

A crowd had started to gather, cheering him on.

Carly and Courtney had just arrived with the rest of their entourage who are stunned.

"Jason! Stop!" Liz yelled, but Jason could only see red.

Jagger stepped forward. "Jason! You need to stop!"

It took three teachers to pull Jason off a very battered Franco.

One knelt next to the injured teen. "He still has a pulse."

The PE teachers moved everyone away but made Elizabeth stay.

"You want to explain to me what the heck happened here?" the principal asked.

Elizabeth locked her gaze on a panting Jason.

A policeman approached them. "Someone called 911 and said there was an assault."

Jason groaned.

"We found them fighting, I'm not sure what is going on."

At the sign of the cop, Elizabeth started to break down, knowing she's in trouble.

Jason felt like a total asshole. "I'm sorry," he said to her.

The cop got some more information from the teachers who witnessed it. "Mr. Morgan, you have the right to remain silent…"

Everything was a blur after that. Jason was handcuffed as Carly yelled at the cops and then Elizabeth.

"What did you do, Muffin? I know this has something to do with you."

Elizabeth burst into tears.

Another officer stood next to her. "You're going to need to come in for questioning."

"Please, I'm begging you, can we do it here?"

"I'm afraid not. It's that serious."

She let out a sob as they led her to the car and then Spinelli approached Carly.

"Do you have a car?"

She frowned. "Look, geek, go away. I need to try and help Jason."

"I'm trying to help Jason and I have something on my computer that will. Of course, I'll probably get suspended, but it's a risk that I am willing to take."

Carly sighed. "So, you really think you can help?"

"I wouldn't lie about this."

"Come on then, let's go."

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Elizabeth is shaking as she sits at the officer's desk. They had taken Jason into a room and shut the door and she hadn't heard a peep since.

Monica and Alan rushed inside and when they spotted Elizabeth, they approached her. "What happened?"

Liz wiped her face. "He got into a fight at school."

"It was so bad that he was arrested?"

She nodded.

Scott Baldwin loudly entered the room. "Where is that jerk who beat up my son?"

Liz groaned as Alan's eyes grew wide.

"He beat Scott's son?"

"Yes."

Monica muttered under her breath. "What happened?"

Carly and Spinelli moved next to them.

"That's what I want to know," Carly said.

"I was attacked in the alley last night. Franco tried to rape me and Jason saved me."

Carly is shocked.

"When I got to school this morning, I opened my locker and there was a picture of me all bloodied and it said, "Next time, he won't be there to save you." I didn't notice it initially, but at the bottom, it said something like stuck up girls dash crime and punishment. The day before, I had been reading Crime and Punishment on the bleachers when Franco Baldwin interrupted me."

Monica gasped, but Carly isn't impressed.

"You really think that was enough evidence to convict him? It could have been a coincidence and you got Jason all worked up over nothing."

"If I may interrupt," Spinelli said quietly, "I have a video which proves that Franco was the one that put the note in the locker."

No one said a word for a long moment.

"You need to show that to someone before they lock away my son over this," Monica said.

"Oh, your son is going down. Elizabeth, you want to tell me what you had to do with this?" Trevor said. He's never one to turn down a good opportunity and frying Jason would make his day.

She trembled, something Alan caught. He told Trevor everything and the man is seething by the time he finished.

"So, your son took her to you instead of a hospital and you kept this from me?"

Alan shifted nervously. "She was scared and refused care and since I'm a doctor, I checked her over."

"You're a heart doctor."

"It doesn't matter, I know how to conduct an exam."

"Look, can you two argue over the muffin later? Jason is probably so upset," Carly said.

Trevor moved closer. "I will get him out of this on one condition."

"What?" Alan asked.

"Jason will stay away from my daughter for good."

"Fine," Monica said.

Trevor eyed Elizabeth. "Do you accept the terms?"

"Yes," she said without looking at him. At this point, she'll do anything to make this go away.

"Are you going to arrest Franco?" Spinelli asked.

"That won't happen. I can use the evidence to make Scott back off and get Jason released, but he won't back off the assault charges if Franco is arrested."

"So, he gets away with almost raping someone?" Carly asked. Franco had always given her the creeps.

"Take the terms or leave it," Trevor said. "Elizabeth still has no proof he attempted anything on her. Maybe she just fell and hit her head."

The looks on everyone's faces made him realize he had just taken it too far.

"I'll be back."

Carly's gaze fixes on Elizabeth who looks mortified. "I believe you."

"What?"

"I don't think you'd make this up and if Jason saw it and believes it, so do I."

"Thanks, I think."

Scott stomped towards them. "You may think you won," he said poking Alan in the chest, "but I'll never let this go. If Jason so much as looks at someone the wrong way, I will have him arrested so fast it will make your head spin."

Carly almost growled. "Your son tried to rape her and he's going to get away with it. You better make him stay away from her. My dad is the ex-governor and I'm sure he'd love to know if you were misusing your power to cover up your son's sins. Am I clear?"

Elizabeth clasped her hand over her mouth.

Scott is practically breathing fire as he angrily stormed away.

"Thank you, Carly," Monica said.

"I hate pompous asses like him. I need to get back to class."

Liz stood. "Thank you for everything."

"Just stay away from Jason, okay?" She's scared for them.

Liz nodded.

Connie Lansing rushed into the room. Trevor had called her in a rage and told her everything. "Elizabeth, we need to go."

She stood and started to move towards her mother, but Alan leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"This is my card. If it gets bad, you call and just say red flag, and I'll have the police come. Do you understand?"

She nodded as she took the card and followed her mom to the car.

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Jason moved out of the interrogation room. God, he hates Trevor and right now, himself too.

Alan grabbed his shoulder and they moved towards the elevators and then went to the car.

Monica drove so Alan could speak with his son.

"Talk to me."

Jason sighed. "I failed her. I'm scared that he'll hurt her and it's my fault. I should have held my temper, but when I realized Franco was the one, I just lost it and wanted him to pay."

"You can't see her, Jason. I'm sorry, but that is just the way it is and the only way to make the charges go away."

"Who is going to protect her, dad?"

The tears in Jason's eyes surprised Alan since most of the time, Jason is so stoic. "I gave her my card and a code word if it gets bad."

Jason hit the back of the seat. "Suppose she can't get to a phone? What if he hurts her so bad that she can't call?"

"Jason, sometimes you just have pray and hope for the best."

"That's bullshit!"

"Jason!" Monica yelled.

"Why won't you help her? Why didn't you stand up to Trevor?"

Monica almost growled. "You know that he would have you in jail in a heartbeat. He's horrible."

"Exactly! Have you seen the fear in her eyes? Elizabeth is small. She can't defend herself. You chose to save me because I'm your son, but what about her? She has no one that will save her."

Alan sighed. "I don't know what I can do. I saw some bruises on Connie. Maybe he's taking it out on her instead of Elizabeth."

"Are you willing to take that chance? Jesus, dad. I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if he hurts her because of me." He buried his head in his hands.

"I didn't realize that you and Elizabeth were so close," Monica said.

"We're not, but that doesn't make a difference to me. She doesn't deserve the shit storm I just brought down on her."

When Monica pulled into the driveway, Jason jumped out of the car and ran up to his room wondering how he could possibly fix this.

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Elizabeth sighed and stared out the window. "Go ahead, yell at me."

Connie's steely façade broke and tears pricked her eyes. "I'm scared, Lizzie. He's going to come home and unleash his wrath, and not only will I have to take a beating, but I think this time, you will too."

"So, I almost get raped and I'm the bad guy? Why mom? Why do you take his crap?"

"He owns me, Elizabeth. There's not much I can do about it. He'd find me and probably kill me if I ran away."

Liz glanced at her mom. They are relatively close but in a weird dysfunctional way. Elizabeth had spent most of her life taking care of her mom because her dad beat the shit out of her whenever he felt like it. There weren't flowery words exchanged or meaningful talks about life and love. Instead, there were bandages, tears, ice, and a lot of cleaning up the blood. It was all about survival in the Lansing household.

"As soon as I turn eighteen, I'm gone, and he can't touch me."

"Let me know how that works out for you."

They pulled into the driveway and Connie turned off the car.

"If you fight him, he'll just hit harder and beat you longer."

Elizabeth stared at her blankly as she got out of the car. "Thanks for the words of wisdom, mommy dearest," she muttered as she headed towards the door.