Chapter 4

It was Elizabeth's turn to pause all movements, remain as still as she could. She'd heard him wrong, she kept repeating to herself, she had to have heard him wrong. And yet somehow she knew that she hadn't. Here was Jason Morgan, the man literally out of her dreams, now father of her unborn child, asking her yet again to run away to Italy. And God how she wanted to. How she wanted to just pack everything, take Cameron and run like hell out of Port Charles. It wouldn't solve anything though. The problems would still be here when they got back and she wasn't foolish enough to believe that if they left they wouldn't be back.

Port Charles had a way of making sure you came back even when you fought like hell against it. No, they'd come back and every problem that now lay out before them would still be here only worse. She couldn't do that to herself, to Jason, but most importantly she couldn't do that to her children.

She leaned back and allowed her eyes to drink in his face. She could see every emotion outlined so perfectly that it was hard to believe that some people called him emotionless. Didn't they see how much he worried, how deeply he suffered? It was right there, in the open but she supposed no one really took the time to look besides her… and Carly.

Raising a hand she gently brushed her slender fingers along the line of his jaw. He was so beautiful and strong. He was her constant hero in a world that she'd made a mess of. He was offering her the world and once again, she was going to have to turn him down and it was breaking her heart to do so.

Tears were already forming in her eyes when she felt Jason's fingers brush against her own cheek and she had to close her eyes against the aching gentleness that he offered. Jason watched as one glittery tear fell past the longest lashes he'd ever seen, only to be caught by the finger currently stroking her pale cheek. She was going to turn him down again, and he found that he was okay with that.

Jason wasn't heartbroken like he'd been the last time, he wasn't disappointed because he knew deep down that she was right. They had to face the consequences to their actions, yet even as he said that it left a biter taste in his mouth. Any child he conceived, especially with Elizabeth, could not be considered a consequence. He released a breath he hadn't really realized he'd been holding in before he raised both hands now to cup her face and force her eyes to meet his once more. He'd let her off the hook of having to tell him no this time.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," he was surprised when her eyes widened and a hand shot up to place a finger over his lips stilling them from making anymore sound.

"No, please don't apologize. In all my life you're the only one that has ever offered my the kind of sanctuary that your offering now, not once but twice. I just hate the fact that I can't ever seem to be able to take you up on it." Her voice would soften toward the end and more tears would be released from those dark sapphire eyes of hers.

Jason smiled down at her and placed a finger under her chin to tilt her face up toward his, his lips close to hers, breath fanning across her lips as he whispered. "We've just got to work on our timing that's all." His words had the desired affect and that rich bubbling laugh escaped past Elizabeth's lips and within an instant Jason was drinking it in. He knew he shouldn't be kissing her, it would only further complicate things, but they way she felt in his arms; the way she tasted against his lips, it was more than he could stand.

Elizabeth melted in his arms, her hands sliding from his face to wrap around his neck, pulling herself closer to his larger frame. Like Jason she was thinking of all the reasons she shouldn't be kissing him, shouldn't be here but the only real reason she had for giving in kept all of them quiet…she belonged here. Here in his arms where he could hold her and protect her, love her, that's where she belonged. She wondered why it had taken so long for her to figure that out, but even as she questioned it she knew the answer. Her love for Lucky Spencer had kept her from Jason. Her utter devotion to a boy who she foolishly thought still resided in the man had kept her from seeing Lucky for the man he really was.

It wasn't as if Lucky was necessarily a bad man, it was just that somewhere along the way he'd lost sight of what was supposed to be important. She'd like to blame it all on the pills and Maxie Jones, but she knew it had started long before that. Perhaps it had started that first year after he'd come back from the dead. Even after Helena's hypnosis had ended Lucky still wasn't the boy he'd been before but Elizabeth had foolishly thought that with time he'd come back to her, she'd deluded herself for so long. She blamed herself almost as much as she blamed Lucky for the end of their marriage. She'd gone into the marriage with all the hopes and dreams of a seventeen-year old girl without thinking of what her woman heart wanted. And that was the man that was at the moment kissing her quite thoroughly.

Jason felt his control slipping and knew that if he didn't end this here and now, they'd end up right back where they were when this whole thing started and yet he wondered why that was such a bad thing? Why was making love to Elizabeth right here and right now so wrong? His arms wrapped around her and pulled her up and closer, his kiss turning more passionate, more intense when he heard the knock on the door. Elizabeth's frustrated whimper caused him to smile against her lips as he forced himself to release her and set her back down on her own two feet. He heard her mumble something about not answering it but merely chuckled and made his way to the door to open it, trying to tell himself it was a blessing in disguise. His body on the other hand wasn't buying it. Opening the door he revealed the one person he was not ready to face at the moment and the one person he knew Elizabeth wanted as far away from her as possible…

Lucky Spencer.