Counting to Ten
Chapter 4
"Hey, that's mine!" Morgan yelled.
"So" Cameron shot right back.
"Cameron Alexander you give that toy motorcycle back to Morgan right now and say you're sorry." Elizabeth said through gritted teeth in a stern voice that had dropped at least two octaves.
"NO" Cameron shot back and then jumped off of Jason's lap.
"CAMERON" Elizabeth shouted as her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Hey Cam?" Jason slowly stood placing a pouting Morgan on his feet and walking to the street where the young curly headed child was. "Do you know why Morgan wants that toy back so badly?"
"No" Cameron almost whispered lowering his head in shame but keeping his eyes on the man walking steadily toward him.
"That is the first present I ever gave him. That and a leather jacket to match the one I usually wear. You see Morgan here is my Godson and was named after me."
"Nuh-uh, your name is Jason." The little boy reasoned.
"Yes, my name is Jason Morgan. Morgan is my last name and Jason is my first name. Morgan is his first name and Corinthos is his last name. You see how that worked?"
"Oh" the little boy said still firmly gripping the toy motorcycle.
"Now, I would really appreciate it if you would give Morgan his favorite toy back. I am sure you wouldn't want someone taking your favorite toy, would you?" Jason used calm reasoning. He didn't baby talk and he didn't yell. He kept steady in his steps toward Cameron and his continual talking reassured the little boy.
"My favorite toy is a Chuggin Charlie train." Cameron offered with a glint in his eye.
"Chuggin Charlie is cool man. I used to watch the cartoon before I became an adult." Michael said as he stood from the curbside. "Morgan has all my old books and toys of Chuggin Charlie."
Cameron walked over to Morgan and dropped his head to his chest. The two boys were the same height and to Elizabeth looked to be the same age. Jason and Michael were standing to each side of them and Elizabeth was still seated on the blankets watching the drama play out.
Cameron had really been growing more anxious and more difficult the closer she came to landing the job but now that she had been offered the job and the reality of moving was setting in to her little boy, the more he acted out because of it. She had continually tried to reassure him but now even she was starting to wonder if her dream job was worth breaking her little boy's heart. Moving across country sounded wonderful to Elizabeth but not if it destroyed her son in the process.
"Here, sorry" Cameron said as he shoved the toy motorcycle into Morgan's chest.
Being the well mannered child that Jason, Sonny and Carly had raised him to be, Morgan responded. "Thanks, I have another one at the cabin. Maybe we can get that one and we both can play motorcycles."
"Can we Mommy? Please?" Cameron said excitedly as he turned to his mother.
"Cam, I'm sorry but we are leaving tomorrow. We won't have time but I appreciate you being such a big boy and giving the toy back and apologizing."
Cameron's smile dropped to a frown. So did Jason's. He was excited that the boy responded to his easy convincing but when she said they were leaving, his breath left his body.
He hadn't felt this way in quite some time. He had that sinking feeling just like the day Robin came to his hospital room and told him she was leaving for Paris. That day devastated him and now, he was feeling that same despair for a woman he had only known for twelve hours.
Jason shoved his hands into his navy blue pants pocket. He snarled at the feel of the fine linen. He preferred the rough feeling of denim. He lifted his gaze from his Italian loafers, which were killing him, to Elizabeth's face. She looked how he felt. Sad.
"Uncle Jason, are we ever going to leave? The street sweeper is coming down the road." Michael asked pulling everyone's attention from their deep thoughts to his question.
"Yes Michael. I just didn't want to leave with that huge crowd. I would hate for one of you boys to get away from us."
"You'd find us. You always do." He reasoned and then snapped his mouth shut when he noticed the unspoken lethal warning that was shot his way.
Naïve of the dangerous meaning of Michael's words, Elizabeth stood up and bent down to pick up one of the blankets to fold. She let out a long sigh and Jason moved to her side taking the blanket from her hand.
"Michael and I can do that." Jason said giving her a slight smile.
She gave the same half smile back knowing that there was no reason for her to still be hanging around. She looked at her feet then at her son. Grasping his hand that had the balloon tied to it she said, "Well, thank you for…well…everything. It was really nice meeting you guys. And thank you for the ears" She reached up and touched the ones on her head then rolled her eyes and pulled them off. "You guys have fun on the rest of your vacation. Cameron and I really enjoyed watching the parade with you."
Jason and Michael were folding up the two blankets and Jason cringed as she took her first step away. He didn't know what to say to her but he didn't want the night to end. How do you tell someone you don't know that you can't stand the thought of her walking away from you? How do you say to a woman you just met that you feel empty and cold now that your arms aren't around her and her son?
She walked away and told herself not to look back. One thing her older sister Sarah had taught her growing up was that if it's meant to be, he wouldn't let you walk away. She had always been right in that theory before, she just hoped she wasn't disappointed this time.
Jason stared after her, dropping the blanket allowing it to unfold again. Michael looked over at him and shook his head. He looked worse than he did when Aunt Courtney left. He loved his Uncle and respected him in every way but he had no clue why his Uncle Jason was just letting them walk away.
Elizabeth walked noticing that even Cameron was silent. Of course he was probably tired since it had been a busy day and it was past his bedtime but he also looked a bit sad. She sighed and thought to herself. 'If I get to ten then it wasn't meant to be. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, t"
"Miss Webber? WAIT!" Michael shouted.
"Did I forget something?" she said as she turned around. Her heart skipped a beat but disappointment still set in. It wasn't Jason that called after her. It was the twelve year old so she must have simply left something behind.
"Uh, no Ma'am" He looked over at his Uncle and rolled his eyes at the hopeful look and yet oddly dumb face his Uncle was making. He turned back to the street where Elizabeth and Cameron were starting to walk back to them. "Well, My Uncle Jason always says we shouldn't let ladies walk alone. It's dangerous."
Picking up on Michaels cue Jason quickly added, "Yes, let us make sure you get back to your hotel. I would feel better knowing that you got to your room safely."
Before Elizabeth got too close, Jason gave his nephew a wink which caused the twelve year old to shine a big grin and shake his head again. Jason looked back up to see Elizabeth had stopped.
"Oh, that's really kind of you guys but I think we are safe here. Thanks for the offer but we wouldn't want to trouble you." She slowly pivoted on her heel away from them.
Realizing this was his only chance, Jason quickly rolled the blanket and grabbed Morgan's arm. He practically dragged the tired little boy the twenty yards to reach Elizabeth and Cameron and Michael had to jog to catch up.
As soon as Jason caught up to Elizabeth and Cameron he took a deep breath "Really, it's no trouble. I insist. You wouldn't want me to lose sleep over worrying that someone like Captain Hook had grabbed you two and took you to Never Never Land, would you?"
"Captain Hook?" Morgan said as he looked around and then clung on to Jason's pant leg.
"Yeah, Captain Hook from Peter Pan. Don't you remember him from the Parade?" Cameron said. "He had that big sword and the alligator was going to eat him."
Elizabeth laughed softly and looked down at her little boy then combed her fingers through his curly chocolate locks that hung out behind the little hat on his head. When Jason reached down and picked up Morgan, he kissed the top of his head and rubbed circles on his back while Michael took the second blanket from under his uncle's arm.
"Morgan's not big on scary stuff, are you Morgan?" Jason said explaining his nephew's instant frown and sudden clinginess.
"Uhn-uh" he murmured as he rubbed his eyes and laid his head down on Jason's shoulder.
"Aww, sweetie, I'm sorry if Cameron scared you. Captain Hook is just pretend. He's not real." Elizabeth said as she dropped Cameron's hand and touched Morgan's knee.
"So will you let us walk you back to your hotel? Or will we have to just follow you?" Jason said with a chuckle.
"Well…I wouldn't want you to teach these boys the fine art of stalking so, I guess it would be okay but we'll have to ride the monorail. I am staying at the Floridian." She said with a smile that lit up the night.
"Oh, I thought…well, I guess I assumed you were staying at the Contemporary since I saw you there today. Was that the meeting you were talking about at the pool?" Jason asked, shifting Morgan in his arms so that his free arm was on the side that Elizabeth was walking.
"Yes, that was my meeting. I was offered the job and actually Cam and I were staying at a hotel on Independence Drive. The hotels here on Disney property are expensive. However, my new boss' wife wasn't feeling well so they were leaving to go home right after our meeting and he let us use his room at the Floridian. It's paid through the next three days."
"I thought I heard you tell Cameron that you were leaving tomorrow." Jason asked, suddenly hopeful that he had misunderstood.
"Yes, we're leaving tomorrow. I would love to stay but our plane tickets are for tomorrow. Even with the new job, I can't just blow money on…"
Cameron interrupted her, "Mommy, I'm tired. Will you carry me?"
"Cameron, it is very rude to interrupt Mommy." She looked up at Jason. "Sorry about that." Then looked back down at her little boy and stopped. "Okay but you are getting to be too big to carry buster. You are almost the size of Mommy."
She picked him up and he immediately moved into the same position in her arms as Morgan was in Jason's. Jason noticed her struggle and stopped.
"Which one of you wants to ride on my shoulders and which one wants to be carried in my arms?"
"Arms" Morgan said with a yawn.
"Alright Cameron, looks like you get to ride on my shoulders." Jason announced.
"What? Jason, you can't carry both of the boys. I'm fine carrying Cam. Really I am." Elizabeth appealed knowing that her son was going to want to ride on his shoulders anyway.
"Mommy, I WANT to ride on Jason's shoulders, please." Cameron whined. He was tired and could barely lift his head from her shoulder to make is plea.
"Yeah Mommy, besides didn't I show both of you how strong I am at the pool?" Jason smirked, setting a slightly whimpering Morgan down and reaching over to lift Cameron up on his shoulders.
Rolling her eyes, she handed off her son, "Whatever."
"Alright Cameron, in order to carry you both, you have to promise you'll keep your feet tucked under my arms so that you don't kick Morgan. Can you promise that?" Jason said as he tucked the boy's shoes under his arms and bent to lift Morgan back up onto his chest.
"I promise Jason. I won't kick Morgan."
"Good, alright Morgan, you can lay your head back down buddy. We'll be back at the cabin soon. I know you have to be pretty tired."
They walked out of the entrance and on the ramp to the monorail.
"Uncle Jason, when we leave the Floridian can we ride back to Fort Wilderness on the boats? Does the Floridian have a boat launch?" Michael asked leaning over the rail and watching the last stragglers getting on the boat down below.
"I don't know Michael. I don't think the monorail goes to Fort Wilderness though does it?" Jason asked.
Michael pulled out his guide and started looking.
"Mommy, can I ride on the boat with them?" Cameron asked as he held on to Jason's ears continually tightening his feet under Jason's arm. Cameron didn't want to break his promise.
"Honey, we'll already be back at our hotel room. Remember, Jason and Michael are taking us back to make sure we get to our room safe."
"Please Mommy" Cameron jutted his lower lip out hoping that helped convince his mother to let him ride on the boat.
"You know Uncle Jason, we could always take the boat instead of the monorail over to the Floridian." Michael smiled looking up at his favorite uncle knowing Jason would say yes. He rarely tells he and Morgan no and with as hard as he's trying with Elizabeth, he doubted he'd tell her son no either. He laughed slightly watching his uncle with sixty pounds of boys in his arms and on his shoulders. 'What a schmuck' he thought.
"We can? Great idea Michael. How does that sound Cameron? We'll just walk back down to the boat and ride over to your hotel room." Jason looked at Elizabeth and frowned when he watched her cross her arms over her chest and shake her head no.
"What? Is that not a good idea?" he winced.
"No but never saying 'no' to a child isn't healthy." She said dropping her arms back down and reaching up to rub Morgan's back. "besides, I think this one's asleep so maybe you should skip the Prince Charming routine and go your separate way. I am sure his mother would want him home in bed."
"Carly probably isn't even home. She went to Pleasure Island tonight to go dancing." Jason responded. "Besides, he's already asleep. What will it matter if we ride to the Floridian and then over to Fort Wilderness?"
"You have a point. I just…I feel like I have put you out all day long. First you have to go into the pool after Cam then you give up your spot well…at least share it, for the parade. Now you are carrying my son AND your Godson and taking us back to our hotel. Not to mention the fact that you bought blankets that you obviously weren't planning to buy until you saw that I was going to sit down on the ground and bought us these hats" she held up hers and Cameron's mouse ears that he had handed her once her went into Jason's arms.
"Hey" he reached out his hand and touched her shoulder turning her to face him. "I don't do anything I don't want to do. Besides, I have enjoyed being your Prince Charming today."
Laughing Michal chimed in, "Hey, Uncle Jason…if you are Prince Charming then would Miss Elizabeth be Cinderella or Snow White?"
"I don't know Michael, what do you think?" Jason chimed in. He loved the easy rapport he had with Michael and it seemed to keep getting better as the boy got older.
Looking up and noticing the easy smile growing on his Uncles face and then the interested look on both Cameron's and Elizabeth's he figured he could kill two birds with one stone on his next statement. He could easily embarrass his uncle, which is ALWAYS fun, and he could get them past this awkward stage so that whatever is going to happen could happen and soon so he could get back to the cabin and play his new Disney video game his mother bought him.
"Well, let's see if I remember my fairy tales that Mom read me….hmmm….Okay, if she is Cinderella, then you have to dance with her at a ball. And we KNOW you hate to dance which is probably why you offered to give Letecia the night off and bring us to the parade. Then you have to hunt Cinderella down all over town smelling and touching ugly women's feet until you find her to give her back her shoe that she loses. BUT, if she's Snow White…" A huge grin crosses his lips and he wrings his hands in front of him "You get to kiss her. The only downside to that is that you have to wait until she's asleep so your kiss can break the sleeping spell."
"He already did that!" Cameron said excitedly, glad he could add to the bedtime story.
Jason and Elizabeth caught each others eyes and Jason smiled, "Yeah but I choose Snow White anyway."
"Ewww Mommy, he wants to kiss you again." Cameron squealed.
Elizabeth turned beet red but never let her eyes wander from Jason's dreamy gaze.
"YES I do." Jason said and gave her a wink.
