At Random: Origin & Method


Thank you again to the reviewers! One of my summer resolutions is to get a new chapter of Shadowing Death or Coming Home up, since it's been forever for those. I keep getting stuck! These two random words are pretty short, but I figured something was better than nothing. Origin is based off an idea that I've flirted with before, but love.

Origin is exclusively about Jason. Method, however, gives us some liason love!

===Origin===

Jason was born into a world full of people who knew lots of things about him while he himself knew nothing. He remembered how painfully confused he'd been when a man who called himself his father came into the room and threw all these facts and expectations at him all the while beaming at him and fighting tears.

This conversation, his first, served a bigger purpose than Alan Quartermaine ever knew.

It presented Jason with the first thing in his life that he figured out for himself that was exclusively for himself. Namely, that he was not this person the man had praised and that he didn't want to be.

This single truth fueled him from that moment on. He based his entire life on it and gave him a reason to make decisions. Had Jason laid in that bed and realized that he wanted to please the shaking man before him, the world would be a different place. Had he awoken and realized that he liked the routine and calmness the hospital provided, the world would be a different place. Had he woken up and been too out of it to process Alan's words another conversation might have been his first and might have led him to make a different conclusion.

What if Lila had been there when he woke up again? Or Robin? Or AJ?

Later, when Jason was more capable and willing to look back and see different ways things might have gone, a skill he most definitely couldn't have used back then – hindsight and regret being the property of those who had pasts – he thought about that moment when he'd responded to Alan's breathless request "Can you speak?"

It led him to make another decision, entirely for himself without anyone else weighing in on his thoughts. In the beginning of his life, these decisions and realizations were things to be treasured, because he had so little control over who he was. Now, they were even more treasured, because he had other considerations weighing in on every move he made. He had to obey Sonny, help Carly, keep clear of the police and find new ways to keep the ones he loved safe all the while avoiding random thugs and bullets. This decision, however, was the first one in quite a while he'd made alone and it wasn't one would ever chose to examine too deeply:

Never would he tell Alan Quartermaine that his heartfelt speech to his newly awoken son, one that was only designed to sooth and comfort, had caused the young man he loved so much to run from him right into the mob.

===Method===

"Jason, you know you don't have to run to her every time she calls crying."

"I don't have to, I want to, Elizabeth."

"I think you just told you first real lie!"

Glare

"Oh come on, Jason, you only want to because if you don't talk Carly down now you might end up having to break her out of jail, or…"

"I wouldn't break her out, I'd be the first person people would suspect. That would be a dumb plan."

"Or out of a mental institution…"

"Elizabeth…"

"Or beat up some guy she'd flirted with…"

"That's happened before."

"Or pay someone off to keep them quiet…"

"That too."

"Or maybe wear a wire for the Feds…"

"Elizabeth, stop."

"Okay, if logic isn't going to work on you, then tell me why you can't call Sonny!"

"They're probably fighting."

"So, then it's his mess to clean up!

"Carly is my friend."

"I'm your girlfriend. Sonny is her husband. He said the vows, she's his now."

Silence

"I get loyalty, Jason, but this is like… enabling!"

"I'm not her enabler, I'm…"

"Her friend, I got it. At this point, I think you're just going out to save her out of habit. Wouldn't you be doing her a favor if you called her husband?"

"Or she'll do something stupid anyway."

"Jason, Carly is not your responsibility."

Head tilt

"Look, don't you think it would be better for everyone if Sonny could show up to save Carly and probably smooth over whatever stupid little fight they had?"

"Sonny and Carly are not everyone."

"And you could stay here… with me… alone."

"Elizabeth…"

"Kiss me."

"Let's go upstairs, Jason."

"I'll call Sonny."

"Smart boy."