Part Seven

She was standing there, her hair cascading down her back, wearing a dress that molded to all of her curves. She turned when she heard him enter, a smile gracing her face, showcasing her happiness.

She looked beautiful.

A fury he had never felt before raged through his body.

"Hey." She greeted in a low, raspy voice as she came closer to him. She went to throw her arms over his shoulders so that she could kiss him. He stepped back, grabbing her wrists to ward off her approach and kiss he didn't want. "What's wrong?" She asked, confused.

He didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he couldn't stand her touch right now; couldn't stand being near her. His stomach was turning, his chest tight. He felt sick. Dropping her wrists, he shook his head as he pulled his suit jacket off. Throwing the jacket on the back of his desk chair, he walked around her and towards the fire place that held pictures of his loved ones. A picture of the two of them.

"Jason. What's wrong?"

"I just left Elizabeth's trial." His spoke in a flat voice.

Silence followed.

He stared at the picture of the two of them. She looked happy, they looked happy. He didn't hear her approach, only knew she was right behind him when she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Was she found guilty?" Sam felt the muscles of his shoulders tighten under her hand. "I was watching the news but I had to turn it off. They kept going on and on about Alexis and I couldn't stand watching it anymore. I didn't think they would come up with a verdict so soon. I—"

"They didn't."

Her hand slid down from his shoulder, along his forearm, until she reached his hand. Just as she was about to grab his hand in hers to make him turn around, Jason's hand lifted towards the mantle.

Sam crossed her arms under her chest, hurt that he was being distant with her. "It doesn't look good for her does it?" She rolled her eyes when he said nothing. "Jason, I know that you don't want to believe that Elizabeth killed Alexis, but everything leads back to her. I know that you have been trying to help her but you can't fix everything. You can't blame yourself."

"I don't blame myself."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

"What were you doing in Alexis' hospital room that night?"

A stunned gasp filled the silence after his question. "What?"

When Jason turned around he held the picture of the two of them in his hands. His knuckles were white he held the frame so tightly. His eyes were cold, empty, dead, as they bore into hers. A chill ran down Sam's spine. "I-I-I wasn't."

He continued to stare at her with a nothingness that scared and confused her. "I…Jason I didn't go to her room. I didn't even know she was in the hospital until we found out she was dead."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not!" Sam took a step forward, stopped when realization hit her. "You don't think I killed Alexis?" Her heart was beating heavy against her chest. He couldn't have found out, there was no way. She had to make him believe her. "I didn't kill her!" Tears sprang to her eyes as she looked up at him with hurt.

Sam lowered her eyes; a tear fell down her cheek. When she spoke she whispered in a pained voice. "How can you think I killed Alexis?"

"You hate her more than anything…"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I killed her. I—"

Jason moved forward. His hands dropped down to his sides, the picture frame slammed against his thigh. "You've told me before how much you hated her because she ruined your life. She killed your baby. Screamed at you until you went into labor, causing you to loose your child." It sickened him to use the baby he planned on raising with Sam like this, but he needed to get the truth out of her.

Sam's body began to shake with anger at Alexis and everything she did. Her eyes narrowed, her lips pinched tight as she clenched her teeth.

Jason went on. "She killed your brother. Danny would be alive right now if she would have let him have the antidote like you begged her to do. But she didn't, she took the antidote for herself and Danny died."

"Stop!" She screamed as she turned away from him, covering her ears as she shook her head.

"She's made your life miserable Sam. Without her we would be raising your baby together, Danny would be here." Every word, every excuse that exited his mouth was said because he knew it would cause her to break.

It worked.

Sam spun around, her hands clenched in her hair. "You're right! I hate her; I hate her so much that I killed her!" She swiped angrily at her cheeks to wipe away the tears that continued to fall from her eyes. "Alexis was a selfish bitch who didn't deserve to live." She took in a deep breath, calming her nerves. She crossed her arms under her chest again. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "So I did something about it."

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"I had it all figured out. Everything worked out just fine."

Jason's anger began to rise. The woman standing before him was not the same person he had grown to love. It was like he was talking to a stranger. "So instead of coming to me after you killed Alexis, you let someone else take the blame."

Pursing her lips, Sam tilted her head to the side. "I didn't know Elizabeth was going to be arrested. It's not like I framed her."

His breathing grew heavy. "You let Elizabeth go to jail for a murder you knew she didn't commit. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What does it matter?"

"What does it matter? What the hell do you mean what does it matter?" He didn't disguise the disgust in his voice.

"Alexis deserved what she got. I wasn't going to go to jail because I did this town a favor by riding it of her. I felt bad for Elizabeth, but come on Jason, what was I supposed to do?"

"You should have come to me!" He shouted, stabbing his finger to his chest. "You should have come to me when you found out Elizabeth was being charged for something you did." Why could she not see what she had done by not coming to him? She knew that he loved her, why didn't she trust him to help her?

Sam's eyes narrowed, "What would you have done? Turned me in to save Elizabeth?" She spat the other woman's name as if Elizabeth did something wrong. She was the only innocent one in the entire situation.

"I could have helped you both. But you didn't come to me. You let Elizabeth go to jail and you were going to go on like nothing happened."

"Damn right I was. Like I said, I felt bad for Elizabeth but the only way to help her out would be to admit that I was the one who killed Alexis."

Jason took a step back, his fingers clenched around the picture frame at his side. "You didn't even want me to help her. When I found out that she was arrested, you didn't want me to go see her. You didn't care or even feel bad for her. It didn't matter to you who took the blame; all you cared about was that you were safe because someone else was being charged."

She looked away when he stared through her. "It didn't matter to you that Elizabeth has a son that needs her. She didn't do anything to deserve this but you didn't care. You were going to let her spend the rest of her life in prison while you continued to lie to me and live your life even though you ruined hers."

"I did what I had to do." She shrugged. It didn't matter what he said to her, she would continue to think that what she did was right, no matter how many lives she ruined to save her own.

"Elizabeth did not deserve this!"

"I didn't deserve to have Alexis as a mother!"

The fury that had been building within him since the moment he entered his penthouse bubbled to an all consuming anger. He couldn't see straight, couldn't think. All he could do was see Elizabeth in her jail cell, curled into the corner on her cot, tears streaming down her face as she asked him to watch out for her son. She put all of her faith, her trust, into him to help her through this. Yet, the woman that claimed to love him, the woman who he planned to spend the rest of his life with didn't even trust him to help her. She lied to him, was going to allow an innocent woman who had everything going for her to go to jail. And she didn't even seem to care.

Cursing, Jason spun around, throwing the picture of the two of them against the fireplace mantle. The wooden frame splintered, glass shattered all over the floor. He was breathing hard as he turned around to glare at her. She was looking at him with wide eyes, her mouth opened in shock. His voice was deadly calm when he spoke. "You've lied and you've manipulated me ever since I found out Alexis was dead, maybe even before that." Her mouth opened to protest, his hand slicing through the air silenced her. "Like mother like daughter, right?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She asked, angry with him now. Angry that he should care so much about what happened to Elizabeth, angry that he was angry with her for saving herself. So what if Elizabeth took the blame. Jason didn't love Elizabeth, he loved her, he should be happy that she wasn't going to go to jail.

Jason's hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw tight, his eyes cold. "You always said how Alexis didn't care about anyone else but her self. You've told me over and over how she caused you to lose your baby to save Kristina; that she let Danny die so that she could live. As long as Alexis got what she wanted she didn't care who she had to hurt to get it." He raised his eyebrows. "You're the same way. You killed Alexis and let Elizabeth take the blame. As long as you were safe you didn't care."

"Don't you dare compare me to her."

"Why? It's true." His anger at what she had done, at finding out exactly who she was caused him to lash out. He couldn't stand to be near her any longer, couldn't look at her anymore. Shaking his head, Jason walked past her and towards the door.

"What…where are you going?"

He didn't answer her. He was reaching for the doorknob when she ran up to him, clamping her hands on his arm. "Don't leave, please. I know…I know you are angry, but I-I," she had to think. She couldn't let him leave. "I was scared when everything happened. I wasn't thinking. Please!"

Jason tried to shrug her hands off of his arm but she was holding on too tight. He turned around to peal her hands off of him. When he freed his arm, her hands reached up and cupped his face. He allowed himself to look at her that moment.

"Please, let's just talk about this some more. I love you Jason. Don't leave." Her eyes softened when his hands reached up and covered hers. A small smile appeared on her face.

Her smile disappeared when he curled his fingers around hers in a bruising force, pulling her hands away from him as if they burned his skin.

Her eyes opened in fear as he turned around to open the door once more. "What are you going to do? Are…are you going to turn me in?" He pulled open the door. "You can't do this! You love me Jason, don't do this!"

The door slammed behind him.

Max turned when he heard the screaming, seeing Jason stalk out of his penthouse, slamming the door. The look on his boss's face stopped the question that he was forming. Instead of speaking, he waited as Jason closed his eyes and shook his head, calming his anger.

Jason finally noticed Max standing in the hallway. He nodded his head once in greeting, "Thanks for coming."

Max cleared his throat, shuffled from one foot to the other. "Sure thing. What do you need?"

"I need you to stay here and make sure that no one comes in and Sam doesn't leave."

"Ok." Max answered, confused but knowing better than to question what Jason wanted.

Jason moved towards the elevator. He paused before entering. "No matter what, Sam is not to leave." He swallowed thickly. "When…when the police get here, let them in."

With that, Jason entered the elevator, leaving a very confused Max staring after him.


Once the elevator doors closed, Jason fell heavily against the back wall. Nothing made sense to him at that moment. He couldn't process how Sam had done what she had done and not have cared. She hurt him by not going to him when she killed Alexis. Jason knew that she had to have been the one to push Alexis into the harbor, and when she didn't die, Sam went to the hospital room to finish what she started.

Jason didn't know how he should feel about Sam killing Alexis. But what mattered to him was that she was going to let Elizabeth go to jail because of it. She was going to sit back and not mention anything to him.

Sam was not the woman he thought she was.

He wished he could have helped her, could handle the situation differently. But she was the one who caused it to end as it was. Jason couldn't help her after what she had done. He owed it to Elizabeth, to her faith in him, to their friendship to make sure that Sam was handled correctly.

It still pained him. It pained him beyond belief to turn his back on her. They were planning a future together, wanted to have a family. They had been through so much together and, at times, Jason believed he wouldn't have been able to make it through certain times without her by his side.

But she had changed. The woman who stood beside him during those times wasn't manipulative and heartless.

Sam was no longer the woman he loved.

The chirp of his cell phone caused him to pause as he stepped off the elevator into the Harborview parking garage. Reaching into his pocket, Jason was ready to turn his phone off thinking it was Sam calling. But when he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Enzo, the guard he ordered to watch Elizabeth's son, Jason flipped the phone open.

He didn't know the extent of the call, but before he answered Jason could feel that something was wrong

"What happened?" He asked; dread filling his voice but not knowing why.

Yet.

Jason didn't wait for Enzo to finish talking before he set out on a run towards his bike.