Title: With Love
Circa: 2001
Significant Change: Elizabeth gives up on Lucky after her talk with Jason on the bridge. The two become closer friends than before, but neither step over the line into something more than what they have always been. More than friends, but less than a couple.
Disclaim everything recognizable as thought up by those behind the soap opera known as General Hospital.
Looking around at all the winded guards, she smiles slightly, knowing that she had a lot of work ahead of her. She knew that they would need a decent amount of help, but she didn't think it was this bad. From the looks of the newer guards, she was going to have to step up her efforts if she's going to get them into the shape that Jason and Sonny needs them to be in.
Though, she had to admit that Max did a lot better than anyone would have guessed, having only gotten winded during the last leg of their run. She had hoped that Ritchie and Marco would have done better than the newer guards, but apparently their training techniques have been lacking as of late because they were winded right out of the gate. Thankfully, Johnny and Francis's stamina hasn't dropped any and they were able to keep up with her.
"I'd say this was a good first session, wouldn't you, Francis?" Elizabeth questions as the men start downing water like it was going out of style.
"Could have been better." Francis counters, shaking his head as one of the men take a new five gallon water container and starts downing in. "But yeah...it was okay for their first time."
"If you're not doing anything later, we should go over what we're gonna do for the next one." Elizabeth turns away from the men to look at Francis. "We need a more structured approach if we're gonna do this right."
"I'm not busy now." Francis offers. "How about we talk over lunch?"
"Sounds good." Elizabeth turns back to the men as they finally settle down from their water binge. "You guys did really good today. Tomorrow, you should go a little better, if not a lot better. Same time and place, make sure to dress for it this time. Yes, I am talking to you Ricardo. Sweatpants are much more suitable for exercising than jeans."
"Dismissed." Francis says simply. "Johnny, you coming?"
"Huh? Did you say something?" Johnny counters as the men disperse. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the loud throbbing pain in my legs."
"Oh, man up." Elizabeth shakes her head. "We're going to Kelly's to grab some lunch and go over the plans for tomorrow."
"You had me at lunch." Johnny smirks, slinging his arm around Elizabeth, guiding her towards the exit. "After what you've put me through, I'm so hungry I could eat a cow."
"Gross." Elizabeth smacks him before walking out of the warehouse with both Francis and Johnny. "Not an image I needed in my head."
While the three friends are heading to the local diner to have their meeting of minds over lunch, Jason has finally been able to get Sonny on the phone, planning a lunch meeting of their own. Heading out to meet Sonny, he watches the three of them get into Francis's car before he straddles his bike and heads to his lunch meeting with Sonny.
During the ride there, he wondered what Sonny would say about him bringing a woman into the organization. Granted that her position within the business isn't a delicate one, not in the least, it still went against Sonny's rules and he wondered if his friend would agree with his assessment of the men or if he's demand that Elizabeth be relieved of her duties. Shaking his head of all the random ways this could turn out, Jason parks the bike in the parking garage before heading up to Sonny's penthouse.
"In the kitchen." Sonny calls out to him when Jason calls his name. "Lunch is just about done. Finish setting the table while you wait."
With a shrug of his shoulders, Jason gets to work on setting the table with whatever Sonny had put out for them, thinking of ways to boast about Elizabeth's training, hoping to get Sonny hyped about it so it wouldn't end. Regardless of the logical reasons why Elizabeth training the men is an asset and not a liability, Jason just wanted her around. This way, they can see as much of each other as they want and he doesn't have to worry about her as much. With that many guards around her, there was no way anything would happen to her.
"Okay, lunch is served." Sonny says as he walks out of the kitchen with two different platters of food. "Fair warning, I rushed through cooking this, so, don't blame me if it isn't as good as it could be."
"Dully noted." Jason counters, helping Sonny place the platters onto the table. "Can we eat now?"
"Dig in." Sonny gestures to the food. "And, while you're at it, you can tell me what's with the need to meet today."
"Right...that." Jason sets the spoon down once he's filled up his plate. "I hired Elizabeth."
"Would you like to elaborate on that?" Sonny counters, setting the serving spoon down. "Seeing as you're telling me, it has something to do with the business, am I right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay...so what did you hire her to do?"
"Train the guards." Jason watches as confusion settles into Sonny's eyes. "I figured that the men could use a good trainer and Elizabeth fit the bill."
"Are you sure?" Sonny counters. "Or are you only hiring her because she's Elizabeth?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"There are countless trainers more qualified to train the men." Sonny points out. "Trainers that are already within the organization. Why not utilize them?"
"Because I've seen the way they train and Elizabeth's style would be the most beneficial to both the men and the organization." Jason defends, arching his eyebrow when Sonny simply smirks. "Did I say something to amuse you?"
"I've already spoken to Francis and Johnny." Sonny shakes his head. "And I happen to agree with you. The men definitely need help and, between what they tell me about her training style and knowing Elizabeth the way I do, you're right. She would definitely bring an element to the training that none of the other trainers possibly could. You made the right choice."
"Are you serious?" Jason looks at him disbelievingly. "So, what was the point of this lunch?"
"Just wanted to see how you'd defend your decision." Sonny shrugs, pouring himself a glass of water. "You're part owner, Jason. You don't have to check in with me on all the decisions you make, but I do appreciate the gesture. The fact that you respected me enough to let me know only further proves to me that I made the right choice in entering this partnership."
As the conversation dropped there, Jason couldn't believe that he was really taking Elizabeth's position in the business so well. A part of him wanted to question Sonny further, but even he knows when to push things and when to accept what has happened. Seeing as he didn't want Sonny to change his mind and insist that he fire Elizabeth, Jason opts to accepting Sonny's acceptance and letting it go.
"Before you leave, I want you to pass on a message to Elizabeth for me." Sonny says as Jason gets ready to walk out the door. "Let her know that I'll be sitting in on her training session tomorrow."
"She won't let you just sit in." Jason counters, knowing that she wouldn't care that its Sonny, she'll make him get up and participate. "She'll make you participate."
"You make it sound like I won't be able to handle it if she does." Sonny looks at him curiously. "Should I assume that means you've participated?"
"We ran together before I hired her." Jason says simply, pulling open the door. "But, as Johnny had put it, you won't know what its like until you try it. I'll let her know."
Hiding a slight smirk as he walked out of the penthouse, Jason had to admit that leaving Sonny curious yet slightly wary was definitely a good payback for being put on the hot seat about Elizabeth. Closing the door behind him, he makes a mental note to be there when Sonny gets back from training with Elizabeth. He just might have to take a picture of his friend once he's been put through Elizabeth's style of training.
"Hey, its me." Jason says after Elizabeth answers her phone. "Where you at?"
"Just finished having lunch with Francis and Johnny at Kelly's." she admits, getting into Francis's car. "I should be at your place soon. Why?"
"There's something I need to tell you." Jason pushes open his penthouse door, making his way inside. "You're gonna get a real kick out of it. So, get here fast."
"Great." she says sarcastically. "Way to peak my interest while I'm all the way over here."
"Just get here."
Ending the call, Elizabeth tells Francis to step on it, getting her to Jason's place in record time, saying their goodbyes before she makes her way up to the penthouse level. Walking inside, she finds Jason sitting on the couch with a beer bottle in his hand. Looking at him curiously, she shrugs out of her jacket before walking over to sit next to him.
"Okay, I'm here." Elizabeth says seriously. "Now spill."
"Sonny doesn't mind that I hired you." Jason says simply. "He actually agrees that the men need all the help they can get."
"Please don't tell me that I rushed all the way over here for that." Elizabeth counters, looking at him seriously. "Do you know how many laws we broke to get here this fast?"
"Okay, okay." Jason laughs softly, earning a punch from Elizabeth. "Sonny's gonna sit in on your training tomorrow. I told him that you wouldn't just let him watch and he seems to think he can handle it."
"Sonny's going to train with us?" Elizabeth's mouth turned up into a sweet smirk. "Now, that's more like it...oh, this is gonna be so much fun."
"Elizabeth, do me a favor?"
"Please don't tell me I have to tone it down just because Sonny will be there."
"Actually, I was gonna say, do your worst." Jason chuckles when her eyes light up. "Prove to Sonny that you're the real deal."
"You got it." Elizabeth says wholeheartedly. "Like I said, this is gonna be so much fun."
"I bet."
