Ever On: Chapter Ten
"Take all the time lost
All the days that I cost
Take what I took and
Give it back to you
All this time
We were waiting for each other
All this time
I was waiting for you"
One Republic, "All This Time", Waking Up, 2009.
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Jason cursed Carly under his breath. As much as he loved her, the woman was a thorn in his side at times. Her latest little "crisis" had delayed him in meeting with McBain. He was rushing to try and make the time up. He was just coming around the corner when he saw what he was certain was an illusion. It had to be.
He heard the gunshot. He saw McBain stumble backwards with the force of the shot and crumple to the ground. That bitch Zacchara was walking up to McBain with her gun aimed at his head, ready to deliver the kill shot. He hadn't even had time to draw his gun to try and stop the bitch from finishing McBain off.
That's the moment that Jason was sure he'd seen things.
There was no other explanation for it.
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Claudia Zacchara was standing above him with the gun pointed at his head. He had no doubt she was going for a kill shot to the head to finish him off.
John gave a shake of his head to clear his vision, even as he tuned out the crazed rant coming out of that snake of a woman's mouth. He closed his eyes to try and clear his vision and when he opened them, everything was different.
He had moved so quickly he had caught the snake holding the gun off-guard. The gun fell from her hand even as her body travelled backwards to slam into a wall ten feet away with John's hand around her throat and her body lifted a foot off of the ground.
Stunned and with the breath knocked out of her, Claudia Zacchara realized she was in great peril. The man she was sure she had just shot in the chest was pressed against her, one hand holding her by the throat with her feet no longer touching the ground and eyes blazing a fiery red. He had suddenly become a terrifying avenger, and she was petrified.
"That wasn't very smart of you, now was it? You just put a hole in my best cardigan." John told her with quiet venom.
Claudia remained silent, unable to catch her breath and completely terrified by the strength and glowing eyes of the man holding her against the wall.
John's senses were highly tuned at that moment, and he heard the creak of leather moving from off to the right. Still holding Claudia against the wall with one hand, he pulled out his gun with the other, turning his head to aim with deadly precision at the new threat.
"I can strangle her and shoot you at the same time, so don't even think about it." John stated calmly.
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Jason stepped out of the shadows and into the light from the warehouse with his hands up, his gun hanging loosely in his right hand.
"It's Morgan, McBain."
With a frustrated growl, John turned his head back to Claudia as he holstered his gun. Morgan had gotten there, albeit a little late. He'd deal with Morgan's punctuality problem later. Right now, he was trying to decide what to do with Claudia. The thought of breaking her neck had a certain appeal to it, he had to admit.
"Now, what do you suppose I should do with you, Claudia?" John asked, his voice loaded with sarcasm. "I'd really love to just break your neck and throw you into the harbour, but there's this small problem called being a cop that prevents me from doing that."
Having finally caught her breath, Claudia mewled out a muffled response that sounded a lot like "please…" and then was silent and frozen stiff with terror again.
Disgusted with her cowardice, John released his hold on Claudia and watched with some amusement as she crumpled to the ground in a huddled ball of fear. Squatting down on his haunches next to her, John delivered the final blow to any courage she might have mustered.
"Make a single move and I will kill you with my bare hands. I'm certain you have no doubt I can do exactly that." John stated without compassion.
"Why not arrest her for two counts of attempted murder? I heard her confess to shooting Sam, and I witnessed her shoot you. I'll do whatever you want to help put her behind bars where she can't hurt anyone." Jason suggested softly, his hands still up in the air. He was very leery of McBain at the moment, given he had no idea who or what he was really dealing with.
John closed his eyes again to concentrate for a moment, and when he opened them everything was back to normal. Pulling his gun out again, he held it aimed at Claudia while he turned to Morgan.
Jason couldn't say why but he was very relieved to see that McBain's eyes were no longer glowing red. The man appeared just as he usually did – normal. Jason relaxed just a fraction.
"Done. You cover her while I cuff her and read her the Miranda. Then, we'll take her into the station together." John suggested.
Jason quickly complied with John's suggestion and the babbling mess that was Claudia was handcuffed and taken to John's car to be processed at the police station. Once she was settled in the car, Jason turned to John with a simple statement.
"You have some explaining to do, McBain."
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Again, John growled in frustration. How was he supposed to explain to Morgan something he himself wasn't sure he understood? Unfortunately, he couldn't deny what Morgan had seen.
"I know you won't believe this, but I really can't explain it. I don't really understand it myself. I just know that I can do these things and that I can do some of them at will while others only happen in certain circumstances, like when I am threatened. If your worry is for Sam's safety, you don't need to worry about her. She knows about this and she is my number one priority. I would never hurt her and I'll always do whatever it takes to keep her safe." John offered up to Jason.
"It's pretty scary what you can do, McBain. It worries me. It makes you unknown and unpredictable. I don't like that. It's not a good situation for my business." Jason replied.
"Tell you what. I promise to not use it to bring you down, although I will go after you the conventional way. You promise to keep mine and Sam's secret safe, and we'll all get along just fine. How's that?" John suggested.
Jason took a moment to think about what John was saying. He was pretty sure that McBain could easily kill him if he wanted to. With a sigh of resignation, Jason agreed. He'd keep a careful eye on McBain going forward, but for now, he wasn't as concerned as he had been originally. McBain appeared to be honourable.
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After clearing up the procedural aspects of Claudia Zacchara's arrest and managing to produce a vest with a slug in it to account for his lack of injury and yet prove that she had shot him, John was finally free to spend time with Sam.
He was lying on the bed in their villa with Sam cuddled against him. They had talked about Claudia and what had happened. Sam was upset at first, but John had been able to calm her. Now that they were both relaxed, he broached the subject of their strange connection.
"I can't explain why us finding each other has brought out all these special 'abilities' for both of us. I'm beginning to think that we're actually Caleb and Olivia reborn and reunited with each other." John told Sam in a hushed whisper. He felt her head nod in agreement as she rested against his chest.
"I don't see another explanation for either, John. What I do know is that we're connected to each other in a way that no one else could understand. I love you, and I'm looking forward to our life. I'm so happy we're having a child. We have everything we could ever want."
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They were curled together in their bed at the villa. She luxuriated in the feelings that coursed through her now that she had been made into what Caleb was. They were together and exactly as they had always longed to be. Caleb stroked her cheek.
"No one is more beautiful than you." he told Olivia.
"Do you mean that?" she asked him uncertainly.
"To the depths of my soul." Caleb replied with certainty.
"We finally did it. We're exactly who we want to be and we're together." Caleb and Olivia smiled at each other.
"We deserve it." Caleb told her.
"Yes. After everything that we've been through, we do deserve to be happy, and I will never do anything to hurt you again." Olivia promised him.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you." Caleb stated with conviction.
"No one will ever touch us." Olivia told him as Caleb leaned in and kissed her.
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Olivia Cassadine Locke looked over at her lover.
"We've done it. I love you so much."
"And I you." Baron Caleb Morley replied.
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Author's Note: Again a long time to update. Sorry about that. This story has worked out not bad, but I may add an epilogue to it. I hope you've all enjoyed it. For the record, I love the way Caleb is on GH right now. Michael Easton is doing an incredible job of playing him so over the top, which is exactly what Caleb has always been. It's shame he's likely dead, or not Here's to hoping John and Sam get together soon. I'm sure I'm as impatient as almost every other fan out there to see it happen