Cam set Jason down on the back seat and closed the door, running around to the other side of the car to get in beside him. He gave the man a questioning look and waited for a response. Jason dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a kerchief. When Elizabeth had her eyes focused elsewhere, Jason slipped the kerchief into his jacket and set it against the wound in his side.

His glare at Cam said many things... mostly SHUT UP.

As they moved down the mountain road a Black SUV raced up at them. Elizabeth met Jason's eyes in the rear-view and he shook his head. "Ours."

Letting out a sigh of relief she concentrated on the road.

Cam watched Jason carefully. He knew Jason had been shot twice - once in the leg and once in his side, but he had no idea how bad the second was.

"Do you want to tell me what you were doing out there, young man?"

The mother tone of her voice was painful to his ears. "I was following Jason."

"Following, Jas-" her inarticulate groan of words bit into his consciousness. "Why would you do something like that?" She looked up at Jason, but the enforcer didn't meet her gaze. She turned back to Cameron and waited.

"I asked Mr. Corinthos for a job. He said I had to impress Jason."

"Impress?" She tried to keep her tone from shrieking and almost succeeded. "I... I can't.. " she dragged in gulp after gulp of air. "You could have been killed." When she looked back through the mirror she looked not just at Cam but at Jason. "Were they Alcazar's men?"

"Yeah." He met her worried gaze in the mirror. "He upped the price to ten million."

Her last breath nearly sobbed from her lips. "He really wants you dead."

Cam felt like a complete idiot. He'd been hasty. He'd been determined. He'd been irresponsible... they'd probably followed him trying to find Jason and he'd been only too stupid to lead them right to the enforcer... and he'd nearly gotten his mother killed in the process.

He felt like he should turn around and face the corner of something like it. Sure, his mom was a nurse and she'd taken care of hurt people before. He'd even seen her in the middle of his school Open House help a man having a heart attack. She was all business when it came to blood... except this time.

Every movement of her hands or Jason Morgan's body brought a hiss of sympathy from her lips. She watched his face constantly for any signs of pain. He rarely moved unless she told him to and even then he seemed to be dealing with the pain well. Almost too well.

"I can't believe you bought this place." She spared a glance at the old brick walls surrounding them. "You didn't even change anything."

Cam followed her look and saw an easel in the corner and a few canvases, some with paint on them. The sight tugged on some memories deep inside his head, but he had no real context for the feelings.

"There's a kit, on the table." Jason's words were tight, scratched between his lips.

Without anyone asking, Cam picked up the kit and brought it to his mother, opening the snap locks and setting it down beside her so she could look in it.

"Scissors." She picked up the shears and turned to Jason. "I've used so many of these on your clothes over the years you should buy stock in the company." She bent over his leg and started to cut away his pants.

"What," he hissed in pain as he shifted his shoulder, "what makes you think I didn't?"

Looking up from her work, Elizabeth's shocked gaze met Jason's and Cam again felt like he was intruding. There was something between them that crackled with energy and buzzed with tension.

"That's not funny." She turned back to her work and finished removing the leg of his pants. "I'm sure the next thing you'll tell me is that you own the jeans company, too."

Jason didn't shrug this time, but he did tilt his head to the side to catch her attention. "It'a a good return on my investment when beautiful nurses are constantly ripping them off me."

The look in his mother's eyes floored him. Heat flared between the two people on the couch and Cam had to turn away. Never in a million years would he have thought of his mother and Jason Morgan... but then... turning back slowly he looked at the man sprawled on the couch, his face alight with a smile rather than the stern angry look that seemed to be etched on his features and Cameron saw more than he intended.

He saw the truth.
"You're Jake's father."

Both Jason and Elizabeth were shocked from their reverie. Turning toward Cameron, Elizabeth returned the shocked look of her son with a soft, almost melancholy smile. "Yes... he is."

Cam's gaze was focused on Jason's face, cataloging the similarities to his younger brother, the hair, his features... "I always thought he had mom's smile, but when you... when she made you laugh... it's him... I mean, it's you!"

Unbidden tears rolled down Elizabeth's cheek and she swiped them away before reaching into the kit for a pair of forceps. Jason reached out to touch her arm and steady her. The gesture was so simple and yet so intimate that Cam suddenly felt the walls close in on him. "I need.. I have to get some air."

"Cam, wait!"

His mother's voice stopped him at the door. He looked at her over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"You can't say a word to anyone... and I need you to pick up some things."

Jason watched the young man balk. It must be a lot to take in at one time... and Cameron obviously wasn't dealing well with it. "Cam... my men will come and take the car. They'll have it cleaned."

Cam shut his eyes, understanding. After all, there was blood all over the back seat and at couple of bullet holes in the body.

"They'll pick up whatever Elizabeth needs, but I want you to be careful out there..."

"I just want to walk around for a bit. I'll be right back."

Elizabeth's look was telling. It was the same old worrisome frown when she knew she couldn't quite get through to him. "Jason's right.. be careful and come back soon." She pointed at her purse. "Get my wallet and pick up something to eat, okay?"

A measure of control came back and the corner of his mouth twisted in a grin. "I think I can manage on my own, Mom." A moment later he was out the door.

**** ****

Elizabeth couldn't quite meet Jason's eyes as she continued with her ministrations. She removed the bullet from his leg, wincing at the 'ping' of sound it made in the old soup can. She wrapped his leg and sat back to look at him. Her curious gaze turned to concern as she saw the sheen of perspiration on his face, the wet spikes of his hair. "What's wrong?"

Jason started to ease his jacket off and she cried out.

"Oh my... Jason!" She went to work, pulling on the arm of the jacket as one hand held his kerchief to his side. "Why didn't you say something?"

"You," he grunted as he twisted his shoulder to help her, "were busy."

"You," she hissed as removed the other arm and turned him to the side, "are an idiot." Wiping the back of her hand over her forehead she began again, trying to patch up yet another hole in his hide.

As he watched her work on his side, her soft breath feathering over his bare skin he realized that he was in danger of breaking every rule he'd set for himself. As Elizabeth's dark blue eyes roamed over his injury he stared at her face and willed himself to remember every eyelash, every plump bit of skin beneath her lipgloss, and every pounding beat of his heart inside his chest as she leaned close enough for him to catch her scent.

"Elizabeth."

Being this near to Jason, their thighs pressed up against each other, her hands on his bare flesh, the sudden brush of muscle against the side of her breast. She couldn't help the way her body reacted to him... she never could. She took in deep breath after deep breath, but it didn't calm her. Instead she took in his scent.. the dark midnight scent of his skin as though he brought the fresh scent of mountain air with him where ever he went.

He shifted and the rough scrape of his denim clad thigh against hers encased only in her scrubs was nearly her undoing. Her body wanted him, just as much as her heart did, but she couldn't. No matter how much her body wept to press against him she couldn't... not when felt the cool press of her wedding band against her skin.

She swayed and his hand reached out to steady her. A simple touch on her waist but her eyes flickered up to meet his intense gaze and her mouth went dry. "Jason."

A soft knock at the door broke the spell and when Jason answered his guard Elizabeth felt the break of the connection between them.