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Chapter 11

Elizabeth jogged up the steps to her building and let herself into the lobby. She pretended not to see the dark haired man who kept walking up the block. He'd been following her, about half a block behind, since she left the diner. Since he was dressed in a full suit, with a tie, and dress shoes she was fairly certain that he worked for Jason. Although maybe he didn't since Jason had said it was now more important than ever that no one knew they were friends.

She'd see if Cooper was home and ask him. Elizabeth grabbed her mail and headed up the steps while sorting it. When she reached the top of the stairs she looked up and a frown crossed her face. In front of her studio door was a large bouquet of white roses. They must be for someone else in the building no one would send her any flowers. Not that she didn't think Jason could do romance, but he didn't strike her as the white rose type.

The envelope did indeed have her name on it and when she pulled the card out the note inside said, 'I've missed you and we will be together again soon'. What the heck? Who would be missing her? Everyone she knew was in Port Charles and she saw them regularly. Was this a joke? She knocked softly on Cooper's door and he instantly opened it. "Hi, Cooper, did you perhaps see who delivered the flowers?" She completely forgot about the guy who followed her.

"Hey, Liz." Calling her Ms. Webber would sound odd if any of the other neighbors they shared the floor with were listening.

"No, they were there when I got back from work." He had a meeting with Francis who was handling some things for Jason. The large Italian had already quite working for Sonny. Since one of the other guys had been told to see Ms. Webber home Cooper had come right to the studio. "Is there a problem?" He'd been curious since he knew they weren't from his boss.

"I don't think so." Still something about the flowers made her feel apprehensive. "I was just wondering because the card isn't signed."

"It's not?" He didn't like that. "Can I see it?"

She handed it over and peeked again at the flowers. They were going right into the trash. It was a shame because they were beautiful but they had to go. The more she looked at them the more menacing they seemed. "I'm going to throw them out."

"I'll do it. Can I keep the card?" Cooper wanted to show it to Francis.

"Sure, I don't want it back." What she wanted was a shower.

"Head inside." Cooper told her and waited until she did. Grabbing the flowers he took them into his unit and gave them a good look over. There was nothing odd about the blooms or the container they came in. There were no indications what florist they came from or who delivered them. He took a few snapshots and picked them up. He would take them down to basement and put them with the trash.

She was dressed for bed after having showered. She was working the dinner shift again tomorrow so she didn't have to rush to sleep. Instead she sat on the couch, the brand new couch from Jason that was delivered last week, and did some sketching. School started yesterday and it upset her that she wasn't able to go. As it was she'd be close to thirty when she graduated but she wouldn't have a ton of debt. Normally she took no more than three classes each semester and was slowly working her way toward a teaching degree.

There were times when she kicked herself for not taking the money that Jason had offered. This was one of them. In the morning she'd be happy she hadn't. This independent streak of hers was going to have to be modified if Jason was interested in dating her. The man was about as alpha as they came, he was going to insist on providing for her. She needed to learn to let him.

Putting her sketchpad aside she turned her thoughts to the flowers that had been waiting. Shuddering hard she tried to think of anyone that would send them, even as a joke. Not that they made her laugh because they hadn't. She kept coming up blank. She would give it more thought tomorrow. Dwelling on it now would lead to bad dreams. Instead she thought about Jason.

Thinking about him was a surefire way to guarantee sweet dreams. It would also leave her frustrated, in a good way. Thinking about the blonde haired, blue eyed man made her whole body tingle. She hadn't been lying when she said the she was healed. She had no problem with sex. Or more precisely the thought of sex. It didn't scare her. If Lucky hadn't died he would have been her first, now it was going to be Jason. She really liked the thought of that. A smile was coming to her lips when the lights went out.

It hadn't taken long to find the fuse box and even less time to disable it. Landlords who didn't do routine maintenance made his job that much easier. When the entire building went dark he slipped on his night vision goggles and headed upstairs to get work.

Cooper was in the basement when the lights went out. Shaking his head he dropped the flowers in the trash receptacle before heading toward the stairs. This building really was a hazard. Hopefully Jason would be done with everything soon and Cooper could move out. No way would Ms. Webber be staying here much longer. That was good because he missed cable. Following procedure he pulled his phone out and called the occurrence in. Johnny said he was on his way over.

The instant the lights went out Elizabeth's heart rate kicked up. She was terrified of the dark that was why she slept with the bathroom light on. Even with Jason here she'd needed to be able to open her eyes and instantly see around her. Reaching over she grabbed her phone and was preparing to call Francis when she stopped herself.

What was he going to do? Come over and sit in the dark with her. She had Cooper for that, in fact the guard would most likely be knocking on her door shortly. Francis would only end up coming over for no reason. Elizabeth had heard from Emily's guard stories about how Carly called for every little problem under the sun. No way was she going to be like that. Elizabeth didn't want the guys to look at her and see a pest.

She would get a flashlight, she had several. Rising on shaky legs she slowly made her way into the kitchenette by feel to the drawer beside the sink. Elizabeth never realized how dark it got in here without light. The studio had large windows but they were covered in chipped paint. The building was a converted factory. Because she was rummaging around the door she never heard the snick of her lock as it was picked.

He saw her right away. Standing on the far side of the small room. She was a pretty little thing. Little being the operative word. He could hear her muttering to herself about rogue flashlights. He smirked. She sounded really annoyed. Looking around he thought the place was a dump, Morgan really should move her somewhere nicer. Her wallet was on the counter and he opened it flipping through it to see if there was anything useful. He noted the PCU ID. At school would be a great place to get to her if he needed to.

Silently he walked over to where she was now rooting around for batteries and once behind her placed a gloved hand across her mouth. Instantly she stiffened and he could feel her shaking. That was nice. Something about fear was so intoxicating. "You can walk away unharmed if you don't scream." He told her. "Understand."

Elizabeth nodded. Her eyes were wide in terror and she all she could think was 'please not again'.

"Good. Be still." He whispered as he replaced his hand with a piece of tape. Next he taped her hands. Throwing her over his shoulder he carried her to the couch and threw her down. Turning on his flashlight he shined it directly in her eyes. When he saw the look of terror on her face he chuckled. "Don't worry I'm not after that. You aren't my type."

While she watched he removed a small bottle from one pocket and a linen cloth from another. When the fabric was wet he placed it gently over her nose. "Nice big breaths." It didn't take long for the drug to knock her out. From the inner pocket of his coat he removed an envelope and placed it on her chest. With the message delivered the man walked out of her studio leaving the door open. He would leave by the fire escape to avoid running into anyone.

Cooper let O'Brien in and filled him in on the flowers as they went back upstairs. They had just reached the second landing when the lights came back on. At the same time they noticed the door to Elizabeth's unit was wide open. Both men reached for their guns and slowly moved forward. Cooper swept low and Johnny high as they stepped into the doorway. "Shit." Johnny cursed low as he saw the small woman tied up on the couch. When he put his gun away and stepped forward he noticed that she wasn't awake.

"Francis is coming now." Cooper said still standing in the doorway to watch the hall. Jason was going to have his head. Hopefully Ms. Webber wasn't hurt.

Johnny quickly walked toward the couch. Gently he pressed a hand against her neck and breathed a sigh of relief to find a strong steady pulse. Sniffing the cloth that was next to her he frowned.

"What is it?" Cooper asked from the doorway.

"Chloroform. She'll be out until the doctor comes. Get me some gloves and a bag." He said to Cooper. Johnny wanted to preserve any fingerprints that might be on the tape. They had contacts that could get them a name if some were there. Cooper was back instantly.

"Do you think this is someone loyal to Sorel?" Cooper asked his friend.

Johnny just shook his head. "I doubt it. We were careful, and from what we know Sorel or his people had no idea Ms. Webber even exists." But Sonny did. Johnny hoped to heaven that this wasn't something stupid that the older man had done. A peaceful transition was best for everyone.

"Francis." Cooper said softly letting O'Brien know they had company.

"What happened?" Francis moved into the tiny apartment and saw Johnny on his knees next to the couch.

"We found her tied up." Cooper said from behind him.

"Where the hell were you?" Francis turned and looked at the younger man. This should not have happened. He listened as Cooper filled him in on the flowers.

Francis took the card. "Go get them." He instructed the other man who nodded and left.

Johnny stood up and walked to where his friend was standing. "This was on top of her. Her clothes were in place but she could have been redressed." Johnny showed Francis the envelope with Jason's name on it.

"This was planned. The flowers and the power outage. It was planned and we fell for it." Francis looked at the young woman who was sleeping. He was going over the side effects of Chloroform in his head. "Did you send for the doctor?"

"On his way. Cooper couldn't have known." Johnny said defending the other man.

"I'm aware of that. Jason is still going to be pissed." Francis said shaking his head.

"Are you going to tell him?" Johnny asked knowing that if Francis made that call the hounds of hell wouldn't be able to keep their boss away.

"I have to. It looks like their separation is over." The big blonde said pulling out his phone.

He saw her go in and waited with anticipation for her to find his gift. She would come to top of the stairs and look for him. But he wouldn't reveal himself. No. This was just the beginning of his plan to woo Lizzie. She deserved nothing but a full courtship. Flowers were just the first of many gifts he planned to bestow upon her.

She didn't come out but the lights in the entire building went out. He frowned. She really shouldn't be living there. She deserved better accommodations. Once they were together she would have the finest of everything. In fact the first thing he would do would be to take her away from here. They could live in a city more fitting to the life they would lead. Maybe Paris. Moving away he headed for home understanding that if the power was out she wouldn't venture from her home. He would catch another glimpse of her tomorrow.

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