Chapter 11 already! I was planning for a shorter fic but I need the time to properly tell the story that has become more complex than I had first imagined. I'm glad to see you're enjoying these chapters… things have definitely become tougher for Liason…

Part 11

C for Caretaker

"It's done." Johnny told his employer over the phone. "I'm pretty sure Jason Morgan won't be an issue for us again."

"Pretty sure? I don't pay you for pretty sure!"

"He jumped in the water to escape but I still managed to shoot him, he's definitely sleeping with the fishes as we speak. There is no way he could have survived this." Johnny confidently expressed.

"You better make sure you properly took care of him. He's an inconvenience I do not need at the moment."

"I'll check every hospital in case he turns up, but like I told you there is no way he was able to swim away with a bullet in him. The man is dead." The enforcer assured his boss.

"Take care of it!" The mob boss ordered and hung up the phone.

Elizabeth couldn't wait for Jason to get back from his assignment. He was probably right when he told her that they didn't have anything to worry about but still, she couldn't help but worry every time she knew he was in enemy territory. She tried to focus on positive thoughts like the fact that she would soon be able to pick up her badge. She had been suspended for too many days already, not that it had stopped her from investigating, au contraire; she had been able to make more progress than ever thanks to Jason's help. And there she was again, thinking about the man.

Elizabeth let out a sigh. They had spent so much time side by side since they met that she could now feel a void when he wasn't next to her.

What have you done to me? The agent wondered, thinking that Jason entering her life had not only revived the case but her heart as well.

The brunette glanced at her watch, again, wondering why time was passing by so slowly then suddenly heard what sounded more like a scratch than a knock. She opened the door cautiously and the sight in front of her was horrifying. Jason was barely standing, completely wet and bleeding abundantly. Elizabeth quickly helped the hurt man inside the studio and sat him on the couch.

"Oh my god, Jason what happened?" She asked, frantically looking for the source of the bleeding. "You got shot?" She quickly realized still in shock.

"Corinthos knows… he knows about me." Jason managed to mumble, still exhausted from the swim.

"How did that happen, oh my god!" Elizabeth grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby drawer and cut Jason's t-shirt to expose his wounded shoulder. "Jason there is a lot of blood, I should take you to the hospital."

"No… that's the first place Sonny's men will be looking for me to… finish the job." He said, knowing what to expect from his employer.

Elizabeth shook her head. "I'll get you police protection, your cover is already blown anyway."

"Elizabeth, maybe… maybe you can stitch me up yourself…. Let's not take the risk."

The woman removed the shirt she was wearing above a tank top, rolled it around her hand and applied pressure on Jason's wounded shoulder to stop the bleeding then with her other hand she grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and dialed a number.

"Who… are you calling?" Jason struggled to say feeling extreme pain.

"I'm calling a friend, he's a doctor and he'll fix you up better than I can."

Once Patrick picked up, Elizabeth asked him to meet her as soon as possible in her small studio and that it was important he came alone and with medical supplies. Her tone of voice alarmed the surgeon who assured her he would be there as soon as possible without asking questions.

"He will be here soon." Elizabeth told the injured man.

Jason nodded, his eyes fluttering as he was struggling to stay conscious.

"Jason stay with me!" Elizabeth yelled at him, her voice trembling as she kept applying pressure on his shoulder. "Don't you dare bleed out on me, don't you dare leave me! You hear me!" She begged in tears.

Jason reacted with a growl, trying very hard to hold on to her voice.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault, I never should have pushed you to get that flash drive." She blamed herself. "And then I let you go back in there knowing there was a chance your cover had been compromised… I'm so sorry Jason."

He managed to deny by shaking his head slightly. "It's not your… fault. I insisted I would be safe…" He struggled to speak, still out of breath.

"Don't talk Jason, just keep your strength until Patrick gets here." She told him. "He's going to be here in no time and you're going to be just fine you hear me!"

Jason nodded, his eyes shut tightly in reaction to the pain. A few minutes later Patrick knocked at the door and the man in scrubs was quickly ushered inside by Elizabeth.

"I came as fast as I could, are you hurt?" Patrick quickly asked as he walked in with a bag full of medical supplies.

"I'm fine. Thanks for coming so fast. I called you to help my friend Jason." She pointed at the pale bleeding man who was lying on her couch. "He got shot."

Patrick, without asking questions, jumped into doctor mode. He opened his medical bag, wore gloves and zoned in on the man's injured arm. Elizabeth sat next to Jason, and held his hand.

"Good job stopping the bleeding." Patrick told Elizabeth after examining the wound. He then spoke to his patient. "You're lucky, it's a flesh wound; the bullet went through and out of your arm."

Jason groaned as the doctor touched his arm and tightened his hold on Elizabeth's hand in reaction to the pain.

"I'm just going to clean the wound, stich it up and give you antibiotics to avoid any infections. If the pain gets too intense I will leave you some pain killers as well." Patrick said then worked on fixing up Jason's arm. He finished by bandaging his shoulder and handing him pills to swallow.

Elizabeth held a bottle of water to his mouth.

"Thank you." The injured man then uttered.

Patrick stood up and took Elizabeth aside and spoke as he removed his blood covered gloves. "Make sure he takes the antibiotics and replace the bandage daily. If you notice any sign of infection call me right away but if it's serious you're going to have to take him to the hospital."

"Thanks Patrick, I'm sorry to put you in this position but I knew you could stay quiet about this." Elizabeth said, slightly relieved.

"Of course… you know I'm here for you, whatever it is. And I don't want to know what happened but are you in serious trouble?" He asked his friend, concerned for her safety.

"Like I told you last time, Jason is helping me on the case and we ran into a little bit of a road block along the way."

"Well he was very lucky the bullet could have done a lot more damage, if it had hit an artery or an organ."

"I know, and I promise you that it will soon all be over so really you don't have to worry." She reassured him.

"All dramatic bullet wounds aside, it was nice to finally meet your beau… I just wish it had been in different circumstances." Patrick tried to lighten the somber mood in the room.

Elizabeth's face expressed something in between a smile and a frown.

"He's going to be fine, he seems like a tough guy." Patrick who saw worry on his friend's face tried to reassure her. He grabbed his bag of supplies. "I have to get going… they are waiting for me at the hospital. Are you going to be ok?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks again Patrick, so much." She said then hugged her close friend.

Elizabeth then shut the door behind the doctor and came to kneel on the floor next to Jason who was lying on the couch, trying to get some rest. She was relieved to see he was already getting a little bit of color back. The young woman ran a hand into his damp hair and caressed his face to which he reacted by reaching out his healthy arm and holding Elizabeth's smaller hand in his.

"You scared the hell out of me for a minute you know… I think my heart stopped when I opened the door and saw you barely standing and bleeding."

"Don't worry about me, I'm… fine…" Jason struggled to say, still feeling the pain in his arm. "I just need to rest a little."

"Yea well you don't look that fine to me… Jason that was a really close call, you could have died."

"I didn't, it's just my arm. I'm going to be fine."

"How did they know? You think Michael said something?" Elizabeth wondered how this could have happened.

"Carly found out, she is the one who asked me to meet at the pier… she recognized me as A.J.'s brother. She said we looked very alike."

"Carly… of course." Elizabeth let out, shaking her head. "She told her husband."

"She actually gave me an out, she said I should leave before Sonny finds out but it was too late, as soon as she left Johnny welcomed me with a gun." Jason winced in pain. "I didn't have time to draw mine so I jumped in the water and swam away but a bullet still hit me." He closed his eyes; the pain was getting the best of him.

"You managed to escape Corinthos' henchman; that's unheard off, they usually get the job done." Elizabeth told him amazed by his survival instinct. "And they probably think you're dead which is good for us. If we act fast enough we can get to the end of this before they find out you're still alive."

"Mac you have a minute?" Lucky said walking inside his boss' office.

"What is it Spencer?" Mac asked, barely looking up from the file he was reading and regretting enforcing his open door policy.

The agent claimed a seat in front of Mac's desk. "I wanted to talk to you about the whole witness debacle… I've been thinking about it and I have a feeling Elizabeth might be right."

Mac lifted his eyes up. "What do you mean… might be right?"

"I mean someone in the bureau could be talking to Corinthos." Lucky clarified.

"Oh not you too." Mac looked exasperated. "You know Webber is grasping at straws. She is and has been obsessed with this case ever since she started, before she was even given the lead on it."

"I know she is pretty intense sometimes but she has a point… how else would Corinthos have found out about this Smith guy?" Lucky argued. "And after all these years we have yet to find anything that could remotely bother him despite all his criminal activities."

"He is a careful man, so obviously he doesn't leave loose ends untied." Mac told his agent.

"But he did, with Smith… well that's until we found him. That's why I think she may be on to something."

"Oh come on, Webber probably led him straight to the poor guy. Seriously, there is no way the bureau has been compromised." Mac reaffirmed then heard his cell phone. The older man took a glance at the screen and hastily stood up.

"Is everything ok?" Lucky asked, taken aback by his boss' peculiar reaction. Mac was always in control.

"Yes, yes." He said then grabbed his suit jacket. "I have to run out… umm, we can finish this discussion later." He said then walked out leaving Lucky behind wondering what had gotten into him.

Mac rushed out of the field office and looked around making sure no one was in sight. He reread the cryptic message he had just received. It was summoning him for an urgent meeting at the other end of the city. This had happened a few times before so he knew exactly what the meeting was about and already dreaded the exercise, but he had made a pact with the devil and would have to honor his end of the deal.

Mac parked his car on a metered parking lot then walked three blocks to the meeting place. He arrived at the corner of the two deserted streets where he had been told to go, and five minutes later he saw a black Mercedes with tinted windows approach and stop at his level. The passenger door opened and he was gestured to jump in by a tanned hand with an imposing gold ring.

As soon as Mac swung the door closed, the driver started the car and began driving around the block, not to raise any suspicion while his boss and guest spoke. No one in the car had noticed another car turning around the corner and following them.

"Jason Morgan. Is he one of yours?" The tanned man asked, going straight to the point of the meeting.

"He isn't." Mac confirmed. "Why, what happened?"

"He joined my organization a few months ago but as it turns out, he's been working against me."

"I see." Mac said, quickly making the connection between Elizabeth's confidence and the infiltrated asset. "I don't know who he is or what he wants but I may know who he is working with."

"Who?" The powerful man in the dark suit sternly questioned, rubbing his hands.

"Agent Elizabeth Webber… and they may already have found something to use against you." Mac informed him.

"Do you know what she has this time?" The man asked.

"That's unfortunately all I could find out so far." Mac said, as he hadn't been able to get Elizabeth to open up without risking her finding out his true intentions. "I thought getting her away from the case would be enough but I was wrong, it only made her look even harder."

"You better fix this Scorpio!" The man with the ring warned. "Don't forget that I made you, without me you would still be an insignificant agent taking orders from others."

"I know and I'm working on it." Mac hastily assured the other man to whom he owed his current position as Special Agent in Charge. "I'm getting her back on board so I can focus her attention on something else, but to be honest I doubt that will be enough… the woman is extremely persistent."

The tanned man rubbed his chin. "Fine, then I'm going to have to take care of this my way."

"What do you mean?" Mac asked, worried by what the man meant by that. "I can make sure she backs away."

"That won't be necessary, you've done your part. I'll take care of it."

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