Where Loyalties Lie
"The only people I owe my loyalty to are those that never made me question theirs."
Slamming his fingers into the numbers on the phone, Sonny waits irritably as the phone rings, having more than a piece of his mind to give to the head of the five families. He knows his place among them, he knows what's required of him, just as he knows what's required of them. There is a level of respect owed to any don, a respect that should have rightfully been bestowed upon him. For him to go behind his back and straight to Jason, he wasn't happy with it at all.
"Corinthos." Maximus answers on the third ring. "I take it you got my message."
"You mean the one you sent through Jason?" Sonny counters in frustration.
"That was merely another means to reach you, Sonny." Maximus replies easily. "Do you not check your voice messages?"
"I...haven't had the chance."
"Or your emails?" Maximus continues. "I had sent you quite a few messages in regard to the situation. I was almost beginning to think it rude."
"My apologies." Sonny says after quickly logging into his email account. "I haven't had the chance to check my messages."
"That's all well and good. We are busy men, are we not?" Maximus says simply. "I had merely put in a call to Morgan because my boys had already landed. To ensure their safety, of course."
"Of course. Your sons will be taken care of here, I assure you."
"Good, good. I'm glad to see we were able to work this out." Maximus replies. "They give you any problems, you call me. I'll straighten them out."
"I'm sure that won't be necessary." Sonny says as he shuts off his computer. "Your boys are quite able, from what I remember."
"That they are." Maximus agrees. "I'll let you get back to your business. I'm sure you have lots to do."
"Right." Sonny says with a slight smirk. "Same to you. Take care, Maximus."
"You, too, Corinthos."
Ending the call, Sonny lets out a deep breath, realizing that his error could have cost him big time if he had actually accused the don of something. Punching into his voicemail for good measure, Sonny listens to the message left by Maximus, seeing that he had actually called him before Jason. Good. That's good. Ending the call, he places a call to Jason to make sure that the men were being trained by their best before ending the call and making his way to his kitchen. Some light cooking should pull him back to normalcy.
.
"How's the training going?" Jason asks Johnny as he walks into the warehouse.
"I have one of the guys guiding them around the warehouse." Johnny says simply, accepting the coffee from Jason. "Thanks for this."
"Don't let it go to your head." Jason says plainly. "You're just more bearable with caffeine."
"Front all you want, I know you care." Johnny smirks before downing half the cup. "For the most part, they're pretty decent. Won't take much to get them to the standard."
"Good." Jason replies. "The less time we waste on training the better."
"You're telling me." Johnny groans as the guys start making their way back over to them. "Hey, how about you hangout, train a bit?"
"No thanks." Jason says before turning away and heading for the stairs. "I'll be in the office."
"Cheat." Johnny counters before turning back to the men. "All done?"
"Showed them everything worth seeing." Tim says to Johnny. "They're all yours."
"Great." Johnny says with a sigh before gesturing for the two guys to follow him.
As Johnny continues his training with the Giambetti brothers, Jason heads back to his office to the paperwork still sitting on his desk. Running away from work had never been something he was interested in, but now it doesn't seem like that. It seems like he was leaving Elizabeth behind rather than leaving work behind and that irritated him on some level. He knows that work is work, its something that has to be done, just like her work at the diner, but he can't help it sometimes. Sometimes he just wants to leave work for the day and just be with her. Regardless of that, though, Jason sits at his desk and works through the files, knowing he'll see her soon.
.
Back at work, Elizabeth just wasn't feeling the whole waiting on people thing at the moment. Thankfully, Emily has stuck around to keep her company as she works, something she hadn't expected in the least. Of course, with her finding out about Jason, the girl just couldn't stop asking questions. Not that she minded. Jason's her favorite topic, whenever she gets the chance to talk about him, that is. Which doesn't exactly happen much because she didn't have anyone that truly got the appeal to Jason.
"Excuse me, what does it take to get some service in this place?" a blonde woman blurted out as she tapped her blatantly expensive manicured fingers on the counter. "Do none of you know who I am?"
"I don't think anyone's oblivious enough to not know who you are, Carly." Emily blurts out irritably. "Dial it down a notch. You're not exactly starving to death."
"Little miss prissy face." Carly scoffs at the sight of Emily. "What brings you back to town?"
"None of your business." Emily counters plainly. "Not that you'd care since it has nothing to do with you."
"You know me so well." Carly rolls her eyes before turning back to the counter, pretending to not be shocked when she finds a waitress standing in front of her. "About time!"
"What can I get for you today, ma'am?" Elizabeth says ultra sweetly, sick of this woman from the jump.
"I'd like Jason's usual and make it to go." Carly says all high and mighty.
"Jason who?" Elizabeth counters, though she has a pretty good feeling she knows who.
"Morgan! God, what are you, stupid?" Carly blurts out irritably. "I want Jason Morgan's usual so I can bring it to him! Do I need to spell it out for you?"
"Jason Morgan? Huh...can't say I've heard of him." Elizabeth says, placing one hand on Emily's arm to stop her from saying anything further. "Sorry."
"He comes in here practically every day! He wears a leather jacket, about this tall...seriously!" Carly throws her hands up. "How can you not know who Jason Morgan is? Do you live under a rock?"
"Are you his girlfriend or something?" Elizabeth counters with an arched eyebrow. "Because, if you are, you should know what his usual is, therefore, you could tell me and I can put the order in."
"Carly, Jason's girlfriend...ha!" Emily laughs at the absurdity. "She wishes."
"Shut up!" Carly snaps at Emily. "No, I'm not his girlfriend. I'm the wife of Sonny Corinthos."
"Sonny Corinthos...nope...never heard of him either." Elizabeth shakes her head. "Sorry."
"You are seriously testing my patience, little girl!" Carly exclaims. "Jason is Emily's brother! And Sonny Corinthos is his best friend!"
"You can yell till you're blue in the face, but I still wouldn't know either of them." Elizabeth counters with a smile. "Now, if you can't give me an actual order, I have other patrons to tend to. Have a nice day, ma'am."
Walking off, leaving a dumbfounded Carly in her wake, Elizabeth tends to the rest of her customers, not at all caring as Carly storms out of the diner cursing her existence. After settling her customers, Elizabeth returns to the counter, finding a rather pleased Emily with a devious smirk.
"You really pushed her to her break point." Emily comments as Elizabeth starts to wipe down the counter. "Why didn't you tell her who you are?"
"Cause its none of her business." Elizabeth says simply. "She's nothing to me and clearly nothing to Jason."
"True." Emily shakes her head. "Anyway, I should get going, I'm supposed to have tea with Lila soon."
"Have fun."
"I almost don't want to leave though." Emily admits as she hops off the stool. "After that show with Carly, I almost don't want to miss another if she comes back."
"Goodbye, Em."
"Bye." Emily smiles as she slides into her coat. "And thanks for sticking it to her."
"Sure." Elizabeth laughs softly. "Anytime."
Getting back to work, Elizabeth starts to wonder just who that woman was to Jason, knowing better than to have Emily explain it to her. If Jason wants her to know who that was, he'll tell her when she informs him of what happened. If he doesn't, well, its nothing too important. Finishing up her shift, Elizabeth decides to put it out of her mind for now, keeping her focus on the tasks at hand. Whoever she is to Jason, it was clear that she was trying to make up for something or create something and she just didn't have the energy to try to decipher it all.
.
With his work for the day completed, Jason makes his way to his apartment after receiving a call from Johnny that the security system was successfully installed and ready for him. Admittedly, he had been surprised to find that the thing was finished already, but decided to not question it. Arriving at his apartment, Johnny gives him the break down of the security that was put into place, finding that he was thoroughly pleased with the way it was set up.
"Just enter your security code twice and it should be set to go." Johnny says as he hands over the keys that Jason had lent him. "Place came together pretty quick, huh?"
"Yeah." Jason admits, sliding the key into his pocket. "Thanks."
"Anytime. The bill's on the table." Johnny says before grabbing his jacket. "I'm gonna head out and switch off with Francis."
"You don't have to." Jason shakes his head. "I'm gonna pick her up."
"Figured you might say that." Johnny smiles slightly. "You ever gonna tell Sonny about her?"
"Not if I can help it." Jason admits. "Its just better to keep them apart."
"I can see the appeal, but life has a funny way of sneaking up on us when we least expect it." Johnny says as he pulls open the door. "Food for thought."
Waiting long enough for him to walk out of the apartment, Jason took one more look around the place before he leaves too, heading in the direction of the diner. With the place finished, Jason couldn't wait to take her there to see it. Stopping off at his old apartment, he packs up his stuff before slinging it on the back of the bike and making his way to Elizabeth. She had just been walking out the door when he pulled up, a bright smile gracing her lips at the sight of him. Without a word spoken, she straps on the helmet and climbs on the bike behind him, allowing him to take her wherever he pleased.
"Is this the place?" Elizabeth questions after she dismounts the bike and hands him the helmet, taking in the place.
"Yeah." Jason admits, grabbing his bag. "What do you think?"
"I think...its perfect." Elizabeth says, able to see them having a barbecue on the side of the apartment with the addition of an inflatable pool. "Can we go in?"
"Yeah, of course."
Walking into the apartment with her, Jason watches as her eyes light up, deep thought clearly displayed on her face. She doesn't say much of anything as they go from room to room, not until they make their way back to the front door does she tell him what she thinks of the place. The bright smile gave it all away before the words ever left her lips. She loves it. She loves everything about it and that made him love it even more. The fact that he chose right and she agreed, it gave him high hopes for the place.
"Will you be staying here tonight?" Elizabeth questions as they make their way over to the couch to sit down together.
"Thinking about it."
"Mind if I stay with you?"
"Like you have to ask." he smiles slightly, kissing her softly. "Have you thought about it?"
"Moving in together?" she guesses.
"Yeah."
"I have." she admits. "Its definitely tempting..."
"But?"
"But I want to make sure you're sure about this." Elizabeth says firmly. "We spend the night at each other's places, but that's just every now and then. Living together means seeing each other every day, day and night, in every aspect of life."
"I know." he says, sliding his hands into hers. "I look forward to it."
"Me, too." she admits, staring into his eyes for a long moment before a bright smile graces her lips. "Lets do it. Lets move into together."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Elizabeth agrees lovingly. "If you really want this, I want this, too. Waking up to you every morning, going to bed with you every night, is more than I could have ever hoped for."
A/N: Thank you for all your kind words. I appreciate you all more than you know. I hope you enjoyed this update and I can't wait to hear what you thought. Updates on the other two will be coming shortly. Just working out a few kinks beforehand. Thanks.