Chapter Eleven
December 26, 2005
Jake's: Jason's Room
Jason unlocked the door and pushed it open so that Elizabeth could enter first. He was nervous about the conversation they would have to have and he wasn't sure if she would agree to the new terms of their relationship.
He'd meant what he said to Sonny—Elizabeth's reaction would seal his decision. She was the deal breaker. If she wasn't okay with his moving up in the organization, taking on a position of power, he would go back to the warehouse. She was more important than anything he could do for Sonny.
Elizabeth set her bag on the floor and started to unbutton her coat. "You would not believe the day I had," she told him, unwinding her scarf and tucking into the pocket of the pea coat. She pulled the coat off and tossed it on the chair. "No, you know what? I'm not going to talk about it." She took the rubber band from her pony tail and shook her hair out. "What did you want to talk about?"
Jason held out a hand and when she took it, he drew her close to him. "I don't exactly know what you are to me," he admitted, "but I know that I want to be around you all the time, that I like when you smile and even better, I like when I can make you smile."
She grinned. "I think I like this so far."
They sat in the chair close to the door, her on his lap. "Sonny and I had a conversation today," he said and stopped.
Elizabeth wrapped her arm around the back of his neck, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair at his nape. "Sounds serious," she said. His somber mood since picking her up was making sense now and the first feelings of anxiety started to spread. "Is everything okay?"
"I hope so," Jason hesitated. "I'm trying to think of how to say this without saying too much," he told her. "Sonny asked me to do something that would kind of indicate where I stand in his company," he said slowly. "And it would be a decision that you can't take back in a few months or even years, not without a lot of trouble. Are you following me?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said. She pulled her legs up so her knees were almost tucked under her cheek. "Is what he asked you to do a crime?" she asked. She bit her lip. "Or is that too much to ask? I'm not sure of the limits."
"No, not necessarily," Jason answered. "I think it if was, I wouldn't be able to tell you." He rested his forehead against hers. "I don't know all the limits either. Which is something else Sonny wanted to me to talk to you about."
"Does he not want us to see each other as more than friends?" she asked.
"No, no. He likes you, he does. But he wants to be sure that there are things you can handle. Like this thing he wants me to do…" Jason paused. "It involves me not being to talk to you, contact you or see you for a while. I'm not sure how long. And I can't tell you why."
"Would this happen a lot?" Elizabeth asked.
"It might. I don't know yet." Jason took her hand and laced it with his. "I told Sonny that I had to make sure it was okay with you. That I didn't want to agree to do this and find out you didn't want to sign up for this kind of…relationship."
"Jason…" Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't want you to make that kind of decision based on me. This is your life; you can't let me control things. Isn't that why you left the Quartermaines?"
"I left because they wanted to control my life, make my decisions. They never once asked my opinion about anything. I want this to be okay with you," he told her. "My job is just a job; it's just something I do. I can do something else. But I can't…I can't find another you."
"God, just when I think you've made me speechless for the last time, you find a way to say something else that just completely blows me away." She leaned forward and kissed him softly. "Whatever you choose to do, I'm here. If you want to work for Sonny in this capacity, then you do that. I just want you to be as honest as you can with me. If you need to do something and can't tell me, say that. Don't just disappear and not tell me. I wouldn't be able to handle that."
"I can do that," Jason nodded. "And if you need to contact me for any reason, Sonny can always get in touch with me, okay?"
"Okay."
Satisfied that he had straightened everything out, Jason gestured towards the bureau where his cell phone was. "Are you hungry? Do you want to order a pizza?"
"No, I ate at the hospital. Are you hungry?"
He frowned. "I thought you wanted to come back here and grab dinner."
"Not exactly," Elizabeth hesitated. She glanced down and concentrated on the collar of his shirt. "I came here to spend the night." She glanced up at him. "Is that okay?"
Jason swallowed. "Yeah," he answered. "That's just…fine." They stared at each for a long moment before he seemed to get his wits about him. He kissed her hard, shifting his grip so that when he stood, she was cradled in his arms. "Are you sure?"
"You have no idea."
December 27, 2005
General Hospital: Cafeteria
Elizabeth hummed as she selected a container of peaches to go with her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Somebody's in a good mood," Emily laughed as she moved her tray up. She studied the peaches but opted for an apple.
Robin poked her head in between them, her already paid for lunch in her hands. "Somebody got some last night," she sang in a soft voice.
"Shut up," Elizabeth replied good-naturedly. "That's not for public discussion."
"Then we can wait until we get to our table," Emily said. She handed the cashier her money and then followed the girls out of the cafeteria. "I don't want too many details because hey, he's my brother. Still, I didn't even know you were dating!"
"That makes two of us," Robin said suspiciously. She looked at Emily. "How do we know it was Jason?" she asked in mock suspicion. She spotted a group of empty couches in the corner of the waiting room and gestured there. "Let's sit there."
"Oh please, the girl has been panting after him for ages," Emily rolled her ages. "Like the identity was ever in doubt." She set her tray on the table and tucked her leg underneath her body on the sofa before uncapping her iced tea.
"You two are a riot, really." Elizabeth perched on the edge of the sofa and stuck her straw in her cut of apple joice. "I did spend the night with Jason, we've only been…I don't know the right word because dating just sounds so much less than what it is, but it's only been a day or two. And I know we spent the night together a little quickly but—"
"You've been doing the foreplay thing for like two years. An hour would have been too long to wait," Emily waved it away. "How did it happen? With as few details as possible."
"Well…" Elizabeth quickly and concisely summed up their argument Christmas Eve and his apology the next day. "I don't know, it just felt right." She pushed her plastic fork around her peach container. "But Patrick is just…he's just lost it over all this."
"He's having a rough time," Robin said, before telling them about his visit to the lab the day before. "I don't think he's over everything that happened before. Your mom, my leaving, Jay's accident, Noah's drinking; I think he's still dealing with it all." She hesitated. "I think that me coming back stirred everything up again and probably not for the better. Maybe I should have just stayed in Paris."
"No," Emily said quickly. She put her hand over Robin's. "No, absolutely not. You came home to clear the air and you have a right to be with your family."
Robin bit her lip and glanced at her watch before deciding to speak again. "That's not entirely the reason I came home," she said quietly.
Elizabeth and Patrick's Apartment: Kitchen
Will was doing his best to battle the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. It didn't seem to want to close and no amount of rearranging the dishes within was working so he was relieved to give up that chore.
He pulled open the door and his eyebrows shot up when he saw Lulu standing there. "Hey, ah…I wasn't expecting to see you."
"Yeah, Emily said you were staying with Ellie and Patrick." Lulu gestured towards the living room. "Can I come in?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah." Will stepped back and closed the door when Lulu was clear. "Listen, I was gonna call you, but then I figured you wouldn't answer. I mean, I wouldn't blame you, I've been acting like an ass."
"Yeah," Lulu admitted. She clutched the strap of her purse. "But I gave you reasons to."
"I don't know," Will shrugged. He hesitated. "Are you staying long enough to take off your coat?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." Lulu set her purse down on the coffee and unbuttoned her coat, placing it over the arm of the couch. "Will, I know you're having issues with your family and stuff and the reason I broke up with you—"
"It doesn't matter, Lu, you get to do what you need to do for you, I know that," Will interrupted.
"Right, but I just wanted you to know that I'm worried about you," Lulu said. "I know you're drinking a lot—"
"I haven't had a drop since Christmas Eve," Will assured her. "Patrick and Ellie don't keep liquor in here and made me promise not to touch the stuff. It's part of the reason I agreed not to go home for a while." He shuffled his feet. "I know my mom will have the vodka lying around."
"Good, I'm glad," Lulu nodded. "Because you know, you don't have to let your family problems screw up your life. You could," she swallowed, "there's a lot you can do with your grades. You could go to college and stuff."
"Yeah, Ellie's been on me about my school stuff." Will frowned at her. "Did you come over for a pep talk or whatever? Because really, it's not that much fun coming from the girl that broke my heart."
"Right," Lulu sighed. "I wanted to tell you that things have changed a lot since we broke up and I've done a lot of thinking—"
"If this is going where I think it is…" Will held up a hand. "I don't think it's a good idea if we got back together. I still care about you, but I have to be on my own right now. I can't deal with anyone else's baggage and no offense, Lu, but you have a lot of baggage."
Lulu exhaled slowly and reached for her coat. "Right, I'll just…let you be alone. I'll do this by myself."
Will narrowed his eyes. "Do what by yourself?"
She shrugged into her coat and grabbed her purse. "Anything. Everything. Whatever." Lulu brushed past him and left.
"Girls," Will sighed and returned to the dishwasher.
Quartermaine Mansion: Foyer
Edward was descending the stairs when Emily burst through the front door and disappeared into the family room, slamming the door behind her.
Probably that no good Cassadine boy, Edward fumed. He knew that she'd rue the day she started with that reprobate and clearly Edward was being proved right!
He went to the family room and found Emily standing by the terrace, tears sliding down her cheeks. "What's he done?" Edward demanded. "I'll have his head!"
"What?" Emily looked back and wiped her cheeks. "What are you talking about?"
"That boy! What's he done to make you cry?" He crossed to join her at the windows. "I told you all along that he would do this to you—"
"Grandfather," Emily tilted her head back and let out a frustrated cry. "This has nothing to do with Nikolas!"
Edward faltered. "What? Then what's going on?"
"Robin just told me why she came home," Emily sniffled. "And I was just standing here, thinking about how small my problems seem. So what if you guys disown me after I get married? I'm not dead; no one in the family is dead—"
"Who's dead?" Edward asked, alarmed. "Emily, I demand you tell me what's going? And what's this about disowning you? Who's disowning you?"
"Robin's sick," Emily whispered. "She's really sick and I guess she's healthy right now, but that could change at any time, and she's been going through this for over a year and all this time I've been selfish and thinking about myself—"
"What kind of sick is she?" Edward asked, confused. "Is it cancer?"
"No…" Emily closed her eyes. "It's so much worse. It's HIV, Grandfather. Robin has HIV and you know, I'm a doctor, so I know all the treatments and I know the odds, and I know all the important stuff, but I also know that tomorrow her cocktail could stop working and she could get really sick."
"HIV?" he repeated. "People like Robin don't get that."
"Grandfather…" Emily shook her head. "I just…when she told us that she came home because she was sick, I never expected to hear…" She hesitated. "I'm upset because she's sick, yes, but I'm also furious with her for putting herself through this and never once picking up the damn phone to tell us! And Patrick, he's going to be devastated. He's loved Robin since we were fourteen." She scrubbed her fingers through her hair. "I just don't understand the world sometimes."
Edward hesitantly reached out to touch her shoulder. "Sweetheart, I'm sure it's all going to be okay."
"If only I could believe that."
General Hospital: Lab
"Hey, Robin," Patrick pushed through the door. "I got a message that you needed to talk to me."
Robin swirled around on her stool and stood. "Yeah…there's something I have to tell you."
