Chapter Thirteen

Jason stared in amazement at the little mirror image of Elizabeth, all except for the eyes. He bent down and smiled at his solemn daughter who was clinging to her mother's hand. "Hello, Sophie."

"Hi," she returned softly.

Kneeling down and placing a reassuring hand on her back, Elizabeth kissed Sophie's head. "Sophie, this is your daddy. He has really been looking forward to meeting you."

"Then where have you been?" she demanded, her ice blue eyes meeting his with curiosity. "I've been right heres."

Frowning at her outspoken daughter, Elizabeth started to interrupt when Jason shook his head slightly at her. She could see the emotions swirling in his eyes and kept quiet. She looked up at Francis and Johnny and saw that they too were absolutely still, watching the exchange between father and daughter.

"I am so sorry, Sophie, that it took me this long to meet you. I have been looking forward to it though. You are a beautiful little girl."

Sophie grinned widely, always appreciating compliments. "I look just like mommy," she said proudly. "She says that I am perfect. She told me that you lived in the United States. Whys you here now?"

Elizabeth stood and sighed slightly. "Sophie, why don't we let everyone in before you question him to death. I also want you to say hi to Johnny and Francis. They are friends of mine and your dad's."

She studied the two men standing slightly behind her father. She offered them both a large smile before bouncing off to the living room. Elizabeth looked over at Jason. "Sorry. She is going to have to warm up to you a little."

"It's ok. I understand that she doesn't really trust why I am here, Elizabeth. I was prepared for this." He followed her into the living room and sat beside Elizabeth on the couch while Sophie settled in the recliner across from them. Johnny and Francis each sat on the other couch.

"Whys are you here now?" the little imp asked again after everyone was settled. "Are you not busy now? Mommy always said you was working and couldn't be here. But Uncle Johnny and Uncle Lenzo work and are still heres."

"Sweetie, he..." Elizabeth trailed off as Jason placed his large hand over top her thigh to stop her.

"I know that I was gone for a long time, and nothing can change that, Sophie. I missed out on so much with you, like watching you grow, but I will always be here from now on. I'm not leaving you or your mom again." He paused and turned to lock his eyes with Elizabeth's sapphire ones. "I will always be here if you need me." Returning his attention back to the little girl studying him closely, he saw that she was biting her lower lip as she thought about what he was saying.

"I guess that having a daddy might be neat. Uncle Johnny and Uncle Lenzo let me get by with more than Mommy or Aunt Claudias, so you should too," she told him with a mischevious grin. "After all, daddys are suppose to spoils their little girls."

Johnny snickered as Elizabeth groaned and threw him a dark look. "Sophia, you are pushing it."

"Whats? He also has a bunch of gifts to make up for," she said innocently.

All three men chuckled and Jason felt the tension ease from his body. While he knew that she was still leery of him somewhat, it looked like his daughter had inherited her mother's forgiving nature too. "I certainly do have a lot to make up for. You are right about that."

Clapping her hands with delight, Sophie jumped up and climbed up onto Jason's lap, surprising him, but he quickly wrapped his arms around her small body and hugged her tightly. Kissing the top of her head, he lifted his emotion filled eyes and saw that Elizabeth was wiping a tear off her cheek and smiling at them. "I love you so much, Sophie," he murmured against her hair.

Leo knocked on the door and entered, looking uncomfortable at interrupting. "Sorry to bother you, Liz. Can I see you outside for a minute please?"

Casting him a curious look, she noticed that he was uneasy and not his normal upbeat self. "Sure. I'll be right back, guys. Make yourself at home and help yourself to anything from the kitchen. I'll be right back, Soph." She stood and followed her guard out of the door, feeling all the three men watching her.

Waiting until the door was closed behind them, Leo grimaced before turning and meeting her concerned eyes. "We have a slight problem on the west side of the property. Security was breached and we have two guards not responding to calls."

"Did the cameras pick anything up?"

"No. They were deactivated. I called John. He is still in the air. We are upping the guards on your house and the ones at the main house, but I need you and Sophie to stay inside until we know what is going on."

Elizabeth nodded. "Of course. Is Claudia ok?"

"She is fine," he reassured her quickly. "Claudia is use to the security measures from growing up here. I didn't want you to be frightened if you seen the extra men on the grounds. Dean and I will be on the doors, so you will be fine. I just wanted you to know that Sophie won't be able to go to the pond tonight like she normally does."

"Thank you, Leo. Keep me updated, please."

He pulled the door open and flashed her a quick grin. "I will, Liz."

She paused inside the doorway and rubbed her neck. Hoping that it was only an electrical malfunction, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes to regain her composure before going back into the living room. The knot of unease in her stomach was hard to ignore though.

"Elizabeth? Is everything alright?"

Jumping, startled at Johnny's sudden appearance, she nodded. "Yeah. Just some problems with the security equipment. How is Jason doing with Sophie?"

Chuckling, he shook his head with amusement. "She is something else. She reminds me of a little fire cracker, just like you always did. I was relieved that she didn't push him away. He was so nervous."

"I know. You can never predict how she is going to react. I was happy that she didn't torture him too much. Considering that it is half my fault too that he missed so much time with her, I was hoping that this would go smoothly."

Squeezing her shoulder, Johnny shook his head. "You both messed up, Liz. You left to protect Sophie. No one can blame you for that. I know that Jason is upset that he missed out on so much time, but he understands why you did what you did."

Looking up when they entered the room, Sophie launched herself at Elizabeth's knees and climbed up her petite framed. "I wants to show them the ducks! Can we?"

Tucking a stray curl behind her small ear, Elizabeth shook her head. "Not tonight, kiddo. Dean and Leo need us to stay inside for awhile."

"Whys? It isn't raining," she protested with a pout.

"I know, Sophie." She sat her back on her small feet. "They have some issues to deal with and I promised Leo that we would not go to the pond tonight. Maybe next time."

Jason looked out the glass patio doors and saw several guards sweeping the grounds. Looking over at Francis and Johnny, he saw that they had noticed the extra movements and was frowning too. "What is going on?" he asked after Sophie had went to get a juice box a few minutes later.

"Um, they have some cameras down and a couple guards not responding to calls. They are implementing the security shut down measures until they are sure that everything is secure."

"Does this happen a lot, Liz?" Francis asked while looking out at the darkening sky.

She hesitated and then shook her head. "Last time was when I was pregnant. Luiz had gotten on the property but escaped before anyone could catch him."

Jason's eyes narrowed but his response was cut off as Sophie bounded back in the room. The rest of the evening, she showed him around her room and they played games together. Elizabeth watched their interaction and was relieved to see that it had become unstrained as the hours passed. Sophie was glowing at the attention that she was recieving and Jason was estatic to be spending time with his daughter.

After bathing the little girl, Elizabeth returned to the living room and saw that the three men were discussing something heatedly but paused as she entered the room. "Sophie requested that you read to her tonight, Jason. She is already in bed."

He stood and nodded with faint smile as he headed down the hallway.

Sinking into the couch, Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested her head against the cushion. Opening them after a few minutes, she looked over at Johnny and Francis to see them watching her carefully. "What?"

"She is a great kid, Liz. You have done an amazing job with her."

She snorted at Francis' remark. "Thanks, but she makes it easy most days. Other days I want to pull my hair out, although they are rare." She looked over as Leo, Dean, and Collin all entered after a brisk knock. "Hey. Everything alright?"

"Can I talk to you in private?"

"Sure." She stood and led Collin to her studio. "Is it bad?"

The enforcer ran a hand through his dark hair and watched her. "We know who breached security, but he got away before we could contain him. John has ordered all guard rotations tripled for the night. I just wanted to let you know that it is under control for now."

"Who was it?" She lifted a brow as he remained silent. "Collin, answer me. Who was it?"

"Manny Ruiz."

She scrunched her forehead and chewed on her bottom lip. "Who is that? It doesn't sound familiar."

"He is from Miami and a rival of Corinthos."

"Shit! Are you freaking kidding me!" she exploded. This was exactly what she had been afraid of after going back for Audrey's funeral. People were starting to connect her to Sonny again, and if they knew that she was his daughter, it was even worse.

"Shh. Elizabeth, calm down. Sophie is a couple rooms over trying to sleep. We have extra guards on you. You and Sophie are protected. We are not letting anyone get close to either of you. John and Lorenzo are a couple hours out from landing, but they will be here soon." Collin studied her and saw the fear in her eyes. "You will be fine, Liz, I promise. I hate that I scared you, but we felt that you should know that the threat is directed toward you."

"I do appreciate you telling me, Collin. I am just worried about Sophie's safety. Are you sure that he is no longer on the property?"

"One hundred percent. I have to get back and update Claudia too, but I will be back outside within an hour. Dean and Leo are staying here along with a couple of other guards." He squeezed her hand. "It will be fine, Liz."

Returning to the living room, she followed the trio to the door. "Be careful, ok."

Dean offered a cocky smile. "You know that we will, Lizzie."

"Who is Manny Ruiz?" she asked as she sat back down.

"Why?" Jason asked before either of the other men could respond. He sat down beside her on the couch and looked over at her. "Sophie is out. We read two books. Now, why do you want to know about Manny?"

"He was on the property earlier, on the west side. Collin said he is an enemy of Sonny's."

All three cursed, causing her to wince at their reaction. If the looks on their faces were any indication, she was even more worried. "How does he know about me?"

"I don't know," Jason admitted. "It's not exactly common knowledge that you are Sonny's daughter. No one knows beside from the higher ranking guards, Sonny, Olivia, Dante, and Alcazar. Did they get him."

Blowing the bangs out of her face, she shook her head. "No. They are tripling the guards here and at the main house though. I just didn't recognize the name."

"Maybe we should stay..." Francis started.

Elizabeth's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head. "No! We will be fine with our guards."

"This is our enemy, Elizabeth. There is no way that I am leaving you and our daughter here alone with that bastard running around." When she started to protest, Jason hissed in exasperation. "We are not leaving, Elizabeth. Not until I know that he is gone."

"He is gone."

"Not from Italy, though. Sorry, Liz, but I agree with Jason," Francis told her quietly. "Especially considering that Zacchara and Alcazar are gone right now. You, Sophie, and Claudia are all easy targets."

"We have our guards, same as always," she countered stubbornly.

"That can be paid off. It happens all the time."

Glaring at Johnny, she shook her head adamatly. "All the guards have been with me since I arrived five years ago, Johnny. Dean, Leo, and Collin are not going to sell out."

"Maybe not," Jason conceeded softly. "Just humor me, ok. I am sure that John is very selective with your security, but what if it is someone else that lets him slip in. Wouldn't you rather that Sophie has the most protection that she can if things get as bad as they can?"

Knowing that she was defeated, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine. I know that you won't listen to me anyway," she muttered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hearing footsteps in the back of the house, Jason listened closely and could tell that Elizabeth was in her studio. Glancing at the digital clock and seeing that it was late, he got out of the bed and tossed his jeans on. Leaving the spare room silently, he made it to the doorway of her studio and stopped.

She was in sleep pants and a sleep tank that stopped just above her belly button. Her feet were bare and her long hair was flowing freely down her back. He watched mesmerized at she used charcoal to sketch on the canvas while humming softly to herself. Watching her like this reminded him of the first time that she helped him after he had been shot and she had found him bleeding in the snow. Wishing that he could go back to the time when everything was so uncomplicated, he pinched his nose before lightly clearing his throat.

Her eyes flew to the door and she eyed him warily. "What are you doing up, Jason?"

He moved into the room but kept his distance. He could see that her defenses were back up now that Sophie was not around. "I heard you back here. Besides, it is hard to sleep somewhere unfamiliar." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Why aren't you asleep? I'm sure that Sophie will be up early."

"She always is," she agreed with a laugh. "I just felt the urge to drawl. Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't," he reassured her. "Thank you so much for trying to make earlier easy for me. I know that you talked to her before we arrived."

Dropping the charcoal into the tray, she shrugged. "You deserve to know one another, Jason. You are her father, and no matter what our past is, I hope that you two can bond. She is a wonderful little girl and I know that you will be a good father." Elizabeth turned and grabbed a sheet to throw over the sketch. "I am sorry that you missed out on so much."

"I wish that I had remembered you telling me that you were pregnant," he said softly as he stepped further into the room. "It would have changed everything."

"Of course it would have. You would have known Sophie from the beginning."

"For us too."

She looked up and frowned. "Jason, I wouldn't have wanted you to stay just because I was pregnant. That would be a bad situation all the way around."

Catching her wrist as she started to walk by him, he pulled her to him, causing her to stumble at the surprise move. He cupped her face and heard her inhale sharply. "It wouldn't have been just for Sophie. Just like it isn't about her now. I missed you, Elizabeth." He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently. He deepened the contact when she didn't pull away and wrapped his arms around her waist, tugging her closer.

Desire flooded through her body and she whimpered slightly before pushing away from him and retreating several steps away. "I can't do this again, Jason. I won't." Her eyes widened when he shook his head and started toward her.

"Why not? It's still there. All the feelings that we had for one another are still there, Elizabeth. You felt it too."

"But the trust is gone," she whispered sadly. "I don't trust you enough not to hurt me anymore, to put me first."

He stopped and looked at her. The sadness in her voice caused him to wince, but he knew that he needed to hear what she was saying. It was the first time that she had really opened up to him since he had saw her again. "We can rebuild the trust. You just have to want to try."

"I'm sorry, Jason, but I can't. I won't go back to Port Charles and let Sophie be treated badly because your friends hate me. I won't play second or third fiddle to Sonny, Carly, or Michael. I deserve more, and I want more. You and me, we just aren't meant to be. We created a beautiful little girl, one that I cherish, but I refuse to go backwards with you."

Swallowing painfully, he brushed the tears off of her face with his thumbs. "I'll do anything that it takes, Elizabeth, to convince you that you are first. We can stay here or go wherever you want. I just want you and our daughter."

"Jason, I can't! You almost destroyed me last time. Yes, you were drugged, but before that you were keeping secrets that drove us apart. I walked out of the penthouse because you lied to my face. You didn't trust me either. Our relationship was doomed for failure from that moment on."

He sighed heavily and turned away from her. Hearing her talk about the secrets and lies made him wince. He was already keeping something huge from her, something that could definitely break any chance of them apart if she would ever find out that he had known. He turned back and captured her gaze with his. "Answer me one question. Do you still love me, Elizabeth? Because I love you. I never stopped loving you."
Tears streamed from her eyes and she turned and looked out at the night sky. The internal battle inside her made her want to sob. She did love him, but she didn't want to admit it. It would be so much easier to walk away and say no. "I do love you, but that doesn't mean that I can do this again, Jason. Why can't you just give me time?" she whispered brokenly.

"I can't back away and give you time because you will crawl back into the shell that you created to hide behind. I am going to fight for what I want this time. You walked away last time and I let you because I was hurt and angry. I learned that if I want something, I need to fight for it. And I want you, Elizabeth. You and Sophie."

Elizabeth trembled when he placed his hand on her bare shoulder. "Jason, I don't think that I can take the chance again. Love isn't always enough. We hurt each other badly. I don't want to do that again."

He brought his arms around her waist from behind and pulled her back against his body, resting his chin on her head. "I need to tell you something that I know that you should know." When she stiffened he sighed but didn't release her. "You talking about secrets made me realize that you need to know this, but it's not my secret to tell."

"Does it affect me?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

"And what you are going to tell me, do you know that it is the truth?"

"I heard it from the source," he said in a hoarse voice.

Elizabeth turned and stepped back to study his face. The indecision and internal struggle was present in his eyes. "Should I know about it, Jason? If so, you should tell me."

"It's about John."

Her eyes flared and she jerked away from him. "God, Jason! I can't fight with you over him. I already told you that we are friends. He is my family. Don't start in on him again! I don't want to hear it."

He watched as she started toward the door. Taking a deep breath, he blurted it out. "He's sick, Elizabeth. Very sick."

Stopping abruptly, she turned and looked at him with confusion. "What? He would have told me if he was sick, Jason. You must have misunderstood."

He shook his head and stepped closer to her. "I didn't misunderstand. John is very sick and hiding it. He told me about it the the day before yesterday." He watched as she tried to absorb the news, but he could tell that she was trying to deny it.

She licked her lips that were suddenly dry. "Did he tell you what was wrong?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He needs surgery but is refusing to have it. I won't say anymore because it is his story to tell you, Elizabeth. But you need to talk to him, and soon. If you wait, it could be too late."

Gasping at the implication, she swayed and felt him steady her. When he pulled her against him, she relaxed in his arms and listened to his heartbeat as she cried silently. The thought of John knowing that he could save himself and wouldn't was unfathomable to her. Rubbing her eyes, she tilted her head up and met his penetrating eyes. "Thank you for telling me, Jason."

He brushed his lips gently to hers in a feathery caress before pulling back. "I promise, no more secrets even if I know that they are going to hurt. I know that you are overwhelmed and worried, but I want you to know that I am not going anywhere, Elizabeth."