Note – Note – Dag, yo. Fun stuff. :-D Mob stuff.

-Mean-

-20-

Step one

You say, we need to talk.

He walks.

You say, sit down; it's just a talk.

-- "How To Save A Life," The Fray

.: 202 Cherry Blossom Lane :.

"We've started training Morgan to take over for me. Just, uh, in case you hadn't already heard."

Elizabeth folded her hands on Carly's little table in the kitchen and nodded numbly. Jason sat across from her, and Carly and Jax could be heard going over receipts in the living room. About ten minutes ago, she'd gotten a call from Carly saying that she was to come over, and when she arrived, Elizabeth found Jason sitting on the couch. He asked to speak with her and led her into the kitchen.

It felt so strange to be sitting like this, on opposite sides of the kitchen table with a pitcher of iced tea between them. If anyone else had observed this scene, they would have thought of them as any old normal husband-and-wife pair.

She had been leery at first, but Carly assured her it was safe. Jason's bike was parked out back and he'd already been here for some time, and Elizabeth visited often enough, so it wouldn't arouse any suspicion from anyone. Besides, with none of the kids home anymore since Michael was in London, Morgan was at his penthouse, and Cecily was living out of a swanky suite at the MetroCourt, right across the street from the headquarters of her burgeoning label, it was actually pretty convenient for the two of them to use the Jacks' home for a meeting place…this once.

"What – what does this have to do with me?"

Jason shuffled his feet awkwardly. "We've run into a…problem."

Elizabeth's brows furrowed, and she was having the hardest time figuring out what he could be referring to. "All right…"

Her ex-fiance let out a sigh and shuffled his feet under the table for the hundredth time, and she just couldn't take it any more. She reached out and caught hold of his hand firmly, surprising them both, and looked him directly in the eyes.

"Jason." Her voice didn't waver. "What aren't you telling me?"

His shoulders slumped slightly, the movement almost imperceptible except to her trained eye. "Morgan's been running things by Jake. Getting his input, asking him for advice. About the business."

"Oh, God."

"Yeah." He shuffled his feet again. "Jake's been giving him advice on, uh…" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "On shipments, on route changes, on schedules, on how to handle the workers at the warehouse, our associates, how to better consolidate real estate, all that."

Elizabeth lifted a hand to her mouth. "You – You're sure? You're absolutely sure?"

"I heard them," Jason affirmed regretfully. "They were talking in the office at The Coffee Shop. Me and Sonny heard the whole thing. He wanted to talk to Morgan right then and tell him to knock it off, but I – I wanted to talk to you first before we confronted the boys. Let you know what was going on."

She nodded numbly, her mind already racing with this new information. "Thanks for doing that."

Jason was watching her carefully. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to him," Elizabeth replied firmly, gripping her clutch as she stood. "As soon as he gets home from work, I'm going to have a talk with him. He knows what Morgan's involved in now and…"

She trailed off and agitatedly swept her bangs off her face as Jason averted his gaze, already ashamed of what he knew she'd say next. "He's a mobster now. Jake's best friend is a mobster, and he should know that he needs to stay away from that. It's too dangerous – he wouldn't begin to know how to handle himself in your world. I'll talk to him, definitely. I'll talk to him tonight."

He nodded and slowly stood as well. "Sonny and I will talk to Morgan. We'll tell him about security and leaks and we'll make sure he knows that it's not at all acceptable to share this information with anyone outside of the business."

They nodded at each other, each one fully determined to go out and put an end to this, nip it right in the bud, but Carly came into the kitchen just then and spoiled the momentum.

"You leaving already?" She took Elizabeth's purse from her and set it down on the counter, waving for Jason to take his seat. "Stay, have some more tea. The kids aren't home anymore: you don't have to run off so fast like you used to."

.: 234 Cherry Blossom Lane :.

He was coming down the stairs, washed up and freshly changed after work, when she let herself in. Jake finished folding up his sleeves and flashed her a smile. "Hey, Mom."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek the way he always did when she returned home. "Listen, I ordered in from Eli's. Should be here in about fifteen minutes."

Elizabeth set her purse down on the table as she watched him walk away, presumably to the kitchen to get out plates and utensils. Jake knew that she never felt like cooking when she got home from work, and the Lord knew that boy could barely microwave popcorn on his own, so the two of them ate out a lot.

"Honey, we need to talk. Do you have a minute?"

Jake paused and turned around. "Uh, yeah, sure, Mom. What's up?"

She moved over to the couch and took a seat, patting the cushion next to her. "Sit down."

"Ooh, serious," he murmured, doing as she said. "How many weeks am I grounded for this time?"

Elizabeth would have smiled if what Jason told her earlier weren't so troubling. "Honey, please. I, uh, I ran into Sonny Corinthos today and he told me something that I wasn't sure how to respond to."

Jake was good enough at poker, so he knew enough about tells. And his mother had a big one when she was lying. She'd pinch the knuckle of the middle finger on her left hand with three fingers and tug on it absently; he was sure she had no idea she even did it.

He glanced at her hands, twined together in that fashion, and arched a brow at her. "Really. Where'd you run into Mister C?"

Elizabeth wasn't expecting the question, and it threw her for a second but she recovered quickly. "At Kelly's."

"Oh, yeah?" He took a mint from the little dish on the coffee table and popped it into his mouth. "You were at Kelly's? I'm surprised you didn't bring home burgers, then."

"It was, uh, it was over my lunch break," she replied hastily. "And anyway, that's not important."

It really wasn't. He already knew she was lying about who she had spoken to, so Jake took pity on her and let it go. "Okay, sorry, go ahead. I'm listening. What did Mister C have to say?"

His mother bit her lip. "He said that he overheard you and Morgan discussing something the other day at the coffee shop."

Jake nodded along amiably, not letting on that he knew what she was talking about. He wouldn't say a single thing until she revealed exactly how much she knew. No sense in putting his foot in his mouth. "Okay…"

She was obviously troubled and didn't want to go on, but she forced herself to continue. "He said that the two of you were discussing…business."

Jake blinked. "Well, yeah. That's kind of all I've been discussing with anyone for the past six years."

Elizabeth let out a short breath of frustration through her nose. "Jake, I don't mean business in general. I mean…mob business."

"Mob business?"

"Yes." She clasped her hands together tightly between her knees, and Jake could tell from one glance just how tightly wound she was over this. "Things relating to the mafia in this town. You know very well that Sonny used to run the organization and now – and now-"

"And now Jason does," he helped her out.

Elizabeth pursed her lips. "Yes. And soon, it'll be Morgan's turn to take over. Honey, I know the two of you have been best friends since you were kids, but this…Jake, the two of you are on radically different paths. We all knew this when you guys were little but we didn't have the heart to break your friendship then. But there's a big difference between the kind of business you're involved in and the kind of business that Morgan's involved in."

"You mean, I'm legit and he's not," Jake drawled.

"Yes," Elizabeth said softly, and then she surprised him. "And you don't kill people for a living."

He stared at her, shocked that she would come out and say that, and for once Jake didn't have a ready reply.

She reached out and patted his knee. "I know it's hard for you boys, dealing with this change, but the fact remains that Morgan is now a part of the mob. And honey, you're not. It might seem like a glamorous lifestyle, with all that power and that money, but Jake, mob business in this town is not something you want to be close to. People die just for standing too close to Sonny and Jason. When Morgan's in charge…"

She trailed off helplessly. "I know it's your instinct to help each other out. But Jake, you cannot be involved in Morgan's business in any way. It could get you killed."

He stared at her for a few seconds and then cracked a smile. "Oh, Mom, is that what you're worried about? Seriously?"

Elizabeth blinked, not sure how to deal with his drastic change in demeanor. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, Mom." Jake shook his head and stood from the couch. "You don't have to worry. Morgan and I weren't discussing mafia business. We were just discussing business."

Worry was still etched into the lines on her face. "I fail to see how there's a difference."

He sat down on the arm of the couch and explained it patiently. "Look, you know how he runs the coffee business his dad owns, right? Or, how he's starting to? He asked me about what I knew about expanding into new territories, and I said that he would have to build up capital before he made that investment. We started talking about shares and IPOs and the best kind of land for this sort of thing, and the most efficient routes to get coffee in and word out. Hell, he's calling up Molly tonight to start talking about a complete overhaul of their online component to streamline the whole process."

Her lips parted in surprise. "…So…you weren't talking about the mob at all?"

Jake still grinned at her. "Mom, no. Mister C must have heard wrong and jumped to conclusions. I mean, come on. Do I look like the mobster type to you?"

He regretted it the instant he said it, but Jake kept his teasing smile firmly in place. He was so used to taunting Jason and throwing out little barbs that it had become second nature over the years, this time with his mother as the unlikely target. He saw the flicker of pain in her eyes and quickly moved on.

"Look, Morgan's a lawyer." He practically jeered the word, but he secretly knew exactly how his best friend planned to use those credentials later on. "I'm the one with the business degree, me and Michael. And since Michael's in London and working around the clock, plus, because of the time difference, it's just more convenient for Morgan to shoot me off a few questions, get my take on things."

She looked almost relieved as she darted a glance up at him. "And that's all it was?"

He hated lying to her about something that would cause her pain, but she didn't need to know about this. His plans for the future would scare her – she would be scared for him, and he couldn't yet prove to her that she didn't need to be. So until he could, he would just hide it from her.

"That's all it was."

.: Morgan's Penthouse :.

Morgan didn't heed their advice.

He and Sonny told the young man in no uncertain terms that he wasn't supposed to discuss the business or anything even remotely connected to it with any outsider, but they caught him again just now talking to Jake. His best friend was over at his place and apparently they were planning to go out tonight, and Sonny and Jason had walked in for an impromptu visit and heard them talking shop.

"Morgan, we explained this to you already-"

"I'm not denying that," he fired back at his father. "You told me all about security leaks and how I wasn't supposed to discuss sensitive information with someone I couldn't trust. I trust Jake. End of story."

Sonny glanced at the young man in question who was currently lounging on the couch, oblivious to his and Jason's stern looks. "I know you trust Jake. I'm not saying that Jake isn't trustworthy-"

"Then what are you saying?" Three years of intensive training in the field of law only served to make Morgan more convincing – and to his father and Jason, more irritating. "You said don't share information with anyone that's not trustworthy. We all agree that Jake is trustworthy. Ergo, there's no reason I have to hide this stuff from him."

"Morgan!" Sonny was rapidly losing patience with his son. "You know very well what I meant when I said that. This business is going to be completely yours in a matter of years – all of it will be signed over. You'll be running it by yourself with me and Jason here for support when you need us. You cannot make a habit of talking about the intimate details with anyone, no matter how much you trust them. It's bad business, and it's stupid. You want someone to handle it with you? Fine, name a partner. Not Jake," he added when Jason scowled darkly.

"Pick someone that knows the ins and outs of the business and name them a partner or an associate. That's what I did with Jason. But remember that this is all yours – this is on you. And everyone is a liability, no matter how good they are, no matter how honest they are, no matter how close to you they are. Do you understand?"

"That's bullshit," Morgan snorted. "I'm not signing over my power of attorney here – I'm just asking him for his opinion on a new venture. It's barely even an illegal venture! He's the one with the business degree, after all."

"Which you could have had if you did what I said instead of-"

"Oh, so we're back to that again!" Morgan threw his hands up in the air. "You know, considering how fed up Diane has been with you and Uncle Jason these past ten years, you'd think that you guys would appreciate having another Bar-certified lawyer around here!"

Sonny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "That's not what we're arguing about here. This is about you, us, and Jake. And the business. You cannot continue to-"

"If I'm supposed to be running this damn thing, don't you think that I should actually get to make the decisions?"

"Not until you prove you're ready!"

"Jesus, here comes that speech again!"

"Morgan, I don't know what to do with you." Sonny planted his hands on his hips as Jason wearily leaned back against the desk. "Ever since you were a kid you'd tell me how much you wanted to run this business, how you wanted it all to be yours one day. Now, sometimes, you talk like you don't give a damn."

"How can I give a damn about it if you're still treating me like a fucking child? I'm not an idiot, Dad, and I don't make a habit of taking stupid risks-"

"Clearly, we disagree on what a stupid risk is."

"Clearly, we do," he shot back. "Because I don't see Jake as a liability, and I'm trying to figure out why you do."

"Hey, hey." Jake had apparently heard enough and now rose from the couch, tugging on the sleeves of his suit jacket before he sauntered over to address them. "Look, I didn't want to say anything, but you guys made me."

He turned to Sonny and placed a hand very familiarly on his shoulder. "Mister C, I totally get your concerns. And unlike Morgan here, I think they're completely valid. So what if you've known me my whole life? It doesn't matter. You're absolutely right: everyone is a liability. And when you're in a position of power like Morgan is, you have to remember that anyone could knife you in the back."

Sonny nodded jerkily at that, and Jake continued. "But what I'm here to tell you is that you don't have to worry. This business is Morgan's. It's been run by his family since the very start."

Jason straightened at that and Jake barely glanced at him.

"I have absolutely no claim to it," he stated plainly, a little louder than necessary. "I have absolutely no right to it. And don't worry, I have no plans to interfere."

He turned to his best friend and fished his keys out of his pocket. "Listen, I'm gonna go start the car. I'll wait until you're finished here."

And then he sauntered out of the penthouse and into the hallway, whistling a jaunty tune.