A little time was just what I needed to get another chapter out. This story for some reason has a hold of my muse and she refuses to focus on any of my other stories that are incomplete at the moment. I suggest she get a boyfriend, she said she has hundreds…in print….smartass. Hope you all enjoy.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Elizabeth was standing almost paralyzed under the unrelenting spray coming from the shower. With so much on her plate, things had been…not forgotten per se but shoved to the back of her mind. Now, standing under the water, letting it soothe the stress from her shoulders and back, there was nothing preventing her from thinking of things she hadn't had the opportunity to.

Things such as, her looming operation that might not do a thing, this weird vibe that seemed to follow her around, the almost incomprehensible 'thing' that pertained to the guards and their being allowed closer than anyone ever before, Piph and her love life, Jason…so much to say and think when it came to him and then there was her father and it was in that moment, when the pieces that hadn't penetrated finally slipped into place. "Where is my mother?" Elizabeth asked the steamy room aloud, a frown marring her features.

The air that had been soothing, the water that had been comforting, suddenly felt cloying. Every breath she took seemed to become lodged in her throat, preventing the needed oxygen a pathway to her suddenly starved lungs.

An odd whistling sound penetrated the fog of her mind, until she realized the sound was coming from her, from her desperate attempts to draw breath, fighting to do such an easy bodily imperative. How, after this many years, could breathing suddenly become so foreign?

Squinting through the rising steam, Elizabeth stumbled ungracefully towards what she thought was the glass door but in her fright, was actually leading further away. Clawing at her throat, unintentionally scoring the soft, pliant skin with her dull nails, Elizabeth inadvertently let the panic rat loose. What had only been nibbling at her resolve before suddenly had full power.

Black spots were dancing in her vision, alerting her to the fact that if she couldn't get a grasp on her emotions, she was going to lose consciousness. Unable to draw enough breath to alert someone, Elizabeth began to panic anew. The whistling noise ceasing as her throat seemed to have fully closed.

Blinking the accumulating condensation from her eyes, or at least trying to, Elizabeth stomped her foot in annoyance, realizing that nothing was going to help this situation.

As her panic was reaching an all-time high, she heard an insistent bang on the bathroom door, she heard words, but the panic had such a grasp on her that she couldn't make out what was being said over the roaring in her ears.

Annoyed, scared and feeling completely useless, Elizabeth tried to stomp her foot again but all she managed to do was hit a slippery spot, probably caused by her conditioner she thought belatedly as she watched almost in slow motion as he momentum carried her not to her desired outcome, but smashed her to her knees.

Vaguely she heard something slam against the door but her fight to breathe was scrambling every thought now, the lack of oxygen, asphyxiation she managed to summon momentarily as she slumped from her knees to her ass.

Not realizing that she was causing some of her own problems when her fingers twitched tighter around her throat, in her panic, she grasped tighter to the obstruction that seemed to be lodged there.

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Jason had been pacing the hall, occasionally glancing at the guard before he resumed his frenetic movement.

The hall seemed smaller, more confined than the one on his floor, but he realized in his agitation, the space wasn't smaller; his nervousness was causing his stride to be longer. Logic wasn't something he was good at grasping at the moment though, so he just scowled at the walls every time he had to spin around to prevent collision.

"Johnny, how long has she been in there?" Jason snapped at the guard.

"Like I told you five minutes ago, we got her an hour ago, if she went directly to the shower, like she said she was going to do, then I guess she's been in the shower for an hour." Johnny said, his sarcasm mostly hidden.

Jason raised his eyebrow at the recalcitrant guard but didn't stop his pacing. "I should probably go see what is taking her so long. Mac has been in my apartment for 45 minutes…" Jason said, before trailing off.

"If you think you need to." Johnny offered, trying to understand what was going through his bosses head.

"I do…but, will she think we don't trust her, should I just go back to my place and wait…no, I should go get her, she'll want to see her father…" Jason said, not really even speaking to the guard, just working through things aloud.

Jason's hand rose from its clenched position by his side to rub swiftly over the upper part of his left chest.

Five strides later, he was raising his hand to his throat, tried to rub a strange burning sensation from existence.

Three paces to the left and he did it again.

Six paces back up the hall, towards the guard, Jason's hand automatically rose again, pushing a fleeting pain away from his chest.

"Boss?" Johnny asked curiously. "Is something wrong?"

"Hmmm…What?" Jason asked. Clenching the shirt over his heart.

Johnny had never seen Jason act like this. It was like he was a caged tiger, pacing this way and that, trying to find a weakness in his confinement. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why Jason kept grasping his throat or chest. "Jason…" Johnny said again, worry infused in that simple word. Grabbing his shoulders when the man got close enough, Johnny tried to tilt his head up, trying and failing to get a lock on his eyes.

Shoving away from the guard, Jason's pace sped up. Three strides and he was over 15 feet away, almost like he had floated over the floor. As his hand rose again moving back to his throat, Jason's head snapped up, no longer watching his feet.

Johnny was completely flummoxed. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Just as he was about to try to get his bosses attention, he saw Jason's head snap up and before he could say anything, one way or another, Johnny was on his ass, three feet from the door.

Jason pulled so hard, the door was left hanging from the bottom hinge as he took the stairs three at a time.

Johnny heard Jason slam himself against the bathroom door once, twice, three times seemed to be the charms as he heard the splinter of wood being render, the screech of metal twisting and breaking. A conundrum of epic proportions running through his mind, did he run for the bathroom as well or should he stay where he was.

If Elizabeth was naked and he came upon that by breeching the stairs, would he lose his life for seeing something so…personal or by standing here doing nothing, would he lose his life for indecision. Decisions…decisions…

Just as he stepped over the threshold, he heard Jason telling Elizabeth to breathe.

Walking carefully up the stairs, making sure his movements would be heard; Johnny stopped about five feet from the decimated door. "Jason, is everything alright? Do I need to get help?"

Jason wasn't paying much attention but the closeness of the guard caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. Quickly throwing a look at the door, Jason said, "Don't…just stay there, don't come any closer."

Jason focused on Elizabeth gently trying to pry her fingers from around her throat. "Please baby, don't do this. Come on, you can do it, just breathe…" Jason could see the absolute fear in her eyes and knew almost on a molecular level, this was a panic attack, something akin to what he himself was suffering only moments before.

Casting his mind around as he fought with Elizabeth to get her to let go of her throat, Jason tried to scramble for some information that could shock her out of her panic and if he was honest, his own too.

Looking into eyes that were probably just as scared as his own, he did the only thing he could think of. He lowered his lips to hers and in that instant, it was as if the world stopped moving and everything that ever was or could be, was born in that single moment, like nothing had been before that moment, his mind wondered briefly about the big bang theory but with fear coursing through his veins, his heart beat sounding deafeningly in his ears, he was still able to hear the glorious sound of Elizabeth's breath and the breath that had been in his lungs, being drawn out.

Their lips barely clung to one another, but they were now sharing breath, when he exhaled she inhaled, when she exhaled, he inhaled. It was possibly the most erotic dance he had ever been a part of. Their eyes were still locked together, their foreheads pressed almost too tightly but that barely there touch of their lips, seemed to lock them together in such an empirical and somehow intrinsic way, that Jason felt like the foundations of everything he knew, had been shifted.

Not wanting to break whatever this was, Jason just sat there, Elizabeth's soft body cradled on his lap, staring into her fathomless blue eyes. When she shifted back just a little, Jason thought the spell or whatever it was that was surrounding them, encompassing their very being, would shatter but the angelic smile that blossomed on Elizabeth lips, did nothing to break it.

"Thank you." Elizabeth all but whispered against his lips, perhaps just as reluctant to separate as he was.

His answering smile was just as blinding to her. "You are most welcome." Jason said, the skin around his eyes crinkling just slightly. The panic that had seemed to hold them both in its encircling claws, dissolving into nothing, like it had never been.

Even though it was in a panting cadence, Elizabeth managed to say, "If…you…keep…saving…me…I'm…going…to…have…to…start…thinking…you…like…me…or…something…"

In his most serious voice, Jason said, "Always." And then pressed his lips more firmly against hers, needing the connection now maybe more than ever and her answering pressure was almost orgasmic to him.

"What happened?" Jason asked softly, while his hand skimmed slowly up and down her damp spine.

"I thought…" Elizabeth said breathily.

His eyebrows knitted together briefly, "You thought what?"

"Nothing, everything…"

"Huh?" Jason asked ineloquently. He was going to try to elaborate on his comment but he felt a small shiver course over Elizabeth's body and in that moment, Jason finally closed his eyes. "Oh…My…God…you're naked!" And even though he hadn't given his eyes permission, he began to scan the body before him.

"For a hit man…you aren't very observant." Elizabeth said with a small laugh. "This seems fair though, after all, I did ogle you while you were naked." She said in all seriousness.

"You…ogled me?" Jason said, pride coloring his voice. Jason almost laughed when he saw her roll her eyes.

"Was it not obvious?" Elizabeth asked, snuggling a little closer to the warmth that was Jason.

Realizing that neither of them was in their 'right' mind, Jason blindly flailed his hand around until it encountered the terry cloth of a towel before wrapping it around her exquisite body. He would have laughed at the small pout on her lips, if he wasn't holding on to his common sense with a single thread that seemed to be getting smaller as the moments ticked by.

Elizabeth opened her mouth but quickly closed it, wondering if what she had been planning on saying was the smartest thing to say at that moment. Even though the steam had been dispersed by now, the spacious room still seemed to be cloaked in some way or maybe it was the lack of oxygen for an indeterminate time that had fogged her reactions and thought process.

Elizabeth took as deep a breath as her lungs would allow, holding it for a five count before slowly exhaling, repeating the process a few more times until she felt a little better. "Before I over think this and screw it up in some fashion, thank you for always being there when I need you, when I can't stop my mind and heart from causing discord…Thank you for being you." Before she lost her nerve, she leaned closer again and kissed him with all her emotions on the line. This was normally the time she ran away from everyone and everything but she didn't want to do that here. Something, whatever it was, had changed and she didn't want to be the scared child from the past, or the unsure teen or the sarcastic, caustic woman who had come to Port Charles, she just wanted to be her.

Their kiss was tame, almost childish but it was pure and untainted, unhurried, just a gently pressing of lips but a kiss that help such promise that neither moved away until they heard a throat being cleared.

"He has shit for timing…" Elizabeth said before extricating herself from Jason's hold but not before she saw the pout on his lips as she moved away. Such a silly thing but it warmed her more than she could say and the desire and lust that lingered in his eyes as she stood fully, that…well, that warmed her in a totally different way.

She knew she would have to talk about the panic attack and everything else but in this moment, she wasn't going to worry about that. She had few moments of fleeting happiness and she was going to hold on to this precious moment for as long as she could.

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