Previously – Elizabeth has a bad feeling, and then discovers Jason in her bed.
Note – Chapter 29 was sooooo long that I ended up cutting it off after 15 pages and starting Chapter 30, and I'm posting them together for continuity's sake. They really do need to be the same chapter, but even I like some uniformity, and I didn't want to get over 22 pages for a single chapter. I really hope you enjoy!
Hack | 29
As usual, Elizabeth wasn't in bed with him when he woke up.
Jason yawned and stretched, but remained on his side. It was just so damn hard to get out of her bed sometimes. But he knew he couldn't stay there forever, and he already had a very annoying habit of sleeping in whenever he slept with her. So he pushed himself up onto his elbows and rolled over, languidly searching for the clothes that had been hastily discarded the night before.
He managed to locate his black cargo pants and boxers, but couldn't find his shirt. That probably meant that Elizabeth was wearing it. And sure enough, when he padded down the stairs and into the main room, there she was by the phone machine, checking her messages with a cup of coffee in one hand and the neckline of his t-shirt hanging low off her creamy shoulder.
She glanced over her shoulder at him and deleted the last message off the machine. "Hey."
He was well used to her absent, almost irreverent greetings. "Hey."
Elizabeth must have been in a good mood this morning because she actually followed that up with a question. "You hungry?"
"I could eat." Especially if she was cooking for him, which would have been a first.
"You wanna go over to Sonny's, or just head out to Kelly's? Either way, he won't mind."
Jason pursed his lips and considered it. If he went to Sonny's, he'd have to talk about the hit, which he really didn't care to do. Not because he didn't want to speak of it in front of Elizabeth, but just because the thought of it was tedious. Everything had gone down fine, and there was no need to rehash it. It was done, and it was good. End of story. And besides that, if they went to Sonny's then Spinelli would be there and he would have a million stupid questions.
"Let's go out to Kelly's."
She arched a brow at him. "Yeah? Normally you prefer Sonny's."
"Don't feel like it today."
"Yeah? And why not?"
He latched onto her waist and tugged her forward, smoothly changing the subject with a hot, smirky little look. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you're standing here, wearing nothing but my shirt."
He'd thought to make her blush, and was surprised when her lips puckered in indication that she was holding back a smile. "You want it back?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
"I look like the Medusa, don't I? All snake-headed-y."
Sonny glanced up as he poured two cups of coffee. "I don't know what that is, but it sounds disgusting."
Spinelli licked his fingers and ran them through his hair, trying to make himself look more presentable. "It's a mythological Greek she-monster, Mister Corinthos Sir. She has snakes for hair. Hey, speaking of snakes, is the Dragon up yet? I wanted her to quickly proofread my paper before class today."
"I wouldn't know," he shrugged. "She said she was going to sleep over here last night, but I guess she ended up going back to her place."
"Think she'd mind if I went over and asked her?"
Sonny shook his head. "Nah. And while you're over there, tell her to get dressed and come over for breakfast. The pancakes will get cold."
"Will do, Mister Corinthos Sir," the boy saluted before making a beeline for the door. He closed it securely behind him, saluted the Silent Sentinels stationed in the hall, and headed for Elizabeth's.
"Whoa, whoa," Max called out, leaving his post and following him. "Where do you think you're going, Spaghetti?"
At the other end of the hall, Trevor also had an apprehensive look on his face.
"I just need to ask the Dragon something," Spinelli replied, absently wondering, and not for the first time, why the guards always had such a problem with him walking over to Elizabeth's unannounced.
"Hey, she's probably sleeping," Max tried to convince him. "You know, you guys had a late night last night, and she's probably still out of it. You really wanna make her mad by barging in and waking her up?"
"She needs to get up for breakfast," Spinelli pointed out rationally. "And besides, the Dragon has a routine. She's probably up by now, anyway."
"Yeah, but do you really want to risk-"
"You worry too much, Silent Sentinel. Dragon!" Spinelli pounded on the door and turned the knob. "The Jackal requires your assistance with – Oh, my God!"
Max winced and retreated before he could see anything. "Happy place, happy place. Gotta get to the happy place."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?!"
Spinelli was, naturally, talking to Jason and Elizabeth, who were currently leaning against the back of the sofa in varying degrees of undress. Stone Cold was dressed in the pants Spinelli had seen him leave Penthouse II in, and the Dragon was wearing the shirt Spinelli had seen him leave Penthouse II in.
But the worst part of this wardrobe sharing was that it appeared as if Stone Cold were trying to retrieve his shirt from the Dragon…by slipping his hands under it and running them up high up her thighs.
Spinelli felt the blood drain out of his face as his eyes darted back and forth between Jason and Elizabeth, both of whom had yet to remove their hands from each other and actually had the nerve to look at him as if he were annoying them with his presence.
"This…this…"
Showing at least a modicum of intelligence, Jason removed his hands from Elizabeth and put them up, tilting his head at the young man. "Spinelli, easy…"
But the boy was beyond such platitudes and assurances. "THIS IS A MOST UNNECESSARY ALLIANCE!"
And then he whirled around, almost falling to the floor, and dashed off down the hall. Elizabeth sighed and rested her arm on Jason's bare shoulder. "Looks like the jig is up, Boris."
"Who?"
"Never mind."
They heard a commotion further down the hall: Max was talking, then Trevor was talking, and then Spinelli was yelling, and then Max started yelling, and then Sonny was yelling at them all to stop yelling. They heard his voice getting closer; apparently, Spinelli was dragging him over.
"Spinelli, will you stop bawling long enough to tell me what happened?"
"-A most unnecessary alliance! The Dragon – Stone Cold – breaking up the band – can't get my deposit back on those accordion lessons – and now they're linking up on a local access network composed of her penthouse – oh, God, what if they've been linking up on a WAN? Who knows how many people could have seen them with that kind of broadband access?"
"Spinelli, I have no idea what you're talking-"
"There." Spinelli swung the door open and glared daggers at Elizabeth, who had her arms looped around Jason's neck and stood there looking most unconcerned considering that Mister Corinthos Sir would soon be shipping her off to a convent where she belonged, the cunning Delilah.
Jason's eyes widened and he quickly let go of the brunette, who languidly removed her arms from around his neck and yawned. Spinelli, seeing that his beloved mentor was now glaring daggers at him, wisely inched behind Sonny's imposing form.
"What's going on here?"
Spinelli pointed at the couple but chose to stay safely out of view. "Stone Cold and the Dragon are…are…engaging in a most unnecessary alliance!"
Sonny frowned, look at the boy, frowned again, looked at Jason and Elizabeth, and then apparently got it. "Oh. Is that what you dragged me out of the kitchen for?"
They all stared at him.
"Well? Is that what you came in screaming about? Just that they're together?"
Spinelli opened and shut his mouth, looking rather like a fish out of water. "M-Mister Corinthos Sir, I think you're failing to understand the magnitude of this situation. The Dragon is doing horrible, dirty things to your trusted counsel, your right-hand man, your Stone Cold one."
Sonny folded his arms as Elizabeth glowered at the boy. "So?"
Spinelli swallowed and tried another tack. "Er, your best friend has been sneaking around all this time, putting the moves on your precious little girl?"
Sonny glanced at Jason and Elizabeth, frowned, and turned back to Spinelli. "So?"
Spinelli's jaw dropped. "Okay, now I really have nothing. What the hell's going on here?"
"Look, if this is all you came to tell me, I've got news for you – I already knew," Sonny explained. "And if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to the pancakes before they burn."
He headed for the door and stopped abruptly, as if remembering something, and turned around. "Jason, Elizabeth, are you guys coming over, too? Because I'm making enough for all four of us."
The two exchanged looks and nodded in unison. "Yeah, we'll be there."
Sonny brightened a bit and nodded back before stepping out into the hall. Spinelli, who had not been expecting this particular turn of events, gaped at the mobster's retreating back, then at his mentor, then at his nemesis, and then at the Silent Sentinels that had gathered to watch the show.
"We're going to go change," Elizabeth replied evenly, linking her fingers with Jason's just for the added pleasure of giving Spinelli an ulcer. Apparently linking fingers wasn't anywhere near as 'germy' as holding hands. "And when we get back downstairs, you'd better run, Forrest, run."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Sonny watched humorlessly as Spinelli finished strapping two pillows to himself – one at his stomach, one at his back – with a belt and plopped one of Sonny's stainless steel pots on his head. "Are you sure all that's necessary?"
The boy actually glared – glared! – witheringly at him. "The Jackal is gearing up for battle, Mister Corinthos Sir. He must take all possible precautions."
Sonny shrugged and set four plates down on the dining table. "Okay. I still think you're being a little paranoid."
Spinelli let out a jittery little laugh and adjusted the pot on his head. "Unfortunately, the Jackal will soon be subject to the wrath of both the Dragon and the Stone Cold one. I'm not being paranoid – I'm being realistic."
There was a knock at the door and Spinelli jumped a foot. Max poked his head in and opened the door fully, allowing Jason and Elizabeth to walk in. The two of them were walking awfully close to each other, something that did not escape Spinelli's notice, and the boy held up his fingers in cross formation and hissed when Elizabeth glared daggers at him.
"Good, I'm glad you're both here," Sonny beamed, giving Spinelli a stern look before attending to Jason and Elizabeth. "Sweetheart, the pancakes should be done now. Can you do me a favor and pour the coffee and milk? Oh, and get out the syrup and powdered sugar if you want. I have to talk to Jason for a minute."
With that, he left Spinelli alone with his fearsome, fire-breathing Dragon and basically hauled Jason out into the hallway. One stern look sent Max and Trevor running into the safe confines of Penthouse II, and the two men squared off in the hallway.
"I can explain."
The words burst out of Jason's mouth on reflex, even though he wasn't quite sure how he would explain or even that he had to explain. But after all, Sonny was his best friend, and Elizabeth's only father figure.
And he'd once seen Sonny kill a man with a butter knife.
Such sincere offers would probably go a long way in helping Jason keep all of his body parts safely intact and really, that was what was important here.
But when he looked at his old friend, Sonny was smirking and looking quite amused. "You can explain?"
"I…can."
The mobster stroked the corners of his mouth with just his thumb and forefinger. "Thanks, but I think I can figure it out. You don't have to draw a diagram or anything."
Oh, thank God.
"I just want to know something." His partner's eyes were quite solemn now as they lifted to his. "How long?"
Jason shrugged uneasily. "A couple weeks."
"Since you came back to Port Charles?"
"Fuck, no!" He shook his head and shuddered, recalling his initial impressions of Elizabeth. It certainly wouldn't say very much of his character if, feeling the way he had at the time, he'd barely waited to unpack his duffel bag before jumping the girl. "A few weeks after that."
"And why didn't you tell anyone?"
He tugged on his ear awkwardly, feeling like a teenager being interrogated by his date's father. And in a sense, he was. "Elizabeth didn't really want to say anything. She told the guys to win a dart game, I think, but she wanted to keep it quiet because of…"
"Because of?"
"Spinelli."
Sonny nodded sagely. "Probably a good idea. The poor kid was hyperventilating when he came to get me."
Jason sighed wearily. "Yeah, Elizabeth told me that would happen. I don't think I believed her."
"Kid's got father issues."
"You're telling me."
The men shared a wry smile before Sonny cleared his throat and pushed on to business. "Okay, look, you don't want to hear this any more than I want to say it, so let's just make it quick and painless for the both of us. If you're worried about me putting an end to your relationship with Elizabeth, you don't have to. I'm not going to do that. Besides," Sonny admitted gruffly, "I doubt she'd let me get away with it if I tried."
Before he could stop it, the word was out of his mouth. "…Thanks."
"I'm not thrilled about this," Sonny made sure to emphasize. "Don't take it personally, but you were never the first person I'd have picked for her. I'm not upset about it, either," he strove to clarify before letting out a sigh and dropping his head.
"Damn," he muttered, running a hand through his curls. "Let me at least try to make sense here."
Jason waited patiently as Sonny gathered his thoughts. "You're much older than her, Jason," he finally said. "About eight years older, and that's a big difference considering she's just 21. If you were both older, it wouldn't seem like that big of an age difference, even though it'd still be eight years…obviously."
He was rambling, and Jason absently wondered if Sonny had picked that up from Elizabeth. "And you've seen a lot more than she has. She's lived her whole life here at Harborview, and she's always either with me or with one of the guards. She's led a sheltered life, Jason, and I've tried to keep her away from a lot of things. I'm not sure how that's going to work if you're seeing her."
"I thought you were okay with her being involved with the business."
"I am," Sonny replied tersely. "I have no problem telling her which associate will be eliminated, or giving her our figures, or sharing our routes and transfer numbers with her. But I have a big problem with her getting shot at, or seeing either of us getting shot at, or getting kidnapped or watching one of us kill someone. I'm asking you as a friend – remember that."
Jason nodded slowly. "I will."
"And also remember…" Sonny sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, a habit he'd definitely picked up from Jason. "That I care deeply about both of you. But Elizabeth is a young woman, and I hold myself responsible for her safety and her every happiness. And if you hurt her, Jason, I'm not going to be happy."
There was really nothing to say to that, so Jason didn't make a sound.
"I know how ridiculous this sounds, mostly because I'm telling it to you, of all people, but I have some rules." Sonny raised his chin a notch and looked Jason directly in the eye. "I'm not telling you how to live your life, or where to live your life, but as long as you two are together, I'd prefer that you didn't move in together anywhere outside of Harborview Towers. We've got this place reinforced and protected and you're safest here."
It was a very rational thing to say, and Jason didn't mind nodding to it. Besides, he and Elizabeth would not be moving in anywhere together, despite all the time they spent together in her penthouse. He had a feeling that even though Elizabeth was letting some of their other rules slide, she'd have a big problem with him asking her to move in. Unless he asked her to move into Penthouse II – she'd be thrilled. The only problem with that, of course, was that as soon as she moved in, she'd try to move him out.
Sonny cleared his throat, and Jason had the distinct feeling that the older man realized he had zoned out. Once satisfied that he had the enforcer's attention, he continued.
"Also, I want you to always remember her safety. If you're out with her on a date and you feel like you may be distracted and not as vigilant as you always are, you take a guard with you. Do you understand?"
A snort escaped him despite the fact that such a gesture wasn't exactly prudent given their situation. "Don't worry," Jason muttered, "we're not going to be doing much dating."
That was against the rules, after all: she wasn't interested in candlelit dinners at whatever restaurant he 'managed to drag his knuckles into.'
Sonny looked at him strangely, and then narrowed his eyes. "That's disgusting."
Jason closed his eyes and swore. "I didn't mean it like that," he felt compelled to explain. "Just that…we have rules. And one of them is that I don't drag her to any candlelit dinners at…"
"At?"
"…whatever restaurant I manage to drag my knuckles into."
Sonny stared at him in surprise before letting out a hoot of laughter. "Some rule. She must have a list of them, huh? What, did she get them notarized or something?"
Jason shook his head wearily. "We just think of them as…precautions, I guess."
If he wanted to know what these precautions were against, Sonny didn't show it and didn't ask. Instead, he smoothly changed the subject. "Fair enough, I guess. But I have one more rule."
Jason waited, but his friend didn't continue. Really, he was getting a little sick of these rules but he figured he had to listen – and obey – unless he wanted Sonny to put a bullet in his other leg…or higher. "And that is?"
"Ignorance is bliss," the mobster stated firmly. At Jason's questioning look, he explained, "I don't want to see anything, I don't want to hear anything, I don't want to know anything. Clear?"
Now there was one rule Jason could get behind, and he nodded his head quickly. "Yeah."
"Good," Sonny sighed, looking very much relieved that the whole distasteful conversation was finished. "Let's go back inside and make sure Elizabeth hasn't killed Spinelli."
He started to head back to the door, and that was when Jason realized there was one more thing he wanted to know.
"Ah, Sonny," he started, startled by the hesitancy in his voice.
The older man turned and looked at him over his shoulder. "What?"
"How did you know?"
It was an incomplete question. "How did I know what?"
"You said you knew," Jason repeated, jamming his hands into his pockets, "about…me and Elizabeth. How did you know?"
An amused smile played upon his best friend's lips and Sonny looked away, his back still toward Jason. "You didn't seem quite so tense anymore. And you talked to everyone more."
He shrugged, then reached for the doorknob. "I don't know, it was kind of nice."
Then, thinking better of it, Sonny released the knob and turned around, eying his friend with a mixture of curiosity and hopeless amusement. "So now that we've got all that cleared up, I gotta ask…how's it going so far?"
Jason let out a sigh that came out as a groan and seemed to fairly deflate as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "She is such a brat."
Sonny grinned at that, his chest rumbling with laughter. "Yeah, I guess you've got me to blame for that."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Say Uncle!"
"UNCLE!"
"Say Uncle again!"
"UNCLE!!"
"Now say that I am superior to you in every way!"
Spinelli dug his fingers like claws into the carpet and tried to scramble out from under Elizabeth as she held him pinned to the floor. "Never! I'll die first!"
"Don't think I can't arrange that!"
"Whoa, whoa," Sonny exclaimed as he opened the door and led Jason back into the penthouse. Seeing the commotion, he shot across the room and tried to pry the kids apart. "What's going on here? Elizabeth, what are you doing? Let him go!"
"Not until he tells me I'm superior to him in every way!"
"Modest even in anger," Sonny muttered, grabbing her by the scruff of the neck even though that was a horribly undignified way to handle a young lady. Sometimes, though, Elizabeth left him little choice.
Especially when she held the pot that Spinelli was using as a helmet over her head, keeping it poised and ready to use as a blunt object with which to surely pummel the poor kid.
"That's enough," he ground out, finally tearing the two of them apart with Jason's help. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Elizabeth, this is no way for a young woman to behave."
She glared daggers at Spinelli, who by now had scrambled away like a crab and was cowering under the dining table. "I hope he chokes."
"Well, sure," Sonny agreed, "but you do not pin him to the floor and threaten to bash his head in with a pot. Are we clear?"
Good Lord, of all the things he'd never thought he'd say…
"Jason, why don't you help Spinelli out of there," the mobster suggested, maintaining a firm grip on Elizabeth's arm. "I need Elizabeth to help me in the kitchen."
Jason rubbed his hands together as Sonny led the brunette away, his eyes flashing as they sought out Spinelli under the table.
Seeing the murderous glint lurking in his trusted mentor's gaze, Spinelli covered his face with his hands and groaned.
"Not again…"
~*~*~*~*~*~
"We need to talk."
Elizabeth planted her hands on her hips and blew her bangs out of her face. "You want me to stop seeing him, don't you?"
Sonny arched a brow at her, looking like the typical supercilious, patronizing male. "Do you want to?"
Her lips twisted to the side as Elizabeth pondered the question before finally replying, "I don't know."
He suspected that there were a lot of things she didn't know, especially regarding what she did or didn't want from Jason, so Sonny let her ambiguous reply go. "I thought you hated Jason."
"I did."
His lips curved. "You did?"
"I do," Elizabeth hissed, folding her arms over her chest in a huff.
"Mm. Clearly."
"Oh, stop."
Sonny rolled his eyes and slipped his hands into his pockets. Then, playfulness forgotten, he eased forward and dipped his chin down, looking her directly in the eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing, sweetheart."
She surprised him with a rueful pucker of her lips. "I hope so, too."
Sonny feigned surprise. "What? Elizabeth, being something other than fully self-possessed?"
The brunette looked as if she wanted nothing more than to stick her tongue out at him but miraculously, she resisted the impulse. "Just stop."
Sonny let out a long, quiet breath and tried to gather his thoughts. What did one say to a young woman – that was practically one's daughter, after all, in every way that counted – whom one had just discovered was romantically involved with one's best friend?
Well, any way you looked at it, one was definitely fucked.
Er, screwed.
Er…the loneliest number.
That didn't make any sense.
Sonny frowned, not snapping to attention until Elizabeth started waving her hand in front of his face. "What?"
"You still here?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. "You looked like you'd totally checked out."
He cleared his throat and tried to get back on track. "About you and Jason…"
She looked almost amused at his lack of self-possession, making Sonny want to throttle her. "About me and Jason…"
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I told the guys," she replied defensively.
"Why them?"
"Because I didn't want Ritchie to win the darts game."
"Elizabeth."
"Fine," she sighed, running a hand through her loose waves. "I figured they were going to find out anyway because they're all always in the hall, and they wouldn't miss Jason sneaking over to my penthouse. And then they'd never let me or Jason hear the end of it, since they were the ones we vented to about how much we hated each other. So I figured I'd tell them on my terms and play it off like it was no big deal."
She arched her brow defensively when she saw how he was looking at her. "Well, it worked. They never teased me about being with him, and they stopped bothering him after he threatened them. And they always stopped Spinelli from walking in when they knew…Jason was over."
Sonny was pleased to see that she at least had the good sense to blush at that. Really, why should he be the only one thoroughly uncomfortable about this? It hardly seemed fair.
"Any other reason?"
She wrung her hands nervously. "Well, there was always…Spinelli."
"What about him?"
"I didn't want him to know," Elizabeth admitted quietly. "You know how he is when it comes to Jason. Nerd's got father issues."
"You're telling me."
"Huh?"
"Never mind, just go on."
"Oh. Right." Elizabeth snapped her mouth shut and appeared to gather her thoughts. "I knew he'd be really upset if he found out that me and Jason were together. Plus, I knew he'd think that…that I only did it to make him upset."
Sonny leaned against the island and crossed his arms over his chest, his stance matching hers as they squared off. "Would he be wrong?"
Her jaw dropped, making her look like an owl. A very angry and offended owl. "Sonny!"
"What?" he shrugged. "Obviously, it occurred to you, so it's a valid question."
"No, I'm not with Jason because I want to hurt Spinelli!"
That was his cue. "Then why are you with him?"
Her eyes narrowed and he could see her mind racing, trying to come up with something valid to say. "Because…because…"
Sonny leaned forward. It seemed to be expected. "Because?"
"…For fun."
He stared at her and Elizabeth closed her eyes. She had known the words were stupid before they'd even left her mouth.
"Fun."
She nodded weakly. "Sure."
Hey, she was already in deep enough – why not open her mouth and remove all doubt that she was the stupidest girl alive?
Sonny leaned back with a heavy sigh. "Well, I hope you're at least being safe about it."
Her lips twisted to the side. "Yes, Sonny, I know all about that, thank you."
She might have imagined it, but she could have sworn that Sonny's cheeks turned pink. "I didn't mean that," he muttered, giving his head a brisk shake.
Elizabeth's eyes widened. Oh, God, he was picturing them.
Sonny didn't look particularly thrilled about it either, and gave his head another shake. "I meant that I hope you're not getting too carried away with the fun of it."
"…I don't know what you mean."
He closed his eyes and let out a short breath of air through his nose. No, she wouldn't. "Elizabeth, sweetheart, what is it exactly that you want from Jason?"
Sonny knew when her eyes widened and when two splotches of red bloomed on her cheeks that it had been the exact wrong way to phrase the question.
"Do you even know?" he pressed on, hoping that she'd be as eager to forget the first part of the question as he suddenly was. "Because I know that you're just trying to live your life, but sweetheart, these…entanglements can get really complicated, really fast."
Elizabeth pressed her lips together. "You sound just like Nikolas."
"I'm just being honest with you," he said. "You think I like talking to you about this kind of stuff? I don't, but the situation's come up and I can't pawn it off on Alexis, so here we are."
She almost had to smile at his helpless rambling, but she had the distinct feeling he was about to say something really heavy.
"Look, I remember what it was like to be your age," Sonny admitted, his smile tinged with just a touch of exasperation. "To be young and free and in search of a good time, no strings attached."
Good God, of all the things he never thought he'd say…
"You meet someone, and there's an instant attraction," he continued, his voice growing softer as his eyes grew distant. "You feel it immediately, but you don't really know what it is, or what to do with it. You just know that you have to see that person again. And each time you do, something inside of you grows. You start thinking of the next time you'll see her, and suddenly those times can't come fast enough. She's sharp, she keeps you on your toes, she surprises you, and the sex isn't bad, either. And you know where you stand with her, and you tell her where she stands with you, and you somehow fool yourself into thinking you can keep things the way they are: light, fun."
He shook his head slowly. "But you're delusional if you think that. Crazy if you think you can put things into compartments like that: Work, Society, Bed. It doesn't work like that. And then one day you wake up next to her and you found that whatever it was inside of you that grew when you were with her, you can't ignore it anymore. The last thing you expected was to feel that way – you tried to your best to pretend it wasn't even there. But it crept up on you, kept rolling and rolling along until it was there, and you just knew you couldn't live without her or what you felt for her. Even though you promised yourself you wouldn't do this…"
Elizabeth barely remembered to breathe as she stepped forward and gently put her hand to Sonny's cheek. His spine stiffened and he stared at her, surprised and haunted at the same time, and she stepped closer and threw her arms around his neck impulsively, holding him tightly.
"I know what I'm doing, Sonny," she said with a quiet resolve she had only just discovered. "You don't have to worry – I don't want you to worry. I know exactly what I'm doing. And I won't get hurt."
She'd make sure of that.
