ABC/DISNEY owns GH. No copyright is intended.

Chapter 36

Cody watched Elizabeth try to pretend everything was fine. She was upset about something but he didn't feel it was his place to ask what. They were sitting in the waiting area of Gail's office and Elizabeth was shaking. "Ms. Webber can I get you anything? Some water maybe?"

"No, thank you." She didn't think that her stomach would be able to handle it. She'd had breakfast with Jason and the meal sat heavy on her tummy. About an hour before she had to leave for this appointment everything came back up. Thank goodness Jason was out.

She wasn't sick. What had her stomach in knots was nerves. Once Jason came home to tell her he was getting out she knew that she needed to stop hiding. She had to talk to Gail so that she could talk to Jason. She wasn't going to go to Italy with this secret.

"Elizabeth." Gail called from her office doorway.

She jumped as if shocked before slowly getting to her feet. "I'm here."

Gail gave her patient a critical look. The poor thing looked a wreck. "Come in." She waited until Elizabeth was seated. "Are you feeling ill?"

"No." Elizabeth said on a shaking exhale. "I'm not sick."

"You don't look at all well." The poor girl was pale. "I could call Monica."

"No." Elizabeth swallowed hard and tried to remain calm. "I-I need to talk about Colorado."

Gail hadn't brought it up again after what happened the last time but she was hoping that Elizabeth would. "I think that's a very good thing."

"I don't want to." Elizabeth admitted. "But I need to so that I know how to tell Jason."

"He'll understand." Gail hoped that statement was true. She didn't even know what exactly had happened when her patient was younger. The only other people who knew were Audrey and Steven. "Would you like to call Jason we can wait until he arrives?"

"He's busy." She knew he would be in meetings most of the day. She also knew he would drop everything to come to her if she needed him. "I want to get through this with you first. I want to make sure I can say the words. Jason and I are leaving."

"On vacation?" Gail asked her young patient.

"We are moving to Italy. Jason is retiring." Elizabeth knew that what was said in this room could not be repeated.

"Retiring?" Gail didn't know such a thing was possible.

"He owns a business in Italy. We have to leave Port Charles it's one of the conditions. So I want to start talking about this with you because I trust you. I will need another doctor if you can recommend one, but I wanted to talk with you first." Elizabeth said looking up at her doctor and her grandmother's closest friend.

"Are you happy about the move?" They would ease into a discussion that Elizabeth wanted to have.

"I am. I've always wanted to go to Italy and I'm really glad that Jason will not be doing anything illegal anymore. But even if he wasn't changing jobs, I would still love him." Elizabeth made that clear.

"What you do isn't who you are." Gail was happy that Elizabeth understood that.

"Exactly. Part of the reason he's leaving the mob is me. He said he wants to be someone I can be proud of, that any children we have can be proud of." Elizabeth explained.

"How does that make you feel?" Gail was hoping that her patient wasn't feeling pressured.

"Good. Amazing. Stunned." Elizabeth said relaxing marginally. "I've never had someone love me so much that they would change their whole existence. But I also know it's about him too. I'm not making him change he's choosing to do so."

Gail couldn't help but smile. For someone so young Elizabeth was very wise. It was just ashamed that the wisdom had come at such a steep price. Just because they had never talked about her life before Port Charles didn't mean that Gail was completely in the dark. Elizabeth's behavior had told her what they were dealing with. Anyone with the right training would know what she'd been through. "I'm happy for you. I'll miss you and not just because you are my patient. When do you leave?"

"After the Nurse's Ball." Elizabeth said softly. "So we need to talk today. About Colorado and what my stepfather did to me."

Sonny bought back Jason's penthouse and then they hit the books. Transferring the funds wasn't as hard as either man thought. The money in the accounts was all legal having been funneled through the legitimate businesses. Italy's banking system made it so that there would be a minimum of fuss to get things set up. Benny would start moving the money today and it should be done within two weeks.

From the warehouse they went to buy the jet. Jason knew a lot about cars, motorcycles, and boats. He knew zip about planes. The Corinthos jet had been purchased and then upgraded earlier this year by Sonny. Jason just figured he would go in and ask for what Sonny had but the older mob boss said that Jason should at least look at other options. So they went shopping and an hour later Jason was the proud owner of a Gulfstream, a completely different model than Sonny's, which would seat fifteen. They would travel in style to their new home.

"You made a good choice." Sonny told his friend as they settled into the back of the limo.

"If you say so." Jason said shrugging. The plane would be ready in three weeks. Now that he had that done he could concentrate on the company matters.

"A few more guys came to see me and are interested in going with you." Sonny let Jason know. The information had started making the rounds yesterday Sonny expected only a small number of the men would want to go. Most of the guys had no interest in walking away.

"If you don't mind them leaving I will find work for them." Francis was spending the day looking for more businesses in Italy to acquire. There was a good chance he would have to go to Italy in advance of everyone else. The older man had no problem with that.

"I don't mind." Sonny assured his friend. "Max spoke with Milo, he has chosen to stay here."

"That isn't surprising." Jason figured he would. They lapsed into a comfortable silence each one thinking about the changes ahead when Jason's phone rang. "Morgan."

"Jason its Gail Baldwin. Elizabeth needs you." The doctor told the young man. "How soon can you get here?"

Jason looked out the window to see where they were. "About twenty minutes. What happened?" He was trying to stay calm.

"I will explain everything when you get here." Gail didn't want to talk about this over the phone.

"I'm on my way." Jason said before hanging up.

When Jason walked into the outer office Cody immediately stood. "Is something wrong?" The guard asked his boss.

"The doctor called me." Jason said looking at the closed door. He could already hear the receptionist calling back.

Cody just frowned. "She didn't say anything was wrong."

"She called Jason about twenty five minutes ago." Sonny explained also looking at the closed door.

Gail Baldwin came out and the normally pulled together doctor looked frazzled. Her hair looked like she'd been running her fingers through it and her eyes were red. "Did you cancel the rest of today's appointments?" She asked her assistant.

"Yes ma'am." The woman said.

"Good. Thank you, go home." Gail would be leaving early as well. She was not in any shape to handle any more patients today.

"How is Elizabeth?" Jason asked that was all he cared about.

"She needs you, come into the office." Gail told him before walking back inside.

"I'm going to head home, call me if she needs anything." Sonny knew his hanging around wouldn't be helpful.

"I'll stay." Cody would drive them all home.

Jason just nodded as he followed the doctor into the office.

Elizabeth was on the couch curled up into a tight ball rocking herself back and forth. For a moment Jason was so shocked by the sight that greeted him he didn't move. He turned to the doctor. "What did you do?"

"We talked about her stepfather." Gail said watching the young woman struggle to hold it together.

Jason walked over and sat next to her. "Ella?" He said softly. Elizabeth raised her head and in her eyes he saw such pain. "Baby." He held out his arms and she launched herself into them.

"I'm sorry." She said holding him tight. "Please don't hate me."

"Ella I could never hate you. Why are you sorry?" Jason asked gently.

"I lied." She said hiding her face from him.

He could only assume she meant about whatever happened with her family but that didn't make any sense because they'd never talked about it. "About what?"

"What happened before Port Charles. I know you hate it when people lie to you." She didn't want to let him go.

"Baby, we never talked about it so you couldn't have lied." She was shaking hard enough that he could feel it.

"I never told you. It's a lie of omission." Elizabeth had hidden it away. "I should have told you before we were together and given you a chance to walk away. I didn't and now you will hate me. I told Kiefer and he said it made me worthless. That I was dirty." Since it was something she already believed Kiefer's words haunted her. "I was scared to tell you because I don't want to lose you."

He could feel her tears soaking into his shirt. "You don't ever have to hide from me." He wasn't angry with her. He understood having things you didn't want others to know. He had no idea how he would handle it if she ever called him out on his past. The things he had done as Sonny's enforcer where not things he ever wanted her to know.

"It's so bad." She said in a barely there whisper.

"Will-will you tell me now? Will you let me help you?" There was nothing she could say that would ever make him leave her. He knew from Audrey that whatever happened had hurt Elizabeth deeply. Since it involved her stepfather he was figuring some sort of abuse.

"I don't want you to know. But I have to tell you. I have to give you the choice to go to Italy without me." Elizabeth said pulling away from his embrace.

"Hold on." Jason placed his hand under her chin and gently pushed her head up. "I will never go to Italy without you. Nothing you can say will make me love you any less. Look at your ring if you ever need a reminder of that. You can tell me anything baby." He'd be lying if he said he wasn't worried about what she was going to say. Not for himself but for her. "I love you now and forever." He told her before leaning forward and giving her a soft kiss.

"I love you too. That's why I don't want you to know. I'm scared it will change how you see me." Still she had to be honest. He deserved that from her. "I don't want us to start our lives together without telling you this."

"I want you to tell me because I think you need to. But if you feel you need to wait longer I will understand." Jason took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

"I want to tell you now. I want to work on this with Gail before we leave." Elizabeth wiped at her wet cheeks.

"Okay. Can she have some water?" Jason asked the doctor who had been silently watching the exchange.

"Here." Gail retrieved a bottle from the table.

"Have a sip, do you want to wash your face first?" He asked wanting her to be as comfortable as possible.

"No. Jason?" Elizabeth hesitantly asked her boyfriend.

"Yeah." He was still holding her hand.

"Could you not touch me while I tell you? I don't know if I can get it out while you are touching me." Elizabeth was already starting to shake. "After if you still want to touch me you could maybe hold me for a while." If she had been looking up she would have seen Jason's eyes darken with fury.

"Whatever you need." He swore to her and made himself let her go. "Tell me." He requested in a voice gruff with emotion.

Thanks for the reviews, the follows, and the favorites!