Second Chances: Calm Before the Storm
Jason sat at his desk and listened to the music that made its way down the stairs. He could hear Elizabeth's voice singing along with some song he didn't recognize. Not that he was much for music or anything even remotely artistic for the matter, but he loved listening to the sound of her voice. He loved the way it filled the empty spaces of the penthouse. Before her the world he lived in was deafeningly silent and he hadn't ever thought to question it. But now he couldn't imagine returning to the life of silence – returning to a life without Elizabeth in it.
Jason sunk deep into the high back leather chair letting out a heavy sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Over the last week or so things were quiet almost too quiet for his liking. No shipments had been tampered with or lost. No signs of any violent strikes against Sonny or his territory – nothing. It was like the day Sonny had Faith Roscoe picked up life, as they once knew it returned to normal. Jason had begun to question himself. Could Sonny really have been right? Could it have been Faith all along? Some part of Jason knew it made sense. Faith wasn't shy about wanting Sonny's territory. She practically had shouted her intentions from the rooftops. And she wasn't the first adversary that had gone through him to get to Sonny. Those in the underworld knew the best way to dismantle the Corinthos Empire was through Sonny's right hand Jason Morgan. Yet something about it all just didn't sit right with Jason. Too many of the things that happened had been so unlike Faith. Too many of the things that had taken place were far too personally tied to Elizabeth; the shredded divorce papers; the magical return of all things that represented her marriage to Ric to her studio; her missing red glass. Faith wouldn't have done any of those things. It was obvious to even the dumbest of men that Faith Roscoe for whatever reason wanted Ric Lansing and all of those things that had happened were more about keeping Ric and Elizabeth together not tearing them apart. For him the quiet they were experiencing at the moment was nothing more than a mere coincidence.
"Hey." Elizabeth slipped her hands over his shoulders and down his chest. The soft touch startled him momentarily and aroused him as well. She leaned forward placing her warm lips against his. She squealed when Jason pulled her onto his lap. With a childlike grin on her face Elizabeth stared at him. She never in her life expected to be this happy. All the years spent dancing around one another and their feelings had all been worth if this is where it was all meant to lead them.
Jason ran the back of his hand against her milky white cheek. He felt the ached in his groin grow. He let his fingers trail their way to her collarbone and grinned mischievously when he saw her catch her bottom lip between her teeth. With little effort he began undoing the pearl buttons of her cardigan one by one. The intensity of his stare made Elizabeth's flesh grow warm. The loud rapping on the door disturbed them.
"Go away!" Jason announced as he continued to slip the cream colored material off of Elizabeth's shoulders.
"Jason, it's Carly. Is Elizabeth ready?" That statement immediately stopped his movements. "Jason?" Carly said through the closed door.
Elizabeth leaned forward giving him a clear view of her ample cleavage peaking out from under her lacy bra. "Tell her I just got out of the shower," she whispered letting her tongue playfully dance around his ear.
"Jason?" Carly wasn't about to give up.
"She just got out of the shower."
"Well, tell her I'll be waiting when she's ready to go to Wyndams."
"Wyndams?" he turned mouthing silently at Elizabeth. "Okay," he said to the woman on the other side of the door.
Elizabeth began pulling her sweater over her shoulders. "Whoa...weren't we just about to begin something?" Jason was having trouble disguising his disappointment.
"Apparently," Elizabeth laughed as she laid her hand on his enlarged groin. Even that very slight pressure caused Jason to moan. "You know Carly though. She'll be back at the door in ten minutes." Elizabeth removed herself from his lap as she adjusted her clothing.
"You're going to Wyndams with her?" Jason questioned a combination of surprise and curiosity filling his voice.
"Don't look so shocked." Elizabeth tried not to laugh. She could only imagine what he was thinking.
"Shocked – well I was just about to take both of your temperatures. Who are you and what have you done with Elizabeth?"
"Carly's making an effort so, so am I."
Jason basically just sat there dumbfounded. He was sure that Rod Serling would be walking out of his closet at any moment announcing that they were all part of a bad Twilight Zone episode.
"I think she and I have come to an understanding."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think we both see a little of ourselves in the other."
"Excuse me?" Jason asked his astonishment evident. That statement almost made him laugh. Carly would never admit she was anything like Elizabeth – not the Carly he knew anyway.
"That surprises you?"
"Damn right it does."
"Jason, watching Carly and Sonny together at the hospital the other day – well it was just like watching us. I saw myself when I looked at her. Sonny is everything to her. It was like the minute he walked into the room everything in her world was right again. I know how that feels Jason because that's how I feel the minute I see you. Even if it's from across the room. Your presence it does something to me. It completes me. It's the same for Carly with Sonny. And well I guess I just get her a little better."
"Okay I can sort of understand you identifying with Carly, but really Elizabeth, Carly seeing herself in you. Even you have to find that rather odd."
"Yeah I did. But I think when I told her that you could have killed Ric and it wouldn't have mattered to me. That it wouldn't change how I felt about you. She wanted me to run away from you so she could prove to you again just how wrong I was for you, but when I didn't run something changed. I don't think it hurt that I was there when she went into labor. I mean Max and Johnny were pretty much useless." Elizabeth laughed recalling how the guards stood frozen when she had told them that Carly was in labor.
Jason just stared at her unable to wrap his head around the idea that Carly and Elizabeth could be friends. He had resigned himself to understanding that justifying his love for Elizabeth would be a continual battle. He was relieved that maybe now it wouldn't be so much of an issue.
"I better get going."
Elizabeth reached for her purse just as Jason pulled her to his chest. "So when will we get to finish what we started here?" he asked his hot breath bathing her creamy neck.
"Jason is Elizabeth ready yet?" Carly's voice accompanied her knocking.
"URGH!!!!!!!!" Jason growled.
"I told you," Elizabeth giggled. "Tonight – I promise I am all yours tonight."
"I'm holding you to that promise," he said as she blew him a kiss before heading out the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elizabeth and Carly milled through the racks of baby clothes that filled nearly an entire floor of Wyndams. Each cooing and cawing over the tiny pink and blue items.
"So do you know if the baby's a boy or a girl?" Elizabeth asked eyeing the cutest set of pink coveralls she had ever seen.
"Sonny didn't want to know, but I'm sure it's a boy," Carly said matter of fact.
"Then I guess these are out." Elizabeth laughed as she held up the coveralls and matching booties.
"Oh that's adorable," Carly said with a wide smile. "So you and Jase," Carly began nonchalantly as she continued eyeing the outfits before her. "this morning – did I interrupt something?" She gave Elizabeth a coy smile.
"No..."
"Don't give me that you were in the shower line. I didn't buy it then and I'm not going to buy it now," Carly snorted as she cut Elizabeth off in mid sentence.
Elizabeth was caught off guard. She wasn't accustomed to the candor she was now facing from Carly. Normally the pair of women were embroiled in one argument after the next when it came to Jason. It was odd to say the least for them to be standing there joking about a Jason's relationship with Elizabeth much less what Carly had thought she caught them in the middle of.
"Cat got your tongue?" Carly asked using one of Elizabeth's favorite lines.
"No." She felt the blush move across her face as she tried to hide her smile from the all knowing Carly.
"Could have fooled me," Carly chuckled.
"Can we please talk about something else?"
"Okay so the subject of your and Jason's sex life....."
"CARLY!" Elizabeth gasped as her face now turned crimson as she tried not to look in the direction of where both Johnny and Max were standing near by.
"Okay...okay. It's officially dropped – for now," Carly added under her breath.
The women continued their way around the department filling Carly's basket until it was almost overflowing. Elizabeth stopped at a rack of small stuffed animals. Her eyes were drawn to a small white teddy bear perched toward the front of the heap of brightly colored toys. Even though she knew it wasn't the one that Ric had given her for their unborn baby it was so similar that she found herself picking it up and staring hard at it. Elizabeth pressed her lids closed in a vain effort to stop her tears.
"Elizabeth?" Carly came up from behind her and rested her hand gently on the younger woman's shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
Elizabeth nodded her head as she wiped away a stray tear that had made its way passed her thick lashes. "I'm fine," she lied as she placed the bear back in amongst the other animals.
Carly wasn't at all convinced. "I'm sorry. It was stupid of me to ask you to go baby shopping." Carly shook her head scolding herself for not thinking.
"No it wasn't. I wanted to come. I just didn't realize that it would still hurt this much."
"I still miss the baby Sonny and I lost," Carly said softly. "The ache dulls, really it does. But it's not something that ever completely goes away."
Elizabeth remembered that day she found Sonny crying in the emergency room of GH. How he sobbed as she held him. How he mourned for a child he hadn't even gotten to know yet. "I loved that baby from the minute Dr. Meadows told me I was going to be a mom."
"I know," Carly said lovingly holding her swollen belly.
"But I don't know what to do with these feelings."
"What feelings?" Carly gave her a puzzled look.
"Guilt."
"Guilt?"
"Yes, while I loved my baby there's a part of me that is glad that he or she will never be born. That he or she won't have to ever know what kind of a monster their father could be. I hate myself for that, Carly."
"Don't – don't do that. Don't beat yourself up for how you feel. There's nothing wrong with what you are feeling."
Elizabeth smiled slightly thinking how Jason like that statement was. "In my head I know that the timing for a baby was wrong and most definitely the man was all wrong but I wanted to be a mom."
"I'm sure that Jason could help you in that department," Carly grinned playfully pushing Elizabeth.
Elizabeth let out a child like giggle blushing again. It was funny how quickly relationships could turn on a time. Hers and Jason's and now hers with Carly. She decided not to question it but rather to just enjoy what was happening.
"So you think we have enough?" Elizabeth asked as she gestured toward the ever expanding pile of baby items falling over the sides of Carly's basket.
"Yeah and besides that I am starved. I say we go to Kelly's and pig out on junk food. Not a word to Sonny!" Carly said turning around and pointing her finger in Johnny's direction.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jason had decided to come into the office at the warehouse when Elizabeth had left for her shopping spree with Carly. The penthouse was too quiet without her presence. He sat at his desk going over a few files that Meyer had had delivered. It was mostly shipment records and inventory statements for their legitimate holdings. They had been able to recoup the losses that that has sustained from the earlier mishaps.
Jason rested his head against the back of his chair. His mind still swam with thoughts of both Ric and Faith and how convenient it was that all was quiet with Faith out of the picture. He didn't like it not even a little bit. All of his senses still were on alert waiting for what was coming next. "Come in," he said to the knock at the door. He looked up and was shocked to see Sonny entering his office – even more shocked that he had actually knocked, something he hadn't been doing as of late.
"How are the books?" Sonny finally asked after a few moments of strained silence between them.
"Good. We are back on track after those couple of losses," Jason answered.
"Good."
"Did you want something?" Jason questioned as Sonny stood before him.
"I wanted to talk to you about Faith. I wanted to see if you were finally satisfied that it was her causing our troubles all along."
Jason sighed heavily. Not again, he thought.
"Well?" Sonny prodded looking for only the answer he wanted.
"No, I'm not."
"What?"
"Sure things are quiet now but that doesn't mean it was Faith."
"The hell it doesn't!" Sonny's voice boomed. "There hasn't been one single incident since the day I had her picked up and brought to the safe house."
"That's not enough for me Sonny. Not when it's Elizabeth's life at stake. It's not nearly enough."
"What's wrong with you, man?"
"I could ask you the same question," Jason countered. "You're so blinded by what you want to see that you can't even give way to the possibility of anything else."
"No Jason that's you!"
"Maybe," Jason conceded a bit, "but I have to go with my gut. And it's screaming that this isn't over." He decided against again bringing up Ric. Jason knew that Sonny wasn't going to ever come around to his way of thinking and he hadn't wanted to endure another unwinable argument. "Are we finished here? I have some calls that I need to make," Jason said almost as if he were dismissing an underling.
Sonny walked out the door closing it harshly behind him clearly showing those working in the warehouse the ever growing rift between mob boss and enforcer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elizabeth got up from the table and headed to the counter to pay Penny for her and Carly's checks. If Sonny had seen all of what Carly had just consumed he would have keeled over from a cholesterol induced coronary, but Carly was happy as she cleaned the remnants of hot fudge from the bottom of her sundae glass.
"Happy or would you like another?" Elizabeth joked.
"Happy – very happy!" Carly said patting her belly.
"Glad to hear it and just for the record if questioned by Sonny, I will say you twisted my arm when it came to all this unauthorized junk food."
"You ladies ready to head home?" Max asked as he approached the pair.
"Not really – that is unless you need to get back to your hanky panky with Jason," Carly said turning her attention to Elizabeth.
"Carly," the tiny brunette gave her warning look.
"Want to take a walk around the docks. Admittedly I think I need to work off a little bit of this food."
"Are you feeling okay?" Elizabeth asked taking notice of Carly's discomfort.
"Yes, yes I am fine – stuffed but fine, really."
"Okay a walk on the docks it is." Elizabeth agreed as Max and Johnny followed behind.
It wasn't until they had made it half way down the stairs leading to the docks that the sound of sirens filled the air.
"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked bounding down the stairs at a much quicker pace than Carly was able. She stopped dead in her tracks. In the distance she could see smoke and flames licking the clouds that hung low in the sky.
"Eliz –"Carly's voice dropped as her eyes rested on the same sight. The Corinthos- Morgan Coffee warehouse was on fire.
Jason sat at his desk and listened to the music that made its way down the stairs. He could hear Elizabeth's voice singing along with some song he didn't recognize. Not that he was much for music or anything even remotely artistic for the matter, but he loved listening to the sound of her voice. He loved the way it filled the empty spaces of the penthouse. Before her the world he lived in was deafeningly silent and he hadn't ever thought to question it. But now he couldn't imagine returning to the life of silence – returning to a life without Elizabeth in it.
Jason sunk deep into the high back leather chair letting out a heavy sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Over the last week or so things were quiet almost too quiet for his liking. No shipments had been tampered with or lost. No signs of any violent strikes against Sonny or his territory – nothing. It was like the day Sonny had Faith Roscoe picked up life, as they once knew it returned to normal. Jason had begun to question himself. Could Sonny really have been right? Could it have been Faith all along? Some part of Jason knew it made sense. Faith wasn't shy about wanting Sonny's territory. She practically had shouted her intentions from the rooftops. And she wasn't the first adversary that had gone through him to get to Sonny. Those in the underworld knew the best way to dismantle the Corinthos Empire was through Sonny's right hand Jason Morgan. Yet something about it all just didn't sit right with Jason. Too many of the things that happened had been so unlike Faith. Too many of the things that had taken place were far too personally tied to Elizabeth; the shredded divorce papers; the magical return of all things that represented her marriage to Ric to her studio; her missing red glass. Faith wouldn't have done any of those things. It was obvious to even the dumbest of men that Faith Roscoe for whatever reason wanted Ric Lansing and all of those things that had happened were more about keeping Ric and Elizabeth together not tearing them apart. For him the quiet they were experiencing at the moment was nothing more than a mere coincidence.
"Hey." Elizabeth slipped her hands over his shoulders and down his chest. The soft touch startled him momentarily and aroused him as well. She leaned forward placing her warm lips against his. She squealed when Jason pulled her onto his lap. With a childlike grin on her face Elizabeth stared at him. She never in her life expected to be this happy. All the years spent dancing around one another and their feelings had all been worth if this is where it was all meant to lead them.
Jason ran the back of his hand against her milky white cheek. He felt the ached in his groin grow. He let his fingers trail their way to her collarbone and grinned mischievously when he saw her catch her bottom lip between her teeth. With little effort he began undoing the pearl buttons of her cardigan one by one. The intensity of his stare made Elizabeth's flesh grow warm. The loud rapping on the door disturbed them.
"Go away!" Jason announced as he continued to slip the cream colored material off of Elizabeth's shoulders.
"Jason, it's Carly. Is Elizabeth ready?" That statement immediately stopped his movements. "Jason?" Carly said through the closed door.
Elizabeth leaned forward giving him a clear view of her ample cleavage peaking out from under her lacy bra. "Tell her I just got out of the shower," she whispered letting her tongue playfully dance around his ear.
"Jason?" Carly wasn't about to give up.
"She just got out of the shower."
"Well, tell her I'll be waiting when she's ready to go to Wyndams."
"Wyndams?" he turned mouthing silently at Elizabeth. "Okay," he said to the woman on the other side of the door.
Elizabeth began pulling her sweater over her shoulders. "Whoa...weren't we just about to begin something?" Jason was having trouble disguising his disappointment.
"Apparently," Elizabeth laughed as she laid her hand on his enlarged groin. Even that very slight pressure caused Jason to moan. "You know Carly though. She'll be back at the door in ten minutes." Elizabeth removed herself from his lap as she adjusted her clothing.
"You're going to Wyndams with her?" Jason questioned a combination of surprise and curiosity filling his voice.
"Don't look so shocked." Elizabeth tried not to laugh. She could only imagine what he was thinking.
"Shocked – well I was just about to take both of your temperatures. Who are you and what have you done with Elizabeth?"
"Carly's making an effort so, so am I."
Jason basically just sat there dumbfounded. He was sure that Rod Serling would be walking out of his closet at any moment announcing that they were all part of a bad Twilight Zone episode.
"I think she and I have come to an understanding."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think we both see a little of ourselves in the other."
"Excuse me?" Jason asked his astonishment evident. That statement almost made him laugh. Carly would never admit she was anything like Elizabeth – not the Carly he knew anyway.
"That surprises you?"
"Damn right it does."
"Jason, watching Carly and Sonny together at the hospital the other day – well it was just like watching us. I saw myself when I looked at her. Sonny is everything to her. It was like the minute he walked into the room everything in her world was right again. I know how that feels Jason because that's how I feel the minute I see you. Even if it's from across the room. Your presence it does something to me. It completes me. It's the same for Carly with Sonny. And well I guess I just get her a little better."
"Okay I can sort of understand you identifying with Carly, but really Elizabeth, Carly seeing herself in you. Even you have to find that rather odd."
"Yeah I did. But I think when I told her that you could have killed Ric and it wouldn't have mattered to me. That it wouldn't change how I felt about you. She wanted me to run away from you so she could prove to you again just how wrong I was for you, but when I didn't run something changed. I don't think it hurt that I was there when she went into labor. I mean Max and Johnny were pretty much useless." Elizabeth laughed recalling how the guards stood frozen when she had told them that Carly was in labor.
Jason just stared at her unable to wrap his head around the idea that Carly and Elizabeth could be friends. He had resigned himself to understanding that justifying his love for Elizabeth would be a continual battle. He was relieved that maybe now it wouldn't be so much of an issue.
"I better get going."
Elizabeth reached for her purse just as Jason pulled her to his chest. "So when will we get to finish what we started here?" he asked his hot breath bathing her creamy neck.
"Jason is Elizabeth ready yet?" Carly's voice accompanied her knocking.
"URGH!!!!!!!!" Jason growled.
"I told you," Elizabeth giggled. "Tonight – I promise I am all yours tonight."
"I'm holding you to that promise," he said as she blew him a kiss before heading out the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elizabeth and Carly milled through the racks of baby clothes that filled nearly an entire floor of Wyndams. Each cooing and cawing over the tiny pink and blue items.
"So do you know if the baby's a boy or a girl?" Elizabeth asked eyeing the cutest set of pink coveralls she had ever seen.
"Sonny didn't want to know, but I'm sure it's a boy," Carly said matter of fact.
"Then I guess these are out." Elizabeth laughed as she held up the coveralls and matching booties.
"Oh that's adorable," Carly said with a wide smile. "So you and Jase," Carly began nonchalantly as she continued eyeing the outfits before her. "this morning – did I interrupt something?" She gave Elizabeth a coy smile.
"No..."
"Don't give me that you were in the shower line. I didn't buy it then and I'm not going to buy it now," Carly snorted as she cut Elizabeth off in mid sentence.
Elizabeth was caught off guard. She wasn't accustomed to the candor she was now facing from Carly. Normally the pair of women were embroiled in one argument after the next when it came to Jason. It was odd to say the least for them to be standing there joking about a Jason's relationship with Elizabeth much less what Carly had thought she caught them in the middle of.
"Cat got your tongue?" Carly asked using one of Elizabeth's favorite lines.
"No." She felt the blush move across her face as she tried to hide her smile from the all knowing Carly.
"Could have fooled me," Carly chuckled.
"Can we please talk about something else?"
"Okay so the subject of your and Jason's sex life....."
"CARLY!" Elizabeth gasped as her face now turned crimson as she tried not to look in the direction of where both Johnny and Max were standing near by.
"Okay...okay. It's officially dropped – for now," Carly added under her breath.
The women continued their way around the department filling Carly's basket until it was almost overflowing. Elizabeth stopped at a rack of small stuffed animals. Her eyes were drawn to a small white teddy bear perched toward the front of the heap of brightly colored toys. Even though she knew it wasn't the one that Ric had given her for their unborn baby it was so similar that she found herself picking it up and staring hard at it. Elizabeth pressed her lids closed in a vain effort to stop her tears.
"Elizabeth?" Carly came up from behind her and rested her hand gently on the younger woman's shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"
Elizabeth nodded her head as she wiped away a stray tear that had made its way passed her thick lashes. "I'm fine," she lied as she placed the bear back in amongst the other animals.
Carly wasn't at all convinced. "I'm sorry. It was stupid of me to ask you to go baby shopping." Carly shook her head scolding herself for not thinking.
"No it wasn't. I wanted to come. I just didn't realize that it would still hurt this much."
"I still miss the baby Sonny and I lost," Carly said softly. "The ache dulls, really it does. But it's not something that ever completely goes away."
Elizabeth remembered that day she found Sonny crying in the emergency room of GH. How he sobbed as she held him. How he mourned for a child he hadn't even gotten to know yet. "I loved that baby from the minute Dr. Meadows told me I was going to be a mom."
"I know," Carly said lovingly holding her swollen belly.
"But I don't know what to do with these feelings."
"What feelings?" Carly gave her a puzzled look.
"Guilt."
"Guilt?"
"Yes, while I loved my baby there's a part of me that is glad that he or she will never be born. That he or she won't have to ever know what kind of a monster their father could be. I hate myself for that, Carly."
"Don't – don't do that. Don't beat yourself up for how you feel. There's nothing wrong with what you are feeling."
Elizabeth smiled slightly thinking how Jason like that statement was. "In my head I know that the timing for a baby was wrong and most definitely the man was all wrong but I wanted to be a mom."
"I'm sure that Jason could help you in that department," Carly grinned playfully pushing Elizabeth.
Elizabeth let out a child like giggle blushing again. It was funny how quickly relationships could turn on a time. Hers and Jason's and now hers with Carly. She decided not to question it but rather to just enjoy what was happening.
"So you think we have enough?" Elizabeth asked as she gestured toward the ever expanding pile of baby items falling over the sides of Carly's basket.
"Yeah and besides that I am starved. I say we go to Kelly's and pig out on junk food. Not a word to Sonny!" Carly said turning around and pointing her finger in Johnny's direction.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jason had decided to come into the office at the warehouse when Elizabeth had left for her shopping spree with Carly. The penthouse was too quiet without her presence. He sat at his desk going over a few files that Meyer had had delivered. It was mostly shipment records and inventory statements for their legitimate holdings. They had been able to recoup the losses that that has sustained from the earlier mishaps.
Jason rested his head against the back of his chair. His mind still swam with thoughts of both Ric and Faith and how convenient it was that all was quiet with Faith out of the picture. He didn't like it not even a little bit. All of his senses still were on alert waiting for what was coming next. "Come in," he said to the knock at the door. He looked up and was shocked to see Sonny entering his office – even more shocked that he had actually knocked, something he hadn't been doing as of late.
"How are the books?" Sonny finally asked after a few moments of strained silence between them.
"Good. We are back on track after those couple of losses," Jason answered.
"Good."
"Did you want something?" Jason questioned as Sonny stood before him.
"I wanted to talk to you about Faith. I wanted to see if you were finally satisfied that it was her causing our troubles all along."
Jason sighed heavily. Not again, he thought.
"Well?" Sonny prodded looking for only the answer he wanted.
"No, I'm not."
"What?"
"Sure things are quiet now but that doesn't mean it was Faith."
"The hell it doesn't!" Sonny's voice boomed. "There hasn't been one single incident since the day I had her picked up and brought to the safe house."
"That's not enough for me Sonny. Not when it's Elizabeth's life at stake. It's not nearly enough."
"What's wrong with you, man?"
"I could ask you the same question," Jason countered. "You're so blinded by what you want to see that you can't even give way to the possibility of anything else."
"No Jason that's you!"
"Maybe," Jason conceded a bit, "but I have to go with my gut. And it's screaming that this isn't over." He decided against again bringing up Ric. Jason knew that Sonny wasn't going to ever come around to his way of thinking and he hadn't wanted to endure another unwinable argument. "Are we finished here? I have some calls that I need to make," Jason said almost as if he were dismissing an underling.
Sonny walked out the door closing it harshly behind him clearly showing those working in the warehouse the ever growing rift between mob boss and enforcer.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Elizabeth got up from the table and headed to the counter to pay Penny for her and Carly's checks. If Sonny had seen all of what Carly had just consumed he would have keeled over from a cholesterol induced coronary, but Carly was happy as she cleaned the remnants of hot fudge from the bottom of her sundae glass.
"Happy or would you like another?" Elizabeth joked.
"Happy – very happy!" Carly said patting her belly.
"Glad to hear it and just for the record if questioned by Sonny, I will say you twisted my arm when it came to all this unauthorized junk food."
"You ladies ready to head home?" Max asked as he approached the pair.
"Not really – that is unless you need to get back to your hanky panky with Jason," Carly said turning her attention to Elizabeth.
"Carly," the tiny brunette gave her warning look.
"Want to take a walk around the docks. Admittedly I think I need to work off a little bit of this food."
"Are you feeling okay?" Elizabeth asked taking notice of Carly's discomfort.
"Yes, yes I am fine – stuffed but fine, really."
"Okay a walk on the docks it is." Elizabeth agreed as Max and Johnny followed behind.
It wasn't until they had made it half way down the stairs leading to the docks that the sound of sirens filled the air.
"What's going on?" Elizabeth asked bounding down the stairs at a much quicker pace than Carly was able. She stopped dead in her tracks. In the distance she could see smoke and flames licking the clouds that hung low in the sky.
"Eliz –"Carly's voice dropped as her eyes rested on the same sight. The Corinthos- Morgan Coffee warehouse was on fire.