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AJ helped save Elizabeth from Capelli... and avoided death after a conversation with Audrey

Part 36

Elizabeth had taken to her new role like she'd been born to it. Nurse Webber. Well, to be honest with the sheer number of medical professionals in her family tree, she probably had been. Since AJ had been released from the hospital, she'd spent every waking moment at his side.

And, as much as Audrey grumbled about it, when Lila offered to have Elizabeth stay at the Mansion, Audrey couldn't dissuade Elizabeth from agreeing. Emily didn't mind much either. While most nights were like an ongoing sleepover where they both did their homework and giggled long into the night, there were some nights when Elizabeth didn't come back from the gate house.

Tonight was just such a night.

-Gate House-

Elizabeth leaned over toward AJ on the couch, a spoon held aloft in her hand and a mischievous grin on her lips. "Come on... you only have a few more spoonfuls and then you're done."

AJ groaned. "I only have a shred of dignity left and then I'll ask Jason to put a bullet in my head." With a sigh he opened his mouth and she fed him his soup. Once he swallowed he sagged back against the couch and moaned. "Okay, I'm done... shoot me."

Setting the spoon down beside the bowl she gave him a pout. "Look, if you didn't end up dropping soup in your lap when you used your left hand... AFTER insisting that you could do it on your own... I wouldn't be doing this... so..." her eyes snapped at him, "suck it up, AJ!"

He blinked at her in shock and she burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, AJ... I-" she pulled away, trying to get up off the couch.

He reached out his left hand and caught at her wrist. "Please, Elizabeth... don't go."

She sank back down on the couch, her eyes directed to her lap. "I shouldn't have said that... I don't know why-"

"You said it because I was an ass... I was feeling sorry for myself and giving you a hard time. I'm not upset... with you. I should be better about accepting help," he sighed, "but I don't want you to think I'm this wimpy guy who can't do the simplest things for himself."

"Wimpy?" Elizabeth shifted on the cushion, turning to look at him. "You jumped on a guy to save me... fought with him, nearly got yourself killed trying to protect me!" She shook her head wildly. "What can I complain about? What can I say or think besides how crazy awesome you were... are."

"I wasn't the one who... I wasn't the one who made sure he'd never hurt you again... I wasn't able to stop him the way it really mattered." He reached up his left hand and swept her hair back from her ears, his fingertips trailing along the column of her neck. She leaned into his touch, her eyes half-closed. "I'm not my brother."

Elizabeth's eyes opened wide. "What?"

AJ pulled his hand away from her, his cheeks coloring with shame. "I'm not Jason, Elizabeth... I don't know how to shoot people like that. I don't know how to put an end to creeps like he does. I'm just me."

"AJ..." Curling her legs under her body, Elizabeth reached out and touched his shoulder. Even the simple touch affected her. Feeling the strength of his muscles beneath his skin made her heart beat even faster. "AJ... I don't want you to be Jason... or anyone else." She sucked in a breath, the sound more of a gasp as she struggled to find the right words. "I never wanted you... or anyone else... to kill someone for me." She rose up a little, her hand sliding up to brush his cheek with the softest touch she could manage. "I was so afraid when I saw you fighting with... him. I was so afraid that he'd hurt you... or worse, and I when I felt your blood on me... I was so scared..."

AJ stared at her. No, stare was too mundane a word for it. There was no word for how he felt, listening to her thoughts... knowing that she didn't think any less of him for just being... himself. AJ felt the world around him dim, his eyes focused solely on her beautiful face... and the lips had driven him to distraction for weeks...

Elizabeth leaned closer, her heart pounding as she watched him. She saw the way he looked at her... and it was exciting. She felt her skin prickle with heat and nothing scared her. Not at that moment. She'd been through hell... no one could argue that... but with AJ she felt secure... she felt beautiful... she felt whole. "I know I'm not sophisticated like my sister... or as smart as she is... or as pretty..." she swallowed when she felt his hand settle on her hip, "but when I'm with you... you make me feel like it doesn't matter... you make me feel-"

She'll never know who really initiated the kiss. They had both been leaning in toward the other, both rising up a little from the sofa cushions as they gazed at each other. But then, she would muse, it didn't matter who started it when AJ's mouth slanted over hers, his warm breath mingled with hers, her sigh humming through her body and against his lips.

It should have been one kiss. One simple kiss. AJ owed her enough to keep it simple between them, but when he tried to pull back and she reached out her hand and grabbed his arm he couldn't pull away. Elizabeth was quickly making it very hard to breathe... let alone think. She turned her head, pressing another kiss against his lips, her fingertips biting into his arm as she leaned closer.

He moved toward her as well, feeling the slight trembling of her lips against his. He felt the heat from her skin against his. He felt the very immediate reaction of his body swelling against the confines of his jeans. A muscle in his jaw ticked and he bit back a curse.

Elizabeth pulled back, nearly falling against the back of the sofa. "Did I hurt you?"

He wanted a black hole to swallow him up. He wanted to fade into the couch and disappear. "No... no, Elizabeth, I-" before he could think better of it he got up from the couch and turned his back to her. "I'm fine... I just..." he caught sight of the light in the bathroom, "I need to go... yeah, I need to..." he moved to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Elizabeth didn't know what to think, but she certainly wasn't going to bother him when he was... in the bathroom.

Part of her felt like she should shout! She'd kissed AJ and he'd kissed her back. And wow... did he know how to kiss!

Leaning back against the cushions, she picked up one of the colorful throw cushions she and Emily had picked out for him and hugged it tight against her chest. She tried to take long slow breaths and tried to remember what she'd talked to Dr. Abernathy about.

Their last session had been two days ago and while Emily waited outside in the reception area Elizabeth had sat in her customary chair in her therapist's office and tried not to fall apart.

-Dr. Abernathy's Office earlier-

"I'm glad to see that you decided to come in, Elizabeth." She continued on when she saw the look on her patient's face. "I saw the news."

Elizabeth had let out a shaky breath. "I knew I had to see you," she explained, "but whatever I tell you-"

"I confidential, Elizabeth. You are free to tell me anything."

Trusting her doctor completely, Elizabeth told her about the whole thing. Waiting alone at the restaurant. Going for a walk on the docks. Realizing that it had been Detective Capelli that had raped her.

"You'd met him before, right?"

Elizabeth nodded. "I was a mess when I came to Port Charles," she explained, "and I did all kinds of stupid things when I wanted attention. The Principal of the school called in Police when they found me smoking in the bathroom and they had the detective lecture me about my behavior and to prove a point about how my 'ways would get me in trouble' he'd asked the detective to handcuff me and put me in his patrol car. It was right outside the school... in plain view of a whole bunch of classroom windows." Elizabeth wrung the tissue in her hands. "I was so busy thinking about how embarrassing it would be for someone to see me outside in the patrol car that I never really paid any attention to him. Maybe if I had paid attention... I wouldn't have been... there... wouldn't have let him attack me."

"Elizabeth..." the warning was plain.

"No, I know it wasn't my fault," she explained, "but this time... I was so upset by my grams missing my birthday that I went somewhere that was dangerous. It was one thing to go down during the day when Jason and his guards are around. But late at night? That was just stupid."

"Hindsight is always 20/20."

"Thank goodness, Francis' sight was too." Elizabeth huffed out a sigh. "One of Jason's guards was checking the security cameras down by their warehouse and saw me there when I was alone. If he hadn't called Jason and if AJ hadn't been with him... I don't know what would have happened to me."

"And AJ?" Doctor Abernathy went straight on to the next. "When will he be- Elizabeth?" She saw the stain of color across Elizabeth's cheeks. "Is there something wrong with AJ?"

"Wrong?" Elizabeth shook her head. "He's healing from the gunshot wound that he got saving my life... but he'll be released soon," she explained.

"Then what's worrying you?"

Elizabeth debated about what to tell her doctor. She didn't want to sound stupid or ridiculous, but then again, she had to ask someone... and really, talking to Emily or Lila wouldn't get her an unbiased answer. "I've been wondering."

Dr. Abernathy waited for Elizabeth to work through her own thoughts.

"Wondering," she continued, "what it would be like to... be with a guy that I loved... you know..."

The doctor nodded. "Sex."

Elizabeth flushed red in an instant. "Yes... to have sex with someone that doesn't want to hurt me."

The doctor set aside her notepad and leaned forward in her chair. "Elizabeth I know you understand the whole 'legal age' thing. So we're not going to go through that. What we will talk about is your feelings. Rape isn't something that goes away. Not completely. It's not like a disease that you can be 'cured' of."

Doctor Abernathy was watching her patient closely. "You can work through it... you can put it behind you... but there will never be a time when it won't be a part of you in some little way." She gave Elizabeth a tentative smile. "You will be stronger because of it... you will be able to one day make a choice to be with a man in that primal way that expresses the deepest parts of love... an elemental connection between two people where they can become as close as any two people can become."

She smiled and watched Elizabeth carefully.

"And it will happen... when you choose it."

Elizabeth took it all in... and nodded slowly. "And when I'm a year older, right?"

"Legally," Dr. Abernathy smiled, "but really... beyond that it has nothing to do with time. You could be seventeen or twenty... or whatever. You'll know when it's right."

-Gate House Bathroom-

AJ splashed cold water on his face again... and again... he didn't have time for a cold shower. Elizabeth was still out there waiting and... the thought of getting undressed with her on the other side of the door.

He almost shoved his head under the faucet trying to cool down.

-Gate House-

Elizabeth heard the muttered curse from the bathroom and almost called out to him when someone knocked on the door. She knew it wasn't Emily. Her friend would have yelled in to open the door, not knocked on it. Another couple of knocks, louder than the first sounded so Elizabeth stood up, dropping the pillow behind her on the couch.

She made her way to the front door and opened it up.

The girl that was standing outside the door wasn't someone that Elizabeth knew. "Hello?"

The blonde pushed in past Elizabeth. "Where's AJ?"

Elizabeth turned around, her arms folded across her chest. "I'm sorry, you are..."

"No one you need to know." She bit back. "I'm here to see AJ. So go and get him."

"I'm not," Elizabeth shook her head, "your servant."

The cold stare from the blonde hit hard.

"Hey, I heard someone knocking." AJ entered the room his head half covered with a towel as he dried his hair. "Who came to vi-" He stared as he caught sight of the woman standing in the middle of his living room. "Carly."

-Next Episode-

"Hurricane Carly" (as you wonderful readers have dubbed her) makes a first tentative landfall on Quiz shores