Chapter 37

Text Messages

Two weeks had passed and Jason had been gone, on business for ten of the twelve days. He had gotten the call from Sonny that they had a lead on Frank Smith in Pennsylvania holed up with some woman. Jason was up there to seek and destroy the enemy who had made the mistake of targeting Elizabeth, HIS Elizabeth. He was growing more and more frustrated as every lead turned into a dead end.

Spinelli had happily moved in the day before he left and Elizabeth was thrilled. She had decided to take Jason up on his offer to do some slight remodeling and reduce their two car garage into a 1 ½ car garage and build a small room off of Chris and Amy's room for Aaron. They were also going to purchase the Murphy bed unit that Elizabeth and Carly had seen while shopping to put into the office. That way it could easily convert into a guest room. The condo would turn into a 5 bedroom, three and a half bath sometime in the spring once all the hoopla of the holidays and the wedding died down.

Jason felt slightly better that Elizabeth was allowing him to pay for things. Actually, he talked to Carly and his overbearing best friend convinced Elizabeth to quit being so stubborn. After all, what good was Jason's money if it sat in a bank all the time.

Jason woke up in the little room he had rented to sleep for a couple of hours to his business cell ringing.

"Morgan" she scratched out rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"It's Francis."

Sitting straight up in bed scared awake, he barked "What's wrong? Is everything okay at the house?"

Francis never called Jason while he was on a mission. Sonny, Max, Spinelli and even Johnny called but Francis and he had an agreement that Francis only called him if there was a problem with Elizabeth and her safety. Elizabeth would worry and Francis and Jason felt it better if Francis was honest in saying he didn't know anything when she would incessantly quiz him about Jason's whereabouts.

"It's Elizabeth. She won't stop crying. She called for me around five this morning and was in tears. She can't stand not hearing from you anymore. Jason, this is the longest you have been gone since you two got together. She…I think she is going to have a nervous breakdown. She hasn't slept much over the past four days either. Can't you just call her?"

"No, it's not a good idea. Has she been reading all night again?"

"Yes, she can't sleep. Actually, she only slept the other night because I went and sat in the chair in her bedroom. She was talking to me, trying to keep her mind from worrying and finally fell asleep. Johnny and Annie have been trying to keep her occupied and well…honestly they have been trying to just get her drunk every night so she would pass out. Even after gigs, she can't sleep anymore. You should see her. She looks like hell."

"Well, I'll be home tomorrow night anyway. Her mother is coming in to town for a few days and I promised her I would be there."

"Well, just call her man. She's a wreck. Me telling her I don't know anything isn't helping matters. She's starting to intimidate Spinelli too. He's gonna crack."

"He hasn't told her anything has he?"

"No but the kid can't hold up much longer. You know how she can get. She's ruthless. I can handle it but the kid…I don't know Jason. Why don't you come back and let me and Johnny work on this a while."

"I'll call Sonny and….I'll see what I can do."

Jason hung up the phone and went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He then moved back to the room and picked up the phone to call Sonny then he had an idea.

"Spinelli"

"Yes wise Master, what service can I provide you?"

"I need a cell phone that's untraceable and I need you to teach me how to send messages. You know, like email on the phone."

"You mean text messaging. You can do that on the phone you have Stonecold."

"No it can't be this phone. As a matter of fact, get my cell phone and send the text's yourself."

"To whom might I ask?"

"To Elizabeth."

"The Jackal will be glad to assist you Stonecold but I must inform you of the weeping eruption the Sweet Songstress exposed the domestic unit to this morning. Chris had to drive her to work because she would not let Rocco drive her."

"Yes, I heard. Was she okay when she left?"

"No, my PS2 adversary indicated she wept the length of their journey."

"Oh, well then definitely send the messages to her."

"Texts"

"Whatever, I want you to send one each half hour until I get back."

"What should they say?"

"I want them all to say the same thing."

"And that is?"

"MAN I NEED ELIZABETH"

Laughing, Spinelli wrote down the phrase.

"Spinelli, if you tell anyone about this I will KILL you."

Straightening up and feeling the cold chill that only Jason could give him he stammered "Yes Sir Stonecold. Your secret is safe shall never pass the Jackals lips." And he heard the click of the line knowing that his Master had ended the call.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I keep getting these damn text messages from Jason."

"What do they say?" Jane asked looking down at her PDA on the table.

"They always say the same thing, MAN I NEED ELIZABETH." Elizabeth responded while pinching another piece of sushi and dredging it through the wasabi and soy mixture then popping it into her mouth.

"That's cute. I wish Bernie were romantic like that." Jane said with a sigh.

"Are you two okay?"

"Oh yes, you want to know a secret?"

"OF COURSE" Elizabeth asked as she leaned in to the middle of the table and turned her ear with her hand held to it as if EF Hutton were about to speak.

"Bernie and I are getting married Christmas day."

"WHAT?" Elizabeth screamed causing the patrons at surrounding tables to turn and stare.

"Elizabeth, shh. Doug is sitting over there and he might hear you." She whispered.

"Oh, yeah, he always seems to eat wherever we do. Isn't that odd?"

"I hadn't noticed. He comes to lunch with us a lot now but I never noticed him in the same restaurant if we don't go to lunch with the group."

"Well, it might be my imagination."

"Well there are only so many good restaurants around here."

"Anyway, what about this wedding?"

"It's going to be private. We aren't inviting anyone. It's the only time all three of my girls will be in town so we decided to do it then so they will be there."

"Well, what can I do?"

"Nothing. We are going to have my friend James perform the ceremony I the living room right after dinner."

"Oh, well…you aren't inviting anyone?"

"No, how can we and keep it small. I wanted to invite you and Jason but if we invite Jason then Sonny needs to be invited. If we invite you, then I need to invite at lease Suzanne and Dawson and Hector and Jimmy. If we invite Jason and Sonny, then we need to invite Max, Milo, Johnny, Annie, Francis…well, you know what I mean. My house isn't big enough and we don't want to do a WEDDING."

"Tell me about it. Chris and Amy's wedding is up to 150 people so far. I sure wish her family were paying for this shindig. I have had to take out $25,000. from my 401k to cover the expenses."

"Why ARE you paying for this anyway?"

"Because Chris is my son and I want him and Amy to have the wedding of their dreams. We have cut costs in certain areas. Jason has the limo already and we're having the reception in the banquet room of his penthouse. Jason is paying for all us girls hair and nails in the salon and paying for the valet service outside the building for the guests. That's his wedding gift to Amy. He won't tell me what he is getting Chris."

"Well the man has plenty of money, let him pay for whatever he wants."

"No, this is my deal. I can take care of it."

"What about Mark? What is he doing?"

"Chris and Amy invited him but he isn't part of the wedding or the preparations. Chris is so mad at his dad right now they aren't really even speaking. I had to insist that he invite his dad and his aunt to the wedding. He was going to skip over the both of them on the list until I caught him."

Elizabeth's PDA buzzed again alerting her to another text message.

"Argg, I don't know what's up with this. Jason never carries his regular cell phone when he is gone. At least I don't think he does. I IKNOW he doesn't know how to text message. He can't even send email. He just gets Spinelli to do it for him." She said as she looked at her message and then pointed the screen to Jane for her friend to read.

"Aww, it's sweet. He's learning new things for you. See, all that crying you did this morning. He misses you just as much as you miss him."

"I know but that's not what is the worst part."

"What then?"

"We haven't had SEX in FOUR WEEKS." She exclaimed as all heads in the restaurant snapped to her attention. "Opps, did I say that too loud." She ducked.

"Hell girl, why not?" Jane asked as she gave out a few wide eyed stares of her own causing the gawking others to turn back to their own business.

"Well, you know I had the surgery and the doctor said no sex for four weeks. Well, after two, Jason and I decided no penetration but we could do other things" she wiggled her eyebrow and Jane gave a hearty laugh. "Then all this stuff with Frank came up. We were interrupted on the plane and then interrupted by Spinelli when he got home that afternoon. We haven't had a chance to do….well….anything and I am ready to burst at the seams."

"Then you need to just take matters into your own hands. Get bob and take care of your needs yourself."

"Bob? What does my stepfather have to do with this?"

"NO not Bob…bob…you know your battery operated boyfriend. I know you have one. Hell, I bought you a big 8 inch purple one for your bridal shower years ago."

"Yes, I remember. I thought I would die when my grandmother said 'I haven't seen one like that before' "

Both girls fell into a giggle fit as the waiter came up. "Is everything okay, can I get you two anything else?"

"Um...no just the check please."

Just then a stranger, tall and handsome, walked up to the table. "Four weeks is a long time. I can help you out if you like." And he handed Elizabeth his business card. "Call me."

Doug suddenly appeared beside the man. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, who are you?" the stranger asked frustrated at the intrusive man.

"He's my BOB" Elizabeth exclaimed and both girls fell into another giggle fest.

Once the stranger waked away, Doug turned to both girls and said, "well, I don't WANT to know what a BOB is but after your loud announcement, I kind of figured you were bound to be hit on by some low life in here."

"Thanks Doug. Here you want his card?" Elizabeth asked as she tried to hand it over to her co-worker.

"Um, no I don't think I am what he's looking for and I certainly am not looking for him. See you girls back at the office."

"Okay, by Doug" Jane said as she pulled her credit card out and handed it and the bill over to the waiter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jane and Elizabeth were oblivious to the car that followed them back to the office. Doug was not. He followed the car away from the office and made contact with his partner once he saw the man walk into an office building.

"He's following her again. I think I should call Morgan or Corinthos"

"NO, DON'T. I'll take care of it."