So sorry for the delay... my muse was on strike.. but now she's been properly scolded and is ready to work... thanks for waiting...
-Last Episode -
AJ is determined to make everything to work with the baby and Elizabeth... Jason goes to visit Carly
Step 48
-Kelly's Upstairs Hallway-
Jason tilted his head toward her door. "We need to talk."
Carly felt a cold chill of fear shiver through her body even though she knew that Jason Morgan didn't hurt women. He wouldn't.
But everyman had his breaking point. Carly just hoped this wasn't it.
Crossing to her room she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Jason gave her a curious look and she felt compelled to explain herself. "I was just in the bathroom so I didn't lock it."
He didn't react or answer back, he just waited for her to look him in the eye. When she did it was only for a moment.
"What were you doing today at the hospital?"
"Today?" Carly wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand as she picked up a shirt from the bed. "I was just making sure that my baby gets its fair share of the family legacy."
"Family legacy?" Jason scoffed. "That's what AJ was offering you and you didn't take it."
She shook her head at him. "I don't want a pay off, Jason... whatever you think you know about me... I want this baby to have both parents in a family."
"You don't love AJ, Carly... and he doesn't love you. What would you get from marrying AJ that you couldn't get from the huge settlement that the Quartermaines would give you?"
"A stable home, Jason." The words were the truth... but it wasn't so much about the baby really. Carly knew the Quartermaine's would hire nannies and maids and that would give Carly time to enjoy her life the way she wanted to. No bills, no worries, nothing to do but take care of herself. Her mother be damned... Carly was going to live like a queen. "This is what's best for the baby."
Jason watched as she hurriedly picked up other pieces of clothing and tossed them onto a chair nearby. "Best for the baby." He sighed. "Why is that so hard to believe?"
She took one breath and then another, her fingers digging into the blouse in her hands. "Believe it or not, Jason... you turned your back on me... you left me... and I'm going to make my life work. I'm going to make my dreams come true." She looked up at him. "I wanted this with you... but you pushed me away... just remember that when I've got AJ's ring on my finger."
Moving toward the door, Jason stopped a foot shy. "He's not going to marry you," Jason explained, "he's with Elizabeth, Carly... he-"
"Loves her," Carly's tone was pinched, nauseous, "yeah... I've heard that... and seen the way he stares at her... touches her... but he'll change. Once this baby starts being real to him... he'll change."
"He won't, Carly... and if you make him choose between you and Elizabeth." Jason sighed. "You'll lose. Make no mistake about it."
Carly's eyes sparked with anger. "Just leave here, Jason... take your warnings and get the hell out."
Jason touched the doorknob, turning his head one last time to look at her. "I think you got pregnant on purpose, Carly. I bet this baby looked like a great way to get money... but if I find out you're putting everyone through all of this hell just for money-"
"No!" Stroking the small curve of her belly, she gave Jason a worried look. "This is about my baby-"
"If I find out you're just doing this for yourself, Carly..." He couldn't seem to find the words, the whole situation soured in his mouth like vinegar and he walked out of the room.
Carly watched the door for the better part of ten minutes, waiting for Jason to storm back inside. To pin her up to the wall...
Anger or passion, at that moment, Carly really couldn't care. She's been without sex for too long.
A moment later her stomach decided to argue with her idea and turned. Carly went running for the bathroom in the hallway.
-Port Charles High School Days Later-
Emily and Lucky flanked Elizabeth as they left the school, both friends managed to carry on a conversation around her as she walked along in silence. Lucky didn't take her silence as easily as Emily did. "Hey, Elizabeth?"
The young woman stopped on the sidewalk and stared into the park. Emily and Lucky walked up on either side of her and tried to see what was bothering her.
Keyed into Elizabeth's world more than Lucky, Emily was the first to understand what Elizabeth was looking at.
Sitting on a blanket under a tree, a young mother held her baby in her arms. Quietly whispering something to the infant in swaddling she rocked back and forth. As she moved in the half-shadows of the tree a little hand reached up and grabbed the ends of her hair, fingers grasping a curl of dark brown hair.
In her own mind, Elizabeth tried to imagine herself in the same place... holding AJ's baby in her lap, but the face that looked up at her when the young mother lifted her face into the sun... was Carly.
Elizabeth hugged her books to her chest and she nearly sprinted down the sidewalk toward home.
-ELQ Headquarters-
The knock sounding at his door, caught his attention and AJ stood to greet the man that stood in the hallway. "Grandfather."
Edward stepped inside and gave AJ a nod. "McLain has some good things to say about you, AJ."
"Thank you." AJ waited.
"I really wanted to stop in... not to check on you... as you might think... I just," he reached out a hand and gave AJ's arm a fatherly pat, "wanted to tell you that you're holding together admirably."
AJ's laugh sounded almost like a cough. "Holding together." He shook his head. "I don't know if I would put it quite like that."
Edward indicated the two chairs in front of AJ's desk and AJ waited for Edward to sit before he joined him.
Sitting back in the chair, Edward looked at him with a mixture of emotions. "How is Elizabeth these days?"
AJ let out a breath. "Guarded. Quiet." He shifted, uncomfortable, leaning his chin on his fist as his elbow dug into the armrest. "She's been so understanding... I can't believe it."
Edward's smile was mysterious. "Audrey Hardy was always a spitfire as long as I've known her. Granted, we never really 'knew' each other beyond a hello here and there... functions for the hospital and such... but there's something about Audrey Hardy that tells you she has backbone... strength. I believe Elizabeth inherited her share of that from Audrey."
"I hope so." AJ sighed. "As things progress with Carly and the baby I'm going to hope she still wants to deal with me."
"How are things coming with... Miss Roberts?"
"Repetitive." AJ looked over at the phone on his desk almost as if he expected it to jump up and bite him. "She calls me nearly every other hour... asking me if I've changed my mind."
Edward's expression was shaded with worry. "And? Have you?"
-ELQ Headquarters Later-
AJ sat at his desk, his reports done... his paperwork done... his mind a million miles away from the cold impersonal feel of his office. Fingering the gilt frame that sat on the side of his desk by the blotter, he looked at the faces that smiled back at him. Elizabeth and Emily, hugging each other as they sat side by side on the Quartermaine boat dock on the lake. Their eyes sparkled with love and happiness.
That wasn't the same look on Elizabeth's face these days.
She still let him hold her close... she cuddled up against his side... she laughed at his jokes... but it was the little things that set her on edge.
A greeting card commercial. The local pizza joint commercial. A family comedy they flipped past while they were looking for something to watch on tv.
She would shiver or start. She would look away or swallow convulsively.
She would pull ever so slightly away from him.
The moments were over faster than they'd begun and she'd settle against him, leaning her head on his shoulder, whispering in his ear how much she loved him.
He felt that love, but he also felt a dark gnawing fear in his middle.
He was losing her. He was losing Elizabeth one breath at a time.
And he had no idea how to stop it.
Still, he was determined to find a way to do it.
Like he'd told his grandfather earlier, he wasn't going to marry Carly out of obligation... he wanted Elizabeth in his life... and he was going to find a way to do it.
-Next Episode-
Elizabeth struggles with her feelings and AJ takes a step that just might derail them completely.
