A/N - Thanks for the reviews! I don't know why you guys want the next chapter so fast lol (ducking). It's kind of hard to have Jason do something physical because Liz needs him right now and Jeff would probably press charges just out of spite. chawchic - good guess

Chapter 49 - Baggage

Liz watched her mother walk towards her and she gripped Jason's hand.

"Hello mother, what brings you here?"

Her mother studied her for a moment. "I heard about what happened."

"And you want to try and talk me out of pressing charges, right?"

"It would be the right thing to do."

"No, the right thing to do would be if my father didn't spread lies and pretend I didn't get raped. I don't understand why he just can't keep his mouth shut."

Her mother shifted nervously. "They were printing a lot of things about you in the newspaper and the press started to hound us again."

"They were lies. Jason is not in the mafia."

"Elizabeth, it's all about public perception. Your father worked really hard to get those funds and he just lost it."

Jason squeezed her hand. He wasn't sure if he should butt in or not. Part of him wanted to protect her, and part of him wanted her to stand up for herself.

"Regardless, it's not okay to go on television and say that I was never raped. It's not okay to show up at my place of employment and cause a scene and hit me. Whatever dad has coming, it's because of his choices. I was fine without all of you. So, just go on back to your life and forget you ever had me. It's okay with me. Really." Liz said evenly.

Her mother didn't move. She didn't even know what to say to that.

"It's okay. I understand that dad comes before me. You've always made that perfectly clear. You made a choice to stay with a man who threw his child under the bus and then ran back over her repeatedly. He callously made a choice to not accept the fact that I was raped. And you just stood by him and never said a word even after seeing how much I was suffering. That is on you mother. You will have to answer for that someday. But I have always chosen to fight. And it's not about revenge. It's about doing what's right; something none of you understand. So, go to your husband and listen to him trash me and say nothing just like you always do."

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry."

"You don't get to say that to me because you don't mean it. They are just words to you. If you meant it, then you would change. But, don't worry. You have another daughter who loves and adores you. So, you can just go home and pretend that you are a good mom, when you clearly are not. Because God knows you have failed me miserably. Now, please leave."

Her mother started to defend herself and Jason was done. "Enough." He yelled as he stood up to intervene and then a voice came from the doorway.

"I believe that my patient just asked you to leave." Monica said walking inside. She was horrified by everything that she had just heard."

"Who do you think you are? I am family."

Monica laughed. "Those words coming out of your mouth are blasphemous. I am Jason's mother and as far as I'm concerned, Elizabeth is my family. What you did to your daughter was reprehensible and you need to leave. If you don't, I will call security and have you removed by force."

Jason was shocked at Monica's outburst but he couldn't help but feel really good about it.

Elizabeth's mother put her head down. "Goodbye." She said turning and leaving the room.

"Well, the good news is that there is only one sibling left." Liz said sarcastically.

"Are you okay?" Monica said grabbing her hand.

Liz nodded. "Yes. Thank you for defending me. It's nice to have someone on my side."

"You're welcome. If you ever need anything, please ask okay?"

Liz smiled. "That means a lot to me."

Monica smiled and turned to leave.

"Mom, wait." Jason said walking over to her. "Thank you." He said hugging her tightly.

Monica smiled. She left and Jason sat back down next to Liz. Before he could say anything, Ronnie walked in.

"Hi. I'm sorry to bother you but I need to take your statement."

Liz nodded. "Okay."

He took down everything she said and then said, "Elizabeth, you do realize that you will probably have to testify against your father. There is no way he's going to plead guilty."

Some of the things that Jeff had said in the car on the way to the police station made Ronnie want to beat the shit out of him.

"That's fine. I don't care. He needs to understand that there are consequences to his actions."

"Between you and me, I can't wait for you to take his ass down."

Liz smiled. "Thanks Ronnie."

They watched him walk out.

"I want you to know that I will be there every step of the way." Jason said before kissing her gently. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you."

Epiphany walked into the room. "All right, you can go."

"Good. Let's get out of here before anyone else shows up." Elizabeth said sliding off the bed.

"Just take it easy."

"I will." Liz said smiling.

Jason walked her out and to Liz's astonishment, several nurses came out and gave her a hug. And when they got in the elevator and she began to cry, he understood why and held on to her tightly. She wasn't used to everyone coming to her defense.

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Jason got her settled into bed and they both heard someone pounding on the door downstairs. They smiled and Jason ran out the door.

"Carly." He said opening it wide.

"Where is she?" She said rushing inside.

"Upstairs."

AJ walked in slowly. "Sorry, I tried to get her to wait but she wasn't having it."

Jason smiled. "It's okay. I think Elizabeth could use a friend."

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Carly ran into the bedroom. "Are you alright?" She said rushing to Liz's side.

"I'm fine."

Carly pushed Liz's hair back off the bandage. "I came as soon as I heard. I mean what the hell is wrong with your family?"

Liz sighed. "I don't know. Part of me is actually relieved that they are showing their ass in public because I always felt like everyone thought we were the perfect family. My father was always really careful about public perception. So, he'd pretend to be loving in front of people. But when no one else was there, he was very abusive."

"Were you the only one he was like that with?"

"Pretty much. My mom learned fast to just do what she was told. And Sarah was his favorite. But in a way, I think he damaged her the most because of that. She ended up just like him."

Carly nodded. "You know, it's okay to be angry you know." She said softly. "I mean not like Carly angry because then you'd do really stupid things. But, it's not healthy to hold all of that in."

Liz thought for a moment. "I'm scared that if I go to that place that I would get lost in it."

"I understand because I certainly was lost in it. But, if you want to have a healthy relationship with Jason, you're going to need to deal with the fact that your family sucks and they don't love you like you deserve. Pushing it down is going to eventually wreck you."

Liz knew what she was saying was true.

"If you ever have kids…."

Liz interrupted her thought. "I'm not going to have kids Carly. I can't handle that. I don't want to be responsible for screwing them up."

"But you wouldn't if you dealt with everything. Don't you see? You of all people would be a great mom because you know how not to be treated. I can't ever see you doing what your parents did to you to your child. You don't have it in you."

Liz looked like she was panicking and she just started to sob and Carly held her for a long time as she let go some of pain. Carly wished that she had someone talk to her like she had just spoken to Liz. It probably would have saved her a lot of heart ache.

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Someone knocked on the door and Jason opened it. It was Sarah.

"I want to speak to my sister." She said firmly.

She tried to walk past Jason but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back out into the foyer.

"There is no way in hell I'm letting you anywhere near her. Do you not understand the concept of a restraining order?"

Sarah looked up at him. His eyes were icy cold and he was all kinds of hot. Maybe that was how she'd get back at Elizabeth. She'd take Jason from her.

Changing her game plan, she said, "I just wanted to apologize to her."

"If you think I'm buying that, you're even more delusional than I thought. You need to leave."

Jason was getting really annoyed. He was done with her family. He watched her soften more and wondered what she was up to.

"Look, my dad took it too far and so did I. Why don't you just tell Elizabeth that I stopped by, okay?" She said touching his arm for a second which made Jason's skin crawl.

He watched her push the elevator button and then disappear through the doors. He knew she was up to something and that made him really nervous.