Notes ---

Yes, I still live. Hence my only acceptable excuse for the long delay is null and void. heehee. Hope you'll read this anyway.

I don't own GH or the characters, just my little story.

Making A Memory

Chapter 53

Elizabeth walked downstairs with Cam at her side and Jason behind her with Jake. She convinced Jason to eat breakfast before he left and she wanted it to be special. He agreed to make her happy, knowing she still thought about his injury.

They'd stayed in bed together for a little over half an hour; softly talking and making the children laugh. The sound was a balm for their worries. It gave them hope that there was something good ahead. He had so much to fight for. Surely after everything they'd been through to get to this place nothing would happen to snatch it away?

At least that's what Elizabeth hoped as she headed for the kitchen.

She wanted things to be normal for the boys. Although she wasn't sure any of them really knew what that was. The boys were blissfully unaware of all the almost tragedies their little family had avoided in the past weeks while Elizabeth wished she could forget. She just wanted some peace for them all. With Jason's job that probably would never be possible, but she would pray for it anyway. And beyond that she would support her husband in any way he needed to make it happen.

As they went into the kitchen she looked around for something to make. Sonny had every fancy kitchen gadget known to man and probably food to match. In the end she went for simple and made bacon, eggs, and toast. For some reason Cam decided he wanted to sit on Jason's lap and eat. Elizabeth thought maybe he sensed something was happening, even though he might not understand what he was feeling. She knew she wanted to hold onto her husband with all she had, but she had to let him go so he could come back.

She stared at her men and made a picture of them in her mind. It seemed kind of morbid, like she was asking for trouble, but she just needed an image to keep with her.

All too soon they finished and Jason got up from the table. He spoke to Cam who was still in his arms.

"I have to go to work, but I'll see you later. Okay?"

"I don't want you to," Cam stated with a pout.

Jason smiled at the expression he'd seen before on the boy's mother. "I have to. I'll see you tonight though."

"Don't leave." Cam put his arms around Jason's neck and held on as tight as he could.

Jason's heart broke at the pleading in his son's voice. He would give anything to stay with him, with all of them, but he needed to deal with the Zacarra threat so he could make sure it wouldn't affect his family. He rubbed Cam's back and stroked his curly hair.

Elizabeth had feared this, but hoped she was just being overanxious. She had a feeling that the events of the last weeks had affected her oldest son more than she thought. He must have noticed that people seemed to be going away and not coming back for long periods of time. It may have caused him a bit of separation anxiety. Though the things that happened weren't her fault, she felt like a bad mother because her son was hurting and she couldn't prevent it.

She saw how Jason closed his eyes when Cam begged him not to leave and knew she needed to make things easier for them both. "Come here baby." She reached her hands out to her son and was relieved when he let go of Jason after a moment's hesitation and clung to her instead. "I know you want Jason to stay, but Mommies and Daddies have to go to work so that they can take care of their families. You know how Mommy works at the hospital as a nurse?" Cam nodded his head against her shoulder. "Well Jason has to work too. His job is to protect people he cares about." Elizabeth looked into her husband's eyes and could see that he understood she was talking to herself as much as to Cam. "Jason loves you, and me, and Jake ... and if he says he'll be back, he will. Okay?"

Cam turned his head to face Jason again. "Okay," he said quietly.

Jason stepped closer and kissed his son's cheek and forehead. "Your Mom is right. I love you very much." He looked up then into his wife's eyes. "I love you all very much." He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips.

"We love you too." Elizabeth leaned her head against Cam's as Jason moved to kiss Jake; who was sitting in his bouncer they'd brought from home. When he stood he only paused by her for a second before leaving.

They knew another second might have killed them both.


Jason felt a nauseating déjà vu at being back in Zacarra's house. It had been a bit more difficult getting in this time without the benefit of Spinelli's help, but he was reluctant to involve the kid in this instance.

First, he was better off out of the loop while Zacarra was in the mood to blow people up who got in his way. Second, he seemed happy with Georgie and possibly on the verge of letting her convince him of how nice a normal life would be. Someone should be happy and not constantly on the lookout for danger around every corner. He envied Spinelli in that. He still had a chance to be out of it. Jason was too deep in the business to get out at this point. It was just a reality he'd learned to deal with.

He leaned against a wall as another reality gave him a twinge of pain. His shoulder still wasn't a hundred percent, but he hadn't the luxury of waiting for it to be. With Sonny out of commission he had no choice but to deal with Zacarra himself. There was the likelihood the crazy bastard would send someone to the hospital to finish the job when he found out Sonny survived. Loose ends were bad business.

After waiting a second to make sure he was steady on his feet, Jason quietly made his way up the stairs. He reached the master bedroom without incident and just managed to duck out of the way into another hallway when he heard voices inside. A couple of men left the room, speaking about what sounded like construction. Obviously that meant Zacarra wasn't in there, he didn't seem the patient type to tolerate all that disruption around him. Jason waited until the men moved to the stairs and cautiously made his way back around the corner.

What he intended was risky with other people in the house, but his options were limited. He didn't imagine Zacarra was up and about as well as he was after his own gunshot wound at the meeting. He was older than Jason which probably made his recovery take longer. There was also little doubt he would avoid going to a hospital. His confinement, though difficult to maneuver, made him accessible. But after looking in the couple of rooms surrounding the master, Zacarra was nowhere to be found.

Jason couldn't think where he might have gone, unless it was to the hospital to witness the carnage he'd created first hand. He was definitely that sick.

Jason gritted his teeth at being unable to call the guards he had posted there to ask if he'd shown his face. He knew they'd look after Sonny, Carly, and Skye though. His plans however were put out of play for the time being. Now he had to get out of the house and wait for another opportunity. Maybe if Zacarra figured himself the victor, he'd be in a hurry to claim his spoils and get in a vulnerable position.

That idea abating some of his frustration, he moved to head back downstairs. Footsteps on the landing forced him to backtrack into the bedroom he'd just left. He looked around for a place to hide and decided on the bathroom. He hoped whoever it was would pass by, but they entered the room soon after. He listened as feet shuffled across the carpeted floor and silently warned them to leave.

Unfortunately the person wasn't psychic and he eventually heard them come toward the bathroom. A quick inventory only left him with one option; the linen closet. He made his way inside and softly closed the door behind him. In the dark and silence only his steady breaths kept him company. Carefully he took his gun from his back and held it ready for whatever might happen. He'd only come for Zacarra, but if he ran into one of the guards he'd do what he had to.

There was a soft tap of footsteps on the tile of the bathroom floor. Jason could tell by the sound it wasn't a man. It was too light of a step. A dull thunk let him know she'd set something on the floor. Maybe a bucket? He assumed it was one of the maids cleaning.

Though he couldn't see, he rolled his eyes upward when he heard water run and the slap of what sounded like a wet rag on the counter. He hated to have to wait until she was done but there was no helping it. Hopefully she wasn't too conscientious about it and would finish in a few minutes.

With no way to gauge how much time passed, he simply waited her out. His internal clock told him it was about thirty minutes before she was done. He'd heard every slap of the rag and resulting squeak when something was sufficiently clean. He almost sighed in relief when he thought she was finally leaving.

Of course, that would have been too easy.

As her feet got near where he knew the door was he heard her stop, the thunk of the bucket as she put it down again, and then the thud of his heart as she came in the direction of the closet where he was hiding. He closed his eyes a second as he realized he had to deal with her now.

Jason pulled on the hood of the zipped black sweatshirt he wore and brought it low as possible to cover his face. He wouldn't hurt her; couldn't. But maybe he could just keep her quiet long enough to get out with the threat of it. Bystanders were the worst in his business. At the least inconvenient, and at the most dangerous to underestimate. Most in his particular field simply did away with anyone who was in their way, but Jason wasn't wired like that. He only used force when absolutely necessary and never with women unless they were a direct threat and he had no other options. Such was the case with one enemy from long ago, Faith Roscoe. He'd ended up having to kill her when she tried to kill him after kidnapping Sonny's kids. It wasn't something he liked to remember, but the woman was a viper and he hadn't lost much sleep over it.

This situation was different though. The woman about to discover him was in no way involved in what he was doing, she was just doing her job. He'd be as gentle as possible, but he couldn't let her give him up to the guards or he wouldn't make it out of there.

He tucked the gun away at his back and looked behind him. It wasn't easy to see in the darkened room, only the sliver of light under the door kept it from being black. Quietly he grabbed a pillowcase from the shelf and held it ready in case he needed to gag her.

His muscles tensed in readiness as he watched the knob turn on the door. Things happened quickly once the door opened. She saw him and opened her mouth to scream as he thought. He grabbed her and turned her back to him, covering her mouth before she could manage more than a squeak. He locked her arms down with his arm wrapped around her.

"Don't make a sound," he said in an almost whisper.

From beneath his hood he could see she was a slight young woman, blonde, with a light gray maid's uniform on. He could feel her trembling in his arms and hated that he had to scare her.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he tried to reassure her. "I just need some information and I'll leave. Do you understand?"

He barely felt the nod of her head against his chest. Her breaths came out of her nose in hot bursts on the top of his hand. He worried she might hyperventilate from the cadence of it and pass out. Though that would solve the dilemma of her possibly screaming, it wouldn't get his questions answered.

"Just calm down. Breath slowly." He tried to make his voice as soothing as he could. "In and out ... that's it." He could feel her trying to slow the breaths, but the trembling didn't stop. "I just want to ask you a couple of questions and then I'll go ... okay?"

She nodded again. He noticed her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides and couldn't tell if she was trying to relieve tension or preparing to take a swing at him when the chance presented itself. She seemed sufficiently scared of him though, so he assumed it was the former.

"Is Zacarra home?" Surprisingly she tensed more at the sound of her bosses name than she had when he grabbed her. She slowly shook her head no. "Do you know where he is?" She shook her head again.

Jason cursed under his breath that his plans were screwed for now. He'd have to wait Zacarra out since the chances of his getting back in the house after being caught this time were diminished. The woman would probably report the intruder to her boss once he got back, and Jason wasn't about to hurt her to make sure she couldn't. It wasn't his way.

He felt her try to mumble something beneath his hand and knew the only way to know what she was trying to say would be to uncover her mouth. It was a gamble, but if she could give him a clue about Zacarra's whereabouts he had to risk it.

"I'm going to take my hand away so you can speak ... but don't try anything. I still have the upper hand here. Got it?" When she nodded he moved his hand from her mouth just enough to hear her, and close enough to cover it again if he had to.

She took a deep gulp of breath through her mouth like she'd come up from a deep sea dive. He saw her lick her lips nervously and swallow.

"I-I don't guess you're a f-f-friend of Mr. Zacarra's?"

The fact that the black clad man who'd grabbed her hadn't come in through the front door like her employer's other flunkies did was her first clue. And though he'd initially scared the hell out of her, she still wasn't as freaked out by him as she'd been when Mr. Zacarra had done it before.

"No," Jason said simply. There was no need to lie about that. It was pretty easy to guess you didn't sneak around a friend's house.

For some reason that answer made her trust him a bit more. The enemy of my enemy and all that.

"I think he might have gone to the h-hospital."

Jason narrowed his eyes at her under his hood. What made her so cooperative all of a sudden he couldn't say.

"Why do you think that?"

"I heard him m-mention checking on a friend and seeing a doctor."

Sonny, Jason thought. He could almost sense the danger, but couldn't get to him right then. He had to trust the guys were looking out for him until he could warn them.

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. She could just as easily have left it at not knowing where he was.

She couldn't exactly answer that herself. For some reason she didn't feel in imminent danger. Yes there was a definite aura of leashed power and threat emanating from the man behind her, but it wasn't menacing and evil like with Mr. Zacarra. That man could give the devil a run for his money. She'd found that out the time he caught her alone in the east wing. She was vacuuming and hadn't noticed when he came in behind her. That was fear like she'd never known. The memory constantly haunted her ever since. Everywhere he'd touched her felt unclean and tainted. Thankfully Silvia, the head housekeeper, had walked in and interrupted. But the look on his face as he left told her it wouldn't be the last time. Since then she'd done all she could to make sure she was always with someone else, or far out of his way when he was home. That was until that day in his bedroom when she brought him his drink. She'd thought him being laid up with an injury would have slowed him down; unfortunately she was wrong. And she knew once he was better it would progress to an ultimate conclusion that made her sick to her stomach.

"All I can say is ... I've seen what he's capable of first hand." She clenched her hands in the fabric of her uniform and her voice shook with nervousness. "I want out of here. Can you help me?"

It was crazy for her to be asking a total stranger, who was for all intents and purposes holding her hostage, for help. But what options did she really have. Staying, she knew what the outcome would be. It left her wondering what could be much worse. The man behind her had to have some sense of mercy. He could have easily snapped her neck as soon as she found him in the closet and gotten away, and he hadn't handled her roughly as he might have. She only felt enough pressure from his arms about her to keep her still, not to do harm.

Some long buried instinct was telling her to trust this chance she had with him.

Jason was a bit confused by her question. "If you hate it here so much, why don't you just quit?" A thought occurred to him. "Are you being kept here against your will?"

"In a way ... I guess." She closed her eyes and took another breath. "It would be a lot easier to talk if you'd ... let go." She felt him take a gruff breath of his own. "Look ... i-it's not like I could go anywhere. You said it before. You have the upper hand. I'm sure you could h-hurt me if you really wanted to." She found herself holding her breath waiting for his answer.

Did he dare to take the chance? Jason played out the pros and cons in his head in a matter of moments before deciding to go with his gut. He could tell she was sufficiently aware of who controlled the situation and she seemed sincere in her request for help. He didn't put it past Zacarra to be sadistic enough to have this woman under his power in any variety of ways.

Slowly he released his hold on her and before she had an opportunity to fully face him, he pulled the closet door shut and flipped on the light with the switch on the wall. He still kept his face hidden under the hood, but could see her well enough beneath it to keep an eye on what she did.

She turned carefully to him once the door was shut. He had made her getting away difficult by doing it. He could get to her before she'd be able to scream or any guards could get to her, and yet surprisingly she felt in less danger with him than with them. The thugs Zacarra hired were much like him in temperament and scruples. She was sure the only reason none of them had come at her was they saw her as belonging to the boss, much like everything else in his house.

The man in black stood in a mildly relaxed stance across from her, but she knew that he was aware of every move she made and ready to react to anything he perceived as a threat. She couldn't see more than the lower half of his face because of his hood. He had a strong jaw she noticed, for some reason it gave him a bit of character that helped her feel more secure in her instinct to ask him for help.

"Explain," he said simply.

She knew he wanted to find out her motives and whether or not it would benefit him in any way to help her.

She cleared her suddenly dry throat before speaking. "I got this job through an acquaintance. I needed a good paying job to take care of my grandmother, and I was told Mr. Zacarra paid well. I don't have a lot of skills, but I can clean and I'm very efficient."

He found himself a little impressed by the confident way she spoke of herself. The way she wrung her hands was the only contrasting image she presented. It almost sounded like she was applying for a job with him. Possibly that's what she was doing.

"I was hired by the head housekeeper. She runs the household and does the hiring mostly. She's a nice woman, so I thought things might work out for me here." She looked down at her feet. "That is ... until I met Mr. Zacarra."

Jason could tell she was uncomfortable about whatever she was going to say.

"I was told he was recently married, so I didn't imagine he would be ... interested ... in me. But he kept looking at me when he was around, brushing by accidentally. He even got me alone once and almost ..."

Jason felt badly for what he knew she was implying. Still he kept his guard up. He didn't know her well enough to tell if she was giving him a sob story to get his cooperation.

"Then when I heard his wife was arrested ... I knew it was a matter of time before he got what he wanted. He got hurt recently ... his leg. I thought I'd get a break from vigilantly watching my back. No such luck though. His hands seem to be working just fine."

For a moment Jason relished the fact that he'd put that bullet in the bastard. Wishing only that his aim had been higher.

"That doesn't tell me why you don't just quit. If he's harassing you ... why stick around?"

She knew this was the part that would require major trust on her part. He could use her answer against her as her boss had. But how much did she have to lose at this point? One evil or another didn't make much difference. And she still had that feeling he was a safer bet than Zacarra.

She sighed as she made her decision. "My grandmother isn't here ... in this country ... legally. My father was wanted back in his home country of Czech Republic for daring to go up against a powerful group of men. He never told me all the details of it, but they threatened to kill him and his family. He managed to get himself and his mother to the States years ago, changed their names and lived under the radar with him working low paying jobs to live. He met my mother here and they had me. She knew the truth too, which is why they never married officially. No paper trail. They both died a year ago in a car accident. It's up to me to protect my grandmother. I was born here, so I'm a citizen. If she's deported back to her home ... I don't want to think what could happen to her. My father told me many times that they have long memories there. They don't forget a wrong until it's avenged." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Mr. Zacarra found out about it somehow. He brought it up casually ... but his implications were clear. He can make my grandmother pay if I'm not sufficiently cooperative. I think up to this point he's kind of been playing a game with me, but now that his wife's in prison he's been more ... angry. I have no doubt what that will mean for me once he's back on his feet."

Jason had no doubt either. Listening to her story he could sense she was telling the truth. She was definitely fearful of Zacarra and what he'd expect in exchange for not turning her grandmother over to immigration. If the men she feared in her father's homeland were anything like Zacarra, the old woman would merely have to be on immigration's radar to give them access to her whereabouts. After that, she wouldn't even have to be deported for them to get to her.

He could see the kind of bind she was in.

"I can't stay here any longer," he said.

It was only a few minutes they'd been talking, but the longer he was in the house the more chance he'd get caught. He watched her head fall in disappointment, probably thinking he'd decided not to help. This was certainly not a convenient time.

"What's your name?"

She looked up in surprise and answered before her brain could argue. "Anicka."

"Anicka ... I'll do what I can to help you."

She clasped her hands together and brought them to her mouth in gratitude. "Thank you. Thank you so much." She wasn't sure what he would or could do, but for some reason she felt more hopeful than she had in a long time.

"I have something to take care of first. So what you can do right now is not let anyone know I was here." He went to the door and opened it carefully, glad to see and hear no one. "Hopefully I can solve both our problems today," he said mostly to himself.

When he started to leave she put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Wait," she whispered. He looked down at her hand and she pulled it back quickly as if burned when she realized what she'd done. "I uh ... I don't know your name."

The corner of his mouth turned up to put her at ease. She'd had enough of angry jerks to last a lifetime he was sure.

"It's probably better you don't know ... for both of us."

Anicka looked at him a bit worriedly. "How do I know you'll come back?"

"You don't. Just like I don't know that you won't go out there and call for the guards as soon as I leave. Guess we'll have to take each other at our word."

He left her and went silently through the bathroom, taking a quick glance into the bedroom beyond as he took the gun from his back. When he saw it was clear he made his way to the hall, another quick check let him get to the stairs and down to the main foyer. As he went along the wall he was relieved to hear no alarms being raised or guards coming at him. It seemed he'd been right to trust Anicka.

At least that's what he thought before he felt the heavy blow to the back of his head.

To be continued …

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