Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital or any of its characters. This is just for me to expand my skillset as a writer, and give introspective on characters that I enjoy and love.

Summary: In the darkest night, Elizabeth Webber climbs fifteen flights of stairs to outrun the shambles of her life. She thinks of what drove her here, and why she had nowhere else to go.

15 Flights

by ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

Elizabeth Webber climbed the stairs, barely aware of it.

The Harborview Penthouse was the last place in the world she should be. Her history with Jason Morgan was long and complicated, a mixture of good and bad and they hadn't always been the best of friends. There had been outside factors that had always muddled the waters between them, even bordering on hatred at some points, but that anger and pain always simmered away. In its place, a tentative uncertainty remained that kept them on the outskirts of each other's lives, and then—and then this last year, a subtle shift occurred. It started off quietly and slow, where gravity seemed to pull them back in close orbit. It was so easy to fall back into an easy friendship with Jason, feeling as if time had spun backwards to the Winter of '99.

It felt like a fresh start, all clean and new. Jason always listened to her without judgment, and she only hoped that she had repaid half of that in kind. He had been the only one throughout this disaster with Lucky that encouraged her to do what was best for her and Cameron—and honestly? She needed a person that fully in her corner right now.

And she knew that most people would have turned around when the blackout shut down the power and made it impossible to use the elevators. Most people seen fifteen flights of stairs as a daunting task, but for someone who felt like she had nowhere else to go, there was no amount of climbing or walking that could be more painfully than having her life being blown apart by the man that she had loved.

She that her choice to go to see Jason would be scrutinized by anyone and everyone, and that she would be the centerpiece of a witch hunt. Her reputation had been put to the fire before now, and she had survived so much worse. The people on the outside, the people who only saw what they wanted to see—they would never see how that Elizabeth had nowhere else to go.

Elizabeth could not stomach the thought of going to Nikolas and Emily. Her longtime friends were well-meaning, but unconsciously biased; any time that Lucky made a mistake, the onus of forgiveness and compassion was placed squarely on Elizabeth's shoulder. The verbal tirades, drug abuse, and more—Elizabeth had to swallow and forgive because it wasn't Lucky. It was the drugs talking and doing those things, but to be honest, Elizabeth had seen hints of this behavior well before he had fallen into the grips of addiction. And Elizabeth had allowed her and her son to come in second place to Lucky's ego and pride, because there was this naïve part of her heart that clung to the ideal of being with her first love with all its might.

Her family had been a fair-weather family. They were only there to support if she met the terms and conditions that they believed that she should live her life by, so Elizabeth kept very tight-lipped about the struggles of her life in order to avoid having them go over all of her faults and failures with a fine-tooth comb. She had a total of seven phone calls from her parents since she had been fifteen years old, so going to them was not an option. Her brother was so self-involved and righteous that she did not think he would take the time to even bother. Her sister had left for California and hadn't looked back.

Her grandmother, Audrey Webber, who was the only one in her life was overly critical of her past choices and placed her husband on a pedestal. All she would get was another lecture on how she was giving up the best thing that happened to her, and that she couldn't afford to be so selfish because it would take away the only father that Cameron has known. It just hurt that all the people in her life that were supposed to love her unconditionally seemed to only have her back when it benefited them or their vision of how Elizabeth should live her life.

Her current In-Laws provided only pressure, not support. Luke Spencer had never been much of a father to his children though his love could not be questioned, and often placed the burden of their welfare upon others. Luke didn't see his daughter-in-law as her own person, but an extension of Lucky. If Elizabeth had to sacrifice all that she was to make Lucky a better man and keep him happy, then that was the least that she could for the boy that helped her out of the bushes on that terrible, snowy night. In Luke's eyes, Elizabeth would eternally owe Lucky.

As for her sister-in-law, Lulu saw her family as infallible. She idolized Lucky and Elizabeth, seeing them as a real-life fairytale and that they were perfect. The day that illusion was shattered, it wouldn't be pretty to say the very least. (Laura was still in the hospital, comatose and unresponsive, but Elizabeth didn't think that her reaction would be any better.)

And Elizabeth knew there would always be those that felt like she didn't try hard enough. That she didn't sacrifice enough to help Lucky through this rough patch, but she gave up so much to try to make Lucky a better man. He just didn't want to be a better man.

Elizabeth had gone above and beyond to protect Lucky and his reputation. She didn't let the world know that he brought a barely legal teenager into their bed and traded his body for drugs, which would have destroyed his career at the Police Department. She worked double shifts, back to back, trying to keep them out of debt because his pride wouldn't let them ask for help from friends or family. He had hid drugs in her son's toys, had fired off a gun in the house, and—just how much more was she supposed to swallow down for the sake of true love? When was enough just enough?

There was no plan or thought when she climbed those fifteen flights of stairs beyond just outrunning the pain and everyone who would just push her back into that same toxic situation, and towards the one person that pleaded with her to think of herself first.

Before she knew it, Elizabeth was in front of the penthouse door. She doesn't remember knocking, only the dizzy sense of relief when the door pulled opened and Jason stood there. "Um, I am sorry for just showing up like this," she whispered, voice strained.

Jason stepped aside, letting her into the penthouse. His concern was palpable. "It's, uh, it's okay. What happened?"

She walked into the living area, turning around to face when the cold realization finally settled into her stomach, heavy as a stone. Her eyes filled with tears. "I've got nowhere else to go."

His blue eyes clashed with hers, and it was the answering pain—the understanding bright in his eyes that drew her forward into his arms, and she buried hers face into her neck. The emptiness in her chest eased away in an instant. A sense of safety that she did not know had been so lacking in her life until this very moment, and no matter what was happening outside these walls, Elizabeth would never regret making this climb to safe harbor and to the one person that she could trust.

END OF STORY

I know that it is a short one-shot, but I hope you all enjoyed.

RRs are appreciated.