Rewriting The Stars
Endgame: Liason
Standing at the edge of the cliff, her hair flowing in the wind, Elizabeth looks toward the sky before closing her eyes and allowing the wind to envelop her in its embrace, the sound of the water crashing against the cliff below sending her into a calm state. It has been a long hard year filled with treatments and therapies of every kind, struggling not only physically but mentally and emotionally as well.
There were times that she was ready to throw in the towel and just quit, swearing that she was never going to get back to her old self, the reality of her injuries drowning her in every way possible. Of course, no matter how badly she wanted to quit, no matter what excuses she came up with to wallow in her pain, he wouldn't hear a single word of it. Not for a second.
"Take the rest of the day," he said after she had just cried out against further physical therapy. "We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."
"Y-You're...no-not...hearing me!" she shouted at him as she dropped to the ground in frustration. "I d-don't...w-want to do th-this anymore!"
"I hear you," he said simply, his face blank, something she's become familiar with lately. "I'm going to make some lunch. Do you need help getting back into your chair?"
"Dammit, Jason!" she snaps, her heart pounding against her chest. "I can't do this anymore! It hurts! Everything hurts! I'm never going to get back to normal. You heard my chances. I'm just wasting my time!"
"If that's true then why did you make it through that entire rant without stuttering once?" Jason countered, walking back over to her as her eyes widen in shock, lowering himself to a kneeling position before her. "Doctors don't know everything. They work off what they've either experienced or what they've been taught. No one can tell you what you're capable of. Not even you yourself can know what you're capable of until you try. I'm not ready to give up on you, Elizabeth, so, don't go giving up on yourself. You hear me?"
"I hear you," she whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "I'm sorry I..."
"Don't be sorry for speaking your truth," Jason said gently, lifting her gaze to meet his. "I know it's hard and I know that you are living in constant pain trying to get back what was taken from you. I don't expect you to stay kept together through it all, it'd be absurd to think you'd never fall apart, as long as you pick yourself back up after you fall apart and keep pushing through."
"Right," she replied with a slight smile, unable to put into words what his unwavering support has meant to her. "I'll keep that in mind."
"I'm here if you ever need reminding," he said simply. "Now, I'm going to make us some lunch. Do you need help getting back in your chair?"
"No, I'm okay," she assured him. "I think I'll r-rest for a bit and have one more go at it before lu-lunch."
"In that case, I'll leave the intercom open, in case you need me," he replied before rising to his feet. "I prepped everything this morning, so, lunch shouldn't take long."
There were so many times that she thought he'd leave her, so many times that she thought that she would prove too much for him, but it never happened. He took whatever she had to dish out and he gave it back to her in a way that brought clarity rather than a counterattack. If not for Jason's relentless pushing and unwavering insistence that she could do it, Elizabeth isn't quite sure she would have seen the day that she could stand on her own two feet again.
"Good, you got my message," Jason comments when he finds the Corinthos couple on his doorstep. "Guess it was too much to expect a reply."
"We got on the first flight out as soon as we got the message," Lily says simply. "Where is she?"
"She's at the cliff," Jason says as he steps aside to allow them to walk inside. "She'll be back in time."
"I'm sure she will," Lily smiles softly as she takes off her jacket. "I was honestly surprised by the invitation. I wasn't sure she was ready for visitors."
"You're cooking?" Sonny voices to get them off the topic, knowing that this last year has been hard on his friend and he wasn't about to talk about any of it. "Should I be worried?"
"I've been cooking every meal since we arrived," Jason throws back, following after Sonny as he walks into the kitchen, Lily opting to relax on the couch instead of following them. "It's just about done, so, don't go messing with it."
"Is that so?" Sonny replies with a slight smirk before doing a taste test. "You know, it could use..."
"Don't even think about it," Jason counters, stopping Sonny from reaching for the spice rack. "I cook to Elizabeth's dietary needs. If you don't like it, feel free to eat out, you have more than enough time."
"Okay, okay, sheesh," Sonny chuckles. "You could have just said that to begin with."
"You could stay out of my kitchen."
"Fair enough," Sonny replies, not having expected him to throw his own words back at him. "Have you heard anything more from O'Brien and Corelli?"
"Last I heard, he was finally able to get his business in order," Jason replies simply. "That was a while ago though. I haven't kept in touch."
"That's surprising," Sonny points out. "You've been staying on top of things since they came to you for help."
"Yeah, well, things change," Jason says simply, glancing at his watch before looking at Sonny again. "I'll be right back. Don't go messing with my cooking while I'm gone."
Without another word, he makes his way out of the kitchen, deciding he'll make the venture up to the cliff and walk back down with Elizabeth. It's about a ten-minute walk up to the cliff and he could really use the time to clear his head and catch his breath. He doesn't mean to be short with Sonny, but those two just seem to know what buttons to push without actually knowing it.
As he gets to the cliff, Jason stops a few feet away, a soft smile touching his lips at the sight of her standing with her head tilted to the sky, looking so utterly peaceful in that moment. Knowing just what she had to work through to get to the point where she could find such peace, Jason just couldn't help taking it in, thankful to see that the doctors were indeed wrong about her.
"I'm guessing you got the same call I did," Sarah says to Steven when he walks into her apartment. "I just got off the phone with my assistant at the youth center. She's going to watch over things while I'm gone."
"Fortunately, I was requested to teach a seminar at PCU," Steven replies. "Though the seminar is set for the weekend, they've agreed to give me the whole week to handle things."
"I knew we'd have to face him eventually," Sarah sighs. "I just didn't think it would be this soon."
"It's been a year," Steven reminds her. "If I'm being honest, I'm surprised we lasted this long, could have sworn it'd be six months at most."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sarah accepts. "I just don't know if I'm ready to face him and tell him everything that happened."
"Audrey's the one that put this in motion," Steven points out. "Gramps deserves to know the truth. What comes of it afterward, well, we have no real control over that."
"Right," Sarah replies simply, knowing he's right and there was no way around what had to happen. "Still, as angry as I am with what she did, I am not looking forward to this at all."
"Yeah," Steven shakes his head. "I know the feeling."
Audrey, like their parents, was a constant presence in Sarah's life and he gets why she would be hesitant to bring what she did to light. He's tried to think it through objectively over this last year, trying to figure out why she would be so hateful to put such pain on Elizabeth after all she had been through, especially since it seemed that Audrey was turning a corner with her this summer.
From the way Elizabeth spoke of Audrey's change in behavior, Steven had thought that Audrey would be one of the people fighting to help Elizabeth heal. Whatever reason she started to change, whatever reason she reverted to her mistreatment of Elizabeth, Steven hardly cares anymore. She made her choice and now she must live with it.
"You just going to stand there all day?" Elizabeth's voice brings a soft smile to Jason's lips, a familiar occurrence as of late, her sensing him thought he tries to keep his approach silent. "Thought you'd be busy cooking."
"It's just about done," Jason replies simply, moving to stand beside her as she turns to meet his eyes. "Sonny and Lily just arrived."
"Guess that answers the question of whether they'd get your message in time or not," Elizabeth says with laughter in her voice, having known they'd most likely show up without any warning. "Is everything set?"
"Yeah," Jason confirms. "We'll have lunch before heading out."
"Sounds good," Elizabeth admits. "I'm actually really hungry. Guess you were right about not finishing my breakfast."
"Good thing I made more than enough for lunch," Jason counters with a slight smirk. "Come on, we should head back before Sonny gets any ideas about adding to my cooking."
"Wouldn't want that," she says teasingly, laughing softly when he playfully glares at her. "I'm just playing. Lead the way."
Falling into step beside each other, the two make their way back to the safe house in comfortable silence, simply enjoying the beautiful day that they've been blessed with. Knowing what's bound to happen once they get back, Jason appreciates the silence in her presence, knowing it would be a while before he's able to have that again.
"Elizabeth!" Lily exclaims when she walks through the door, immediately taking Elizabeth's hands in hers. "You look amazing!"
"Thanks," Elizabeth replies with a soft smile as Jason makes his way to the kitchen to finish cooking. "I'm glad you were able to make it. I wasn't sure you'd get Jason's message in time."
"I almost didn't, to be honest," Lily admits, following her over to sit down on the couch. "Things have been hectic back home lately."
"Jason said something to that extent," Elizabeth replies honestly. "He wasn't too happy when Sonny told him to stay put."
"You two have grown quite close, huh?" Lily comments, smiling softly when Elizabeth neither confirms nor denies the claim. "Fair enough, you don't have to say anything, though it's quite clear to see."
"I can't wait for tonight," Elizabeth says as a change in topic, not feeling too comfortable speaking on what has transpired between her and Jason. "It was tricky to get the painting done in time."
"I'm sure," Lily replies in agreement. "I can't wait to see it."
"Table's set," Jason says from the doorway of the dining room, gaining their attention. "Let's eat."
Making their way to the dining room, Elizabeth and Jason share a soft smile as Lily makes her way to the table, Jason nodding slightly before following her to join the other two. After a brief greeting between Sonny and Elizabeth, the four of them take a seat to have lunch, a conversation taking place between Lily and Elizabeth while the men simply chime in when requested to.
Soon enough it's time for them to get ready for the night ahead, the women making use of the showers first while the men clear the dishes. This night has been in the works for months now and Elizabeth just couldn't wait for it to happen. Once the women are done bathing and in their respective rooms getting ready, it's the men's turn to wash up.
"Come in," Elizabeth says from inside her room, smiling slightly when Jason pushes the door open, standing in the doorway. "Hey."
"Hey," Jason replies, leaning against the doorframe. "You almost ready?"
"Just about," Elizabeth assures. "The others ready?"
"They already left," Jason replies. "I told them we'd meet them there."
"I didn't mean to take long," Elizabeth says apologetically, surprised to find that she was the last one that needed to finish getting ready. "I really love this outfit, but the clasps are still a little difficult for me to fasten."
"Need help?" Jason offers, pushing away from the doorframe to make his way over to her.
"Please," she accepts, moving her hands from the front of her blouse, allowing him to fasten the clasps along her stomach, his eyes lifting to meet hers as he finishes the last clasp. "Thanks."
"Anytime," he says as his hands gently slide around her waist, bringing her closer to him, her hands going up to interlock at his nape. "You know you just have to ask, right?"
"I know," she assures. "I just thought I could do it this time."
"The new therapy is helping your hands, but you can't push yourself too fast, you know that," Jason reminds her. "You already pushed your limits creating that painting and you promised me you'd take it easy after it was done."
"That did take it out of me," Elizabeth admits, but she just couldn't help herself, she had to paint it. "Lily's getting a little too curious about us, you know?"
"Let her be curious," Jason says simply, lifting his hand to gently brush strands of hair from her face. "She's entirely too nosey for her own good sometimes."
"And Sonny's not?"
"His focus is on Johnny and Francis at the moment," Jason admits, watching as the smile falters on her face. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Elizabeth assures her, letting out a slow breath. "What happened happened...I'm okay."
"They're only here for today," Jason says gently. "All the big conversations can wait until we get back to town. For now, let's just enjoy the night and let it be enough, okay?"
"Okay," she whispers, smiling softly just before Jason's lips touch hers ever so gently. "I just need a few more minutes and we can head out."
"Take whatever time you need," he says before placing a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I'll be in the living room."
Watching as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him, Elizabeth smiles to herself before shaking her head, knowing that he was right and all the big conversations can wait until they make their way back to Port Charles. For right now, tonight has to be enough, knowing she has come so far already from the girl she was when she left Port Charles last year.
Walking over to the vanity, Elizabeth decides for a looser hairstyle, her hands not exactly ready for more intricate hairstyles at the moment. Soon, though, with the new therapy, as long as she sticks to it and doesn't push herself past her limit, she will regain normalcy again. Just a matter of time.
"Mama?" Juan voices in surprise when he gets to his dressing room and finds his mother standing outside of it. "Why didn't you call me? I would have met you at the airport."
"Nonsense, this is the last show of your international tour," Lily counters simply. "The last thing you need to be doing is picking us up from the airport. Besides, we had some things to handle beforehand anyway."
"We, does that mean Sonny's here, too?" Juan questions. "I didn't think he could leave town while Jason's still gone. Unless..."
"No, they haven't returned to town just yet," Lily shakes her head. "Don't you think I would have called you had they returned?"
"Right," Juan shakes his head, having known that already. "Well, I'm glad you guys could make it, it's bound to be the biggest concert to date."
"Where's that friend of yours?" Lily questions curiously. "Zander, I believe it was."
"He's running last-minute equipment check," Juan explains before pushing open the door to his dressing room. "Come on, I want to show you my dressing room, it's really something else."
Smiling to herself as she follows him into the room, Lily closes the door behind her as her son stops in his tracks, clearly surprised to see Sonny inside already. It took a lot of convincing on their part to be let into her son's dressing room without him knowing, but thankfully they were able to do it. Any question that might have slipped out of Juan's mouth is silenced the moment Sonny steps aside and his eyes fall upon a very detailed gift that could only have been done by one person.
"We're gonna go find our seats," Lily says as her son walks over to the painting, lifting his hand to gently touch it. "We'll see you after the show."
"Yeah, that sounds great," Juan voices absentmindedly. "Love you guys."
"I doubt he even notices we're leaving," Lily says to Sonny with laughter in her words as they walk out of the dressing room. "It's so good to see him like that again."
"Yeah," Sonny agrees with a soft smile. "Just imagine when they arrive."
While the two head back out to the main area of the venue, Zander's making his way to the dressing room to check up on Juan, knowing he's been anxious about the last concert for the last month now. What he hadn't expected, however, was Juan sitting on the couch with a painting on his lap. Curiosity taking over him, Zander walks over to see what the painting portrayed, finding it was a collage of highlights from Juan's entire tour.
It was an interesting piece, to say the least, but what captured his attention was the signature at the bottom corner of the painting. Seeing that familiar signature, Zander drops down onto the couch beside him, completely in awe of the piece sitting before them.
"Yeah, that was my reaction, too," Juan admits, sliding the painting over to him. "I had hoped she was keeping up with the tour, but I never expected something like this..."
"See, told you so, didn't I?" Zander counters, nudging him slightly with his shoulder. "Her dream is still possible."
"Was that ever in doubt?" the familiar sound of Elizabeth's voice catches them both by surprise, causing them to turn to the door, finding her standing there with a pointed look at them. "No, seriously...you doubted me? And here I thought you both would know better than to doubt me by now."
"Liz!" the two exclaim, rushing over to her once the painting is safely laying on the couch, pulling her into a tight group hug as the reality of her crashes into them. She's really there.
Once they are successfully satisfied that she's truly there and they weren't having a collective hallucination, the two pull away from her and give her a spin, giving her the once over. Elizabeth knew that they'd do it, needing to see for themselves that she was truly okay, and she let them. From the physical inspection came the onslaught of questions, to which she could only smile and answer, knowing she'd be a lot worse if the roles were reversed.
"God, it's so good to be back with you guys again," Elizabeth says as she slides her hands into theirs, her heart overwhelmingly happy. "I've missed you both more than you could possibly know."
"We've missed you, too," Zander says wholeheartedly. "You have no idea."
"The painting is beyond words," Juan voices, needing her to know just how much he appreciates all the time she must have spent on it. "Especially since your hands are still healing."
"Yeah, well, it was worth it," Elizabeth assures, smiling softly when there's a short knock at the door. "That's my cue. I'll see you guys after the concert."
"We better," Juan says as the three of them rise to their feet. "In all seriousness, Liz, thank you for making it to this one. It means more than you know."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Elizabeth says wholeheartedly. "Knock 'em dead."
"You know it," Juan assures as she pulls open the door. "Liz?"
"Yeah?" Elizabeth says as she turns back to look at him.
"First song's yours," Juan says with a soft smile.
"I know," Elizabeth replies lovingly. "Can't wait."
Meeting up with Jason outside the dressing room, Elizabeth follows him to their seats next to Sonny and Lily, truly anxious to finally see Juan in concert. After everything it has taken to get him to this place, Elizabeth just couldn't help the tears that fill her eyes as the packed venue starts to scream Juan's name, knowing his dream has truly come to fruition. The moment Juan takes the stage, the crowd cheering so loud, the tears fall freely, truly thankful to finally experience this, to know that they love him almost as much as she loves him.
"Tonight I have some very special people in the audience, people close to my heart, but one person, in particular, has made this the best night it could possibly be," Juan says as he does the introduction of his concert. "She's someone that has supported me through everything and without who I don't know if I could have made it to this day. Elizabeth Webber...this first song is dedicated to you...my best friend...my sister."
Author's Note: This has taken me an unbelievable amount of time to work through. I'm not going to say it was writer's block, but it was writer's block. haha. I hope you enjoyed this update and hopefully I can start to get over this blockage...hopefully. Anyway, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. Take care.