Disclaimer: I don't own any character or history from General Hospital. That is the sole property of ABC. I am writing this because I love the history and stories for the most part, and to challenge myself as a writer in order to one day perhaps write original stories of my own.
Summary: (Set in 2015) When lies overshadow the truth, the world is a dark and unforgiving place. When the truth about Jason is revealed, it was supposed to be all over, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. Secrets and dangers stalk the streets of Port Charles, and no one is prepared for the fallout.
Pairings: Eventual Elizabeth/Jason
Aimee/Ross (Original Characters)
Robin/Patrick
*mentions of past relationships*
Author's Note 1: This is a massive overhaul of 2015 and onward, starting in December 2015. GH Transcripts from 2015, 2016, 2017 have been heavily used as most of the major storylines in the first two chapters happened, so some parts will be familiar to canon. But there are tweaks and new dialogue, that have adapted it to break away from canon and into an Alternate Universe. There is minor usage of 2006-11 transcripts for call backs because of Liason History, Jake's death, and other storylines which affect certain aspects of this story.
History AU: Elizabeth kept Jason's identity a secret, but only because Nikolas threatened her. She did not have a romantic relationship with him, only stood by him as his friend. This is set on (December 2015), and I've used the transcript, but altered them to fit the fanfic. Lucky and Liz never got back together in 2009, and no Niz affair in 2010. In 2012, Jason saved Elizabeth from Ewen, but she did not approach him in any romantic fashion. AJ did not get brought back from the dead in 2013. Sam did not have some made up magical surgery to fix her hysterectomy, so no baby Danny. In 2007-08, Nikolas did not share with anyone about his blackouts and the tumor and did not receive medical help. In 2014, Franco and Carly did get married.
Warning: There will be character deaths, and not flattering to certain characters. Any character who was against Liason, you can be assured that they will likely not be viewed in good light in this story. There will be villains, and no, not everyone is redeemable. I do like to think that I've made everything shades of grey, even if there is a firm line between who will come out on top and who will not. Still if Liason isn't your favorite pairing, and you don't like Elizabeth or Jason, then you might just want to click the back button. Can't say I didn't warn you.
No Rest for the Wicked
By ThroughtheMirrorDarkly
Chapter One
General Hospital
Saint Paolo Avenue, Port Charles, New York
December 12th, 2015
—
—
Elizabeth Webber believed the person who coined the phrase "the truth will set you free" should be thrown off the edge of a cliff. The truth was out there, and she didn't feel free. Instead, the confines of her cage seem to creak and groan, shifting to fit the new circumstances of her reality. She couldn't count how many times in the last few weeks that she had to justify her actions and choices and had become a pariah virtually overnight. It wouldn't be the first time that she was ostracized, with whispers and looks that hammered at her body, demanding a pound of flesh that they wouldn't get from her.
She walked through the halls of the hospital with her chin held high. It was never as warm or wondrous when she had been a teenager and came to visit her grams; the beating heart of the place had gotten stomped out, but the familiarity of it was still a comfort. Her days were simple, where she went to work and then came home to the kids. She wanted nothing more than to get back to normal without the weight of the lie tied around her ankles, pulling her down into the dark depths where Nikolas Cassidine wanted her to drown right alongside of him.
Nikolas had been her friend since they were teenagers. His better half had always won so many times against the darkness for so long that she had long since forgotten the ice that he carried in his soul, but the way he wielded his ruthlessness over the last few years reminded everyone of his family roots. He had a woman by the name of Hayden Barnes shot in cold blood when she apparently got too close to the truth. He revealed that Jake Doe, a man with no past, was Jason Morgan to her on the night of the Nurses Ball.
There was this horrible and unsaid implication that he believed that she would keep his lie willingly, by his easy admission of his sins. When that did not go according to his plan and she was ready to storm in front of everyone to announce the truth, Nikolas threatened her with the only thing that he could. He threatened her children without so much as batting an eye, and she knew that he had meant every single word of it.
So, she swallowed down the truth like shards of broken glass. At the time, it had only been Cameron and Emily that she had to worry about, but then Jake had been brought home—oh, the hours she spent agonizing that Nikolas would make good on his threat seemed endless.
As for Jason Morgan, he was complicated subject for Elizabeth even without the lie in place. She and Jason had become close over a decade ago when their lives had been uprooted. There were always more than friends, and shared a connection would always exist, even if others did all they could to severe that connection. Timing had always been there problem, and no matter how hard they tried, they could never get on the same page of their relationship. For two brief years, Jason and Elizabeth had deepened their love and held the fragile bliss out of sight from everyone who always fought so hard against them being together. They had a son together, Jake, who looked more and more like his father every day. In the end, Jason couldn't—wouldn't risk the life of her and her kids.
He lived a dangerous life as an enforcer for the mob. Allegedly.
He had walked away, and she was left to pick up the pieces. Jason had gotten back together with Sam, while Elizabeth had done away with the thought of romance. Her ex-husband, Lucky, had come back sniffing around but she wasn't about to fall into that old trap. Elizabeth scribbled down the patient's blood pressure and heart rate, checking the time on her wristwatch to make note for the doctor. She set the chart down at the end of the bed and told the patient that it would be a few minutes before she left the room and made sure to close the door behind her quietly.
Jason a permanent place in her heart, and she would always care for him. But if it came to him or her children? Elizabeth wouldn't hesitate to choose her children. That is why she kept the horrible lie for so long, and she knew that he completely understood. Jason had always understood that when Elizabeth made a bad choice that there was usually a good reason behind it.
Other people were not nearly as forgiving.
Sam McCall had a long-standing rocky history and bad blood with Elizabeth. Her moment of weakness all those years ago had not been forgiven or forgotten by a long shot. The former con-artist thought that because Elizabeth kept civil for Jason's sake that meant her past was scrubbed clean, and she had been completely redeemed. It was the furthest thing from the truth, but Elizabeth saw no point in wasting time popping Sam's bubble. And then there was Carly Corinthos, who believed herself lord and master of anything related to Jason. The self-titled best friend was never satisfied unless she had Jason squarely under her thumb, and unless the woman that he was with had Carly's stamp of approval, she would do everything to sabotage his relationship.
Which is part of the reason that Sam and Carly were so afraid that Elizabeth would once again become that special someone to Jason again. Or as they put it, "get her claws into him" and whatever other nonsense that spilled out of their lips.
Elizabeth bore the brunt of the assault with grace, keeping her mind focused on her children and making sure they would want for nothing if she could help it. Jason wasn't even a factor in any of her life decisions. At the end of their relationship in 2008, Elizabeth had been the one trying to hold things together while Jason used danger as an excuse to not try. Her and Jason had a habit of dancing around issues and there was a lot in their history to cause doubts that had never been fully addressed. Elizabeth wasn't sure she had the energy to dredge up ancient history in an effort exorcise all the ghosts in her past, especially those attached to Jason. After he had gotten back with Sam, she couldn't quite see him in a romantic way anymore. Her feelings towards him were purely platonic, and she couldn't pinpoint on when that change had happened.
She was walking down the hallway when a familiar blond rounded the corner. "Oh, God," Elizabeth whispered, barely containing an eyeroll. "You have to be kidding me."
Carly deliberately stepped in front of Elizabeth, leaving her no way to move around with the janitor's cart blocking the other side of the hall unless she turned on heel. And Elizabeth wasn't about to give the blond the satisfaction of making her run away.
"Elizabeth," the blond stated, with a slight sneer.
"Carly," the nurse replied, flatly.
"So, do you have a minute?"
"Sorry, I don't have the time."
"You need to make time for me," Carly retorted. Her expression contorted, half a smirk and half a snarl that was underscored by a spiteful arrogance. She always stared down her nose at Elizabeth, having this unceasing need to be superior to the nurse. "You need to stay away from Jason. He doesn't need you or your little castaways complicating his life with Sam."
Elizabeth had to scoff at her audacity. "You are completely unbelievable? Jason and I are friends. We share a child. We are going to be a part of each other's lives no matter what. As for what he does with Sam or doesn't do with Sam, that isn't any of my business. Unlike you, I don't play mommy and monitor who Jason has in or out of his life."
"Listen here, you muffin-faced bitch," Carly snapped, jabbing a bony finger inches in front of Elizabeth's face, "You might have everyone else fooled that you are some hapless victim and that Nikolas took advantage of you, but I see through you like I always have. Sam is the love of Jason's life, she is the one he married—"
"He was also married Brenda and Courtney," Elizabeth interjected, glibly. "So that isn't exactly as big of an achievement as you think it is."
Her nostrils flared with a wrathful breath. "He is going to remember—he is going to remember everything, including why he cut you out of his life. So, this fleeting friendship you've started with him—probably on the pretense to secure your children a new daddy—is going to come to an end. You should just save yourself the humiliation and give up now."
Elizabeth let out a low chuckle and arched a brow. "Carly, don't pretend to know the ins and outs of my history with Jason."
"A one-night stand is hardly a history," Carly snapped.
"It was several nights," Elizabeth said, with a sharp smile. "Days, too. And hell, even if had been one-night stand like you want to believe, it was years in the making. You can rewrite history all you want to make your feel better or more secure that you know Jason better than the rest of us, but just because you tell yourself something over and over doesn't make it true."
Carly looked like she sucked on a sour lemon. It was a truth that she couldn't deny when confronted with it. Jason and Elizabeth had known each other for thirteen years and have had a long-standing relationship. It hadn't always been a good one because of misunderstandings and people that came between them. It was good and bad and everything else in between, but the two of them had always found a way back to each other whether it was as friendship or something more.
"I'm looking out for Jason," Carly stated, primly.
"You say that like it is a good thing," Elizabeth responded, exasperated.
"He is my best friend. I will not let you drag him down."
"Carly, where is this coming from? I really don't understand. I have done nothing but be a friend to Jason, nothing more and nothing less. I have made no attempt to 'sink my claw' into him like you often accuse me," Elizabeth said, making air quotes with her fingers. "I don't know why you feel the need to come at me if things are going so well with Sam and Jason. Unless, of course, they aren't."
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Carly accused.
"I wouldn't exactly shed tears," Elizabeth replied, bluntly.
"See, you are not this shining star. You can lie just like the rest of us. You can be as petty and vindictive just like the rest of us," the blond said, with a bitter smirk on her lips. "But Jason—Jason has a soft spot for the damsel in distress, so you can spin this story about Nikolas threatening you to get him to be sympathetic to you, but the rest of us know better."
"The rest of you know better? Hmm, okay," Elizabeth said.
She had seen this coming a mile away because this was typical Carly behavior. She had always felt the need to prove and pull Elizabeth down on her level, like that would somehow vindicate her controlling and bitchy ways. But Elizabeth had never claimed to be an angel, or to live on some grand pedestal above everyone else. That's why all the bullshit that came flooding out of Carly, or whoever else's mouths, didn't bother her. She had survived much, much worse.
"You tried over and over again to trap Jason, to turn him into the man…"
"You can believe that if it makes you happy."
"To live life by your rules."
"You love to do that, don't you?" Elizabeth asked, with an ironic tone of voice. She looked up at the blond with disgust written on her features, and felt a shudder run down the length of her spine. "I have never tried to force Jason to do anything, Carly. I never tried to make him be with me, or be a father, or set expectations that he had to follow in order to be a part of my life. That would be you, Sonny, and Sam. If Jason is doing something you don't approve of then you are there in the blink of an eye to harp on him to let him know what a mistake he is making."
"That isn't—" Carly started, but Elizabeth cut her off.
"And all of this—" Elizabeth waved her hand, gesturing at Carly. "All this projection and blustering—all it is, is an attempt to remove the guilt inside of you when it comes to Jason. You are so afraid that one day Jason is going to take a hard look at his life and his choices, and realize all that he had to give or miss out on because of his loyalty to you, Sonny and Sam." Her blue eyes were cold, and remorseless as she watched the way Carly went pale with anger. "And that he will hate ever last one of you for it."
Carly paled with anger. "Listen here, I am not going to let you do this push and pull crap that you've done with Jason over the years. You might have had a relationship with Jason, but you couldn't satisfy him—"
"I'm sorry, but which is it, Carly? Am I the one-night stand that won't go away? Or do I have a long history with Jason way before Sam even popped up like a bed bug in Port Charles?" Elizabeth said, with a mocking polite tone. Her head cocked to the side, and she glared daggers at Carly. "Am I the frigid bitch that can't satisfy Jason? Or am I the slut that is always jumping from bed to bed? You really need to pick a bandwagon and hop on it, because all this back and forth—well, it really shows that you don't know what the hell you are talking about when it comes to me, or who I am, or my relationship with anyone."
"Jason isn't made to play house. He needs danger, needs to take chances. He needs that excitement, and he will seek it out. Sam is the type of woman that can give him exactly what he needs," Carly taunted, harshly. She had a knuckle white grip on her clutch like she was holding back the urge to slap Elizabeth across the face. "And you are nothing, but a mistake that Jason wanted to forget."
"You really think that, don't you? That when he remembers that I will be nothing, but a bad memory—and God knows, that you'll try to convince him in the meantime. You have this twisted need to have Jason obligated to you and you above all others, because you love him—in an obsessive, unhealthy way, you love him. Probably more than any man you have ever been romantically involved with," Elizabeth countered, hotly. The blond was testing the length of her patience, and she could feel her blood pressure rise underneath her skin with lava hot precision. "But you know, I have never tried to force Jason to ever push you out of his life. I respected your place in his life, but you have never respected mine."
"You have no place in Jason's life," Carly snapped.
"Too bad. That is for him to decide," Elizabeth said, with a smirk. "Now if you will excuse me, I have a job to do and it isn't to stand around and provide you with a verbal punching bag."
Elizabeth shoved past the blond without another word and marched down the hallway, attempting to reign in her hot temper. Her father used to joke about her being hotheaded just like her mom, back before they decided to venture off to be Doctors Without Borders and left her in the hands of the neighbors. She rebelled against their set plans and hopped on the first bus to Port Charles. Somedays, she regretted even stepping a foot in this hellhole of a city. The only good thing that came out of her messy life was her children, and the few steadfast friendships that had never failed her.
She must have walked up to the central nursing station with a look on her face because Patrick perked up, concern written plainly on his features. "Uh-oh, what's wrong?" He asked, his finger tapped on the keyboard and his eyes flickered from the screen to her.
"Oh, you know, nothing, everything." Elizabeth sighed, rolling the tension from her shoulders. "Just Carly running around to let the peons know that we aren't wanted. How are things with you?" She asked, curiously.
"Down the drain, into the gutter," Patrick mumbled, half-heartedly. He looked very tired and drained, like the life was being sucked out him day by day. "Sam is adamant that she wants to be with me. I am beginning to think the only reason she is clinging to our relationship is because she wants a reason to—to make herself feel better as to why she was so cold and harsh to Jason when he was Jake Doe. I wonder if she wants to spin it off in her mind like she was being that way not because she didn't feel a connection to him, but because she was trying to ward off temptation."
"I don't know," Elizabeth said, with a shrug. "The way that Sam's mind works is a mystery to me."
Patrick gave her a long, knowing look. "Face it. You want to tell me, 'I told you so.'"
Elizabeth made a noncommittal noise. She searched through the patient charts, organizing them with great care.
"Have you thought about it?" Patrick asked.
"Thought about what?"
"You and Jason."
Elizabeth reached up and brushed her hair out of her face. "I would be lying if I said I hadn't, but…but it is just not the same. I mean, I feel a connection to him but after he went back to Sam—" She cut off with a hard sigh and turned to look at Patrick with a hesitant expression. "When Jake had just been born, Sam did some awful things to keep me and Jason apart. The fact that he could take her back after all of that, he just wasn't the same man that I had loved for so long. He was a completely different person and while I could still be his friend, I don't think I put my heart in his hands anymore."
"But you haven't really dated anyone since you broke up with him. I mean, I know there was Ewen, but that relationship never developed into something more," Patrick commented, without judgment.
"Jason was the love of my life." A sad smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and her eyes lowered to the floor while her shoulders slumped. She set the patient charts down and folded her arms over her chest. "But I know that I can live without him. I know that I could find love in other places if I looked hard enough. My entire world doesn't revolve around who I am with, but after so many failed relationships…I really don't want to go through the whole loving and then the inevitable heartbreak thing. There is just—I guess, something wrong with me that makes the men I love eventually leave," Elizabeth said, her voice small and weak. "It is the same thing that happens over and over, and I didn't want to be on the roller coaster any longer. I don't want to be broke down and made small by someone I trusted and loved, so love is officially off the table for me. Forever."
Kelly's Diner, Outside
Greenwood, Port Charles
—
—
Laura Spencer walked out of Kelly's with a bag of takeout in her arm. Kevin Collins was going to be working all day and probably late into the evening, so she was going to have a movie day with Lulu and her grandbaby, Rocko. She pulled her cellphone out of her purse to text Lulu that she was on her way when Sam McCall stepped into her path. Laura hesitated for a moment, with a mixture of emotions swirling through her. She was regretful with all that Nikolas had done with hiding Jason's identity, and how many people that lie had hurt. That didn't change her active dislike of the brunette for all she did to Elizabeth and her grandchildren. (Elizabeth and her children would always be family in Laura's eyes.)
"Laura, I need to speak with you," Sam McCall stated.
"May I ask what about?" Laura asked, slowly.
Sam gave a mild huff, a flash of annoyance flickered in her dark eyes. "So, you know that Jake was with Jason at the Quartermains for a playdate a couple of days ago?" She asked, with her arms folded over her chest.
"Did something happen?" Laura asked. She knew that Jake was having trouble adjusting from being held prisoner for so long by Helena. The cruel witch had faked the child's death back in 2011 and had made Luke—her ex-husband—believe that he had hit him with a car. It was only a few months back that Luke had found him on Cassidine and brought him home. He was going through therapy sessions, and probably would for many years to come.
Sometimes, Laura feared that Helena brainwashed Jake like she did to Lucky all those years ago, and that Jake was a ticking time bomb. Every day that passed without incident made that fear ebb away, but it single lingered in the back of her mind. And if that wasn't enough to concern her, she didn't particularly like that Sam skulking around her grandchild. There had been a time that Sam had wished Jake dead.
"Nothing bad happened." Sam held up her hands, as if sensing Laura's shift in mood. "I just overheard Jake talking with Alice, about a bunch of things. One of those things was that he knew that you and Elizabeth are keeping a secret."
"Oh?" Laura raised a brow.
"And I am betting that is has something to do with Jason," Sam said, haughtily.
It took Laura a moment to comprehend what was said. "You cannot be serious…"
"You two are close to Nikolas," Sam commented.
"And we are guilty by association, are we?" Laura asked, in disbelief. She shook her head, astounded by the gall of this woman. "Elizabeth explained to everyone why she even kept Jason's identity a secret. The lives of her children were at stake—"
"It is always about her kids, isn't it?" hissed Sam, bitterly.
Laura drew in a deep breath. "Any mother worth her salt would do whatever was necessary to keep her children safe. It is not something you can understand unless you are a parent," she said, with a narrowed eyed look.
Sam recoiled.
It was a low blow, perhaps. Laura still did not regret it. "Elizabeth was caught in between a bad spot, where Nikolas wanted someone to take down with him if the truth came out and was willing to twist her am in the only way he knew how through her kids," Laura stated, regaining her composure. "You should know, given that you have done the same thing."
"I have no idea what you mean," said Sam, with a glower.
"You know exactly what I am talking about," Laura countered, quietly. "I know all about Jake's kidnapping—both of them, and the fact that you hired gunmen to attempt to scare Elizabeth away from Jason because you were jealous of how close they were getting and the fact they shared a child."
Sam shifted on the balls of her feet and her eyes darted all over the small courtyard. There was a couple dining out on the veranda, and a group of teenagers taking selfies in front of the restaurant. "If you dare speak about that to anyone else, I will sue you for slander and defamation of character," the brunette threatened, her voice pitched low as to not be overhead by anyone.
"Try me," Laura dared, not willing to bullied. "I have a file full of information about Angela Monroe, Alicia Montenegro, Linda Black, Susan Curtis…well, you get the point. So many cons and crimes, and there are a few warrants out there—"
"No, this isn't about me. This about you and Elizabeth!" Sam sniped, angrily. Beads of sweat dotted around her upper lip, and her hands curled into fists at her side. "I don't believe that Elizabeth was being threatened by Nikolas. I think it is all a smoke screen to cover for the fact that she wanted to trap Jason, and she wasn't willing to go down with Nikolas when the truth came out."
"And I think that you want Elizabeth to be some villain," Laura said, smoothly. The blond had dealt with many shrews like Sam in her lifetime, and it was eerie how twisted their mindset was. "Because it would be easier to make her some evil temptress trying to ruin your life then admit that your relationship with Jason wasn't as rocky steady as you recall. You and he were on the path to divorce before he fell into the harbor, and there was no interloper to blame that on. So now, you are trying to find some to play villain so you can pretend that Jason's apathy towards you is something other than the fact that he isn't in love with you."
"Jason deserves the truth," Sam stated, fiercely.
"I—I believe that part of you believes that. I truly do." Laura gave the brunette a sympathetic smile, but she could see that no part of what she said next would make it through the stubborn mindset Sam was clinging to as if her life depended upon it. "And there might even be a tiny part of you that is genuine in that belief. Just like there is a tiny part of you that loves Patrick, but that is always going to be overshadowed by you want for Jason. It seems to be the only one creating obstacles and drama here is you. The only one standing in the way of your happiness is you, Sam. Now, if you will excuse me, I am late to meet with my daughter," she said, effectively ending the discussion. She walked around Sam, whose eyes burned on the back. Her stomach rolled uneasily, and once she was out of sight, Laura took a moment to breath. She chewed on her lower lip and unlocked her phone screen, scrolled through her contacts until she found a number that she swore she would never, ever use unless it is an emergency. Her finger hovered over the dial button before she pressed it, and then in the next second, she canceled the phone call.
She would just warn Elizabeth and Jason about Sam's behavior. She didn't need to get him involved.
Carly moved to the elevators to leave when she came face to the one ex she wished she could erase from existence, or go back in time to shake herself for even getting involved with. Franco Baldwin was the thorn in her side and the source of all her most recent nightmares. Carly groaned, miserably when he approached her.
"Oh, that's sweet. Are you here to congratulate me, dear wife?" Franco taunted, with a wicked smirk on his face. "I'm working here again."
Carly gave him a thoroughly disgusted look. "Dr. Obretcht must like hiring people who make her look sane," she hissed, jabbing the button to call for the elevator. Any time she was near Franco, he made her skin crawl from head to toe and she couldn't believe that she fell for his 'tumor' act. "And don't call me 'dear wife.'"
"Ah, or maybe I'm really good at what I do. And I call you 'dear wife' because you are my darling, cheating, succubus of a wife? Or have you forgotten that you put a ring on it and made an honest man out of me?" He stated, lifting his wedding ring to show off the bright golden band still secured there.
"No, I haven't forgotten my colossal mistake in marrying you. Wh—what are you doing? Why are still wearing that ring? Take it off, Franco. Accept the reality that I won't be your wife much longer and that you will have no foothold in my life anymore," Carly said, bristling like a wet cat.
"I am a man of commitment. I want to work on our marriage to save it," Franco stated, with a toothy smirk. "Speaking of commitments, how is Morgan doing? After being holed up in Shadybrooke, left by his parents and drugged all to hell, he must be having a hard time adjusting—"
"Okay, look you stay the hell away from my children—"
"They are my step-children," Franco said, placing a hand over his heart. He looked at her with a mock wounded expression on his face. "I am very concerned about their welfare."
"They aren't your anything!" Carly stated, viciously. "I regret the moment that I bought into your whole wounded, sickly act all those years ago. I can't believe I was so desperate to crawl into your bed. It makes me sick to my stomach."
"You had no problem with my bed until Jason's identity came out. Everything was perfectly fine until then, but the second you realized Jason Morgan was back again, you ran into Sonny's arms. I am guessing you were attempting to recreate the weird, chaste ménage à trois," Franco responded, his expression went cold. His eyes were filled with resentment and darkness, and Carly took a step back away from him as a child ran down the length of her spine. "The three of you—you act so high and mighty—like you and yours don't stomp and trample over people to get what you want."
"Please tell me you aren't trying to lecture me on morality," Carly stated, with a shake of her head. "You are a sociopath who kills for the enjoyment of it. You had my son raped, and you made Sam think you raped her—these sick fucking mind games of yours, all that bad karma will come back on you. You know what, enjoy this for now. This freedom you have, and whatever little cozy situation you have with Nina—"
"Aww, jealous?" Franco sneered.
Carly drew a deep breath and steeled her spine. She looked him straight in the eyes and held his stare even if it made her soul shrivel up in her chest. "Enjoy it for as long as it lasts, because it's all about to come crashing down on you."
The elevator doors opened, and she stepped inside. When they safely closed behind, Carly let out a deep breath and her body began to tremble from head to toe. She pressed her palm to her mouth while tears filled her eyes, and she hated herself in that moment. Franco could have been put away. He could have paid for all his mistakes, but she had helped give his tumor defense legitimacy. She had let a monster roam the streets, get near her children and it made her stomach turn.
Patrick stood there, with a look of shock and mild horrified was fixated on his face. "Elizabeth, there is nothing wrong with you. You are a beautiful, smart, and compassionate woman. Sure, you have made a few mistakes and maybe trusted the wrong people, but we have all trusted someone who wasn't good for us in the love wrong. You have a lot of love and life to give to someone—and one day, a very lucky someone who is going to spend the rest of his life with a prize of a woman," he told her, earnestly.
Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you for being such a good friend to me. You've really helped me through some tough times."
"You've done the same for me," Patrick said, with a boyish grin.
A head of blond hair came rushing around the corner and up behind the desk straight to Elizabeth. She chuckled, wrapping an arm tight around Jake, and stroking his hair gently. "Hey, sweetheart. How did the therapy session go with Dr. Collins?"
"Good," Jake mumbled. He pulled back and looked up at her, with a tired expression. "Mommy, do I have to keep coming to the doctor? I don't feel all that sick, and all we do is talk. Talking is so troublesome."
Elizabeth chuckled. "Honey, you do have to keep up with these appointments. I know how tiring and frustrating it can be," she said, bending down on one knee to be on eye level with her child. She clasped his hands in hers and squeezed them lightly. "I used to have to go talk to someone to."
"You did?" Jake asked, surprised.
"Yep, I did. And I know on the outside you feel fine, and that is no scraps or bruises. But sometimes, we have…we have pain that is trapped on the inside. A kind of pain that is hard to put into words and makes our emotions feel all kind of crazy and jumbled up. That's what talking Dr. Collins is supposed to help heal, okay?" Elizabeth replied, with a sympathetic smile. She watched him nod and then patted his cheek gently. "If in a few weeks that it doesn't feel like we are making any progress, then we will both go to Dr. Collins and see if there is another type of therapy you can do."
Jake gave her such a serious little look that reminded her so much of Jason that it made her heartache. "Do you promise?" He said, slowly.
"Cross my heart," Elizabeth promised, with a big smile.
"If you are looking for alternative routes of therapy, then might I ask suggest some art therapy? I hear expression is good for the soul," a voice interrupted the conversation. Elizabeth looked up past Jake to see Franco standing there, and she immediately stood, pushing Jake behind her. "Now, why do got to be like that? All I was trying to do was help."
"They don't need your kind of help," Patrick said, scathingly.
"Is this a hostile work environment? Because the room feels very hostile to me right now," Franco said, with his head cocked to the side. "And I don't know. Art therapy might help Jake express any demons that he has up inside of his head. Do you like draw and paint, Jakey?"
"Yes…" Jake said quietly.
"That's enough of that," Elizabeth said, firmly. "Patrick, you said when you took lunch then you could drop Jake off with the sitter, right?" At his nodded, she added, "Why don't you take an early lunch? There are no patients or consultations scheduled, and if something comes up then I'll call to let you know."
"Got it," Patrick replied. "Come on, Jake. I think Marceline is going to take you, Cameron, and Emily out to the bowling alley. Don't that sound like fun?"
"Yeah." Jake grinned.
Elizabeth told her son and friend goodbye with the best smile she could muster. As soon as they were out of sight, the smile dropped off her face and she whipped around to face hospital's most recent resident psychopath. "You stay the hell away from my child," she said, with a fury burning bright in her eyes. "You don't look at him or talk to him."
"Okay, you seem overly upset about a simple conversation," Franco said, with dumbfounded expression.
"Look, I am not your friend. I don't want to even be your co-worker," Elizabeth told him, with a cold tone. "But because Dr. Obretcht is your biggest fan, this unavoidable. That just means I must be civil to you on hospital hours, but not when it comes to my kids. You will never have anything to do with my kids."
"Hey, hey, all I am trying to offer you a bit of help. I understand that Jake has been through a lot, and you did me a solid, anyway. The longer Jason stays in the dark about who he is, the better for me…because if he ever remembered who he was…I might be in serious trouble," Franco stated, very seriously.
Elizabeth felt she had been doused in cold water. "Oh, God." Her blood felt like ice in her veins and her stomach twisted. "You are absolutely twisted. I didn't keep Jason's identity because I wanted to. I did it because my children were being threatened. If I had my way, the truth about who he was would have come out at the Nurses Ball. And believe me, I hope that Jason gets his memory back. It might finally mean justice for all the people that you have hurt," she told him, her brow arched upward.
"Okay, look, I was a very sick man. I did horrible things, but that was the tumor," Franco told her, frustration leaking into his voice. "And I explained how—how my game with Jason got out of my control. I didn't mean for all those bad things to happen."
Elizabeth crossed her arms. "Even if I believed that, which I don't, it doesn't matter what your intentions were. You terrorized people. You killed people. You even attempted to kidnap my daughter—"
"She is adopted. That doesn't really count, now does it?" Franco rolled his eyes.
She glared at him in disgust. His lack of accountability for the wrongs he had done, and the way he couldn't understand simple matter like right and wrong is why she would never believe he has turned over a new leaf. "It does count to me. She is still my child, blood or not. She was an innocent baby that you tried to steal to give to your mother. That is one of the tamer crimes you committed," Elizabeth said, unmoved by his attempt to somehow unburden himself from the blame of his crimes or his justifications. "You can try to spin how it was all the tumor. You can try to redeem yourself by inserting yourself anywhere you can play the good guy. But I will never believe it, and neither will anyone else." The phone rang and Elizabeth reached for it. "Now, if that is all? I have a job to do."
Franco stared at her darkly before he turned on heel and marched away. She released a breath she had been holding in tight and picked the phone up out of the cradle. "You have reached General Hospital Nursing Station. I am Nurse Elizabeth Webber, if this is a medical emergency, we urge you to call—"
"Elizabeth, thank God, it's you."
Elizabeth blinked in surprise. "Robin?"
Volonino's Gym
Eastport Harbor, Port Charles
—
—
The gym was closed for some minor renovations. Sonny Corinthos was the owner, so he still came into use a punching bag occasionally. He punched the bag with a fury, until a throat cleared behind him. He turned around to come face to face with Jason Morgan, his former business partner and former enforcer. It was still mind boggling that he was standing here, alive and well. "Hey, Jason, didn't here you come in," Sonny said, walking over the nearby bench and pulling his water bottle out of his gym bag. "What can I do for you?"
"Ah, I just needed to talk," Jason replied, with a wry grin. "If you have the time, that is."
"For you? Always." Sonny took a deep drink of the water to soothe his parched throat and then set the bottle beside him. "What seems to be the trouble?"
"There—there is just a lot on my mind. I know who I am supposed to be, or so everyone keeps telling me. It is still hard to swallow everything, having my past being fed to me bit by bit. And it doesn't help when people are wanting to point the finger in every direction," Jason responded, sitting down beside him. He rolled the tension out of his shoulders and stared out across the room filled with plastic traps and scaffolding. "Nikolas was the one who lied. He took advantage of the mess that Helena Cassidine created, and then got the people he supposedly loved involved in it. He bought their silence through threats."
"It is a low that I never thought Nikolas capable of," Sonny said, with a small nod. "I suppose the latent Cassidine genetics decided to come back with a vengeance."
"Yeah, I guess. But he is in jail," Jason said, in a mild tone. "He is going to pay for what he did Hayden, what he attempted to do to me, and everything should be said and done."
"But…" Sonny prompted.
"But some people want to hold others responsible," Jason commented, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Carly…Carly seems convinced that Elizabeth was in on the scheme. Like actively a part of it and that the whole being threatened is just a cover up to save face."
"Hmmm. To be fair, Carly is hardly reasonable when it comes to Elizabeth."
"That couldn't be more obvious." Jason chuckled.
"Do you believe it? That she could have been?" Sonny questioned, mildly.
"I don't know…I know that Elizabeth has lied before, but…but there usually a good reason for it. It might not be entirely justifiable, but it is always understandable. And I caught…I caught Nikolas in Elizabeth's face at the bar the Floating Rib—" Jason hesitated for a moment, his blue eyes narrowed as he recalled it. "I remember how shaken she was, and how hard she tried to hide it. She was frightened, Sonny."
"It is a frightening thing to see someone you loved, someone you viewed as a friend and see someone unrecognizable in their place," Sonny commented, with a quiet and thoughtful expression on his face. "I don't think that I can tell you want to believe. I think you have to look at what everyone stood to gain from keeping your identity a secret, and then make an objective decision."
The door opened and in strode Carly. "Hey, am I interrupting?"
"No, no," Jason said, with a shake of his head. "I was just leaving. There's something I need to do before the day is done. Uh, thank you, Sonny. For listening."
"Anytime," Sonny promised.
Jason gave Carly a quick hug and walked out the door. Carly stood there with a suspicious look on her face, her eyes swung from the door that shut behind Jason and Sonny. Her hands fell to her hips and she asked, "What was that about?"
"Can you promise me something?" Sonny asked.
Carly sighed. "What?"
"That if I tell you what Jason and I talked about, you're not going to run after him and chew his ear off?" Sonny gave his ex-wife a long and knowing look.
"Oh, come on, that's not fair. That's not—"
"Carly, I'm serious," Sonny replied.
Carly pursed her lips with a glare. She huffed, dropping her hands from her hips. "Fine. I won't go running after him. Now, tell me what is going on," the blond demanded, sharply.
"Jason came to me to talk about everything with the lie and Nikolas, and about Elizabeth," Sonny stated, and held up his hand when Carly opened her mouth. "And he was just confiding in me that he didn't believe that Elizabeth was a part of the scheme, beyond knowing about it and Nikolas threatening her to keep quiet."
Carly exploded. "Oh, my God! What is it going to take for Jason to see that scheming bitch for what she really is? She is all wrong for Jason. It took him years to figure it out, but now—now he is a blank slate and you bet that Elizabeth has been using that to her advantage this whole time."
"Elizabeth avoided Jason," Sonny stated, pointing it out. "She was friends with him, at best. And an acquaintance, at worst. If she really wanted to trap Jason don't you think that she would have been working him since Nikolas told her all those months ago."
"She was biding her time, Sonny!" Carly snapped. "She becomes his friend, slips into his confidence and paints this pretty image of herself like she is some sweet angel from above that can do no wrong to lure him in before she starts to pull him apart by the seams. By the time she slips up and shows her true colors, it might be too late for Jason. He might have drove the woman he truly loves away and ended up making the biggest mistake of his life."
Sonny looked away. "Jason and Elizabeth…that's a lot of history."
"Oh, please," Carly said, with an eyeroll.
"They do, Carly," Sonny replied. "Sometimes, history wins."
"You can't—please tell me that you aren't supporting this. Elizabeth has never been able to handle Jason's world. She has always turn him upside down and made him twist himself inside out," Carly whispered, incredulously.
"I know that. I never said I supported it," Sonny corrected her, with a long, flat look. "Elizabeth…she is a bleeding-heart. She can't handle the kind of life that Jason led—that he'll have to see for himself that this life is one that Elizabeth can't live."
"And how is he going to see that?" Carly asked. "He is blind where she is concerned."
Sonny tapped his fingers against his chin. "Slowly, but surely, Jason will come back to us. He always has. He'll remember who his real family is. One way or another."
Drake Residence
Magnolia Drive, Port Charles
—
—
Patrick arrived home to find Sam sitting on the couch. "Hey, how is going…" He trailed off when he saw the little glass phoenix clasped tight in her hands. She tried to hide as soon as she realized that he was there, and she put on a plastic smile. "I suppose I know why you have been dragging your feet on the divorce," he commented, drolly.
"That's…that's not fair. I just found out Jake Doe was Jason. And you should know that it isn't so easily to give up on a marriage. Jason and I will get a divorce, but what does it matter if it happens next week or next month?" Sam said, defensively. She rose off the couch and tucked the phoenix into her jeans pocket.
"It matters a lot, actually." Patrick couldn't believe that she was so unaware of why this was an issue. "It feels like you had one foot in the past and the other in the present. It sends a message of a lack of commitment to us as a couple, and a family."
Sam looked at him, baffled. "Are you kidding me? I—I told you want I wanted. It's you and Emma. I want a family with you here in this house. Why, all the sudden, is my word not good enough?" She asked, brokenly.
Patrick slunk off his jacket. "It doesn't help when I come home catching you looking longingly at that statue. It doesn't help that you have gone out of your way to spend every moment that you aren't here with Jason. I just don't know where our relationship sits right now," he offered her, honestly.
"This relationship—it means everything to me," Sam whispered. "How can you not understand what I am going through? After what you've been through with Robin. You should know how this has turned my life upside down. It is frustrating and wonderful and difficult. I just need your time and patience."
He looked away from her for a long moment and nodded ever so slightly. "I'm trying, Sam. I'm trying. I would just like a sign that you are invested in this life with because I—I have nothing."
"I—I don't know how to give that to you. Not until I know the truth."
"The truth about what?" asked Patrick.
"Whether or not Nikolas really threatened Elizabeth," Sam replied, her tone firm. There was a gleam in her eyes that immediately set Patrick on ease. "I already confronted Laura about it, but she denied it—"
"Are you serious, Sam?" Patrick asked, incredulously. "You saw—you saw Elizabeth when Carly revealed the truth—it was like a great weight was lifted from her shoulders. She was the one who confirmed what Carly and Spinelli suspected when Nikolas tried to deny everything."
Sam rolled her eyes so hard. "Patrick, she was just trying to cover her own ass."
Patrick made a strangled noise in his throat. "Sam, I am trying—trying to have understand what you are going through because you are right that I went through a similar thing when Robin returned, and I was about to go down the aisle with Sabrina. And I know that you want someone to lash out against," he spoke, after taking a deep cleansing breath. He looked at her beseechingly, hoping to get through the sea of anger and anguish that she had to be going through. "You need a target for your rage because Helena is dead. Nikolas' trial hasn't happened yet, and he is locked up so tight that you can't confront him face to face. Elizabeth is close to Nikolas, so you are using her as a replacement—"
"That isn't what I am doing," Sam snapped, unable to contain herself. "I am trying to hold that lying snake accountable for once in her damn life, and I don't see why everyone is so quick to give her the benefit of the doubt given how many lies and lives she had blown apart."
Patrick stood there, staring at her with his jaw agape. His heart felt heavy in his chest and there was a knot where his stomach should be. It just felt they had been having the same maddening, circular argument ever since Jason's identity came out into the open. She would sprout conspiracies about Nikolas and all those involved and point a finger at Elizabeth as if she solely were to blame for all of it. Patrick would try to be the voice of reason and calm, but he never got through to her no matter how hard he tried.
It just…it just wasn't worth it anymore.
"I can't do this anymore." His voice barely more than a breathy whisper. He scrubbed his hand along his jaw and drew in a deep breath. "I can't do this anymore with you, Sam," Patrick repeated, this time louder. His brown eyes lifted from his feet and met her startled gaze from across the room. "I can't do this back forth, and play all these games—"
"Wh—what are you talking about?" Sam asked, aghast.
"You want to be with Jason," he accused, his tone light.
"What? No, I love you—we are good together," Sam denied, vehemently. She stepped towards him, only to falter. She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head side to side. "Jason doesn't even remember our life together."
"But you do. You remember and you want that back. That's why you want Elizabeth to be lying," Patrick responded, dropping his coat along the arm of the couch. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at the woman that he had grown to love with a sinking despair in his heart.
"She had been lying," Sam countered, with a frown.
Patrick flicked his tongue against the back of his teeth in annoyance. "She admitted why she lied when Carly and Spinelli exposed Nikolas's lie. Nikolas threatened her—hey," he said, pointing a finger at her when she scoffed in disbelief. "Hey, don't do that. Please, don't do that with me. I know that you don't like Elizabeth, but she isn't some manipulator that you are hoping she is."
"Then you obviously don't know your friend as well as you think," Sam replied, her upper lip curled.
"I know you and Elizabeth have a past, particularly involving Jason. She told me—"
Sam visibly cringed back. "She told you? Oh, that—that scheming—it was a moment of weakness. I wouldn't have watched Jake get kidnapped—" She cut off when Patrick made a choked noise, and she watched the way his eyes flared with disbelief and shock. "Oh, God. Oh, God," she whispered, her stomach turned when she realized that Elizabeth hadn't told Patrick any details. "Shit. Patrick, I—"
"You watched Jake get kidnapped?" Patrick asked, his face pale.
"Yes, but I was in a bad place. I'm not the same person as I used to be," Sam defended herself, with tears springing up in her eyes. "I've changed and grown, but Elizabeth hasn't—"
Patrick shook his head. "God, I understand it now. The desperate need to paint Elizabeth as a heartless manipulator is because you—you did horrible things to her and to Jason, putting them through hell," he whispered out.
"No. Patrick, this is happening really fast, and I just—I just found out…" Sam sobbed, reaching up to wipe the tears off her cheeks. "Less than a month ago that Jason is alive…and please…the past is in the past."
"But it isn't. Not for you," Patrick told her, tonelessly. "Not for you, because you know that if Jason was half of the man that he is proclaimed to be then eventually he would remember everything—"
"Don't…"
"—and you need to do something right, to make sure just in case Jason remembers the ugly parts of your relationship first, that you would still look better in—"
"No."
"—comparison to Elizabeth. That is why you want her to be lying about protecting her kids from Nikolas. That is why you want her to be so irredeemable because then you could sit happy in your penthouse as second choice—"
"Stop! Just stop!" Sam screeched at the top of her lungs. Her dark eyes glittered venomously, and Patrick felt like he was seeing her clearly for the first time. "Just stop it! That's not true! None of that is true! I feel Jason deserve to know the truth, alright? He deserves the truth…" Her voice faltered ever so slightly, and she swallowed thickly. "He deserves the truth…"
"And whose truth would that be? His truth, or yours?" Patrick questioned, unsympathetically. "It's probably better we don't try and drag this out, Sam. It's always been very confusing for Emma, and I…God, I can't believe I let you in my life."
Sam reached out to him only to stop short when he moved away from her. "Patrick, I still want to marry you. Please," she begged, her hands clasped tightly in front of her. "Please, I love you. I love Emma like she is my own—please don't take that away from me!"
"That's…that's not going to happen. Whether we like it or not. Jason is always going to be this fixation for you. You are always going to feel the need to insert yourself into his life and into the danger. I can't marry you knowing that part of you is praying to be with another man. So much so that you compromise yourself and your morals," Patrick stated, with a drew breath. Tears clung to his lashes and he pressed his palm against his mouth, feeling his heart thumped painfully in his chest.
"Emma…" Sam whispered out.
"I'll explain things to her," Patrick said, shortly.
Sam chewed on her lower lip and then nodded. She stumbled past him, unsteady on her high heels, and grabbed her jacket from the coat rack by the door. There was a moment of hesitation when she paused, wringing the jacket in between her hands and she glanced at him hoping that he would turn around to look at her. He didn't spare her a glance, and Sam walked out the door. As soon as it closed behind her, Patrick sank onto the couch and buried his face into his hands.
The florescent light buzzed noisily above her head in the locker room. Elizabeth put away her things into the locker in a hurry, gnawing at her lower lip in worry while she replayed the frantic conversation with Robin over in her mind. Robin had been so vague and tight lipped but wanted Elizabeth to meet up at an address that she was unfamiliar with. There was a part of her that was hesitant, but Robin had always been loyal and trustworthy to her. Elizabeth managed to get Nadine Crowell to cover the rest of her shift, knowing that she would likely be hearing it from Obretcht.
It didn't matter though. She would be free from this place. It made her because the hospital had been such an important staple in her life. These walls had once been her sanctuary and her refuge after she had just had Cameron. It was the place where she grew and changed as a person, as a nurse and a mother. She wouldn't be the woman she was today without the hospital and the people inside of it, but it was hardly recognizable anymore. So many new faces and not enough of the old ones. Too much drama and not enough healing.
She headed out of the doors and reeled back when she almost collided with someone. "Oh, I am so sorry! I—" She faltered at the sight of Jason, and she blinked up at him. "Oh, Jason," she said, his name rolling awkwardly over her tongue. It was strange calling him that and she supposed it was because she had gotten used to calling him Jake Doe. It just—it just felt weird.
"Hey, Elizabeth. How are you?" Jason asked.
"Well, I was on my—" Elizabeth cleared her throat. She couldn't tell anyone about Robin's call. Her friend had been very adamant about that. "I have to go relieve the babysitter. Emily is sick and she doesn't want to catch because my kids aren't the only ones that she watches. Don't want to start an outbreak," she said, with a chuckle. "What are you doing here? At the hospital? Is everything okay? You're not sick or anything."
"No. Nope, I'm fit as a fiddle," Jason stated, scratching at his chin sheepishly. "I—I actually came to talk to you if you had a minute."
"A lot of people have been asking me for that," Elizabeth replied, wryly. "Minutes. I mean, I can talk for a second but then I really need to get going because—"
"The kids, yeah." Jason nodded, absentmindedly. "I just wanted—I just wanted to talk to you. To see how you were doing, after everything. Nikolas is about to go to trial, and despite the circumstances, I can't imagine anyone has been kind to you."
"I can handle anything that is thrown my way. You don't have to worry about me," Elizabeth told him, with a half-smile.
"But I do," Jason whispered, "you know, worry. You—you have been my friend since I first got here—got back here, and you believed in me through the physical therapy, through Helena's mind control, and I know there are some who would try to forget all that in favor of the lie, but I don't. I don't forget it."
"Jason, I—" Elizabeth wasn't sure what to say.
"I miss being your friend," he replied, honestly. "I miss being able to come to you and talk without looks or judgments. I barely get to see you anymore. I enjoyed the time that we spent together. I wish we could have that again."
"I…I don't think that is possible," she replied, with her heart in her throat.
"You don't—don't think it is possible for us to be friends?" Jason said, with a wounded expression.
"I imagine that there is a lot of people that would have a lot to say if we continued being friends," Elizabeth hedged, her gaze swept away from him. The truth is that as much as she valued Jason's friendship, she didn't want to start to place weight in his words and start to trust him only to end up on the outside once more. When his identity was kept under wraps, she could be friends with him without the fear of the past or others trying to stick their nose into it. And history had taught her that Jason would always become wrapped up in Sonny's problems as his enforcer—first, last and always.
There had been a brief time when she thought Jason would break out of that mold—for her and the kids, but their love and family hadn't been enough. Jason walked away and slid back into old patterns, becoming almost unrecognizable to her. Friendship with him would come with a lot of baggage, on both of their parts. It was an uphill battle that she never seemed to win, and when it was over, she was further down the hill than when she started.
"Carly and Sam don't speak for me," Jason responded, confusion furrowed along his brow. "It is my decision who I have in my life, and I want you to be a part of it."
"You shouldn't—you shouldn't be concerned about me. You should be concerned about the life that was stolen from you. The wife you left behind and the people you were closest to," Elizabeth stated, with a shake of her head. "You should try to stir up some kind of memories and see if you can remember your life."
Jason wasn't so easy persuaded. "You are a part of my life, a part of my memories. I have already remembered memories of you," he said, his tongue darted out to wet his dry lips. He looked frustrated, like he was struggling to articulate what he was feeling. "Maybe the key to unlocking my past if through you."
Elizabeth looked up at him, sadly. "I—I can't be your miracle cure," she whispered, feeling her chest ache for him. She could tell that he was so torn, and she hated that she was adding to his pain. "Remember when we first met, and you were under Helena's control? You didn't want to be close to me because you were afraid that at any moment that she would make you hurt me. You told me that if we spent time together, you didn't think you could stop yourself from wanting more. And that even if we tried to just be friend, it would be pretty complicated."
Jason closed his eyes. "I—I remember that."
"This is not good for us," she said, quietly. It was a rabbit hole that she didn't want to be dragged down. While she felt no stirs of romantic feelings when she looked at Jason now, she feared that the memories and the time together might reignite those old feelings. She didn't want to get used to being somebody he loved, and have all these hopes and dreams, only to have to pick up the shattered pieces again. And she didn't want to take advantage of his lack of memories. The thought of that made her sick from the bottom of her soul. "I'm sorry."
Jason swallowed, thickly. "So am I."
Elizabeth drew in a shaky breath. "I have to go. Goodbye, Jason," she said, softly. She turned away from him, so she didn't have to see the sorrow in his blue eyes and know that she put it there. She got into the elevator, and the trip down to the parking lot seemed to take forever. She got in her vehicle and cued up the GPS navigator on her dashboard, putting in the address that Robin had given her. It was going to be quite a drive and she likely wouldn't be home in time to see the kids off to bed.
She dialed in the only person that she could think of. Aimee Lancaster had been her neighbor ever since 2009 when the red head had moved in across the street. She was a bit of recluse with horrible agoraphobia but was a nice woman with a heart of gold. She had become good friends with Elizabeth, and occasionally helped with the children. "Hey, Aimee, I am sorry to bother you. I know you planned on working on that project of yours this weekend, but I need a huge favor. Yeah, there is an emergency that came up with a family friend and it is all the way out in Ithaca," Elizabeth explained, pulling out onto the main highway. "It would be a three-hour trip there and back, and I don't know how long this is going to—you can? Thank you, Aimee. You are a life saver. I'll text Marceline and let her know that you'll be taking care of the kids tonight. Thanks again. Goodbye."
She hung up the phone and texted the message to Marceline with one hand as quickly as she could. She didn't want to get pulled over, especially given a lot of cops used to work with her ex-husband. She was treated like she left Lucky on a whim, instead of the drugs and the cheating. The fact that she had a child with an alleged mobster was another black mark against her. She set the phone down in the passenger seat and her thoughts weighed on her mind the whole drive. She had to turn around twice because she missed her exit, she was so distracted.
Flipping through the radio channels, Elizabeth settled on station that was playing some old songs from the 90s. She recognized the song immediately. It was a Paula Cole song that she had loved and had listened to incessantly on her CD Walkman. 'I Don't Want to Wait' was the title, she believed. The lyrics struck her now more as an adult and everything that she had been through. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about this song, she thought with a small nostalgic grin that pulled on her lips. She listened to the station for a little bit longer, (with songs like "Come as You Are" by Nirvana, "Stay (I Missed You)" by Lisa Loeb, and "Who Wants to Live Forever" by Queen.)
The drive took her out of the city, where the buildings thinned out and the trees began to thicken. There wasn't a lot of countryside in New York state that hadn't been industrialized, filled with forest and waterfalls. It was beautiful and serene, so different from Port Charles. She came upon a large estate with stone walls and a large iron gate, and she drove up to them with a sense of apprehension coursing through her veins. She put in the code that Robin had given her, and the gates opened right up.
"Robin, what have you gotten me into?" Elizabeth questioned.
She drove the quarter mile up the brick driveway that was enshrined by great oak trees on either side, all the way up to the mansion. It was a breathtaking place and everywhere she looked, she saw something that tickled the artist in her. The crystal, clear blue lake to the right of the property where ducks swam lazily, and the quant lake house next to it. Beyond the lake was an apple orchard and a vineyard next to it. One the right side of the house seemed to be a large garden with almost every color of flower and plant imaginable, arranged in a way that made her feel like Alice in Wonderland. Who owns this place? Elizabeth thought, feeling way out of her element.
She pulled her car up alongside of the black sedan that was parked in the circular driveway. She got out of the car slowly and was relieved when Robin came out of the front door. She immediately pulled the other brunette into a tight hug. "Robin, it is so good to see you," Elizabeth said, her voice trembling with emotion. "Emma and Patrick are going to be so happy that you are back in Port Charles. You are back, aren't you?" She pulled away to peer at Robin's face. "For a while this time?"
"Forever, if I have my way," Robin promised.
"That's great!" Elizabeth smiled, elated. She held onto her friend's hands tightly, and her smile dimmed a little bit. "But that—that isn't what you want to talk about. You sounded frantic on the phone call. Are you in some kind of danger? What is going on?"
"It's—everything is complicated," Robin stated, with a weary tone. She had dark circles around her eyes and her cheeks were sunk in, like she was one step shy of being emaciated. Her hair was tied back into a messy bun, split ends sticking out all over the place and she was dressed in a sweatshirt, and slacks. It was startling only because Robin was always meticulous about her appearance, so it made Elizabeth all that more concerned. "This is a safe house, I think. We came here to avoid, um, too many eyes and ears. I—I have been held against my will at a facility. Helena wanted to work on some research into cryogenics and memory graphing. When she died, I thought maybe I would be freed, but then I heard Nikolas took helm of the whole operation."
Elizabeth closed her eyes in despair. "God, I thought I already knew the worst about what he had done. I am so sorry, Robin. I had this feeling that the way you left after coming back from the dead that there was more to the story, but I—I didn't trust my gut instincts. I should have looked harder at the way you left," she told her, her voice rough with regret.
"It's not your fault, Elizabeth," Robin whispered. "Helena covered her tracks well. If you had tried to get involved, you would have been in danger and the point of me going was to keep all my friends and family safe."
Elizabeth opened her eyes to peer at Robin, worriedly. "You're safe, right? There isn't someone who is going to try to snatch you again?"
"Not that we know of. My mom and dad did a pretty good job of cleaning house. They teamed up to save me, but I wasn't the only one that they saved," Robin said, with tears glittering in her gaze.
"There were others? Other people we know?" Elizabeth asked, shocked.
Robin nodded, unable to speak. She just stepped aside so Elizabeth had a clear view of the front door, and she watched the door pull open slowly. A man stepped out onto the terrace—a man that shouldn't be possible. She stared, unable to move, unable to think. Her entire world had come to a standstill while she stared into those piercing blue eyes from across the room, and a thousand memories careened through her threatening to steal her very breath away. The familiar sharp and beautiful planes of his face, his dark blond hair slicked back out of the way, the small smile that curled along his mouth—all of them shook her to her core, and her hands flew over her mouth when a sob wracked through her. That missing spark—the connection that pulled her like gravity and encompassed her entire being like she was home. Her heart knew this man in an instant.
"Jason." His name fell of her lips like a litany.
Author's Note 2: While I love the legacy of General Hospital and its vast history (given the conception of the show was way back in 1963), there have been times that I have stopped watching because of storylines or vet characters written out of character and decimated to fit a plot point. Particularly the character of Elizabeth Webber who I feel the writers have turned upside down or twisted in ways that just don't fit her character. There was even an interview with the actress who plays Elizabeth Webber on a storyline in 2015 that she felt was out of character for Elizabeth, and she has been playing that character for 18 years at that point so I feel her opinion of the character is more valid than writers who come and go. As Elizabeth is my favorite character, I do like to go back and write "what-ifs" that I would like to have seen for that character.
Fan Casting:
Rebecca Herbst as Elizabeth Webber
Steve Burton as Jason Morgan
Lyndsy Marie Fonseca as Aimee Lancaster
Aiden Turner as Ross Sheppard
(The role of Carly is played by Sarah Brown or Laura Wright. I see either one of these actresses as the Carly depicted here. And the role of Nina is played by Rachelle Lefevre. The rest of the cast is the same as what is currently on the show)
Fan Soundtrack: 1.) "In Your Arms" by X Ambassadors ft. Illenium 2.) "Bad Dreams" by Faouzia 3.) "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi 4.) "Carry You" by Ruelle ft. Fleurie 5.) "Nothing Else Matters" by Marlisa 6.) "Mad World" by Imagine Dragons 7.) "Assassins" by Au/Ra 8.) "Outsiders" by Au/Ra 9.) "Crossfire" by Stephen 10.) "Blood/Water" by grandson 11.) "Let Her Go" by Jasmine Thompson 12.) "Love, Love, Love" by Of Monsters and Men 12.) "Way Down We Go" by KALEO 13.) "Madness" by Ruelle