"Morning," he said as he kissed her.
"Mmmm. Good morning." She smiled at him, lifting a hand to his face. "How long have you been up?"
He shrugged, "A while."
"Watching me sleep," she said with a grin.
"Pretty much. You look like an angel when you sleep, do you know that?"
"I don't watch myself sleep too often, so I'd have to say no," she said, teasing him.
He groaned as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her.
"Can't we have one more day?" she asked as she ran her fingers lightly up and down his arm.
He stopped nibbling on her neck long enough to answer her, "I'm sorry. But the plane won't leave until we're ready."
She turned her head to look at him, "Ok then, I'll never be ready!" They laughed as they kissed. She forced him to his back as she straddled him again. This time it would be her turn to take charge, and she was going to love every minute of it...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Elizabeth, move in with me."
"Above Jake's?" she said, trying to mask her obvious loathing of the place.
He grinned, "No, no, no. I talked to Sonny earlier. Seems he talked Alexis into moving into the room just below his, so I can have my old penthouse back."
She was about to say yes when she remembered, "What about Carly?" It was no secret that Elizabeth and Carly couldn't get along, "If Carly knew about us, she'd-"
"She would deal with it," he said, cutting her off. "She's married to Sonny, she loves him. And if she knows what's good for her, she'll be happy that I'm happy."
Elizabeth rolled over to face him, "Are you?"
"Am I what?"
"Are you happy?"
He sighed, knowing this was bound to come up. "Elizabeth, I am happier than I thought I could be. Truth is, I was never really happy until I met you. I thought I was happy with Robin, and Lord knows Carly isn't a person, she's an event. And they both loved me, but neither of them were good for me. Robin because she kept trying to change me, getting me out of Sonny's business. I didn't know how to function outside Sonny's world. But I did it to make Robin happy. And Carly, well, the best thing she did for me was to give me Michael. And for a year that was enough, but she took him away from me in the end." Pain clouded his eyes as he remembered Michael. "Elizabeth, you accept me, Jason Morgan, Sonny Corinthos' right hand man, and all around tough guy. You're there for me, to listen, to say nothing, to change nothing. You won't take what I can't give. And I promise you Liz, there's nothing I wouldn't give you. You let me be me, and that's more than I could've dreamed for."
He leaned towards her and kissed the tears that fell. "Please don't cry. I love you Elizabeth Webber, and that will never change."
Liz smiled through her tears. "I love you back Jason Morgan."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sonny arranged for them to arrive during the night, so no one would know they were in town yet. Sorel's men had been making trouble for Sonny ever since Sorel had been convicted of Ted Wilson's murder. The less they knew about Jason's return the better.
Anything that had not made the trip to his island from Elizabeth's studio had been quietly, but quickly packed up and brought to Jason's penthouse. Same as her things in her room above Kelly's. That job was particularly rushed because of it's proximity to Lucky's, and the need for complete secrecy. Luckily for Sonny, Tammy understood, and complied with his wishes.
The only thing left to be dealt with was Carly, and that was not going to be easy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Carly!" Sonny bellowed.
"Just a minute!" she yelled back to him.
Johnny opened the door, "Miss Webber's here."
"Thanks Johnny, but please call me Elizabeth, or Liz."
"Sure Miss Webber." She laughed as he closed the door.
Sonny motioned for Elizabeth to wait in the kitchen as he heard Carly come down the stairs. "What is it Sonny?"
Sonny motioned to the door, "Jason said he had to talk to you."
Carly squealed, "Jason's home?! Good!" She ran to the door, leaving Sonny behind, shaking his head.
Elizabeth poked her head out from the kitchen when she heard the door slam shut, "She's gone?"
Sonny nodded.
"What now?"
Sonny sighed, knowing it would take awhile. "Are you hungry?" he asked with a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before Jason could say 'hello', Carly had her arms around his neck, "I am so glad you're home! I missed you! Where have you been?!"
Jason winced at her tight hug, his bullet wounds still a little tender. "Business," he replied simply.
Carly laughed, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Poor little Carly can't know anything. Fine, fine, ok." She quieted down when she saw the seriousness in his eyes. "Jase, is everything ok? You're ok right? You're going to stick around for awhile?"
He coughed as he sat down on the couch. "Carly, we need to talk." She frowned at him, but sat down. "I was taking care of some business for Sonny. Carly, I got shot." He held his hands up, stopping her before she could ask a million questions. "As you can see, I'm ok. I had a slight infection, but I made it out ok."
"Yeah, but Jase, you were shot, and all alone. Why couldn't Sonny send you here, at least then you could have some company."
Jason sighed, trying to think of the best way to tell her, "Carly, I wasn't alone." He braced himself for the impending tirade, "Liz Webber was with me."
"Little Lizzie Webber," she said through clenched teeth. "How in the hell did she FIND you?!? God she's got some nerve trying to weasel her way into y-"
"CARLY." The harshness in Jason's voice stopped her cold. "Sonny sent her to me." He didn't go into the details, knowing that it was none of her business.
Carly nodded, "She would go to him, use him, with those big blue eyes, 'Pwease Sonny, tell me where Jason is. I need him to pwotect me.'" Carly bats her eyelashes for effect.
Jason shook his head. "No Carly, I asked for her."
Carly looked at him, as if seeing him for the first time. "Oh yeah, yeah, ok. Sure you asked for her," she said, chuckling.
Jason simply started at her, waiting for her to finish.
"Ok, so, you're here, you're fine now. Why are you telling me all
this?"
"I'm in love with her Carly, and I want you to accept that. Carly-" he held up a hand to keep her quiet. "Carly, I LOVE HER. And she loves me. Nobody tricked anybody." He paused before spilling the last of the beans. "She's going to move in here with me."
Too dumbfounded for words, Carly stood up and walked out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth dived into the pasta Sonny had fixed them for dinner, "Mmm. Sonny, this is fantastic! Could you teach me how to cook?"
He nodded as he swallowed, "Yeah, but not in my kitchen." He smiled at her. She's gonna be good for him, he thought.
They talked easily about Elizabeth's aspirations of finishing art school.
"Yeah, I don't know what I'll d-"
"SONNY!"
The door slammed shut behind Carly. "Sonny can you believ-" Carly finally noticed Liz at the table, "You! Get out of my house! You little bitch! You insinuate yourself into his life, make him think he loves you, for what? Huh? What are you going to get out of this?! Money? Sex? Well let me tell you something HONEY, I won't let you. You will not hu-"
"CARLY."
She stopped suddenly, both Jason and Sonny were standing in front of her now, between her and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth got up from her chair, "Thanks for dinner Sonny." He nodded, keeping his eyes on his hot headed wife. "Carly," Liz said, nodding politely before leaving the penthouse.
Jason stood directly in front of Carly, "Carly, you had better get used to it. She's not going anywhere." He nodded to Sonny, before exiting as well.
Carly looked at Sonny, "What?"
Sonny shook his head, knowing this would not be the end of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is pizza ok?" Jason asked as he dropped onto the couch.
Elizabeth curled up next to him, "Whatever. I'm not so hungry after Sonny fed me." She pulled him to her, resting his head in her lap. Running her fingers through his hair, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry this is causing so much trouble."
Jason reached up to touch her face, "You're not the problem, Carly is. Don't let her get to you. I'll instruct Johnny not to let her in here, and you can even lock the door if you want." Jason sat up to take her in his arms. "Elizabeth, you realize your life will never be the same? I mean, well, I'm going to post a guard on you 24/7, have a driver for you, all that. You realize that don't you?" He looked at her with concern in his eyes.
She smiled at him, "As long as I'm with you, nothing else matters." She kissed him softly.
Jason looked around at all the boxes in the penthouse. "I think we should get to work."
Elizabeth looked around, groaning at the thought of unpacking. "Skip it, we'll work on it tomorrow. I have another idea." She took his hand as she led him up to their bedroom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He put down the phone and chuckled, "Welcome home Mr. Morgan."