Carly Corinthos was a woman of action. When she wanted things done, she went out herself and did them.
And right now, she wanted answers.
Settling herself on the bench looking at the docks, she crossed her legs, resting her purse on her lap. She had heard Jason mention something about being here when he'd been over at the penthouse and she was determined to run into him and get the answers she wanted.
Why was he acting odd? Why did he keep going to Alexis's penthouse? Why was he never around anymore? Why did he insist on spending time with Elizabeth Webber?
A lot of emotions were raging through her at that moment, confusion being in the forefront. Jason was confusing her lately. Carly frowned as she looked out at the water. Jason was never usually confusing…
There were footsteps off to her right and Carly quickly looked up, a smile coming to her face when she saw Jason coming down the stairs. His head was down, but the second he looked up and saw her, he stopped.
"Jase…"
Jason's eyes darted around the docks for a second before landing back on Carly. "Shouldn't you be at home?"
Carly scowled. "I wanted to talk to you. I figured you'd be there."
One of his eyebrows lifted, but he didn't comment. When he didn't say anything, Carly spoke again. "What's going on, Jase?"
He paused for a slight second. Someone who didn't know him well wouldn't have noticed. Carly did. "Nothing."
Carly raised an eyebrow. "Fine then. If nothing's going on, tell me why I haven't seen you since that day I ran into you and Little Miss Muffet in the elevator."
Jason's jaw twitched slightly. "I've been busy."
Shaking her head, Carly snorted. "You think you're the only one who knows when someone is lying? We're best friends Jason… what's going on?"
Sighing, Jason rubbed his hands over his face. "Nothing that is of your concern."
She knew she would get nowhere with him like this. She needed to be direct. "What's going on with you and Alexis."
Jason raised his head out of his hands and looked at her oddly. "What are you talking about?"
"When you come to the Penthouse, you're either there to talk to Sonny, or you go into Alexis's. What's going on, Jase?"
"You think there's something going on between me and Alexis?" he asked incredulously.
Sighing in frustration, Carly threw her hands up in the air. If it wasn't Alexis that was taking up all of Jason's time… it could only be one other person.
"Why?" Carly asked, a whine seeping into her voice. "Jason she's NO good."
"Alexis?"
She let out an exasperated sigh. "Miss Goody-Goody Webber"
Jason stiffened. "Stop calling her names, Carly." His voice was hard and commanding but it didn't affect Carly at all.
"She's not good enough for you, Jason. She's not."
"You don't get to decide that."
Grabbing his arm, Carly pulled Jason away from the bench and towards the edge of the docks. "I'm not trying to ruin your life again," she said softly. "Really, I'm not. I just want what's best for you, and Elizabeth Webber is not it."
"I'm the only person who can decide what's best for me."
Taking a deep sigh, Carly watched Jason's profile. "She's going to hurt you. You're too giving, Jason. Look what happened before. Robin hurt you, Sonny hurt you… I hurt you. Elizabeth is going to do the same thing."
Jason's jaw clenched slightly. "She's not you, she's not Sonny, and she's not Robin."
Carly turned to look out at the water. The harbor was full of ships and boats. She turned back to Jason, studying his face. "I pray she isn't." She paused for a second. "Jase… are you in love with her?"
He didn't respond, his eyes locked on the water in front of her. Heaving a small sigh, Carly gave up, turned, and walked away.
Once she was out of hearing distance, Jason let out a deep breath and whispered.
"Yes."
The world was spinning.
That much Elizabeth knew, even with her eyes closed. She rolled her head to the side and groaned when everything seemed to start spinning in the other direction. Her eyelids were heavy and no matter how much she tried, she could get them to open. She tried to move her hands but her limbs felt like they were being held down by fifty pound weights.
It felt as if she were underwater. Her senses were screaming out to her to move, that she was in danger, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move.
She felt paralyzed.
She could hear a voice off to the side and she felt something warm touch her cheek. A hand. A large hand. She tried to jerk her head to the side but nothing happened. The hand was still touching her.
Bile rose through her stomach but Elizabeth forced herself to calm down. She took a deep breath, trying to put all of her focus in getting her eyes open. She needed to know where she was a who was with her.
Her body felt so heavy and no part of her would move, no matter how hard she tried. The hand touched her once more, resting on her forehead and she heard the person talking but she couldn't understand them. It felt like she had cotton in her ears.
There was a prick in her arm and she felt something being injected into her. She tried to pull away but her attempts were useless. She tried to scream out, but she remained mute.
As she felt herself slipping further and further away, one though floated across her mind and she clung to it with everything she had inside of her.
Jason…
Jason paced up and down the docks. At every little sound, he looked up, only to be disappointed. Elizabeth had promised to meet him there at six.
It was quarter past seven.
He knew he could call Francis and find out where she was, but he didn't want her to think that he would invade her privacy like that. Francis was there to keep her safe, not so that Jason would know where she was all of the time.
Doubts started to pound on Jason's mind. What if those kisses had meant nothing to her? What if she had changed her mind? What if she was with Lucky?
Shaking his head, as if to shake away those thoughts, Jason looked down at his watch. The second seem to tick by faster than usual and with every tick, he felt his heart drop slightly.
Looking up, he sighed, feeling tears prickle at his eyes. He opened his eyes wide, letting the wind dry them out.
She wasn't coming.
Looking down, he sighed once more before moving to walk away. His phone rang, breaking through the silence around him and he jumped slightly before answering.
"Morgan."
"It's me. I'm at Alexis's… you need to get here now."
Sonny's voice was hard but Jason detected a waver it in. A little something that made him speed up his steps. "What's going on?" He heard his friend hesitate for a minute and Jason's steps sped up even more.
"It's Francis. Johnny went to take over for him so that Francis could visit his father… he found him at the PC Art Gallery."
He was jogging now.
"He was drugged, Jason… Out cold."
Jason felt his heart stop for a moment and dread seeped into his stomach. "Where's Elizabeth?"
Sonny hesitated again and Jason picked up the pace, maneuvering out of the way of other pedestrians. He could see the building for Harbor View Penthouses up the way. "Where is she, Sonny?!"
"She's gone… we can't find her."
And he ran.
Yanking open the building door, Jason ran by security without even looking at him, opting the take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. He took two steps at a time, his feet slapping against the carpeted stairway. His chest burned but he didn't slow.
Yanking open the second floor door, he hurried down the hall, throwing open the door to Alexis's penthouse. She wasn't there, but Sonny, Johnny, and Benny were waiting, all three men looking up at the sound of Jason's entrance.
On the couch, he saw Francis. The man was still unconscious and Jason felt fear grip him a little tighter.
"Where is she?" he breathed out.
The three men in front of him exchanged glances. Stepping forward, Sonny reached for Jason's arm. "Jase… sit down."
Yanking his arm back, Jason glared at his best friend. "Tell me where the hell she is."
Sonny's eyes darted around the room before he forcefully pushed Jason down onto the couch. "Just sit down and we'll tell you everything we know."
Jason let himself be pushed down but he was rigid in his seat. "Just tell me."
Johnny cleared his throat. "I was supposed to go to the Gallery and take over for Francis for the night. I got there and I found him on the floor. I saw Miss Webber's purse there next to him, but she wasn't… I couldn't find her."
Jason took a deep breath, his face blank, but the men could hear his desperation in his voice. "Tell me more."
"We don't know where she is," Sonny said, once more stepping forward. "But we've got some leads. That's why Benny's here. I had him check out a few people and he's got the information. We need to go through it and find out who did this."
Jason's eyes drifted towards the third man; the one who had yet to speak. "What do you have?"
Benny stepped forward cautiously. "Mr. Corinthos asked me to look in on a… Jeremy Barker awhile ago, but nothing came up. The other night, Francis called me and told me to look up another name to get information on the guy. He told me to look under Thomas Jeremy Baker, Jr."
Gasping, Jason's eyes widened. All three men looked at him. Jason never showed emotion like that.
"What is it?" Sonny asked nervously. "Jason…"
His eyes unfocused, Jason whispered. "Tom Baker…"
Benny cleared this throat. "Correct. This Jeremy… he's the son of Tom Baker." He cast a glance at Jason, silently wondering what was going on. First Jason asks him to do a check on Tom Baker… now he's doing one on Baker's son. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he knew it wasn't his place.
"Jeremy spend most of his childhood in mental institution. He was one messed up kid. He's got a warped mind. He was released when he turned eighteen and by then, his father was already in prison," Benny said, looking down at the file. "He disappeared for a while but surfaced again here, at PCU. He enrolled and acts specifically to be placed in the Art Interpretation class… Miss Webber's class."
Jason felt like he couldn't breathe. His instincts were telling him that that was the man who had Elizabeth. He knew it.
He dropped his head into his hands. The kid had a history of mental problems, his father was a rapist, and now he had Elizabeth.
Looking up, Jason caught Sonny's attention. The older man saw tears in Jason's usually clear azure eyes and his breath caught in his throat.
"We'll find her," Sonny promised. "We'll get her back."