Elizabeth wasn't sure what it was that woke her. The last thing she remembered was Sonny sitting her down on the couch and insisting she get some rest. Her thoughts immediately went to Isabelle, but she remembered he said he'd take her for the night. She shifted on the couch, pulled the afghan over her. The water tapped against the window and she thought she remembered one of his guys saying something about it looking like rain. The gentle tapping of the water against the window had a calming effect over her and she decided she liked the rain.
"I wonder what time it is," she mumbled aloud. Elizabeth squinted her eyes in the dark, but the clock wasn't where they had set it earlier that day. Or was something standing in front of the clock? Suddenly, her senses were alive and she knew she was no longer alone.
Elizabeth shifted towards the end of the couch and fumbled in the dark for the fire poker she knew was there. Her hand closed around the weapon as she heard the uninvited guest move around the living room.
"Who's there?" she asked.
No answer. Forcing herself to stay calm, Elizabeth stood, but kept the fire poker close by. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could see the silhouette of a man standing behind the chair, facing the window. He was a very big man and the fear threatened to take over. Sonny had told her there was trouble, but how had he gotten in during the middle of the night? Where was the guard?
"Who are you?" she asked again. "Look, if you don't tell me who you are, I'm going to scream and this place will be flooded in about two seconds."
Her guest still didn't speak.
"Damn it, tell me who you are! What're you doing here?" Elizabeth shifted when she saw the silhouette move towards her. He stepped into the moonlight streaming through the window and Elizabeth gasped when she saw who it was.
"What're you doing here? I don't understand. Sonny said that you were in Spain."
Jason nodded his head. "I am in Spain, Elizabeth. You're dreaming."
"Huh? What?"
Jason put a finger to his lip, telling her to be quiet. He pointed to the couch and Elizabeth turned to find herself sleeping there. The real Elizabeth was stretched out on the plush sofa, snuggled beneath the blanket that usually adorned the back of the couch.
Elizabeth turned to her husband who was looking at her with concern. "I don't understand," she whispered.
"I know," he whispered. Jason studied her before he crossed to where she was. Gently, he hooked his hand around her elbow and guided her to the dining room table. After she was seated at the head of the table, he took the seat off to the side. Hands clasped on the glass, he spoke. "I don't understand it either. When I went to bed, I was in Rota."
"Spain," she murmured. Elizabeth looked up at him. "Sonny told me yesterday you were in Spain."
"I was. I am. But I was getting ready to come home."
"Home?" Elizabeth felt the hope surge through her. "Home to where?"
"Home to you," he said softly. "I got tired of staying away."
"You've been gone for two years." Restless, Elizabeth pulled the engagement ring off her finger and played with it. "A lot has changed."
"I never expected it to stay the same. I never expected for you to wait for me."
Elizabeth looked up and he could see the spark of anger in her eyes. "Not wait for you? Jason Morgan, you are my whole life. I can't tell where I begin and you end. I need you."
Jason closed his eyes and tried to collect his thoughts. Mentally, he was calling himself every name of he could think of. How could he have ever left her? "I think that's why we're dreaming right now."
"You don't dream," she said quickly.
"I didn't dream," he corrected. "Then I met this amazing woman who taught me how. It's one of the many things that she gave me."
"You gave me the wind." Elizabeth smiled at the memory.
"We gave each other the wind. I can't see it when you're not there with me." His admission was true. No matter how hard and fast he would ride, he could never outrun the feeling of her not being on the back of the bike with him.
Elizabeth was quiet for a moment, as she considered what she should say next. She looked back towards the couch when she heard herself mumble something. Jason followed her gaze and she thought she saw a smile form on his lips.
"You still talk in your sleep." His voice was laced with amusement.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I don't talk in my sleep. That was you hearing things."
Jason gave a short snort, but Elizabeth knew that he was laughing on the inside. "Besides, I've never heard myself talk in my sleep."
He shook his head. "That's because you're asleep, Elizabeth."
Elizabeth smiled at him then. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. "Minor technicality."
The table fell silent again. Elizabeth took the time to study him. She had to admit that he still looked good. Jason was the most handsome man that she had ever seen. When he walked into the room, she ached to sketch him. His classic good looks, combined with the bad boy appeal made him irresistible. Her gaze fell to his left hand and she noticed that he still wore the wedding band. After two years, she wondered why he hadn't taken it off. He was the one who left her, after all. He was the one who didn't love her enough. With one more glance at his hand, she lifted her eyes to his face. His blue eyes were studying her intently and she shifted under his scrutiny.
"Don't even think it," he ordered in a gruff voice.
"Think what?" she asked quietly.
"That I don't love you. There's not a day that passes by that I don't think of you, Elizabeth."
"Is that so?" Elizabeth studied his eyes and tried to unlock the secrets he held behind them. "Why aren't you here with me? I need you."
"And I need you. It feels like I can't breathe when you're not there."
"You know, Sonny said the same thing to me earlier."
"Sonny's right." Jason considered his next question before finally deciding to ask. "How is he?"
Elizabeth smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "He's alone. He misses you and he's trying to hold it together for my sake."
Jason muttered something under his breath and dropped his head in disgust. How did he drop this on Sonny's lap? "I knew he'd try to take care of you. Are you letting him?"
"Have I ever let anyone take care of me, Jason?"
Jason looked up to find her blue eyes searching in the darkness for his. "You let me take care of you for a little while. We took care of each other."
"Yeah," she agreed, "I guess we did. I seem to remember something about soup."
He groaned. "Don't remind me. To this day, when I think about soup, I think about you."
"Me too," Elizabeth admitted.
The silence stretched between them again. When Elizabeth muttered again in her sleep, she watched as Jason watched her. She saw the way his eyes glowed and it was obvious he still loved her very much.
"Why are you here?" she finally asked.
He turned to look at her. "I don't know. Like I said, when I went to sleep, I was in Rota."
"Are you coming home?"
"I never planned on not coming home. I knew that it could be two months or twenty years, but I'd always come back to you. If you'd have me."
"Perhaps the better question is why are you having this dream right now?"
"I think," he started. Jason reached for her hand and took it between his larger hands. "Earlier today, I was in a bar. This guard started talking to me. I had your wedding ring out and I was playing with it. I do that a lot."
Breaking the contact, he reached into his pocket and pulled the platinum ring from it and dropped it on the table. "It reminds me of you. It's so small."
Elizabeth dropped her gaze to the ring and smiled at the memories it brought back to her. "You kept it."
"I told you I would." Jason took her hand again and his thumb began to trace lazy patterns across the back of her knuckles. "But this guard, he wanted to talk. I suppose he wanted me to spill my secrets and tell him why I was sad."
"Are you?"
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Am I what?"
"Sad?"
"I miss you. Every second of the day. There isn't a day that I don't think about coming home."
"Then why don't you?"
Jason sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, Elizabeth. When I left, your eyes were dead. It killed me to know it was my fault."
"What are you talking about?" When Jason tried to pull his hand away from hers, she snatched it, held onto it. She wasn't going to let him retreat into himself. "Your fault? Jason, please tell me you don't think Abby's death was your fault."
"Sorel was my enemy, Elizabeth. Mine and Sonny's. If he wasn't coming after me, he would have never gotten to her."
Elizabeth heard his heartache and guilt in the statement. "Jason, I don't blame you. You couldn't control it and I don't want you to blame yourself."
Jason knew she was right. He twined their fingers together and watched her as she studied their fingers. God, he missed this. She was so beautiful and he smiled when he realized she'd grown her hair out again. "I like your hair."
Her smile was easy. "I knew you would. You hated it when I decided to cut it. I used to think that was why you left."
"You're a beautiful woman, Elizabeth. I don't know what I was thinking when I walked out of that door. But I'm ready to come home, if you'll have me."
"I've been waiting for you since the moment you left, Jason."
"It's not going to be easy, you know that right?" Jason searched her face for signs of how she was feeling. She still couldn't hide from him.
"I never said it would. But I love you. I need you. We have a daughter that needs you."
His grip tightened around hers before he let her hand drop to the table. "What do you mean?"
"I mean what I said. We have a daughter who needs her father. Every morning, she kisses a picture of you holding Abby."
"I don't understand." Thousands of questions raced through his mind and he didn't have an answer for any of them. "We have a daughter?"
"Isabelle. She's eighteen months old."
Jason shook his head, not believing anything she told him. "It's not possible, Elizabeth. There's no way."
Elizabeth touched his arm. It was the softest caress and her fingers whispered across his skin to comfort him. "I know you don't think it's possible. But I have a daughter who was born six and a half months after you left. Her name is Isabelle Hardy Morgan. I know she's yours, Jason Morgan. There is no doubt in my mind."
"Did you know?" he whispered.
"Did I know what? Did I know I was pregnant?"
"Yes."
"I knew." Elizabeth pressed a hand to her chest and sighed. "I knew it would make you stay. I refused to turn into Carly. I was not trapping you with a child."
Jason couldn't believe what he was hearing. They had a child and she knew about it. He'd missed almost two years of his daughter's life because of Elizabeth's decision. "I think I should go now."
"What?" she asked. "I tell you that we have a daughter and she needs you, and you decide to leave?"
"Elizabeth, I'm not really here. You're dreaming." He pointed to the body on the couch. "Go back to sleep honey."
He stood and leaned over, gave her a kiss on the forehead. Elizabeth latched on to his hand and held him there for a minute.
"Jason, are you coming home?" Elizabeth watched his face for any kind of reaction. Any indication that he would come back.
"I'll be back soon. I promise." He stared down at her for another minute and smiled. "I love you, Elizabeth."
"I love you too," she whispered.
On the couch, Elizabeth shot straight up. The darkness was folded around her and she knew he was gone. But he'd been here. She knew it. He was coming home.
~*~
Jason jackknifed in the bed. He was surprised to find that he was still in Spain, but after all it was only a dream. He sat there, trying to catch his breath, trying to remember the dream.
He knew it was about Elizabeth, but the details weren't exact. They'd been in his old penthouse, but their furniture had been there. Was she living there? Jason tried to focus on more details, but they were fading away quickly. He only knew he needed to get home and he needed to get there soon.
Jason reached for the cell phone and quickly ran through the numbers he'd punched into the memory. Sonny's was at the bottom of the list, just in case, even though he knew his boss didn't have this number. He selected the number and let the phone dial. It didn't matter to him that it was two in the morning in New York. He had to talk to Sonny.
The phone rang several times before Sonny answered.
Hello.
"Sonny," he said. "It's Jason. I want to come home."