Isabelle cried.
She started crying around six that morning and didn't stop. Well, she did. But not for long.
Jax was sure he was about to go insane. Damn Sonny Corinthos. His first instinct was to take her to Elizabeth. But then he'd have to answer her questions. Another thing he wasn't really ready to do. Not to mention, Alexis had told him how tired she looked when she picked up Isabelle the previous day. He knew she needed rest. If it was going to help Elizabeth, he could take Isabelle for the morning.
If only she'd stop crying.
He glanced back at the child who sat in the high chair in the kitchen. Brenda had told him once about how anal Sonny could be over his kitchen. At the moment, Jax couldn't bring himself to care. All he wanted was to find her something to eat.
He swallowed a curse when he opened the cabinet. Of course, Corinthos wouldn't have 'ready to eat' food. Just ingredients. Was anything about that man normal?
"Mommy!" Isabelle shouted.
Jax sighed. "Okay, Isa, if you want your mommy-"
"Mommy's here," Elizabeth said from behind him.
Jax turned to find the young woman hurriedly unbuckling her daughter from the high chair.
"Thank God you're here."
Elizabeth brought the baby up to her shoulder and soothingly patted her back. "I've been up. You should have just brought her over."
Jax gave her a warm smile. "I wanted you to get some rest. I didn't realize she was going to be so cranky in the morning."
"Isa and I have a routine every morning. I should have thought about that last night." Elizabeth was sympathetic. The first time Isabelle had stayed with Sonny, he told her how she had cried.
"I'm surprised Sonny didn't just bring her back last night."
"He and Alexis left in a hurry and he wanted you to sleep. I got volunteered to stay the night with her." Jax was still unhappy with the way Corinthos had rooted him out of bed in the middle of the night. Then demanding that he stay and baby-sit. Only for Alexis would he do this.
"Do you know where they went?" Elizabeth pried. She shifted Isabelle to her hip and moved past Jax. He watched as she opened a cabinet and pulled the baby food she had stored there. "Johnny wouldn't tell me anything."
"I doubt Johnny knows, Elizabeth." He watched as she sat her daughter on the counter and moved in front of her. "Sonny was pretty closed mouth. I'm here because Alexis drafted me."
Jason. The name skittered across her brain. Elizabeth wasn't sure where it came from. There was no way Sonny could have found him so soon. Just last night, Sonny told her he didn't know where he was. Except that he was in Spain. But there was a faint memory of a dream sticking at the edge of her mind. Something about Jason.
"Elizabeth?" Jax broke into her thoughts. He'd watched her stir the spoon in the jar again and again. She seemed to be in another place. "Where'd you go?"
Slowly, Elizabeth turned to face him. Jax saw something in her eyes he couldn't put a name on. He thought it looked like hope. "What is it Elizabeth?"
"Jason," she whispered. Elizabeth shook her head. It wasn't possible. "Sorry. What'd you say?"
The hope he thought he'd seen was gone. Or had it been there at all? "Nothing."
Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something else, but Johnny appeared at the door.
"Mr. Jacks," he said politely. Johnny looked past him to see Elizabeth. "Any news?"
"Nope. Jax knows nothing."
"I'm sure Sonny will be back soon, Elizabeth. Maybe you should call Marie. See if she knows anything?"
"Eh. I'm not too worried, to be honest. Sonny can take care of himself. Besides, he took Alexis with him, I doubt he's expecting any kind of trouble."
"Good point," Johnny reasoned. There was something about the message his boss left he didn't get.
Elizabeth gathered Isabelle in her arms and started past the two men. "I think Isa and I are going to the park."
"Take your guard," Johnny said instantly.
"No problem-" Elizabeth stopped at the door. "Andrew's mother is in the hospital. I don't have a guard."
"I'll go with you," both men volunteered.
"No, no. I'm sure you both have better things to do than baby-sit me. Sonny will just assign me another man when he gets home."
"Elizabeth-" Johnny protested.
She silenced him with a look. "It'll be good to be with Isa. We'll be fine."
Johnny started to protest again but she was already through the door. Instead he turned to glare at Jax. "Now, you wanna tell me where Sonny went?"
"Jason. He went after Jason," Jax said in disgust. He pushed past the guard and out of the kitchen.
Johnny swore when he heard the penthouse door slam. It always came back to Jason.
~*~
Elizabeth sat in the park and watched as Isabelle played in the sand and found it oddly soothing.
She glanced down at her sketchpad and absently ran a finger down his jaw line. Jason's image had been stuck in her head all morning. She thought she remembered a dream, but it seemed so real. And Sonny's disappearance. Something was off.
Elizabeth pushed Jason to the back of her mind and focused on Isabelle. Elizabeth set the pad aside and climbed into the sandbox with her. The sand was damp from the rain and molded easily.
Using the buckets and shovels they'd brought with them, they built a sand castle. It wasn't a masterpiece by any means, but it was fun. Something neither of them seemed to have anymore. So much fun that Elizabeth didn't notice the man who took her seat on the bench.
"Now that's a face I haven't seen in years."
Elizabeth glanced up at the man and froze. He was the same man Sonny had warned her about and was now holding her sketch of Jason.
"Jason Morgan," Stryker continued. A twisted smile spread across his face as he raised his gaze to meet hers. "How are you, Mrs. Morgan?"
"Mr. Stryker," she said coldly. Elizabeth moved her body in front of Isabelle, shielding her from his evil. "I have no business with you."
"But I have business with your husband, Mrs. Morgan. Please call me Ronan. May I call you Elizabeth?"
"No." Her voice quivered. Damn, why didn't she let Johnny come with her. "As you can see, you've interrupted my time with my daughter. Please leave."
"I can't do that Elizabeth. I need you to get a message to your husband for me."
"Jason and I are separated. I don't know where he is. But I'm sure you knew that already." Run, her brain commanded. But they were in an open park and there was no place she could hide.
Stryker pointed to her left hand. "But you still wear his ring? Tsk tsk, Mrs. Morgan. You really shouldn't lie to me."
Elizabeth began to shove the toys into her bag. When she looked up at him, her glare was cold and her tone icy. "I assure you, Mr. Stryker, that I've had no contact with my husband in almost two years now. I'll say it again. I don't know where he is."
"I wonder why, Elizabeth. Morgan would never abandon his wife. Unless you betrayed him." His eyes danced with amusement as he considered the possibilities. "Is that what happened? Did you sleep with another man? Tell me, Elizabeth, was Morgan just not adequate in bed?"
"I don't like what you're implying."
"I'm not implying anything, Elizabeth. I do know that Jason Morgan would never leave a wife and child behind-" his twisted grin returned, "unless your daughter is not his daughter."
Elizabeth opened her mouth to defend herself when her attention was diverted to the other side of the park. She squinted to see Lucky coming towards her and had never been so relieved to see him. Stryker followed her gaze and noticed the young man approaching them.
"It seems that we have a guest. I think it's time I leave you, Elizabeth."
"I think that's the best idea you've had this decade, Mr. Stryker." Elizabeth stood to face him.
As the insult struck him he took a dangerous step towards her. She was taken back when he grabbed her wrist and pushed his face into hers. "This isn't the last you'll see of me, Elizabeth. I'll be back."
Elizabeth ignored the pain as he pushed her backwards and she fell into the sand next to Isa. She winced as her hip took the brunt of her fall. Stryker gave her another smug smile before he took the path into the garden.
"Hey!" Lucky shouted after him. The man disappeared down the path and he turned back to Elizabeth. "You okay?"
She stood slowly and brushed the sand from her clothes. "I'm fine, but thanks." Elizabeth smiled at the man who stood in front of her and remembered a time when he owned her heart. "It's good to see you Lucky."
"It's good to see you too. Dad told me as soon as you got back. I'm working for a tech company in New York and this weekend was the first time I could get away. I was wondering if you even knew I was alive."
"I knew," she admitted. "Sonny told me after you came home."
A stab of pain shot through him as he realized she'd known he was alive for over a year and had made no effort to contact him. What had happened to the young woman that he left those years ago?
"Yeah, he came to where I was," she continued, oblivious to his thoughts. "It's amazing that your dad happened to be at the right place at the right time. I was happy to hear he found you."
"What're you talking about?" Lucky's confusion was obvious.
Elizabeth busied herself by stuffing the sketchpads into her shoulder bag. "You know, how Luke found you in Finland. You didn't know who you were-"
"Elizabeth," he interrupted. "My dad didn't find me. Jason did."
She felt a jolt of shock as what he was saying registered. "No," she argued. "Sonny told me Luke found you. He wouldn't lie to me. Not about something like this."
Lucky took her elbow and pulled her down to the bench. He watched her daughter as she played in the sand, having no way to understand what was happening around her. "Jason found me, Elizabeth. What Sonny told you was true, except it was Jason, not my dad. I didn't know who I was or who he was. My brain was totally scrambled. He stayed with me until I trusted him enough. I didn't understand why then, but I do now."
"He was doing it for me," she whispered. Elizabeth turned him, her blue eyes soft with emotion. "You've seen Jason?"
"A year ago, Elizabeth. I got back September of last year. The last time I saw Jason, we were on a plane headed for England. He was fiddling with a woman's wedding band. He still wore his, so I assumed that it belonged to his wife. It wasn't until I began to remember you did my parents tell me you and Jason were married."
"I gave the ring back to him before he left. I didn't think he'd keep it."
"How did you end up married to Jason Morgan?" he inquired. Lucky felt he had the right to know. Given the timeline his parents had given him, she hadn't even waited a year before she left town with him. Lucky always thought their connection was stronger than that. Maybe not.
"He saved me one night. Lizzie Webber came out to play because I missed you so much. She got into some trouble and Jason stepped in." Elizabeth's eyes were out of focus as she remembered the night Jason had first shown her the wind. "He taught me how to escape the pain and soon the only time I didn't hurt was when I was with Jason. It helped, even if it was just for a little while. I helped him, too. I think. He said I did. Our friendship grew into more than friendship after he was shot."
"He was shot?" Lucky's eyes widened with surprise. Had Morgan put her in danger?
"Yeah," she answered. "He let me take care of him. That was December of '99. The next month, he came to tell me he was leaving. I couldn't handle loosing someone else, so I asked him if I could go with him. I didn't have anyone here. You were dead. Nikolas had to deal with his own family stuff. Emily was dating Juan. My gram was working crazy hours at the hospital, so I hardly saw her anyway. Jason was pretty much the only person in my life. What surprised me though, is that he let me go."
"Just like that?" Lucky snapped his fingers. He couldn't believe this. "That's how you married into the mob?"
"You don't understand, Lucky." She snapped her fingers at him. "It wasn't just like that. Loving Jason was like coming home. He is the other half of my soul."
Lucky tried to ignore the sting her words caused. "But he still isn't with you, is he." He was trying to make her see they still had a chance. That he could love her better. "Tell me, did that man from before have something to do with you being Jason's wife?"
"Yes, but-"
"No buts. He's still putting you in danger, Elizabeth! He's not even here and he puts you in danger." Even as Lucky said the words, something inside of him told him there was more to the story than he knew. The Jason Morgan he knew would never leave a wife and apparently a child behind.
"The last person I ever expected to get the third degree from was you," she snapped. "I thought you of all people would understand. But here I am, defending my love for my husband to you."
Lucky flinched at the word 'husband.' "He still isn't around," he reminded her.
"Lucky, try to understand. You and I shared a 'perfect' love. It was sweet, but we were young. We thought it would last forever. But you died." He started to argue, but she held her hand up silencing him. "I know, I know. You weren't dead. But you were dead to me. The love that Jason and I share-it's not that perfect love. But it is forever. As long as I live, my heart will belong to Jason Morgan."
"So that's it, huh?" he asked. "That's the way you defend him abandoning you?"
"I'm not defending him." Elizabeth was beginning to get angry. "I don't have to. All I'm saying is, what happens in my marriage only concerns Jason and me."
"I care about you, Elizabeth. I always have. I've always loved you. I would have never left you, Elizabeth. I wouldn't have left you with a child to raise on your own."
"You shouldn't talk about something you don't understand. In case you forget, you did leave me. You might not have wanted to, but it isn't any different." Elizabeth moved from the bench to pick Isabelle up. The little girl had sand all over herself. "You ready to go Isa? Mommy needs to get you home. Maybe Uncle Sonny is back."
Despite himself, Lucky smiled at her treatment of her daughter. It was obvious that she was an excellent mother. "Make me understand," he pleaded.
Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and looked at him. "Why are you here Lucky? Why did you come to Port Charles?"
On impulse, Lucky reached up to touch her face. Her skin was still soft like satin and he had missed the warmth of it. "To see if we could try again," he admitted. "I needed to know if you could love me again."
"I love Jason," she said immediately. "I'm in love with my husband. I made promises to him in front of God."
"You made promises to me too," he snapped back.
"You died, Lucky," she insisted.
He let the topic drop. "He made promises to you in front of God too, Elizabeth. One of them was that he'd never leave you."
"You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what happened that caused him to leave." She shifted Isabelle on her hip and reached for the toy bag and her shoulder bag. Elizabeth straightened to look at him. "I have to go, Johnny's probably wondering where we are."
Lucky watched as she turned and walked towards the path the stranger had taken earlier. "What happens when he comes back?" he called after her. "Are you going to take him back into your life—into your bed—and pretend that he didn't leave you two years ago?"
Elizabeth turned to face him, but focused on something behind him. She was afraid that if she looked at him, she'd completely lose it. "I don't know what happens when Jason comes home. And he will come home. We have a lot to talk about. But there is something I am sure of."
"What's that?" he asked.
Elizabeth shifted her stare to him then. Her eyes told him that there was truth in her words. "I'll never be the fifteen year old girl who was so in love with you again. Don't delude yourself by thinking I can turn myself back into her."
With that said, Elizabeth turned and started walking again. Lucky watched as she walked away. He noticed that she never looked back.
~*~
For only the second time in his life, Sonny didn't know what to say to Jason; the first being after he slept with Carly. He wanted so much to tell him about Isabelle. He wanted to tell him about how much Elizabeth loved him. About their daughter that he didn't even know. But that wasn't his place. They hadn't even spoken a word since they'd let Alexis out of the limo in front of her building. Now, they both stood in silence as the elevator ascended to the penthouse level.
When the doors opened, Sonny expected Jason to follow him to the right. When he didn't sense him behind him, he turned and frowned to find him standing in front of Penthouse Three.
"Where are you going?" Sonny asked. His frown increased when the guard unlocked the door for Jason.
"To see Elizabeth." Jason nodded at the night guard as he moved aside.
"Jason, it's late. You should let her rest. I think it'd be best it you stayed at my place tonight. We can figure it out in the morning."
Jason turned to look at his oldest friend and noticed how the traveling had worn him down. He silently wondered if he was really going home to an empty penthouse. "I wanna see my wife, Sonny. I need to see her."
"Jason," he tried again. "I didn't tell Elizabeth where I was going. She isn't expecting you"
"I don't wanna talk about this. I'll see you in the morning." Jason opened the door to the penthouse, but stopped when Sonny spoke again.
"She's angry with you, Jason. She hasn't told me so, but I can see it in her eyes. You two have a lot to work out, don't expect for it to be fixed over night. Don't expect her to welcome you with open arms," he warned before he went into his own home.
Jason nodded to the night guard and then disappeared into the darkness of the living room. Recalling the floor plan of the penthouse from when he lived there before, he blindly made his way to the stairs. Taking two at a time, he turned right at the top and came to a stop in front of the master bedroom. He tried to be as quiet as he could as he pushed the door open.
Jason paused at the side of the bed and watched as the moonlight cast a shadow over her. She looked like silver. Her chestnut hair was splayed across the soft pink pillow case. He smiled to himself. She still looked like an angel.
He lowered himself to the edge of the mattress and began to work at his boot laces. Next came his shirt and then finally the denim jeans. He slipped beneath the sheets, but was careful to not touch her. He was so tired and felt like he could sleep for years. But at the same time, he was happy. He was home.
"Jason," she murmured. She moved into his arms instinctively.
Jason waited to see if she was awake, but it seemed she was asleep.
He wasn't surprised, she always gravitated towards him in the middle of the night. He pressed his face into her hair and inhaled. She even smelled the same. A faint smile played on his lips as he willed himself to sleep.
~*~
Elizabeth yawned contentedly as morning slowly came. She'd had the most wonderful dream. Jason had come home.
As the sleep induced fog lifted from her mind, she became aware of the warm body that was pressed intimately against her backside. Warm, male body, unless there was a flashlight in the bed with them. She quietly turned to find Jason sleeping next to her.
She reached down and pinched herself to see if she was still dreaming. She wasn't. He was here.
In awe, she reached up to touch his face. Her fingers whispered across the stubborn line of his jaw. She found a scar that was above his left eyebrow. She felt like an artist who had just found her masterpiece. Next, she lightly traced his top lip. Then his bottom. They felt just like she remembered. She let her hand settle on to his shoulder and she reached up to kiss him.
It was completely innocent as she pressed her lips to his. They were pliant and soft. Just like she remembered. Out of nowhere, she wondered if he'd kissed anyone else with those lips. The electricity that flooded her body was undeniable and she wished that he was awake to feel it too.
As if on cue, his lips began to kiss her back. They were soft as they moved over hers. It felt so good to kiss him again. He was home.
That's when the anger came. Elizabeth moved both of her hands to his chest in a caress and then pushed as hard as she could. It was like moving a brick wall, but he finally yielded.
Jason hit the floor with a thump and she heard him swear.
Elizabeth peered over the edge of the bed at him. Anger danced in her blue eyes, making them dark.
"You wanna tell me just what the hell you think you're doing here?" she demanded.