She'd just gotten out of the bathtub when the doorbell rang. Elizabeth glanced at the clock and then reached for her robe. She could have sworn Jason said six o'clock, not five. But…he was a man, and they were notorious for changing their minds.

"Coming!" she yelled when the chime sounded a second time. "Sheesh. Have a little patience Jason," she muttered to herself. Slipping into her bedroom slippers, Elizabeth left her first floor bedroom and went to answer the door. When she pulled open the door, Elizabeth was surprised to find that it wasn't Jason. Andrew was standing there with her longtime nemesis.

"What do you want?" she clipped out.

"Tell Fido to get the hell off of me!" the blonde sniped. She glared up at the guard and repeated her threats. "I can promise you, Sonny will hear about this. He won't appreciate you man-handling me."

Andrew rolled his eyes and looked at his charge. Elizabeth was half-smiling, half-annoyed at the other woman's discomfort. "Mrs. Morgan?"

"She can come in, I guess. Thanks Drew."

He nodded before he released his light grip on Carly's arm. She made a show of jerking away from him and pushing into the living room. "It's about time. But I can say I'm surprised it's not Johnny or Francis. Sonny doesn't even have his best on you."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and counted to ten before turning to face the other woman. It was then she realized she could have counted to one hundred and it wouldn't have made a difference. "I ask again, what do you want?"

Carly looked around the house, expecting someone else to appear. "Where's Jason?"

"He's not here, Carly. But you knew that already."

"That's right… you don't live together. I keep forgetting that Jason left you."

Bitch. The word was on the tip of her tongue, but somehow Elizabeth managed to stop herself. "Is this an 'I wanna annoy the hell out of Elizabeth' trip, or did you have a purpose?"

"Jason." Carly put her hands on her hips and glared at her best friend's wife. "I want to know why you're jerking him around. It seems that's what you still do best."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and moved past the blonde. "You don't know what you're talking about."

Carly's hand snaked out and grabbed the other woman's elbow. "I know he loves you and he wants to be with you, he wants to be a family with you, but you won't let him. I want to know why the hell not."

Jerking free, Elizabeth turned back to Carly. "You gathered all of that from one ten minute conversation with my husband? Hmmm. Not that it's not true, but Jason and I are already family." Elizabeth pulled the belt on her robe tighter and glanced towards the door. "If you're finished sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, I'm getting ready to meet Jason, so if you could show yourself out."

"Damn it, Elizabeth, don't walk away from me! I don't know what he sees in you, personally, I could care less. But for some reason, a man that I adore worships the ground you walk on. All he wants is to be with you, all of the time…I don't understand why you don't want the same thing."

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that when she opened them Carly would be gone. It didn't work. Sighing, she made her way to the couch and sat down. It was obvious the annoying blonde wasn't leaving without her questions answered. "Who says I don't want the same thing, Carly? Jason is the one who made the decision to move into the penthouse, I didn't make it for him. I would trade anything for him to be here with us all of the time."

"Why don't you tell him?"

"What am I supposed to say?" she questioned. "'Honey, I know you don't want to live with me… but I'm selfish, so do it anyway.' I don't think so. I'm not like you."

"So true, because I'm not a friggin' idiot!" Carly looked down on the younger woman, her eyes wide. "Can you not see what's standing right in front of you!?!"

"All I see at the moment is an obnoxious blonde sticking her nose where it doesn't belong."

"You little–" Carly managed to stop the insult on the tip of her tongue. As she waited for her taxi, Carly promised herself she wouldn't get into a shouting match with Lizzie Webber. They'd been there and done that, thousands of times. In fact, they did that quite well.

Elizabeth glanced at the clock on the VCR and sighed. Ten minutes with Carly and she already had a headache. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but if Jason wants to talk to me about this, he will. And well, you're hardly the person he'd send to talk to me." Elizabeth stood and glanced back towards her bedroom. "Now, I really do have to get ready. Jason will be here in less than an hour. I'd like to say it's been pleasant, but we both know I'd be lying."

"Bitch." She couldn't stop herself. Carly gave one last look at the smaller woman. "One last thing… if you hurt him, I'll rip your hair out by its roots. Remember that."

"Wouldn't dream of forgetting," Elizabeth retorted. She stood in the middle of the living room as Carly noisily made her way out of the house. Once the door was slammed and she heard the taxi drive off, Elizabeth was sure she was gone.

Sighing heavily, she returned to her bedroom to finish getting ready for Jason's arrival.

~*~*~*~*~


Exactly six hours and forty-three minutes since he'd left there, Jason returned to Audrey Hardy's home. After the tense conversation with Sonny, he escaped to his penthouse to try to relax. Jason didn't know how to tell Sonny how much he needed him in his life. But there were no words, no way he could think to explain to his friend how much he needed him. So, he would suck it up and let his friend go.

Jason agreed that Sonny deserved to be happy too. He just didn't agree the older man would find it in solitude on the island. Sonny needed to surround himself with the family he had, even if it was Jason's family, and let them love him. Jason knew Elizabeth, Abby, and Isabelle were more than willing. As were Alexis and Jax, and their impending little one.

Dressed like he normally would, Jason checked the basket on the back of his bike to make sure their dinner hadn't fallen out on the way over. He was hoping to surprise Elizabeth with a romantic picnic dinner at the ruins they had recently discovered. A little dinner, some talking and dancing, and then they'd have to see what happened. Although, Jason had in his mind what he hoped would happen. He'd been waiting for such a long time to join Elizabeth in her bed again. Or his bed. Really, any bed would do.

Jason nodded at Andrew on the front porch. He thought of stopping to speak to the man, but his need to see Elizabeth overwhelmed him. Of course, Andrew had other plans.

"I think you should know that Ms. Benson was here before."

That stopped him. "Carly?"

"Yes. She spoke with Mrs. Morgan for about fifteen minutes, then stormed out of here. I haven't heard from inside since she left."

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Do you know what she wanted?"

"She said some things, most of which I'd rather not repeat, but I gathered she wanted to speak to Mrs. Morgan about her relationship with you." Andrew shifted nervously and glanced down at his feet. This is the part he was dreading. "Ms. Benson also said she would speak with Mr. Corinthos…she said I 'man-handled' her."

Jason arched his eyebrows and asked, "Did you?"

"I escorted her from her car to the porch, sir. Did I touch her? Yes. Did I hurt her? I touched her the same way I do when I'm escorting Mrs. Morgan somewhere. Mr. Morgan, I swear, I would never hurt a woman."

"It's fine, Andrew. I know you wouldn't. I trust you with my life…with the lives of my wife and daughters. I know you would never hurt a woman."

Andrew nodded solemnly. "Thank you sir."

"I'll speak to Sonny if Carly says anything to him."

"Thank you."

Jason pushed the conversation out of his mind as he continued towards the front door. On the other side, Elizabeth was waiting for him. And tonight…tonight was the night that would change their relationship forever. But first, he wanted to tell her about Sonny leaving town.

She answered at his first knock. Elizabeth smiled up at him, her blue eyes twinkling for a reason unknown to him. "Hi."

Jason reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear. Her dark tresses cascaded down her back, flowing wild and free. "Hey."

Elizabeth took a step back and let him enter the house. "Since you never told me where we were going, I didn't know how to dress." She glanced down at her favorite sweater—a sapphire blue cable knit with a mock turtleneck—and faded out, worn denim jeans. Jason could see a hint of a white shirt peaking out from underneath the sweater. On her feet she wore two inch heeled boots. She'd done her make-up in smoky colors, highlighting her eyes especially. The grays and blacks, combined with the sweater, made her eyes shine even more.

"You look amazing," he assured her. "And you're dressed just right. Are you ready?"

"I've never been more ready. Just let me grab my jacket."

As she walked away from him, Jason took time to take in the back of her jeans. They were very well worn. Of course, he'd seen Elizabeth in them a hundred times before. But he always loved that they seemed to emphasize all the right curves.

When she returned to his side, Elizabeth smiled brightly. He took the jacket from her and held it out so she could slip it on. Then he pulled her hair from under the collar. Leaning down, Jason dropped a kiss on her forehead. "Let's go," he whispered.