Babble: Well thanks to those who read this and left me a reply, it was nice to hear from you. If anyone is interested (which I doubt) I will be continuing the other stories I have on this board, as well as on the other board as soon as real life let's me. So please stay tuned, and if you made my little voyage into this Quagmire please let me know what you thought of it.
So for those who are actually reading here you go….
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Quagmire
Part XI
~Cliff~
The car hadn't even come to a complete stop before Jason was out of it and racing towards the woman who was standing at the edge of the cliff looking over the side. The ominous sight of a guardrail with a gaping car sized hole directed where he needed to go.
"It went over here," the petite dark-haired woman pointed out needlessly, with a gesture to the hole.
Ill at ease Jason took a breath before stepping to the side and looking over the edge. When he spotted the car about 20 feet down, he let out a breath. The car was still in one piece. Smoke was visible but it seemed to be coming from the tailpipe not the engine. The car was on a ledge on the side of the cliff, while he was watching the car shifted and fell a few feet further.
"I haven't seen any movement in the car," Deb offered and her eyes widened in surprise when the blonde in the leather jacket stepped over the edge of the cliff and began working his way down to the car. "Is he nuts?" She turned to ask the smaller man with dark hair, who ignored her and followed the blonde over the edge of the cliff. "Insane."
"Ma'am," Taggert spoke from her side. "When the police arrive you need to direct them to our position." He flashed her his badge then worked his way over the side.
"And I thought my husband was insane," Deb muttered.
The side of the cliff was rocky, and overgrown with trees, and Jason crashed through the undergrowth with little care. He lost his footing about three quarters of the way down and fell hard on the ground. His momentum and gravity sent him flying down the cliff until he hit the ledge that the car was resting on.
Jason got to his feet quickly, ignoring the pain flashes in his knee and hip he moved towards the car. He could hear the crash in the undergrowth behind him and knew the others were on their way, but he couldn't wait. The ground was rocky, uneven and he made his way carefully to the car.
He wanted to race to the car and get Elizabeth out of it, but instinct warned him to tread carefully. His caution was rewarded when he heard the car creak and rock forward again as the wind whipped through the area. The car rocked making its position even more precarious.
The car sputtered and finally died the moment he reached the car. Keeping his hand on the body of the car he reached for the handle but the door was locked. Shifting closer he reached for the handle on the driver's door, but it was locked as well. Frustrated he peered through the window.
Tony Jones was slumped over the wheel and appeared to be unconscious. Elizabeth was lying across the dash in the front window, the windshield was cracked and he saw some red on it that he knew was blood, she wasn't moving, but he ignored that for the moment.
"Is she alright?" Nikolas staggered his way to his feet after falling the rest of the way down the hill.
Nodding Jason shifted his focus to the ground around him. "Give me that rock," he pointed.
"Which one?" Nikolas asked.
"The big one, hurry," Jason snapped.
Nikolas picked up a rock the size of his hand and brought it over to Jason.
"Stand back," Jason ordered absently and smashed the heavy rock into the back window. It took two slams before the glass splintered enough that Jason dropped the rock and hit the glass with his hand, shattering what was left. He stuck his hand through the opening and unlocked the driver's door.
Ignoring the new cuts on his hand Jason shifted and opened the driver's door, the car seemed to moan and shift again. "Stay where you are Nikolas." He ordered when he caught movement from the corner of his eye. "The ground is shaky here."
Uncaring about any injuries Tony may have he yanked on the back of the man's head, pulled him back against the seat and reached for Elizabeth. Tony's girth and the wheel soon made him realize that it would be impossible to get Elizabeth out without first moving the doctor.
Shifting his attention he reached for the snap on the seatbelt but the latch refused to give. Almost snarling he pressed on the latch again but the seatbelt had been damaged and it refused to release.
"Taggert I need your knife," Jason yelled.
Taggert never even hesitated he pulled the switchblade from his pocket and threw it towards Jason. Catching it, Jason flicked the blade out and went to work.
"Do you think he's slicing Tony or the seatbelt?" Taggert asked conversationally.
"Does it matter?" Nikolas answered just as conversationally.
When he realized it didn't matter to him, Taggert froze. That was not a comforting realization. The faint sound of sirens reached his ears and he took a deep breath in relief. He was just having a bad moment because of his continued close proximity to Cassadine and Morgan, that was all, at least that's what he chose to believe.
The blade was sharp and it split the fabric of the seatbelt easily. Two slices and the seatbelt was trash. Jason dropped the knife on the ground gripped Tony's shirt and muscled the older man out of the car and threw him in the direction of Taggert and Nikolas, much like a rag doll. Both men stepped back and Tony crashed face first on the rocky ground.
Nikolas stepped over a prone Tony and moved towards the car. Taggert bent over Tony, took the man's arms and yanked them into position against Tony's back and slapped the cuffs on him as tight as he could. He took a step towards the car, then hesitated. Grounding out a sigh he stepped back to Tony and checked for a pulse. Finding it, he hesitated again then shifted Tony's head until it was on the side. A wry smile crossed his lips when he saw four fishhooks buried in Tony's face. Two on the cheek, one near his hairline and one embedded in the eye, he decided to leave them where they were, and turned to the car.
"Jason?" Nikolas called out.
"She's alive," Jason answered when he found the pulse in her neck. He shifted his weight inside the car and reached for her. The car took his movement the wrong way and the car began sliding down the side of the cliff. Caught off guard by the unexpected movement, and not fully in the car Jason almost fell when the car moved. He reached for the doorframe trying to stop the momentum, but gravity tore the car from his hands.
The hood rammed a half-grown tree about 5 feet further down and came to a stop, and Jason quickly made his way to the car. He paused long enough to scan the rest of the cliff. The next fall would probably be the last for the car. There wasn't anything big enough to stop the freefall anymore that meant he needed to get Elizabeth out of the car now.
Reaching the open door he leaned in as far as he could and tried to grab a hold of her. His need for caution in moving her, out of fear for her possible injuries, warred with the knowledge that the car could fall over the cliff at any moment. The car rocked again and he knew he couldn't wait.
Picking up her hand he moved it free of the steering wheel, and drew her body up slightly, and began pulling her from the dash. Elizabeth's head rolled to the side, her body remained limp in his hands. He backed slowly from the car bringing Elizabeth out with him. Her upper body had cleared the car, when gravity finally won out.
The car's weight broke the tree that was holding it up and the car flew over the cliff into air. Elizabeth's legs were still in the car when it began to fall and the forward movement of the car almost ripped her out of his hands. Straining to keep his grip on her Jason fell to the ground, his hold shifted on the impact and Elizabeth slipped free.
Scrambling forward his movements continuous he managed to grab her wrist before she fell all the way over the edge after the car, her legs and lower body were in the air, but her upper body remained on the ground. The sudden increase of weight, shifted his own weight distribution and he began to slide on the loose gravel sending them both towards the edge. Diving forward Nikolas caught Jason's ankle and tried to stop the forward momentum. Taggert grabbed Nikolas, and their combined efforts stopped the forward fall of Elizabeth and Jason.
Jason could feel the delicate bones of Elizabeth's wrist, and ignoring their fragility for the moment he tightened his grip and began pulling her back up over the edge. It felt like forever but in time Elizabeth was soon firmly ensconced on the ground again. As soon as she was he yelled out for Nikolas to let go, and scrambled down beside her, rolling her over gently he began checking her for injuries.
He felt her breath on his hand as he checked her face and sighed in relief. There was a large bruise on her forehead near her hairline, and that was where the blood was as well. But other than that her face was remarkably mark free. Her pulse was strong, and her breathing was good, and he was content to watch her and listen to her breathe while they waited for the ambulance.
"I'm going to check on the ambulance," Taggert announced and headed back up the cliff talking in his radio the whole time.
Nikolas remained sitting where he was for another minute. Elizabeth was still but she was alive and he wanted a moment to celebrate that fact. Finally pushing to his feet his eye fell on the forgotten switchblade on the ground. Tony moaned behind him and before he realized what he was doing he had the switchblade in his hand.
Turning he studied Tony and unconsciously flicked the switch triggering the blade. How many times had be been in board meetings with Tony? How many times had the doctor lectured, looking down his arrogant nose at everyone else in the room? And all the while Tony had been nothing more than a rapist and a kidnapper.
He could hear his father's voice in his head, telling him what he should do to the unconscious doctor. How could he trust Scott Baldwin or the PCPD to actually get a conviction for once? They'd had Tony dead to rights years ago, and Alexis had gotten him off. What if that happened again?
The switchblade fell from his hand back to the rocky ground. If that happened then something would be done, but not now. Backing away from the knife and the doctor, Nikolas turned back to look at his unconscious friend, whom he needed in his life so very badly.
~General Hospital~
"Jason," Carly croaked out a greeting.
"Hi," Jason shifted and brought the chair closer to the bed. "How are you doing?"
"Tired," she answered with a yawn. "Have you been here long?"
"Not really, you should rest."
"Why are you here?" Carly asked, shifting slowly, she tested her head's reaction to movement, and for the first time in over a day she didn't want to scream at the movement. "Shouldn't you be with Elizabeth?"
"She's having some tests done," he explained.
"Is she going to be okay?" Carly held her breath and waited for the answer. Sonny hadn't been willing to tell her much about Elizabeth's condition only that Jason had found her, and she hadn't been able to get anything out of her mother either. Of course Bobbie was barely holding on herself. Discovering the monster that Tony had been for years while she had been unaware had been brutal on her mother.
"She has a major concussion, a fractured wrist, bruised ribs, and a bruised shoulder, besides lots of cuts. She's been pretty out of it because of all the drugs she's on for pain," Jason listed Elizabeth's injuries coolly. Since finding her almost 24 hours before, Elizabeth had been mostly unconscious, leading to his continued frustration. He knew she was okay but until he could speak to her, until he heard her say she was okay, the knot in his stomach wasn't going to ease.
Carly covered his hand with hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. "She's strong, a lot stronger than I ever gave her credit for, she'll survive this."
Moments like this were the reason this friendship was so important to him. He knew Carly didn't like Elizabeth, and there was a good chance she never would, but she was reassuring him about Elizabeth in order to help him. This was the quality of Carly that very few people saw, and it was one of the reasons he would never turn his back on her. "I know."
Closing her eyes, unwilling to see his face when she asked the next question, she nevertheless kept her hand in his. "Is it my fault? Tony lost it because of what happened with Michael and because of me. So it's my fault that she was hurt."
"Is it my fault that I listened to Robin when she pleaded for me to spare Tony's life? If I had killed him then he never would have been able to terrorize Elizabeth," Jason offered his own guilt.
"It's not your fault," Carly snapped immediately. "If anyone it's the saint's fault. What Tony did to Elizabeth he did before he took Michael. We didn't know he was dangerous then. I just knew he was mad."
"I knew he was mad too, he was the one who convinced the Quartermaine's to try to take Michael from me at Emily's birthday party. I saw him there that day, I knew he was losing it but I didn't think he'd already lost it." Jason remembered the tense confrontation in the Quartermaine living room, when Alan had refused to give him Michael.
"But I started it all, I didn't love Tony," she admitted quietly. "I thought I did at first, but if I'd loved him, I wouldn't have gotten so desperate. So I'm the one who started all of this."
"I don't think you are." Jason was used to Carly turning things around until everything was about her, but it was different this time. He could see the guilt she was feeling and knew it matched his own. "I've been talking to Bobbie, she said Tony never recovered from losing his daughter. He started changing, before you ever came to town. You didn't help matters, but this is Tony's fault."
"You're not going to let me blame myself are you?" Carly grumped.
"Are you going to let me blame myself?" Jason asked.
"You don't do blame remember? You don't look back because you can't change anything," she pointed out.
"Well you can't," Jason replied matter-of-factly. "I was surprised Sonny wasn't here."
"I kicked him out," she admitted.
"Why?"
"Why don't you talk to him anymore?" Carly countered and when he frowned at her she went on. "He's changed and not in a good way. Until he changes back, until I know that he wants to be with me, not just because I happen to be his wife, but because he wants to be with me, I don't want him around."
"Carly…"
Whatever he was going to say was stopped when the door opened and Chris Ramsey walked into the room.
"How's my favorite patient?" Chris asked, his grin fading when he spotted Jason.
Jason narrowed his eyes at the doctor then turned back to Carly who smiled at him. Shaking his head he stood and kissed her cheek. "Don't do anything stupid."
"Tell Elizabeth," she hesitated. "Tell her…" she trailed off again then shrugged. "Forget it I'll talk to the muffin on my own."
Ignoring her words Jason gave the doctor a warning glare and left the room.
~*~*~*~
"Nikolas I'm going to be fine," Elizabeth reminded her friend for the fifth time.
"I realize that, but I'm allowed to be concerned," he smiled sheepishly. "Aren't I?"
"Aren't I?" Elizabeth parroted with a smile. "I've missed talking to you like this. Well not like this, I could do without injuries and hospital beds, but I've missed talking to you."
"I've missed you too." Nikolas took a deep breath then forced himself to keep the promise he'd made to himself during the search. "Jason was really worried while you were gone. I finally realized how much he really does care about you."
"Nikolas have you been taking my drugs?" Elizabeth asked.
"This isn't easy for me to say," he warned her with a sharp look. "But there's a good chance we wouldn't have found you if it hadn't been for Jason. So regardless of what I think of him, or the fact that he isn't good enough for you, I just wanted to say that the one thing I can say in his favor is that he really does care about you."
"That looked like it was painful for you to say."
"Don't make me repeat it, not ever," he pleaded.
"I won't," her attention shifted when the door opened behind Nikolas and the man they were talking about walked inside the room and hesitated when he saw Nikolas.
"I need to leave, I have to get to the PCPD, Lucky and Luke should be arriving soon," he got to his feet, stepped to the bed and kissed her cheek. "I'll come back by later. Think about what I said."
"I will, bye Nikolas."
Nikolas paused beside Jason then held out his hand. Surprised Jason shook the hand that was offered to him. Neither man said a word and the handshake was brief. Nikolas walked out the door and Jason moved to the chair that Nikolas had vacated.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you got back, I thought I would be."
"It's okay," Elizabeth watched him settle in the chair. "Nikolas was waiting and it was nice to talk to him."
"Are you in much pain?" He asked when she sighed.
"At the moment I don't feel anything. Ask me in a few days when the drugs wear off."
"I'm sorry," Jason whispered.
Frowning in confusion Elizabeth followed Jason's gaze and realized he was looking at her taped wrist. Nikolas had informed her how Jason had pulled her free of the car a second before the car went over the edge, then had held on until he could pull her to safety. "I'm not, if you hadn't grabbed me Jason I wouldn't be here talking to you, so if anything I'm grateful for your strong grip."
Recognizing the glint in her eye Jason let the subject drop. "I'm sorry."
"What for this time?"
"For letting Tony get you."
"Jason," she sighed heavily and shook her head. "You didn't let Tony get me. I'm the one who insisted on going to Kelly's, not you. We didn't know it was Tony, if we did you wouldn't have let him get within 5 feet of me, we both know that. I also think that Tony is crazy enough that it didn't matter when he tried to get me, he was going to keep trying until he did."
"I had a bad feeling about you going to Kelly's but I didn't try to talk you out of it," Jason admitted.
"I wouldn't have listened if you had," she pointed out. "Is he…" she trailed off. "Did he lose his eye?"
"No the doctors saved it, but the cornea is torn, he lost his vision in that eye." He could see relief flash in her eyes, and could also see fear. "He can't get you. He's in the psych ward here, and as soon as he's cleared physically he'll be moved to Ferncliff. He's under constant supervision, both by the police and my people."
"It was him the whole time," she kept her focus on the blanket. "He admitted that he was the one who raped me, not Tom Baker."
"I know." Jason remained quiet. If she wanted to talk he'd listen but he wouldn't ask her anything, not yet.
"The way he described that night it was like he thought it was date. He's been thinking of me, ever since then," she shot him a look through her lashes. "I don't understand that obsession, or why it suddenly escalated the way it did."
Jason moved closer to the bed and tilted his head until he could see her eyes. "The police found photos in a storeroom that Tony used. They go back years, most of them are of you. He also has photos of lots of blonde women, the police have managed to identify and speak to some of them. They all admit to being harassed by a caller, for a period of weeks, sometimes a month, the police figure it was Tony. He was also the one who was stalking Courtney."
"Oh god," Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned back against the pillow. "Did he hurt any of them?"
"No he only watched them and called," he reassured her, the best he could. "All the women were blonde except you, and they all bore a little resemblance to Carly. He focused all his anger on them. The anger he felt towards Carly, towards me."
"You?" Puzzled she opened her eyes in question. She could understand the fascination with Carly but not Jason.
"He's hated me for years, I helped keep Carly and Michael from him. According to him I'm not capable of feelings and have no right to be around a child, or anyone, at one point he wanted me institutionalized," he explained. "He couldn't get to Carly that night, so he found you. I let him live after he took Michael and Robin, so he was able to terrorize you and those other women."
"It's not your fault."
"I was going to kill him," he admitted honestly, determined not to hide anything from her again. "Robin begged me not too, and I listened to her. If I hadn't he would never have been able to grab you."
"Jason look at me," Elizabeth waited until he did. "Did my face change?"
"What?" Jason frowned in confusion.
"You just told me you were planning to murder Tony, did my face change?"
"No," he recognized his words from over a month ago.
"I'm glad you didn't kill him, because if you had there's a chance you wouldn't be here with me now."
"If I had you wouldn't be in the hospital right now," Jason shot back.
"Are we going to play the what if game? What if I never went to the park that night? What if Jason Quartermaine never got in the car with AJ? What if Carly never came to town?" Elizabeth sighed. "I've played this game so many times. Therapy finally taught me that the only one that is to blame in this situation is Tom, or I guess Tony."
Jason sighed seeing her point. He wasn't going to let Carly feel guilty, and Elizabeth obviously wasn't going to let him feel guilty.
"You say he's been watching me for years? What made him snap after all this time?"
"Me." Jason said simply.
"Jas…"
"Listen, he's watched you for years, and when you disappeared from work like you did, he called and called. But his messages didn't get really bad until that night in the ER when you burned your arm and talked to him. He thought you were with me, and his hatred of me wouldn't allow that, the messages he left you from that point on, pretty much all mentioned me and his hate of me."
She hated to think about the messages that she'd received but she realized that Jason was right. "So it was the combination of you and me, and don't say your sorry."
Jason's mouth snapped shut.
"You know he didn't remember what he did to me at first," the first tear slipped from her eye. "Tom Baker had been in the park that night, he was watching me as well, but apparently Tony got to me first. When Baker was convicted for what he did to Emily he contacted Tony. Basically Tom Baker was blackmailing Tony over what he'd done to me. When Baker told him, Tony remembered. He had raped me months before, but didn't remember doing it until Tom Baker got a hold of him and that's when his obsession with me grew."
Turning her head away from Jason's eyes and blinded by the tears that were falling with more frequency, she felt Jason sit on the bed next to her hip.
"I don't understand why Baker let me think it was him. Why he wanted to play with my head the way he did that day in his studio. I guess it doesn't matter why he said he did it, he would have raped me if Tony hadn't grabbed me first, instead he just watched. He stood there and watched Tony rape me." She couldn't help but shudder.
Reaching out Jason brushed the tears from her cheeks, but more quickly replaced them. "Tom Baker is just another monster, you can't explain him, anymore than you can explain Tony." He did his best to bury the anger and hatred he felt for both men.
""I don't want you to do anything to Tony," she brushed a remaining tear from her face and studied his reaction to her request.
Jason's expression went blank.
"It's not because I think he doesn't deserve it, because he does. It's because of Bobbie and you. You've told me that it's easier for you to talk to Bobbie, than it is for you to talk to Monica. I know you care about her and she cares for you. And as angry as she may be now, eventually she'll remember that she was married to him for years, she raised two kids with him. I don't want you to lose Bobbie because of Tony or me," Elizabeth explained. "Tony should either be going to jail or to a hospital. He'll be punished, and as long as I never have to be alone in the same room with him again, that's enough for me."
"What if he doesn't?" Jason asked.
"I don't know," her voice broke and tears formed in her eyes. "A part of me wants him dead, but then I think of what that would make me. Bobbie stuck her head in here earlier and I pretended to be asleep. How am I supposed to face her? To face Lucas? Do you have any idea how many times I've waited on Tony? I don't know what to say her. Bobbie held my hand when I finally had a rape kit done, she held my hand when I got the results of my Aids test. She helped me so much, and now she knows it was her ex-husband that did this to me."
"She's doesn't know what to say to you either," Jason interrupted. "She's remembers what you went through, and she is disgusted by the fact that a man she was married too hurt you. She's afraid you won't want to talk to her."
"I wish it had been Tom Baker," she whispered brokenly.
Jason moved closer and opened his arms, Elizabeth moved into them immediately and soon her tears soaked his shirt.
~Pentonville~
Tom Baker cursed under his breath and moved slowly through the room heading for the showers. His ribs were killing him, but that was nothing compared to the agony coming from his face. Morgan sure knew how to deliver a beating.
Setting down his towel he moved into the steamy shower, avoiding everyone's gaze. The word had been put out, he was now persona non grata in the prison. He'd doubled his bribe attempts to find a protector, but so far no one was willing to step to the plate. Ducking his head under the semi-warm water he cursed Tony Jones again.
The blackmail of the doctor had worked great for years, but now it was coming back to bite him on the ass. And now the good doctor seemed to be ignoring him, that wasn't going to be allowed to go on any longer. He had a feeling Jason Morgan would be very interested to know that it had been Tony that had raped the girl and not him.
The next phone privilege he got he was going to use it to contact the mobster. If he could spin it right, the brain-damaged mobster might even be grateful to him. The soap slipped from his hand, groaning he bent over to retrieve it.
Standing upright again, he barely felt the blade of the homemade knife slide into his back between his fourth and fifth vertebrae. The soap slipped free of his hand, his mouth opened in shock and blood slipped out of it. The loss of sensation in his legs came quickly and he crashed hard to the shower floor. The blood escaping from his body mixed with the water turning it a weak shade of red before trickling out of the drain.
The other prisoners ignored the sight of the man dying on the floor. It wasn't the first killing in the shower and it wouldn't be the last one either.
~General Hospital~
"Thanks," Elizabeth managed a watery smile at the nurse who nodded and moved for the door.
Jason eyed the IV that led into Elizabeth's arm and glanced at his watch. Given the amount of pain medicine that the nurse had injected into the IV, he figured he probably had about 10 more minutes with Elizabeth before she lost touch with reality. Elizabeth had a very low tolerance when it came to the pain medication. When she sniffled he reached for the Kleenex box on the bedside table and set it on her lap.
Elizabeth's eyes followed his movement and her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized something on the table. "My spoon."
"Yeah it is," confused Jason picked it up and handed her the warped spoon. "I found it in your pocket, and while you were out of it, you mentioned the spoon a couple of times, so I kept it."
"This spoon saved my life," she explained cryptically and was determined never to lose this particular spoon.
"That's a good thing," he glanced at his watch wondering if his time estimate was wrong.
"Nikolas told me Carly got hurt trying to find me, is she okay?"
"She'll be fine, she had to have some surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain. She's complaining because they had to cut some of her hair to make the incision. She'll make a full recovery and should be out of the hospital by the end of the week."
"I'm glad she's going to be fine, and I'm grateful for her help, but that doesn't mean I like her," she reminded him.
"She's glad your okay too," he kept his expression bland. "And she doesn't like you either."
"Good, so long as were on the same page. So it looks like I'll be going home before she does, not that I have a home to go home too," Elizabeth remembered with a frown. "Gram wants me to stay with her, but with Sarah there's no way I'm going to do that. Nikolas wants me to come to Wyndamere, but I said no to that, so he offered to put me up in the Port Charles Hotel again."
"You can stay at the penthouse with me," Jason offered a little shyly.
"I don't know if that's smart."
"I'll give you all the space you want, there's plenty of room," Jason pointed out tilting his head he waited for her response.
Elizabeth smiled at his expression, it was a light one that she hadn't seen in years, not since that Christmas in her studio. "You're cute you know that?"
Jason's half smile turned into a full-blown grin. "You're cute too."
"Ugh," Elizabeth's smile turned into a frown. "Jason let me give you a hint. Never tell a woman she looks cute. You can call your sister cute, but never say that to a woman you were once romantically interested in because, believe me, she won't like it. Cute is the kiss of death."
He placed a finger over her lips stilling her rambling words. "The last time I told you that I thought you were beautiful you got all flustered and left." Her lips curved into a smile under his finger and a matching one formed on his lips. "You are beautiful, and I am still interested in you." Elizabeth's eyes widened and his finger moved from her lips, his hand cupping her cheek.
"When you look at a woman like that and tell her she's beautiful, she's going to get flustered, breathing might even become a problem," Elizabeth replied with an honesty fueled by the pain medication. "And I'm still interested in you too."
Emboldened by her words Jason leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers. It was supposed to be a simple kiss, one of relief over finding her and knowing she was safe, and also the relief over the fact that Elizabeth seemed to be willing to try with him again. But the simple quickly spiraled into so much more.
The chemistry, the feelings between them wouldn't be denied. Shifting closer he pressed his lips harder against hers until her lips opened under his. Taking the opportunity she gave him, he deepened the kiss. Her tongue brushed over his and he groaned into her mouth, shifting his hold on her head, angling her head to deepen it further. Every time he kissed her he wanted it go on forever. Breathing became a vice he wished he didn't have because he had to break contact with her mouth to do it.
"Wow that's better than any drugs," Elizabeth managed to say and rested her forehead against his. "You know what this means don't you?"
Jason took another breath before answering her question. "What?"
"It means I have to call Nikolas and tell him I'll take the hotel room."
Confusion had Jason pulling back to study her expression. Her eyes were beginning to glaze because of the drugs, but she still seemed to be in control. "Why?"
"Because this time I want our relationship to work. I don't want the memory of Lucky, or Robin, Carly, Michael, Sonny, or anyone in the relationship this time. I only want you and me in it. I know they'll always be a factor, but a relationship only works if there are only two people in it. We've never had that, we've always had hangers on."
Jason nodded in agreement. "But why does that mean you can't stay with me?"
"I don't want to rush things. The first time I admitted aloud that I had feelings for you, you asked me to go away with you, and that spooked me enough that I said no. Last month we admitted that we wanted to be together and you disappeared," she reminded him but there was no censure in her voice. "I don't want to rush, and I don't want to stay with a man I haven't even had a date with."
"I'm so…"
"Don't," this time she stopped his words. "I want to see you every day, I want to spend more than five minutes with you before we get interrupted. I want this relationship to begin on equal footing, and that won't happen if I stay with you now. Please understand, I need my space, almost as much as I need you."
"I don't but that's okay. I just want you in my life, so I'll do whatever you want to do," Jason replied and was startled when she punched him in the stomach. "Elizabeth?"
"I don't want to make the rules," Elizabeth snapped and shook her hand out. "I just want to take things slow."
"Then we'll take it slow and make things up while we go along, after all why should someone's else's rules apply to us?" Jason readily agreed and kept his words of love to himself, the last thing he was going to do was spook her. If she wanted slow, she would get slow, but she would also get determined.
Her smile returned when she recognized his words. "You really are cute you know that?"
"And your beautiful," he informed her before kissing her again.
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Alright a note in explanation.
I had several issues with the stalking storyline, some are probably obvious others may not have been. Who exactly did the real stalking storyline effect? AJ, Courtney, Jason? That's it, it had no effect on the rest of the canvas of GH and that is a pointless story. Did anyone else even know what was going on? Did they care? Where is the larger impact because I must have blinked and missed it.
A story like this would effect a larger amount of the cast. Bobbie, Tony, Carly, Sonny, Jason, Elizabeth, Lucas, Felicia, and many more, the aftereffects could be lingering and that is what a storyline should do, it should effect more than just 2 people, if it ripples out and effects a large number that is when the story telling is really good.
So I used the history that already existed and just modified a few things here and there, but tried to keep everyone in character. Tony was supposed to the rapist, but the show ended up changing their mind. Then Elizabeth's rapist was never supposed to be caught, just like it is in real life a lot of the times I'm sad to say, but then the show changed their mind again. They made the rapist Tom Baker and tied the whole story up in a bow like a present. I hate it when they do that, so I untied the bow, and played around just slightly and I think more effectively.
Thanks for coming into my world of GH I hope you enjoyed it, please let me know.
Stephanie
Want this story? Ask me first please.