Chapter 4: An Unexpected (but belated) Gift

Jason and Courtney are having a dinner at their penthouse with Sonny and Carly. Latisha is watching Michael. They are all sitting around the dinner table behind his sofa. They're eating and talking and laughing and having a good time. Courtney gets up and takes their empty plates. "Who wants dessert?"

"Oh, I'm so full. I don't think I have room for more," Sonny remarks.

"And I'm just about to burst," says Jason.

Carly pops in saying that Sonny doesn't want her to have anything too sweet because of the baby.

"So no one?"

"I don't think so," Jason answers her.

She sets the dishes back on the table saying that she'll get them later when there's a knock on the door. "I'll get it," she says and heads over to the door. She opens it and is shocked to see Elizabeth standing before her. "Elizabeth, what are you doing here?"

This shocks everyone else in the room as well. Jason, Sonny and Carly all get up and walk over.

"I'm sorry if I was interrupting something, I just need to talk to Jason for a minute. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure," Jason responds rather coldly. Courtney lets her in and she goes to sit on the couch with Sonny and Carly.

Jason and Elizabeth are standing by the door and Elizabeth is holding a paper bag. "Can you make this kinda quick?"

"Yeah, uh...I was going through my studio. I'm putting some stuff in storage because it's getting rather crowded in there. Anyway, I came across this painting."

She lifts The Wind out of the bag. Jason exhales sharply. Everyone on the sofa are looking at them, and able to hear every word they're saying, and Courtney starts to get nervous.

"You said that you wanted me to keep it so you would have something to come back to after your long trips to Italy, Florida, and other places. We've both moved on, so I don't want you to feel like you have anything to come back to. I think we both know that we're over in every way, so I wanted to give it to you. You can trash it, burn it, or put it up somewhere, I don't really care, but I wanted you to be able to decide."

Jason is speachless. Subconsciencely he still wanted her to have it, so he might be able to go back to it one day, but he thought that she didn't want that anymore, so he took it from her. "Uh, thanks," he says quietly. "Thanks for keeping it for so long. You know, I still think it's the best painting I've ever seen."

Elizabeth doesn't know what to make of that comment. "Well, thanks. I better be going and let you get back to your guests."

"Yeah. Thanks again for dropping it by."

"No problem. Take care." She turns around and opens the door. As she walks out, she glances back at him. She turns around and he closes the door behind her.

Sonny, Carly and Courtney are shocked by what they just witnessed. Carly is this first to break the ice, "I didn't know you all were that close that she painted something for you."

"You all heard all of that?"

"Every word." Courtney says shortly.

Sonny and Carly feel the tension between Jason and Courtney so they excuse themselves and go home to Michael. Jason sets the painting down, walks over to the couch and sits down beside Courtney. He can tell that he won't like what's coming.

"Why didn't you mention the painting?" Courtney asks quietly.

"Honestly, I'd forgotten about it until now."

"I can't take any more surprises about your relationship with Elizabeth. Too much had been revealed in a short ammount of time and it's starting to get to me."

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to change the past." Jason pauses for second. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to explain to me the important events in your history with her, but not tonight. I've had enough. Let's go to sleep."

"Okay, some other time."

"Thanks." They walk up the stairs hand in hand and when they turn, Jason glances down the stairs to where he set The Wind.