Show: General Hospital
Title: Change is Good Chapter 4
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Thank you for all your comments. I need to single out one reviewer in particular:
-BELLE: I totally understand how you feel; I feel that way as well, but this story was started while I was still pining for Zander and Emily to get back together, so it's going to be reflected at later stages. Maybe I'll write a story just for Zander and a character that totally deserves him.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
Sonny grit his teeth, but continued to concentrate on the reports spread out before him.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
Sonny heaved a sigh of frustration as the bottom end of the number-2 pencil continued to hit the cherry wood tabletop. "Jason!"
Jason's ice-blue eyes met his bestfriend's. "What?" he asked, continuing to tap the pencil.
Sonny indicated his friend's erratic motions with a sweep of his hand.
Immediately, the tapping stopped.
Sonny paused, waiting expectantly for his bestfriend to spill. When it became evident that his partner would be content to just sit there and stare into space he asked, "Well?" punctuating the question by lifting a dark eyebrow.
Never one to rush conversation, Jason paused as if considering his words. "Have you ever been talked down to?" he asked finally.
Sonny's brow furrowed. **What the hell?** he was thinking, although he answered soberly, "More times than I'd care to remember." He couldn't help but think of the many occasions when people were more than happy to accept his generous donations to their numerous causes – on condition of anonymity of course; they didn't want their reputations tainted by the public knowledge of accepting funds from PC's notorious kingpin. "People sure are self-righteous and hypocritical," he added.
It was Jason's turn to look confused. "No, I don't mean like that. I mean, have you ever been talked down to – scolded – and known that you deserved it?"
That gave Sonny pause. "No," he finally admitted.
"Ok," replied Jason. He set down the pencil that he had been twirling in his hands and picked up the set of papers strewn in front of him, figuring he should at least pretend to be interested by the numbers and figures.
But Sonny was intrigued. He was curious as to why Jason was acting so out of character; what had made him ask the question in the first place. "Well?" he asked. "You start off this conversation and all you've got to say is, 'Ok'? What happened?"
Reluctantly, Jason began to open up to his bestfriend about the events of the last two days – his late night encounter with Liz in Kelly's; meeting up on the docks and the subsequent argument, ending with Zander's scolding in Jake's.
"Whoo," whistled Sonny, his trademark dimples flashing across his handsome face. "You really dug yourself a deep one here, Morgan."
"You think this is funny? This is serious, Sonny. Zander Smith's a punk – he doesn't give a damn about anybody but himself. Why can't Elizabeth see that?" he asked.
The dimples disappeared. "I don't know what you think is up, Jason, but Elizabeth Webber is not your concern anymore. That ship set sail a long time ago," his friend replied. "She's a big girl, she can take care of herself."
"You mean like she did with Ric?" he all but spat.
Sonny lifted a brow. "Why do you care so much?" he didn't even need his friend to answer; he already knew the answer. His former sister-in-law had a strange way of slipping beneath your skin. It was a little strange to know that after all this time, after all that had happened, she still had a spot there. It was the truth for him, it was the truth for Jason – one look in his eyes told him so.
"I don't know," Jason replied truthfully, grabbing his jacket and slipping on his gloves. "I just know that I do."
*~*~*~*~*~*
The jingle of the bell over the door signaled yet another early morning customer. Liz looked up in surprise to Jason step over the threshold, stamping slush from his boots onto the welcome mat.
Their eyes met and Elizabeth barely resisted the urge to cut her eyes at him or to stick her tongue out like a disgruntled eight-year-old.
Jason strode towards the counter and took a seat, but Liz scuttled to the other side of the diner, leaving Penny to wait on Jason. As the pretty waitress filled his coffee cup, he watched Elizabeth from the corner of his eye as she waited on a couple in the corner booth, her beatific smile lighting the room.
Penny watched him watch Elizabeth, who blatantly ignored the gorgeous dirty-blonde, with a knowing smile. She wondered what else had happened with those two. She shook her head as she went to the kitchen to get Jason's late breakfast.
She had avoided the counter as long as she could, but a customer wanted a muffin and she had no choice but to venture to the counter to get it. Keeping her eyes and mind on the task, Liz lifted the lid, taking painstaking care not to look at him. Just as she had wrapped the muffin in the napkin and placed it on the plate, Jason spoke, his voice throwing her conversation a bit.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
Elizabeth paused and for the first time since they'd locked eyes, looked at him. "I have nothing to say to you."
"Please?" he asked.
Liz could feel her resolve cracking. "I've got customers, Jason." Just then Penny came back with Jason's breakfast – eggs over easy on whole-wheat toast and four strips of extra-crispy bacon. "Eat fast, we wouldn't want your eggs to get cold," she muttered before turning her back on him.
Jason bit his tongue and dug into his breakfast, and he could swear he heard Penny giggle, but when he looked up, the tiny Asian American had scurried off to another customer.
Reluctantly striding back to the counter, all the customers waited on, she busied herself with refilling the salt and pepper shakers, blatantly ignoring the fact that Jason continued to leisurely eat his breakfast less than a foot before her.
Finally finished, Jason pushed away his plate and took a final sip of his coffee. "Now can we talk?" he asked.
The bell above the door rang again and a bundled customer strode in. "Nope. Move it, Morgan. Your butt's taking up space."
"Order five, Liz!" spoke up Louie, one of the cooks, from behind in the kitchen.
Liz cut her eyes at him one more time and turned her back on him and went to serve her customers.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Nikolas heard the front door close and he hurried from the living room. He took in the appearance of his fiancée with blatant relief, folding her slender form to him and pressing a kiss to her hair.
"Emily. I was worried. Where were you?" he scolded gently.
Emily stepped away, shrugged off her coat and pulled off her snow-flecked hat. Her tears had long since dried, but she still couldn't help but think of her morning. "I spent the night on Elizabeth's couch," she admitted, running a hand though her still sleep tousled hair.
Nik sobered, knowing that if she had been at Liz's, she'd most likely ran into her ex-husband. Hell! Taking a closer look at her, he could see her spirit was flagging and part of him knew it didn't have everything to do with their fight the night before. He *knew* she'd had a run in with Zander. Before long, a frown found its way to his face. "What did he do?" he asked softly, his tone like a velvet covered iron fist, leaving no room for argument.
Emily looked away and instead of answering, made her way into the spacious living room. She didn't even want to think of what had happened herself, much less discuss it with Nikolas. Nikolas would have no sympathy for the pain that had etched Zander's words and had swirled in his dark eyes. She shook her head and turned to her fiancé, who had followed her. "I came back here to talk about last night," she replied, lifting her chin and meeting his gaze. Too many times, they'd had the same conversation – she wasn't lying when she told Elizabeth she was tired of this crap -- and never was the subject truly resolved; it just kept getting pushed to the backburner until she brought it back up.
Nikolas nodded. "Is this your way of avoiding my question?" he asked.
Emily looked at him incredulously. "I can't believe this."
"What?"
"Do you even have to ask?" she asked him, folding her arms across her chest.
"Is it unreasonable for me to ask what happened when my fiancée tells me she spent the night sleeping on her ex-husband's couch?"
"This is *not* about Zander, Nikolas."
"Isn't it?"
"No! It's about you and me!" she exclaimed, her anger and frustration threatening to bubble over. "It's about every niggling frustration I've had since you asked me to marry you!" she admitted, feeling relieved as the words practically spit off her tongue.
Nikolas was taken aback and he paused, surprised as her words.
"What are we about, Nikolas?" she asked, feeling fresh tears pricking at her eyes. "When we first we got together, it was about goodness and patience and *love*. But then again, that's when you believed everything was going to be alright – that everything would just magically fall into place for you. But *now*… now I just don't know. Everything's about money and power and prestige and image." Nikolas's mouth fell open in shock. "I don't know you… and I have a feeling that you really don't know *me*. I thought that maybe if I said it enough times you would finally understand that none of it matters. But you don't *listen*, Nik… I don't think you've ever *listened* to me – looked past what my mouth is saying and look at what my eyes, what my heart is saying. Now, you just pick fights over every silly thing, read too much into conversations, jump to conclusions…" the words were rolling of her tongue as smoothly as the tears began to sluice down her face.
"What are you saying," he asked stony faced when she paused in her tirade.
Emily's doe eyes widened. She didn't quite know what she was saying. "I wasn't kidding, Nikolas," she finally replied, dashing the tears from her cheeks. "Find me when you've found yourself. When you've made everything *perfect*."
Nikolas shook his head saying nothing. Emily's bottom lip trembled as her Prince Charming turned on his heel and left her standing alone in the drafty room. For the second time that morning, her sobs rent the air as yet another man she loved turned his back on her.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Emily blindly stepped off the boat onto the pier, running so quickly towards Kelly's that she ran smack-dab into a brick wall.
Well, a pliable brick wall; a wall of muscle.
Jason's reflexes reacted quickly, his arms steadying both as he tried to halt the unknown assailant's momentum from sending them crashing to the slushy ground.
"Emily?" he asked incredulously, holding the sobbing figure away from him in recognition.
Emily's brown eyes, swimming with tears, met her brother's, her sobs growing louder as she launched herself into his arms, seeking comfort from the one person who had always been there for her.
Awkwardly, Jason clasped her trembling body to him, stroking her hair, trying to give her comfort, wondering what had happened to cause his baby sister such distress.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise as the door opened and Jason stepped inside, holding his little sister close to him, her face practically buried in his shoulder.
Liz hurried over to the duo as Jason set Emily in a seat and sat down opposite her, holding her hand in his. "What happened?" she asked, stroking her friend's now hopelessly tangled snow damp hair.
Jason shrugged, her concern for his sister evident. "She literally ran into me on the docks."
Elizabeth knelt and took her friend's tear-streaked face in her face. "Em, what happened?" she asked concerned.
"It got worse."
"What got worse, sweetie?"
"The argument with Nik. I think the engagement's off," she sobbed.
"Aww, sweetie," sighed Elizabeth, cradling her friend's head.
"Miss?" called a customer, holding up his empty cup.
Liz frowned. "Hold it, buddy. I'm on my break."
His eyes widened in shock but Penny hurried over to refill his cup before he got irate and Liz's temper ignited.
Jason watched in awe as Elizabeth folded Emily in her arms, rocking her in her embrace as her friend soaked her sweater with tears. He felt a shock of humility – he had been clueless on how to comfort his sister, but Elizabeth was calming her with ease.
Finally, Emily lifted her head and wiped away at her tears. "I'm sorry," she blubbered embarrassingly.
"Shush, Em," replied Elizabeth, stroking her friend's wavy locks.
"Wow, those mothering instincts really are kicking into high gear," quipped Em, with a watery chuckle.
Liz rolled her eyes and smiled, wiping the tears from her friend's eyes. "Just shut up and let me mother."
TBC...
A/N: Don't forget to review!
Title: Change is Good Chapter 4
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
A/N: Thank you for all your comments. I need to single out one reviewer in particular:
-BELLE: I totally understand how you feel; I feel that way as well, but this story was started while I was still pining for Zander and Emily to get back together, so it's going to be reflected at later stages. Maybe I'll write a story just for Zander and a character that totally deserves him.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
Sonny grit his teeth, but continued to concentrate on the reports spread out before him.
Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.
Sonny heaved a sigh of frustration as the bottom end of the number-2 pencil continued to hit the cherry wood tabletop. "Jason!"
Jason's ice-blue eyes met his bestfriend's. "What?" he asked, continuing to tap the pencil.
Sonny indicated his friend's erratic motions with a sweep of his hand.
Immediately, the tapping stopped.
Sonny paused, waiting expectantly for his bestfriend to spill. When it became evident that his partner would be content to just sit there and stare into space he asked, "Well?" punctuating the question by lifting a dark eyebrow.
Never one to rush conversation, Jason paused as if considering his words. "Have you ever been talked down to?" he asked finally.
Sonny's brow furrowed. **What the hell?** he was thinking, although he answered soberly, "More times than I'd care to remember." He couldn't help but think of the many occasions when people were more than happy to accept his generous donations to their numerous causes – on condition of anonymity of course; they didn't want their reputations tainted by the public knowledge of accepting funds from PC's notorious kingpin. "People sure are self-righteous and hypocritical," he added.
It was Jason's turn to look confused. "No, I don't mean like that. I mean, have you ever been talked down to – scolded – and known that you deserved it?"
That gave Sonny pause. "No," he finally admitted.
"Ok," replied Jason. He set down the pencil that he had been twirling in his hands and picked up the set of papers strewn in front of him, figuring he should at least pretend to be interested by the numbers and figures.
But Sonny was intrigued. He was curious as to why Jason was acting so out of character; what had made him ask the question in the first place. "Well?" he asked. "You start off this conversation and all you've got to say is, 'Ok'? What happened?"
Reluctantly, Jason began to open up to his bestfriend about the events of the last two days – his late night encounter with Liz in Kelly's; meeting up on the docks and the subsequent argument, ending with Zander's scolding in Jake's.
"Whoo," whistled Sonny, his trademark dimples flashing across his handsome face. "You really dug yourself a deep one here, Morgan."
"You think this is funny? This is serious, Sonny. Zander Smith's a punk – he doesn't give a damn about anybody but himself. Why can't Elizabeth see that?" he asked.
The dimples disappeared. "I don't know what you think is up, Jason, but Elizabeth Webber is not your concern anymore. That ship set sail a long time ago," his friend replied. "She's a big girl, she can take care of herself."
"You mean like she did with Ric?" he all but spat.
Sonny lifted a brow. "Why do you care so much?" he didn't even need his friend to answer; he already knew the answer. His former sister-in-law had a strange way of slipping beneath your skin. It was a little strange to know that after all this time, after all that had happened, she still had a spot there. It was the truth for him, it was the truth for Jason – one look in his eyes told him so.
"I don't know," Jason replied truthfully, grabbing his jacket and slipping on his gloves. "I just know that I do."
*~*~*~*~*~*
The jingle of the bell over the door signaled yet another early morning customer. Liz looked up in surprise to Jason step over the threshold, stamping slush from his boots onto the welcome mat.
Their eyes met and Elizabeth barely resisted the urge to cut her eyes at him or to stick her tongue out like a disgruntled eight-year-old.
Jason strode towards the counter and took a seat, but Liz scuttled to the other side of the diner, leaving Penny to wait on Jason. As the pretty waitress filled his coffee cup, he watched Elizabeth from the corner of his eye as she waited on a couple in the corner booth, her beatific smile lighting the room.
Penny watched him watch Elizabeth, who blatantly ignored the gorgeous dirty-blonde, with a knowing smile. She wondered what else had happened with those two. She shook her head as she went to the kitchen to get Jason's late breakfast.
She had avoided the counter as long as she could, but a customer wanted a muffin and she had no choice but to venture to the counter to get it. Keeping her eyes and mind on the task, Liz lifted the lid, taking painstaking care not to look at him. Just as she had wrapped the muffin in the napkin and placed it on the plate, Jason spoke, his voice throwing her conversation a bit.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
Elizabeth paused and for the first time since they'd locked eyes, looked at him. "I have nothing to say to you."
"Please?" he asked.
Liz could feel her resolve cracking. "I've got customers, Jason." Just then Penny came back with Jason's breakfast – eggs over easy on whole-wheat toast and four strips of extra-crispy bacon. "Eat fast, we wouldn't want your eggs to get cold," she muttered before turning her back on him.
Jason bit his tongue and dug into his breakfast, and he could swear he heard Penny giggle, but when he looked up, the tiny Asian American had scurried off to another customer.
Reluctantly striding back to the counter, all the customers waited on, she busied herself with refilling the salt and pepper shakers, blatantly ignoring the fact that Jason continued to leisurely eat his breakfast less than a foot before her.
Finally finished, Jason pushed away his plate and took a final sip of his coffee. "Now can we talk?" he asked.
The bell above the door rang again and a bundled customer strode in. "Nope. Move it, Morgan. Your butt's taking up space."
"Order five, Liz!" spoke up Louie, one of the cooks, from behind in the kitchen.
Liz cut her eyes at him one more time and turned her back on him and went to serve her customers.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Nikolas heard the front door close and he hurried from the living room. He took in the appearance of his fiancée with blatant relief, folding her slender form to him and pressing a kiss to her hair.
"Emily. I was worried. Where were you?" he scolded gently.
Emily stepped away, shrugged off her coat and pulled off her snow-flecked hat. Her tears had long since dried, but she still couldn't help but think of her morning. "I spent the night on Elizabeth's couch," she admitted, running a hand though her still sleep tousled hair.
Nik sobered, knowing that if she had been at Liz's, she'd most likely ran into her ex-husband. Hell! Taking a closer look at her, he could see her spirit was flagging and part of him knew it didn't have everything to do with their fight the night before. He *knew* she'd had a run in with Zander. Before long, a frown found its way to his face. "What did he do?" he asked softly, his tone like a velvet covered iron fist, leaving no room for argument.
Emily looked away and instead of answering, made her way into the spacious living room. She didn't even want to think of what had happened herself, much less discuss it with Nikolas. Nikolas would have no sympathy for the pain that had etched Zander's words and had swirled in his dark eyes. She shook her head and turned to her fiancé, who had followed her. "I came back here to talk about last night," she replied, lifting her chin and meeting his gaze. Too many times, they'd had the same conversation – she wasn't lying when she told Elizabeth she was tired of this crap -- and never was the subject truly resolved; it just kept getting pushed to the backburner until she brought it back up.
Nikolas nodded. "Is this your way of avoiding my question?" he asked.
Emily looked at him incredulously. "I can't believe this."
"What?"
"Do you even have to ask?" she asked him, folding her arms across her chest.
"Is it unreasonable for me to ask what happened when my fiancée tells me she spent the night sleeping on her ex-husband's couch?"
"This is *not* about Zander, Nikolas."
"Isn't it?"
"No! It's about you and me!" she exclaimed, her anger and frustration threatening to bubble over. "It's about every niggling frustration I've had since you asked me to marry you!" she admitted, feeling relieved as the words practically spit off her tongue.
Nikolas was taken aback and he paused, surprised as her words.
"What are we about, Nikolas?" she asked, feeling fresh tears pricking at her eyes. "When we first we got together, it was about goodness and patience and *love*. But then again, that's when you believed everything was going to be alright – that everything would just magically fall into place for you. But *now*… now I just don't know. Everything's about money and power and prestige and image." Nikolas's mouth fell open in shock. "I don't know you… and I have a feeling that you really don't know *me*. I thought that maybe if I said it enough times you would finally understand that none of it matters. But you don't *listen*, Nik… I don't think you've ever *listened* to me – looked past what my mouth is saying and look at what my eyes, what my heart is saying. Now, you just pick fights over every silly thing, read too much into conversations, jump to conclusions…" the words were rolling of her tongue as smoothly as the tears began to sluice down her face.
"What are you saying," he asked stony faced when she paused in her tirade.
Emily's doe eyes widened. She didn't quite know what she was saying. "I wasn't kidding, Nikolas," she finally replied, dashing the tears from her cheeks. "Find me when you've found yourself. When you've made everything *perfect*."
Nikolas shook his head saying nothing. Emily's bottom lip trembled as her Prince Charming turned on his heel and left her standing alone in the drafty room. For the second time that morning, her sobs rent the air as yet another man she loved turned his back on her.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Emily blindly stepped off the boat onto the pier, running so quickly towards Kelly's that she ran smack-dab into a brick wall.
Well, a pliable brick wall; a wall of muscle.
Jason's reflexes reacted quickly, his arms steadying both as he tried to halt the unknown assailant's momentum from sending them crashing to the slushy ground.
"Emily?" he asked incredulously, holding the sobbing figure away from him in recognition.
Emily's brown eyes, swimming with tears, met her brother's, her sobs growing louder as she launched herself into his arms, seeking comfort from the one person who had always been there for her.
Awkwardly, Jason clasped her trembling body to him, stroking her hair, trying to give her comfort, wondering what had happened to cause his baby sister such distress.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise as the door opened and Jason stepped inside, holding his little sister close to him, her face practically buried in his shoulder.
Liz hurried over to the duo as Jason set Emily in a seat and sat down opposite her, holding her hand in his. "What happened?" she asked, stroking her friend's now hopelessly tangled snow damp hair.
Jason shrugged, her concern for his sister evident. "She literally ran into me on the docks."
Elizabeth knelt and took her friend's tear-streaked face in her face. "Em, what happened?" she asked concerned.
"It got worse."
"What got worse, sweetie?"
"The argument with Nik. I think the engagement's off," she sobbed.
"Aww, sweetie," sighed Elizabeth, cradling her friend's head.
"Miss?" called a customer, holding up his empty cup.
Liz frowned. "Hold it, buddy. I'm on my break."
His eyes widened in shock but Penny hurried over to refill his cup before he got irate and Liz's temper ignited.
Jason watched in awe as Elizabeth folded Emily in her arms, rocking her in her embrace as her friend soaked her sweater with tears. He felt a shock of humility – he had been clueless on how to comfort his sister, but Elizabeth was calming her with ease.
Finally, Emily lifted her head and wiped away at her tears. "I'm sorry," she blubbered embarrassingly.
"Shush, Em," replied Elizabeth, stroking her friend's wavy locks.
"Wow, those mothering instincts really are kicking into high gear," quipped Em, with a watery chuckle.
Liz rolled her eyes and smiled, wiping the tears from her friend's eyes. "Just shut up and let me mother."
TBC...
A/N: Don't forget to review!