Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the story (except for Martinez), the writers of GH do.

Author's notes: I deeply appreciate the feedback I've been getting. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying the story thus far and I really hope you stick with me. There's definitely more to come.

Chapter 7~

      Elizabeth could feel someone's arms around her and a gentle coolness against her face as she struggled to open her eyes. There was a sense of regret in her mind that confused her and she didn't understand why her stomach was churning nervously.

      Then it hit her. Jason. Oh God Jason he's going to die. He can't leave me, not when I have so much to tell him, she thought to herself, finally willing her eyes to open and seeing Sonny and Max standing over her. Her immediate reaction was to sit up, but a wave of nausea hit her.

      "Easy. Just take a few deep breaths." She heard Sonny say.

      "Jason." She said softly, as Sonny helped her sit up slowly this time.

      "I'm so sorry Elizabeth, I didn't mean to upset you so much. I should have told you everything the doctor said instead of blurting out the worst part first." Max's eyes were nothing, but apologetic.

      "What do you mean?"

      "Well, the doctor did say that if the blood didn't stop soon that Jason could die, but he's giving Jason an injection that is supposed to help with the clotting of his blood. He said it would probably work. I'm so sorry, Elizabeth. I should have said it differently."

      "So, there's a good chance Jason is going to be fine?" Elizabeth asked just to be sure she heard correctly.

"Yeah."

      She raised her hand and smacked the back of his head as hard as she could. "Are you crazy! You scared me to death!" She took a deep breath and shook her head. She had thought that it was over. That she'd lost the one chance she'd had to make everything better. She saw the hurt look on Max's face and sighed. "Sorry about that."

      Max rubbed the back of his head and looked at her with wide eyes. "No, I deserved it."

      "Can I go see Jason yet?"

      Max shook his head. "The doctors not finished yet."

      Elizabeth frowned. "You know what? I don't care whether he's finished or not. I'm going in there and I'm going to hold Jason's hand so that he doesn't feel alone." She turned around and walked confidently into the living room leaving Sonny and Max grinning after her.

      She had a lot of she had an incredibly strong will and Jason needed that now more than ever. If anybody could give him enough strength to fight death it would be her. She was Jason's life force.

      Elizabeth peeked slowly around the corner and saw the doctor kneeling in front of Jason stitching up his side. "Um…is it ok if I come in?"

      The doctor looked up at Elizabeth and smiled. "Would you listen if I said no?"

      She smiled softly back and shook her head. "No. But, I thought it was only polite to ask."

      He chuckled. "Then come on in, but be keep calm. He doesn't need any more excitement."

      Elizabeth gracefully made her way around the couch and sat down in the floor to the right of the doctor. Jason's hand was hanging limply and Elizabeth placed her hand on top of his. She scooted closer and positioned herself to where her face was in front of his.

      "Jason, I'm right here. You're going to be fine." She whispered allowing her other hand the freedom of running down the side of his face in a comforting motion. "I'm not going to leave you again."

      "Keep talking to him." The doctor told her while inserting the last stitch.

      She looked at Jason's side and her brow furrowed. "I thought Max said Jason was loosing a lot of blood."

      The doctor nodded his head. "He was, but all of sudden it just slowed on it's own. I didn't even have a chance to give him the injection filled with the clotting agent."

      Elizabeth smiled and felt a moment of relief before resuming her previous actions. It was going to be a long night and she was going to be right her by his side when he opened his eyes.

Three hours later

 They had finally been able to move Jason up to his room after the doctor had finished. He was currently resting peacefully without pain because of the medication that had been left for him.

      Not once had Elizabeth left his side and she was currently sitting next to the window in a rocking chair with a sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other. Johnny had brought them to her earlier with a bunch of her art supplies, but she'd been content just to have paper to draw on.

      She had been having trouble up until a few moments before trying to figure out what to draw, but then the obvious conclusion hit her. She'd draw the one thing that inspired her the most. Jason.

      It felt good to be able to just sit there and watch him, knowing that he couldn't object to her watching over him. He hated that even when they were together. It had been something that they argued about. She wanted to protect him and he wanted her to stay out of his business.

      She wished it hadn't taken her making the mistake of going to Taggart for her to truly realize what he meant. She didn't belong in his business and she never would. Jason was the only one who really knew what he was doing and she hadn't trusted that.

      She heard the covers rustling beside her and her attention immediately went from the pad to the bed. "Jason?" She asked softly, sitting her drawing to the side and walking over to the bed.

      "Elizabeth…where am I?" His voice was hoarse and weak so she grabbed a glass of water from beside the bed.

      "You're in Sonny's safe house. Do you think you can drink some of this water?" When he nodded his head she gently helped him lift it up and she put the straw to his lips.

      The moistness of the water felt good as Jason forced himself to drink. It was hard to swallow and keep from choking on it, but he knew that he had to keep hydrated. "I messed up didn't I?"

      She smiled. "Yep, but you were just doing your job."

      "You aren't angry?"

      "I don't have any right to be angry Jason. I admit that when I first saw Max getting you out of the car I was angry that you hadn't listened to me, but I've been sitting here for quite a while and no matter how many times I've tried to think of a way to blame you for this I just can't. You were just trying to protect me. All of this, the safe house, you going to that meeting, getting shot; it's all been for me. There's no way I can repay you for all the hardships I've caused you."

      They both knew that her words had a double meaning, but Elizabeth kept her self from overwhelming him with everything else until she knew he was strong enough to truly listen to what she had to say.

      She saw his eyes beginning to droop again and she smiled. "You still need to rest, go to sleep. I'll stay right here with you." She said, laying her hand on his.

      He lifted his hand out from under hers and placed it on top, gripping it tightly. "Stay right here." His eyes pleaded with hers.

      "I will Jason don't worry." She replied starting to pull her hand back so she could take her place back at the window.

      "No, you're too far away. Please…" a sharp pain in his side caused his breath to hitch.

      "You shouldn't be talking Jason. You need to rest." She was insanely glad that he wanted her to stay right by his side, but she was afraid to be so close to him and not actually be with him.

      "Stay…" He said, one last time before closing his eyes and taking short shallow breaths.

      Elizabeth sighed and slowly climbed onto the bed next to him, bringing their hands to a rest place on his chest. Watching him closely until his breathing evened out and she could tell that he was sleeping.

      "As soon as you're better Jason, we're finally going to have our talk. I'm not going to allow any interruptions. Your cell phone is going to be turned off and we're going to be somewhere nobody can reach us." She listened to his breathing and was glad that he had a steady pace going. "You know, there were so many nights that I wished I could just walk into your apartment and force you to listen to everything that I had to say. I wish I had now, maybe none of this would have happened and maybe you and I would still be as strong as ever instead of broken apart.

      Do you know how hard it was for me to stand there and listen to you yell at me knowing that I couldn't make you understand? That' the reason why I didn't tell you that night Jason was because I thought that you would be in even more danger if I told you what was going on. I hate Marcus Taggart so much for everything he forced me to believe. No, that's not right, he didn't force me to believe anything. I was just too weak and too naïve to make the right decision."

      She took a deep breath before continuing. It made her feel better to say the words out loud even though she knew he couldn't hear her.

      "Taggart played the one card her knew would snag me into doing what he wanted. He told me that if I didn't do as I was told that you would be sent to jail and that he had enough proof to do it." She gave a weak laugh at how moronic she had been. "I was so stupid. I should have asked him to show me his proof, but yet again I figured, hey he's a police officer he's not going to lie about that. God now that I think about it I feel like such an idiot. Why didn't I ask? Why didn't I go to you and ask you if what Taggart was telling me was true. It definitely would have saved us both a lot of pain and heartache.

      She ran her hand down the side of his face affectionately. "I guess there's nothing I can really do about it now. Except for maybe make it up to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to get you to trust me again. I love you and there is no way in hell I'm going to let you walk away from me again." She pulled her hand away and sighed. "God listen to me. I'm sitting her talking to myself when really I should be talking to you. It's pitiful how I've been acting and I promise all that is going to change. I'm going to help you get Antonio Martinez and together we're going to keep him from hurting anyone else."

      Elizabeth finally stopped speaking and laid her head down on the extra pillow   closing her eyes, and allowing herself the comfort of sleep. Hey if sleep was good enough for Jason it was good enough for her. She figured it would benefit her to take advantage of his peaceful slumber. It was going to be a long night and she needed to rest for a bit herself.

      She felt comforted by his presence beside her and holding his hand in hers she drifted off to sleep. Only then did Jason risk opening his eyes. He swallowed and let out a breath he'd been holding. She had just spilled her guts to him and she didn't even notice. Everything made sense except for a few minor details, but over all she had confirmed his previous suspicions that she'd done everything for him, not because she wanted to against him, but because she was trying to protect him.

He tightly gripped her hand and sighed. "I love you, Elizabeth." He whispered softly, before settling in to the covers and allowing a somewhat pain free sleep to over take him.


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