Disclaimer: I merely claim the right to abuse specific characters.

Babble: I'm glad you are enjoying this little action fic of mine. Please continue to let me know what you think and make suggestions if you want. I love hearing from you. HINT HINT!

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One of Those Days

Part V

~Clearing~

"Okay so I'm not going to panic." Elizabeth cried loudly startling some birds that were sipping at the stream enough to take flight. "I am going to be a calm and rational person and I'm not going to panic."

She ran a hand through her flyaway curls and began to pace. "I would have heard it if someone had come here and taken Jason away. He's so big that it would have taken at least two guys to carry him out of here." After all her own muscles were aching from dragging him around the day before.

"Besides they would have taken me too. They wouldn't have left me behind so I could follow them again. I mean really, look at what happened, the last time they did that. I got him away from them." She ignored the little voice in her head that told her that, that was due more to luck than any skill on her part.

"So they would have taken me as well as Jason. They wouldn't have just left me here," her eyes darted to the right and saw nothing but woods. "In the middle of nowhere," they moved to the left and saw the same. "All by myself." She hesitated and then whispered, "Would they?"

She sank to her knees in the still damp grass of the early morning. "So much for not panicking. I rationalized myself right into this state." Her stomach growled loudly drawing her attention away from her less than happy thoughts. "Oh shut up."

"Shut up Jason, I'm still talking here."

Her hand went to her mouth, she had never told Jason to shut up, but for some reason that sure felt like a memory to her. Elizabeth rubbed hard at her forehead trying to dispel the worry and the tiredness she still felt and searched for an elusive memory.

"Oh god."

She gasped in dismay when the image of Jason's shocked face arrived first in her mind, close behind it were the words that had caused his expression. Her words to be exact, to be more exact her words about a fucking redhead. "This day keeps getting better and better."

How could she have gone off on him like that? She flopped back on the ground to study the sky. He had only wanted to know what had happened and she had let him have it right between the eyes, and now he was gone.

Elizabeth felt tears prick the back of her eyes and quickly banished them, crying wasn't going to help her one bit. She knew that Jason was still hurt because of what had happened between them months ago. And she had no doubt surprised him by going off on him last night. But there was one thing she knew without a doubt. Jason would never voluntarily leave her here alone. Not only wasn't he that type of man, she also knew that he still cared about her, maybe not as much as he once had, but he still cared.

But Jason was still gone and she was here alone. She was alone and she was tired of that. She didn't want to be the only one in this situation anymore. Technically she had been with Jason, but an unconscious Jason just wasn't the same thing. She picked up the jacket and buried her face in the soft leather it still smelled like him. She wanted him to come back and help her out of this mess. Even if he was angry with her, she just wanted him back.

After awhile she raised her head and worried her lip, before beginning to reason aloud again. "The last word I would ever use to describe Jason is typical. But in the end he is still a man, and no matter how atypical he is, there are some universal truths about men." She remembered all the times that she had went riding with Jason, or had just sat and talked with him. She had his attention that much was true. But there was a part of him that had always been alert, in case trouble should arise. She had never asked him about it, but she had seen the way his eyes would sweep an area before he let his guard down. The primal male at its best, searching for danger.

"So since I wouldn't tell him what happened yesterday, he probably felt the need to find out on his own." She set the jacket to the side and got to her feet. "That means he probably decided to look around when he woke up." The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. Making sure that he knew every inch of their surroundings was exactly something Jason would do, especially if he was worried for her safety.

"So he either got lost, or went so far that he can't hear me when I call for him." She headed for the edge of the clearing and nearly went down when she tripped over her bootlace. She righted herself and hurried on. She could stay here and wait for him to return, or she could go looking for him. "I need your quarter again Jason." She muttered flashing briefly on a quarter in the jewelry box at the studio.

Elizabeth frowned and bent down to lace her boot up, before she could do anymore damage to herself. "I'm right." She practically squealed in delight when she saw the distinct outline of a boot print in the loose dirt in front of her. She looked beyond it and saw the print of a right boot a giant step away, at least for her, but a normal step length for Jason.

"He did walk out on his own. Rational thinking is such a good thing." She glanced back at the clearing and sucked in her lip again while she debated. If he came back and she wasn't here he was going to be worried, and pissed. Her stomach growled again and she turned back towards the woods. She wouldn't go that far, she'd just scout around.

Elizabeth looked down at the ground and began to follow his trail, taking a step and a half for every one of his. A giggle ripped out of her, sending a squirrel scampering for cover. "Yesterday I was a bird and today I'm a dog. God what's next?"

~Airport~

"So what type of ghost are we looking for? One like Casper, or one like Bruce Willis?" Manny was getting tired of looking at an empty terminal. They had been looking at the terminal for hours now, and it was getting pretty old. The first strands of dawn were breaking and the dark of the night was fading into the gloom of an early morning.

"You'll see when I find one." Francis replied shortly, keeping his eyes locked on the hangar.

"Okie dokie." It was the same response he had been given every time he asked. He began to drum his fingers on the steering wheel again. He hated waiting, and waiting with Francis while he was in this mood wasn't real entertaining. He knew that what the drunk had told them had shaken Francis badly. Hell it had shaken him. Jason seemed indestructible.

"Stop that." Francis hissed.

"What?" Manny looked over in question, "oh." He stopped drumming his fingers. He needed to focus Francis on something else. Of all the people he worked with, he felt he owed Francis the most. Francis had helped his sister and himself relocate to NY, he had brought him into the organization. Francis had even taken a bullet for him that would have no doubt ended his life. He needed to help him out now.

Manny unconsciously began to hum while he tried to think of how he could distract Francis. He was almost willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of letting Francis pound on him, if it would help him. To do that all he had to do was annoy Francis.

Francis shifted on the seat and shot him a glare in warning.

Annoying Francis had become a pastime to him, so it wouldn't take much, and besides he had new ammunition now. "So did you ask out her sister while you were still dating her? Is that why she's so mad?"

"What?"

"Bad Betty. Did you try to date her sister at the same time? Is that why she wants to maim you?"

Francis ignored the question. There was no way in hell that he was going to tell Manny about Betty, he would rather face her again then give him that information. Was that movement by the crates?

"No huh?" Manny began to drum his fingers while he thought some more. "I know a pet. She wanted you to take care of her pet and something happened to it. That's it isn't it? Because I know how women can get attached to their pets. My ex Christa had a rabbit. The ugliest little sucker you ever saw. The little bugger's hair was falling out, leaving great bald spots everywhere." He shuddered at the memory. "Anyway she went out of town, and brought the bunny to my place to take care of while she was gone."

"Manny."

"I think she forgot about Bubbles. Heck I forgot about Bubbles when I was around Christa." Manny ignored Francis' glare. "Christa just had that ability that women seem to have, that makes it hard for a man to think around them. I think it was her size too small sweater."

Manny reflected on that image for a minute before hurrying on again. "I do think that Christa blew the whole thing out of proportion though, women have a tendency to do that. I mean Bubbles was only doing what she always did. What she had been doing for years, what was ingrained in her as a hunter. It wasn't her fault that the bunny was pet, she just thought it was lun…"

"Manny." Fed up Francis turned on him. "The last thing I want to hear about is Bubbles. Have you ever realized that the reason you don't get dates anymore is because of Bubbles? That the reason we never play cards anymore at your place is because of Bubbles? That Bubbles is worse than anything Sorel ever tried to do to you?"

Manny hid his grin while Francis went off on him. At least now Francis wasn't thinking about the possibility of Jason or Elizabeth being dead, so he had done his job.

"Bubbles, what the hell kind of name is Bubbles?" Francis grumbled turning back to the window. "I'm stuck in a car with the idiot after seeing Betty and he wants to talk to me about Bubbles."

Manny let him grumble for a few more minutes, when he finally wound down, he decided to let another one fly. "So it wasn't a pet, and it wasn't a sister. Did you ask out her brother?"

Francis was out of the car and halfway to the fence surrounding the terminal before Manny even made it out of the car. "What's going on?" He pulled out his gun and trailed Francis.

"I've found the ghost." Francis climbed the fence and took off for a set of barrels about 15 yards away. "Cut off the retreat." He pointed to a set of crates that were about 20 feet beyond that.

Wondering about Francis' sanity, Manny hurried to comply with the order. His hand tightened on the gun when Francis disappeared behind the barrels and the sound of curses and a fight reached him.

"Hold still you little shit." Francis' muffled oaths filled the air.

This ghost thing was sure a feisty one, Manny thought when another colorful curse of Francis split the air. His musings were cut off when a slight figure in black emerged from behind the barrels and made a beeline straight for him.

"Hold it." Manny ordered, brandishing the gun. But the figure ignored the command and kept charging him. At the last second Manny dropped the gun and braced for impact. The hit knocked him from his feet and back into the crates. The figure that had hit him, immediately began to squirm trying to break free.

"Ouch." He yelled when he felt teeth on his arm. Infuriated he brought up his fist and pounded on the lump that he thought was the head. He hit it again and again until the squirming stopped.

"Good." An out of breath and bleeding Francis gasped and bent over at the waist. "You caught her."

"Her?" Manny pushed the slight figure from him and it rolled over exposing the painted white face of a girl, with black garish smudges surrounding her eyes. "The ghost is a girl?"

"This one is." Francis noted. "You better grab an arm, she's going to be pissed when she wakes up."

Manny frowned and took an arm, studying the girl's hand while he did so. Her hand was unnaturally white, not a speck of color on it, except for the jet-black fingernails. She was probably 5'0" and if she weighed a 100 lbs he would be surprised. But damn was she strong. He looked at his arm and wasn't surprised to see blood coming from where he had been bitten. What did surprise him was how the bite mark looked to him. "Francis I thought you said we were catching a ghost."

"I did that's what they're called." Francis kept a finger on her pulse, waiting for it to speed up to signal her wakefulness.

"They why the hell do I have bite marks that look like they were made from the fangs of a vampire?" Manny held out his arm.

~Warehouse~

Sonny sipped at his coffee and tried to focus on the latest crop report about cocoa beans. But after reading the same line for the third time he knew it was no use. On a disgusted sigh he closed the folder and slammed away from the desk, sending the chair into the wall with a decided thud. It was 7:06 am and he still hadn't heard a thing about Jason or Elizabeth.

At the thud Johnny stuck his head in the door, and reluctantly entered the room when Sonny waved him in. "Problems?"

"Where the hell is Benny with the information I need?" Sonny asked. Impatience was all but shimmering in the air around him.

"He's waiting for confirmation." Johnny's reply was monotone and the same reply he had given his boss every five minutes for the last hour.

Sonny narrowed his eyes at Johnny but whatever he was going to say was cutoff when his cell phone began to ring. He practically leaped to the desk and opened it up. "Hello?"

"Boss I got some news for you."

"What do you know Francis?" Sonny demanded.

"We found the airport Elizabeth was talking about. Apparently an old DC-10 was used. I got confirmation that an unconscious Jason was onboard along with a pilot and one hired muscle. The woman who snatched him left before takeoff. I also got it from another source that Elizabeth snuck in a crate and was placed onboard the plane." He shot a glare at Manny when he let out a snort. Manny tapped a bandage on his arm and shook his head. Francis ignored the disbelief, Manny had never spent time around Elizabeth he didn't know what she was capable of.

"She got on the plane?" Sonny was both relieved and worried. If she hadn't got on the plane that meant she had disappeared. The fact that she had gotten on the plane voluntarily was good, at least she wasn't in some new danger. However the danger she was in was enough to worry him.

"Yes." Francis stepped away from a glaring Manny.

"So we need to find out where the plane landed and get our people there." Resolve was coursing through him again. "So where did it land?"

"It didn't."

"What do you mean?"

Francis sighed and delivered the bad news. "The plane went down a couple hundred miles off the coast."

Sonny sank limply in a chair. The image of the last time he had seen Jason's face and the quick dismissal he had given him, hit him and he felt ill. "It crashed?"

Johnny jolted at those words. His line of work was definitely a risky one, but Jason always had this air of indestructibility around him that made it impossible to think of him dying. He smothered a groan when another thought occurred to him. Sonny said Elizabeth was on the plane too, that meant that she was dead as well.

"Are you sure he was on the plane?" Sonny asked hoarsely.

"Yes he was on it. I found a reluctant witness who saw a parachute come out of the plane before it crashed." Francis tried to give his boss the same hope he was clinging to. "Apparently something went wrong on the plane. It was spilling its cargo for miles before the engine began to sputter."

"So there was at least one survivor?" Sonny perked up at that and hope surged through him, followed almost immediately by guilt. "Are you sure she was on the plane?"

"The source isn't 100% reliable," Francis conceded. "But my gut tells me that she was. You know her boss. Despite the way it was the last time he was in town, if Jason was in trouble you wouldn't be able to get her away from him."

"I know." Sonny moved slowly to the window and stared blindly at the water. "You need to find the survivor.

"I've already chartered a seaplane to take us to the island chain near where the parachute was spotted. It's a set of islands called the Devil's Dream." He could almost feel the weight of the silence on the other end of the line. "I will find out who it was."

"Good." Sonny's voice was hoarse as he fought back the emotion.

"There's more and I don't like it. We're not the only one tracking the survivor." Francis came up short before running into a tall dark-haired man with a goatee. He waited until the man moved on to another seaplane tied up on the dock before speaking. "There was a guy here before us, who spoke to the same witness and encouraged him not to tell the authorities what he saw."

"I don't like that."

"It gets worse, it seems that the guy came back later on with a woman and they chartered a plane to take them to the Devil's Dream," he glanced at his watch. "By the time we get there, they will still have over a three hour head start on us."

"Was it the redhead?"

"No she was a blonde, but other then that her description is the same. Look boss I got to go. I'll call and report as I go." Francis began to head for the seaplane that Manny had longed disappeared inside of. His eyes automatically flicked to the other seaplane that was getting ready to leave and the dark-haired man at the controls.

"Francis." Sonny's voice was cold. "You're first priority is finding Jason and Elizabeth. Then and only then do you deal with their trackers."

"Will do." Francis acknowledged and closed the phone. "Let's get this bucket of bolts airborne."

Sonny frowned at the phone. The demons that were always present in his mind, in his memory, were begging for release, but he battled them back. "Johnny I want to see Benny now."

Johnny was out the door before Sonny had even finished.

Sonny rubbed a hand wearily over his face. Jason or Elizabeth. Jason or Elizabeth. If only one of them survived how could he ever explain it to the other one. Elizabeth was someone he had vowed to protect. While Jason was someone he needed in his life more then he needed his right arm. Jason or Elizabeth. Jason or Elizabeth. How could he hope for one to be alive if it meant the other one was dead?

~Woods~

Elizabeth stared up at the parachute and then glanced around looking in vain for a blonde head. He had made it this far that much was obvious from the prints. And since his prints went in several directions around here, he had obviously spent a lot of time looking up at the tree. She swallowed hard remembering the nasty thump he'd made when he hit the ground. Hopefully he would think he fell out of the harness on his own.

"Jason." Her call echoed around the trees. She was debating on whether or not to head back to the clearing when a noise to her right caught her attention. "Jason?" She listened for his reply or the noise to repeat itself. But only silence met her ears. She sighed and studied the ground again, she was now at an area that had grass so she couldn't tell which way he had went.

A faint noise reached her ears and she looked to the right again. There was definitely something in the bushes over there. "Jason I'm about to do something I think you'll hate." She began conversationally. "I'm about to take an unnecessary risk with my life, so this is your cue to come out and tell me not to do that."

Elizabeth looked around hopefully, but Jason didn't magically appear. With a groan of reluctance she moved off the path and towards the deep brush that the noises were originating from. She kept her eyes on the ground not wanting to go flying forward again. She moved the branches out of the way and disappeared into the brush.

"Ouch." She cried loudly and brought her hand up to her mouth to suck at a cut. "Damn thorns."

"Elizabeth."

Her eyes went wide and she looked around searching for Jason when the sound of her name reached her ears. "Jason where are you?"

"Over here." Jason called back.

Excited to have finally found him she began to hurry in the direction of his voice. Her eyes were whipping around trying to find him. "Keep talking."

"You're getting closer, but watch your step." He warned her a second too late.

She tripped over a hidden rope and pitched forward hitting the ground hard. She stopped her forward momentum by holding onto a stump.

Jason brushed the dirt from his eyes and focused on her head which had appeared over the edge of the pit he was standing in.

"Thank god." She couldn't remember ever feeling so relieved as she was now, looking down into his upturned face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." God it was so good to see her. "I couldn't stop myself when I fell, and wound up down here."

"Can't you climb out?" She asked before she really studied where he really was. He was standing in a pit, his head was about 6 feet from the edge. The pit was probably 10 feet long and 5 feet wide, and it was definitely deep.

"No the sides are too smooth there's nothing to grip." Jason was feeling unusually frustrated. He had been in this pit for hours now. "I've been waiting for you to wake up."

Elizabeth bristled slightly at his rebuke but decided to let it slide. "I'll try to find something that we can use to get you out of there."

"Great," he muttered and her head disappeared from view only to pop back in view a second later.

"Don't go anywhere." She said with a smile.

"Cute Elizabeth," Jason grumbled. "Do you think you can save the jokes until I'm out of here."

Irritation flashed again and she gamely tried to battle it back. "I'm looking."

Jason leaned against the wall and waited. He was close to the edge. He hadn't felt this frustrated in months not since, he frowned, not since the last time he had been around Elizabeth. This frustration was different though, it was born out of an unusual sense of helplessness, but it still brought back bitter memories.

"Here." Elizabeth called before tossing a long vine over the side and hitting him in the head. "Grab a hold of this and climb up it."

Jason rubbed at his head and looked dubiously at the vine. "And what is going to be at the other end?" He asked jerking on a length of the vine to test its strength.

"I will." She jolted forward when he yanked again.

"That won't work. You're not strong enough to pull me out of here, or to support me as I climb up. You need to find something else." Jason ordered shortly.

"Yes master." That time the irritation couldn't be held back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What are you doing in this pit in the first place Jason?" Elizabeth demanded. "You know I'm busting my butt trying to get you out of this mess, so there is no need to get snotty with me. It's not my fault you're in there."

He pinched his nose wearily. "Just find something to tie it onto please."

"Good idea." Elizabeth glanced around the pit and saw an old tree right near the edge towards the right. "I found a tree." She hurriedly crossed to it and began to tie the vine off. "You know Jason it's strange. In Port Charles it always seems like you're in control of every situation. But down here your not. Okay it's ready."

Jason wisely bit back his retort and began to climb up the vine.

"It's lucky for you that I've been here to help you out of these messes that you've gotten yourself in."

He scowled at that remark and moved farther up the vine. He reached up higher on the vine and it snapped sending him plunging back down to the earth.

"Jason are you okay?"

Jason closed his eyes and forced the air back in his lungs. "Yeah." He got slowly to his feet. The frustration, tiredness, hunger and anger that had been building inside of him built until he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Jesus Elizabeth are you trying to kill me?"

Stunned she could only stare down at him.

"Do you think you can find something stronger next time?" He asked acidly.

"You think you can lose some weight?" Elizabeth retorted. "Because after dragging your ass around for the last day let me tell you, you can stand to lose some weight."

"I'm not fat." He cried.

"No your solid and your yelling at me and I don't know why. You're the one who decided to go exploring like some Daniel Boone here not me."

"And why is that Elizabeth?" Jason fired back hotly. "Because when I asked you to tell me where we were and what happened. And all you could say was shut up Jason."

Elizabeth flushed at that but was angry enough herself to respond. "Well you were the one who had been asleep for hours yesterday not me. So forgive me for being tired."

"Tired? Hell." Jason snorted. "You weren't tired you were in some snit because I spoke to another woman. Let's see what did you accuse me of? I remember now, flirting with a fucking redhead."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise as she recalled accusing him of that. "She's the reason we're…"

"Be quiet Elizabeth it's my turn to talk and yours to listen. So I talked to another woman so what? Am I suddenly not allowed to talk to another woman when I'm around you?"

"Jason." Elizabeth shot to her feet and tried to cut him off.

"You're allowed to jerk me around for weeks while you waffled between Lucky and me, but you get mad at me if I talk to another woman." He couldn't seem to stop talking even though he knew his words were cruel. "Did I make a mistake in talking to her? Yes. But you know what it was my choice to make, and unlike you I make choices."

"Jason shut up…" She tried to cut him off again.

"Don't tell me that," incensed he broke in. "I'm not finished."

"Jason," Elizabeth screamed in frustration and pointed beyond him. "There's a snake."

"What?" His retort trailed off when he heard a hiss coming from right behind him, followed by the telltale sound of a rattle. "Oh man."