Babble: I'm so glad that you this like this story and want more. To those who asked about my other pieces. First I have 3 one parters that I can't post here, email me if anyone would like to see them. Also if anyone reading this is also reading What If… get ready. Now you still have to reply.

Stephanie

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The Ripple Effect

Chapter 4

~Jake's~

Emily hesitated outside his door, she knew that they had decided to keep Jason out of it, but she needed to talk to him. She knew that despite what she had said last night, Jason could and would handle this without getting caught, hurt, or letting it interfere with whatever he was doing for Sonny. He could handle it, and this nightmare could be over with tonight. She realized that the only reason Elizabeth hadn't said anything was because she had asked her not too, so Elizabeth would understand why she had changed her mind, in fact she was probably hoping she would change her mind. That was another reason to tell him, in some respects Elizabeth was closer to Jason than she was. At first that had really bothered her, but when she finally found out that Elizabeth had saved Jason's life, it was easier for her to let that jealousy go.

She raised her hand to knock, and then lowered it again, Lucky wouldn't understand why she told Jason. Lucky seemed to need this somehow. When he focused on her problem with Ted and what to do about it, he seemed to come back all the way and become the boy she had first met all those years ago. Of everyone in their group she had known Lucky the longest, and her relief at seeing him acting like his normal self at times, made her back his plan even when she didn't want too.

But hearing Taggert with Dara Jensen earlier, made her realize that they were in way over their heads. She needed to get some help, and Jason would do this for her no questions asked. She knocked on his door and waited. Lucky might be hurt at first, but she knew that in this instance Lucky had bitten off more than he could chew.

She knocked again, louder this time. Besides this was her problem. She was the one that brought them into this mess. If anyone got hurt because of it, she didn't think she would be able to handle it. And of everyone she knew, Jason was really the only person qualified to handle this. It scared her sometimes, to think about all the things her brother had done, things that she never ever wanted to know about. But in this instance, those things he could do, would definitely come in handy. Maybe she could finally get her life back, was that so wrong to wish for?

"What are you doing here Emily?"

Emily swallowed a groan, and turned to face Lucky. "I came to see Jason."

Lucky studied her face, "You were going to tell him." He accused, taking her arm and leading her down the hall to his room, he hurriedly unlocked the door. "Get inside we need to talk."

~Kelly's~

"Sorry I'm late Tammy." Elizabeth called, walking through the door, and heading for the counter. "I've been behind all day."

"It's okay sweetie." Tammy said walking out of the kitchen. "Only I have to run now, I need to make the deposit, and then I'm meeting Mike, so we'll have to talk later okay?"

"Okay." Elizabeth tied on her apron, and watched her walk out the door. She was very grateful that other than Lou, Kelly's was vacant at the moment. Lou didn't really count either, he always hung out the back door, smoking, or playing craps with the locals until he had an order to prepare. These were the times she liked it the best.

All dinner break, no work. She frowned, remembering the last time she had said that, and to whom. That was a night everything with Jason seemed to change, he had helped her get through a really bad night, and the next morning she had found him bleeding in the snow. She started filling saltshakers, the mindless chore gave her plenty of time to think, and her mind kept circling back to Jason.

Jason hadn't pushed her for more details of what was going on, of course he never did, but she could see the distance and the hurt in his eyes. She hated knowing that she had put it there. The ride had been perfect as usual, she almost felt like things were back to normal between them, then she saw his eyes. She had frowned and he had taken the helmet from her hands and said he'd see her later. She smiled at that, knowing they were okay, that they were still friends, that her keeping something from him was okay with him, and that those strange feelings she had been getting about him were finally gone, and he was just Jason again. Then he smiled at her, he smiled at her and her stomach dropped to her knees. Before she could do anything else he was gone.

It was strange she had spent hours upon hours alone with him last year, and this January, she had even lived with him for awhile, and she'd never had one thought about him romantically. She moved around the counter to exchange the saltshakers on the tables with the full ones, then moved back behind the counter. That wasn't entirely true, she'd had a thought once or twice right before he left, but she had always written it off as foolishness.

But now he hadn't even been back 24 hours and he had invaded her thoughts, her dreams, her senses, hell every part of her. It didn't make sense. She paused in the process of pouring salt in the empty bottles. Maybe it was because she was still in mourning when he left, and now she wasn't anymore.

"Right." She muttered in relief, and began moving again. The part of her that produced those kinds of feelings was working again. It made sense, Lucky wasn't dead so she didn't have to mourn anymore. Lucky was alive so she was allowed to feel these things again.

That's not true. The Lizzie voice was back. Those parts of you woke up the last time you saw Jason and he kissed you goodbye. She groaned trying to drown out the voice in her head. He kissed you on the forehead and said goodbye, and all you thought for months was what if you had kissed him on the lips. Would he have stayed? "Oh shut up." She finally cried out.

"Excuse me?"

Elizabeth's face flamed and she looked up into Sonny's smiling face. She hadn't even heard him come in. She groaned again. "Forget I said anything."

He took a seat at the counter. "I think that's full."

"What?" She looked down and saw a pile of salt that had overflowed from the shaker onto the counter. "Jeez, I should have never gotten out of bed today." She went red again, thinking about why she had shot out of bed this morning.

"Bad day?" Sonny asked with a smile.

"You have no idea." She muttered cleaning up the salt, automatically tossing some of her shoulder. Sonny saw that and shook his head in amusement. "What can I get you?"

"Coffee for starters." He said turning the coffee mug over. What the hell, he picked up some of the salt and tossed it over his shoulder as well. With Carly in his life he couldn't have enough help.

She filled his cup. "Anything else?"

"Yes." Sonny's face turned serious, causing her own smile to fade. "I need to talk to you about Jason."

~Penthouse 4~

Jason burst out laughing.

Incensed Carly slugged him in the arm. "Don't laugh at me, it's the truth."

He caught her hand before she could hit him again. "Carly do you ever listen to yourself?"

"You don't know." Carly wailed. "Every time I turn around they are together, and she's batting her eyes at him, giving him her Princess Purity Act. They even talk in this code, when I'm around."

Code? He shook his head. "Carly they are only friends."

"Friends like you and her were? I know girls like her, they are incapable of just being friends with a man. They refuse to be alone, so before they get rid of one man, they make sure they have another one on a string." Carly sniped, pouring herself another glass of water.

"Carly…" He stopped himself, didn't she realize she was giving an accurate description of herself.

"You left town and she was over here two days later. Sonny was already feeling guilty because you left, he was an easy mark for her, and believe me she knew how to use his guilt." Carly whirled around to face him. "She never stops, every time she sees him, she's all over him, clinging to his arm, talking to him like he's the only one who can help her. And the way they talk, like they have some language only the two of them know. She is such a little slut and I…"

"Enough Carly." Jason interrupted. "I didn't come here to listen to your stupid accusations about Elizabeth. You have no idea what she is really like, so just don't say anything about her at all."

"Why did you come then?" She demanded.

"To say hello." He stepped over to the table. "And to drop off a present for Michael."

Carly leaned against the desk and studied him, he looked good, of course he always did. He still loved Michael too, she could hear it in his voice. Guilt washed over her, she hated the fact that she had hurt him over Michael. She remembered all of those times she had prayed for him to love her that way too, with his whole heart. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but he was right, she had never been in love with him. But she did love him, and she needed him in her life, especially with everything that was going on with Sonny. "So are you back for good?"

"I'll be here for awhile." Jason admitted. "At least until Sonny is out of trouble."

"The trouble I caused." Carly leaned back farther resting her hands on the desk and smiled at him. "You might be here for more than awhile then."

"Maybe." He headed for the door. "Don't forget to give Michael my present."

"Jase." Carly called after him.

He turned to face her, watching her cross over to him. "Are we okay?"

"Yes." He said simply, and it was true, the hurt was gone.

"Good." She hugged him again. "I missed my best friend."

"Don't you mean your leash holder?" Jason countered before opening the door. "Goodbye Carly."

Carly laughed it was good to see him. Is she had him on her side, she would get Sonny back, she just knew it. How could Sonny keep pushing her away with Jason here? She knew he still felt guilty as hell for hurting Jason, he wouldn't add to the guilt by dumping her as well. She grinned, it was time to take care of something else too. She opened the door. "Pete can you have the car downstairs in 15 minutes? I'm going out." She closed the door before he could respond, it was time to have some fun.

~Jake's~

"Lucky if I want to tell Jason it's my choice, it's my problem not yours." Emily said sitting on a chair in the small room.

"Wrong." Lucky shot back. "It became ours when we moved the body. It became ours when we pushed the car in the lake, when we cleaned the motel room, when we hid Ted in the freezer at Wyndamere, when we…"

"Okay you made your point." Emily interrupted him. "It's just I've been thinking about it and I believe that Jason can make this problem disappear for all of us."

Lucky sat on the bed facing her. "Em please, I couldn't stand it, if you start doubting me too."

"Lucky…"

"Please you, better than anyone else know what is going on with me." He pleaded. "The only time everything feels normal to me is when we're working on this. I need to do this."

"Lucky it's not just me, like you said, it's not just my problem anymore." She tried to explain. She didn't want to extinguish the hope in his eyes but she was beginning to have doubts. She hated to admit it, but for the first time since she met Lucky, she doubted his ability to handle things.

"I know, but look how far we've come already." He argued. "Please don't take this away from me, and give it to Jason. I don't want to lose anything else to Jason, I can't."

"You don't believe what Gia said today do you?" She reached out and took his hand. "You know Elizabeth loves you. Jason is just her friend, like Nikolas is just her friend. Besides Jason is your friend too, don't you remember how much he helped you when you left home?"

"They were lovers…Elizabeth belongs with Nikolas." The voices warred in his head. Carly's and one that he couldn't identify, but one he heard whenever he saw Elizabeth.

"Come on Lucky tell me you know that." Emily continued when he didn't say anything. She saw the vacant far off look in his eyes, and knew he wasn't there anymore. Every time he did that is scared the hell out of her. "Lucky." She tugged on his hand trying to get his attention.

He heard Emily's voice coming through the others in his head, and tried to concentrate on that. But it was difficult to block out the other voices.

"Lucky?"

Lucky shook the voices away. "She's changed Emily. She is slipping away from me, and every time I try to talk to her, to really talk to her, I just end up pushing her farther away."

"Lucky you've changed too, and Elizabeth doesn't know why or what is going on with you. All she knows is you don't want to be with her anymore, and then there are times, you act like you do, you are confusing her, and that is what hurts her." Emily argued softly. "If she knew what was going on with you, she would be right here beside you, you have to know that."

"No." He snapped immediately. "I don't want her to know."

"Lucky you just said she is slipping away. You have told her for months that she had to let you go. What will you do if she starts to listen to you? Even Elizabeth will give up sometime, and I have to tell you Lucky, she's getting close to doing that now." Maybe if she told him the truth, it would shake him into action.

"You think she will because of Jason don't you?" Lucky asked.

She sighed heavily. "They were only friends when he left."

"But now?" He could hear the doubt in her voice and it twisted his gut.

Emily was quiet while she thought about it. She had seen a sparkle in Elizabeth's eyes last night that hadn't been there in months, no actually it hadn't been there, since before the fire. The sparkle arrived the same time her brother did. "I don't know." She admitted finally. "If she has decided to give up on you, she might turn to Jason. The one thing I know for sure is that she will never turn to Nikolas."

Lucky rubbed a hand over his eyes. Anger and jealousy had settled in his gut, he knew that Emily was telling the truth. He didn't know why he pushed Elizabeth towards Nikolas, but he knew she would never do it. But Jason? He couldn't believe that she would turn to him, he was so much older, and he was dangerous. He shook his head, he couldn't see the appeal that Jason would hold for her. "I don't want to lose her." He said quietly, especially not to Jason.

"Then tell her the truth."

"I can't." Lucky groaned. "I try, I really do, I look at her and I want to tell her I love her, and I open my mouth to say it and out comes…"

"Be with Nikolas." Emily finished the phrase for him. If she was sick of hearing it she could only imagine how Elizabeth felt when she heard it.

"Yeah." Lucky nodded wearily.

"Okay let's try this." Emily moved over and sat beside him on the bed. "Pretend I'm Elizabeth."

"What?"

"I'm Elizabeth, now tell me how you feel." She snapped.

"Emily…"

"Do it Lucky." She ordered.

"Okay." Lucky looked at her, trying to picture Elizabeth. "I love you Elizabeth, and I want you to be with me."

"You know you can try to put some effort into this, I'm trying to help you here." Emily swatted the back of his head, when she heard his lazy reply.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before trying again. "I love you Elizabeth." He said opening his eyes. He didn't see Emily anymore he saw Elizabeth. The Elizabeth before the fire, he reached out and touched her face. "Be with me Elizabeth." He whispered before he kissed her.

Emily froze for a second in shock, when she realized he wasn't stopping she put her hand on his chest, to push him back. "Lucky stop."

"Be with me." He repeated to Elizabeth before pulling her to him and kissing her again.

~Kelly's~

"What about Jason?" Elizabeth asked quickly.

"He's fine." Sonny said reading the worry in her eyes. "Last night, were you able to calm him down?"

"Yeah we talked. When he left he was fine." Elizabeth rubbed at the counter with her towel. "It was just hard for him to hear about A.J."

"He told you?" Sonny asked in surprise.

"Yes. He needed to talk to someone." She explained simply.

To say he was surprised would be putting it mildly, he had suspected that Jason had deep feelings for Elizabeth, and what she just said confirmed it for him. Jason didn't talk, to unburden himself. Since Robin had left he was closer to Jason then anyone, and Jason still chose to keep things that bothered him to himself, or he would ride them out of him on his bike. The fact that he had told Elizabeth what was bothering him, told Sonny everything about her role in Jason's life. He couldn't help but be glad about that. He focused on her again. "Do you know if he blames me?"

"No." She said immediately placing her hand over his to comfort. "He knows you wanted that baby. That if you could have you would have died to save the baby's life."

Sonny closed his eyes in relief. "I knew that I guess, but with the way the baby was conceived, I wondered."

Elizabeth was quiet, she didn't know the exact circumstances of the baby's conception. She knew when Jason got shot, he wanted nothing to do with Sonny or Carly, so it had to have happened before then. Even with all the pain he was in because of the gunshot wound, what had haunted him the most was what had happened between the three of them. She hadn't known what went on, but later after he left, and she found out about the baby, she knew. Somehow Jason had managed to forgive them, but she could still read the guilt in Sonny's eyes, it had been there ever since that morning she had burst into his penthouse to tell him Jason had been shot. "Jason doesn't lie, you know that. So if he said he forgave you before he left, he did. So maybe it's time you forgive yourself."

"It isn't that easy." Sonny said softly. Betrayal was the one thing he had trouble forgiving, and could never forget. Mike, and Brenda, were two people, he exorcised from his life for a long time because of it. Eventually he had forgiven Brenda, but he had never forgot it. And life with Mike, well he just never went away. But this time it was him that did the betraying, and he didn't know how to let it go, even if Jason had.

"Jason once told me that sometimes things happened fast, but you had to live through them slow. He's right, that's where the two of you are, but you two will get through this. I saw his face, when he saw you last night, he didn't get all stiff, like he had been before he left last January. He's back, more than likely to help you, so you have to know he's forgiven you, so let it go." Elizabeth repeated.

Sonny smiled slightly. "Are you giving me advice now?"

"Yes even though you'll probably ignore me." She smiled back. "Which could be a good thing. My life is such a mess right now, I have no right to give anyone advice."

"Are things still rough between you and Lucky?" He didn't know all the details, but since Lucky had returned, the times he had seen her, she seemed to be upset more than happy.

"There is no me and Lucky." She corrected. "Or haven't you heard, according to Lucky there is only me and Nikolas."

"Nikolas?" Sonny asked in surprise. That made no sense to him.

"See you don't get it either." Elizabeth cried. "No one gets it. Everyone tells me that Lucky still loves me, that he needs me, but all Lucky ever says is that I should be with Nikolas. It is so frustrating. Everyone tells me how I should feel, what I should do." She sucked in a quick breath then continued on, warming to her rant. "They'll stop me and say don't give up on Lucky he loves you, he needs you, he's been through so much you can't give up on him." She scrubbed at the counter for a second. "And just when I am ready to scream enough, here comes Lucky and for a minute, he starts acting like the Lucky I loved, and then he opens his mouth and out flies be with Nikolas."

She threw the rag in the sink in disgust. She didn't even see Sonny anymore, she had been holding this in for so long she couldn't stop it. "Like I was some freaking trophy and he was giving me to Nikolas. He doesn't have a right to tell me who I do or don't love, to tell me who I should be with. If he doesn't want to be with me anymore fine, but he doesn't get to dictate who I should date. If I wanted to be with Nikolas I would be with Nikolas. But I don't want to be with Nikolas. I want to be with Jason. So why doesn't Lucky understand that. Why does he keep pushing me towards Nikolas, I just don't get it." She paused to breathe again, then shut up entirely, embarrassed by her outburst. "Oh God. Can we just forget about the last minute?"

"So you want to be with Jason," Sonny said after a minute. When she got rolling she reminded him of Alexis. He was thrilled that she had said she wanted to be with Jason.

"No Lucky." Elizabeth corrected automatically.

"Elizabeth honey." He patted her hand. "You just said you wanted to be with Jason."

~Jake's~

"Elizabeth I love you." Lucky tightened his hold on a struggling Emily, practically devouring her with his mouth.

"Stop it Lucky." Emily yelled twisting her mouth away from his. His eyes were vacant, they were focused on her but she knew he wasn't seeing her. His hold tightened, and he pressed her back on the bed.

"Be with me." He couldn't understand why Elizabeth was fighting him, he knew she loved him, so why was she fighting.

"Lucky." Emily managed to free her hand and she slapped him hard across the face, trying to bring him back to his senses. He was really starting to scare her.

Lucky's head jerked at the contact, bringing him back to reality, he looked down stunned to see Emily lying below him on the bed, staring up at him with fear in her eyes. "Emily?"

"Yes." She saw the recognition in his eyes and took a breath in relief. "Can you get off of me?"

He shot to his feet immediately. "God what did I do?" He saw the way she got off the bed, and moved to stand by the desk away from him, watching him warily. "I'm sorry Emily, I'm so sorry." He moved closer to her, but stopped a few feet away when she took a slight step back. "Did I hurt you?" He asked when he saw her rubbing her arms.

"No." She stopped rubbing her arms when she saw the look in his eyes. "You did scare me a little."

"What is wrong with me?" Lucky asked quietly slumping back down on the bed.

"I don't know." She took a breath and moved closer, sitting in the chair facing him. "But we will find out."

"I don't even remember what happened. I was talking to you, I said be with me and the next thing I knew you slapped me." He shuddered at the thought of losing control like that.

"Maybe it's just that you are tired of denying that you love Elizabeth, and once you allowed yourself to admit it, you lost control. This just convinces me that you need to talk to Elizabeth." Emily paused, "But without the actions."

"I don't know what if I lose it again? I don't want to scare her, or even worse hurt her." He said shaking his head slowly. "I don't think I should."

"Lucky obviously your heart is telling you what you want, which is Elizabeth. You just need to wrap your stubborn head around it and tell her."

"Do you really think so?" Lucky asked he really wanted to believe her. He knew he was losing Elizabeth more and more everyday. But he had to believe that if he did tell her what was going on, she would come back to him, but did he want her to come back to him that way? A large part of him said no, that it wouldn't be fair to play on her loyalty, but another part of him just wanted her to stand by him.

"Yes." Emily said getting to her feet, "So come on let's go tell her."

"Wait." He told her. "I'll tell her I want to be with her, and love her, but not about the problems I'm having. I don't want her to know about that."

"Why? Lucky she'll only want to help you."

"I want her back because she loves me, not because she wants to help me." He got to his feet, cutting Emily off when she went to speak again. "I mean it Emily, no one tells her, or I won't talk to her at all."

"Alright." Emily agreed, as long as they were together, Elizabeth would find out soon enough and would help him.

~Kelly's~

"No I didn't, I couldn't have." Elizabeth muttered going pale. She was having crazy thoughts about Jason, but she couldn't have said that, could she?

"Well you did." Sonny saw the distress in her eyes and backed off. He had found out more than he'd hoped for anyway. "You need to think about what it is that you really want." He patted her hand, dropped a $20 on the counter and headed for the door. "Goodbye Elizabeth."

"Bye Sonny." She said automatically still frozen in her tracks, trying to remember what exactly she had said to Sonny.

The door opened before he reached it and Nikolas walked inside. Sonny nodded at him in passing. Nikolas glanced at him, before heading for the counter and Elizabeth. He saw her paleness and unnatural stiffness and immediately jumped to the only conclusion he had. "What did Sonny do to you?"

"What?" The sharp tone in his voice caused her to focus on him. "What did you say Nikolas?"

"What did Sonny do to upset you?" He demanded.

"Nothing." She picked up the dirty coffee cup and set it on the counter behind her, before moving to the register with the $20, and putting the $19.50 tip in her pocket. "What can I get you Nikolas?"

"Elizabeth…"

"Nikolas if this is the start of another lecture about who I chose to have as my friends you can stop it right now. I decide who my friends are, not you." Elizabeth cut him off, moving from behind the counter to clean a dirty table.

"Look I know things are hard with Lucky right now."

Elizabeth snorted.

"But you shouldn't give up." Nikolas persisted. "I think we might have gotten through to Lucky last night. I think he knows now that you and I are only friends."

She shook her head. "Well you're wrong Nikolas. He called me last night to tell me how I made you worry by walking out of here alone last night. We didn't get through to him at all. His mind is like a broken record and it is stuck on the be with Nikolas groove. And you know what I'm getting pretty tired of it."

"We were all worried. It was late and the docks are no place for you to be walking alone." He didn't like the resignation he heard in her voice.

"Who said I was alone?" Elizabeth asked moving to the counter again.

"What, you were with Jason?" Nikolas felt the familiar rush of jealousy at the thought of her with Jason. It was one thing for him to put aside his feelings for her because of Lucky. But he wouldn't do it for Jason.

"He walked me home yes."

"Elizabeth I know Lucky has hurt you, but you shouldn't turn to Jason because of that." The image of the time he had burst in the studio and saw her undressing Jason ran through his mind. Emily had believed them when they said they were only friends, but he had never really believed it.

"We were about to make love before you barged in here like the morality police."

Her words, no her taunt came back to him. Lucky had told him a couple of weeks ago that the real reason Jason was there was because she was helping him after he was shot. But he still remembered all the times he had seen them together, the looks that passed between them, and the image of that day in the studio, was burned in his mind.

"Jason is my friend." Elizabeth snapped slamming the dishes on the counter, drawing his attention back on her. "He will always be my friend, no matter what you say, what Lucky says, or what anyone says."

"Come on, you love Lucky, if he told you to stay away from Jason because he was dangerous and could get you hurt, you would listen to him, wouldn't you?" Nikolas pressed her.

"First of all, Lucky would never tell me who I can have as my friends, secondly if he ever did, I wouldn't let him dictate to me who my friends are, anymore than I would let him tell me who to date." She paused then went on angrily. "And lastly, what makes you think he would even care? He's not my boyfriend, he wants me to let him go, he might be glad that I'm listening to him."

"Does that mean you're giving up on Lucky, to date Jason?"

The look on his face was pure shock, and it caused her to slip behind the ever-present mask she always had with her. "I didn't say that. I just said that Jason will always be my friend, no matter what Lucky says, so you might as well drop the subject."

"Elizabeth, remember what happened after he left? You had to have a bodyguard for weeks because of Sorel, you had a bomb in your studio."

"Nikolas." She cut him off. "I won't tell you again, back off." With that threat she stalked into the kitchen.

Nikolas sighed and moved over to a table to sit. It was starting all over again. Jason was hardly even back, and they were already fighting over him. It had taken him a long time, but he finally managed to get their friendship back on track. It had been damaged when he kissed her on her birthday, but it was strained almost to the edge by his jealousy over Jason.

After Jason left, he finally managed to get their friendship back on track, basically because she had refused to discuss her friendships with Sonny and Jason with him, and he had refrained from calling her on it. He knew he was still in love with her, but he had buried his feelings because her friendship was too important to him to lose. Now though he could sense her pulling away from him again, and it coincided with the arrival of Jason.

"Nikolas are you okay?" A blonde woman paused by his table, touching his arm in concern.

"Mom." He stood up and gave her a hug.

"What's wrong?" Laura Spencer asked sitting at the table.

"I just had a disagreement with Elizabeth." He admitted.

"This has to be so hard on you." Laura said patting his hand. She knew Nikolas was in love with Elizabeth, but she also knew, that he would never act on those feelings, not now.

"I can handle it." He said softly. "I finally understand what Stefan went through for all those years though."

"What do you mean?" Laura asked in confusion.

"All those years he was in love with you, and had to watch while you loved someone else." He shook his head. "He's a lot stronger than I gave him credit for."

"Oh Nikolas." Laura cried her eyes started to water at his words. She hated that her oldest son was in pain, because he was trying to help her youngest son. "I'm so sorry that you're hurting because of Elizabeth and Lucky."

"I had resigned myself to the fact that she will never love me the way I love her. I am all for her and Lucky getting back together, because I saw how much they loved each other. So don't get me wrong I support that totally, but it's beginning to look like that isn't what Elizabeth wants." Nikolas explained.

"What do you mean?" Laura glanced through the opening to look at a laughing Elizabeth in the kitchen.

"I mean I think she has given up on Lucky. She is starting to believe that they are over." Nikolas said sadly.

"That can't be right, she loves Lucky, of course she hasn't given up on him." She had too, Elizabeth was probably the only one who could get through to her son. She had done it once before, and Laura was counting on her to do it again.

"Maybe before, she would have hung on, but things are different now."

"Why what's changed?" Laura demanded.

"Jason's back." He said simply.

~GH~

"Did someone here page me?" Dr. Monica Quartermaine asked at the nurse's station.

"Yes." A nurse pointed to the lounge. "He wanted to speak with you."

Monica rubbed her neck wearily heading for the lounge. She had been operating for six hours straight, all she wanted to do now, was eat and sleep. She looked in the lounge and stopped in surprise, "Jason?"

Jason turned around to look at her. "Hello Monica."

"I can't believe you're here." Monica cried tiredness forgotten.

He stood and gave her the hug he knew she wanted. He had grown to care about her a lot, to him she had finally become his mother.

She stepped back. "When did you get in town?"

"Yesterday."

"Are you staying?" She couldn't help asking even though she knew he probably wouldn't answer her.

Jason shrugged saying nothing.

She could see his unease, and knowing how much he hated hospitals, she realized that he must have had a purpose to seek her out here. As much as she would love to believe he had come just to see her, she knew he must have another reason to hunt her down. "Well I hope you'll be around for awhile." She sat quickly before she gave into temptation and tried to hug him again. "You look good."

He sat beside her reluctantly, he was already feeling trapped by this place, and he had only been waiting for 15 minutes. He hated the hospital so much, but he needed to speak to her, and he would rather do it here, than at 66 Harborview Road. "Thanks. I need to ask you something."

"Okay." Monica waited for him to go on, content just to sit beside him.

"Did A.J. push Carly or was it an accident?" Jason asked his eyes locked on her face, looking for a lie, and the truth, while he waited her answer. He had to know the truth, because if A.J. had done it deliberately he was partially to blame.

~Docks~

"So you want to try this again?" Emily asked.

"Try what?" Lucky turned from the water to look at her.

"Do you want to practice what you're going to say to Elizabeth?"

"I don't know, look what happened last time." Lucky said pausing by the bench.

Emily turned to look at him, "Just talk to me, and try it again, I want to make sure you don't freeze up, when we get there."

"Okay." Lucky shrugged. "I love you Elizabeth, be with me."

"Good." Emily grinned, "Now just keep repeating that and everything will go fine."

"Be with me." Lucky repeated looking into her face.

"I knew it. You sonofabitch." A male voice came from behind Lucky.

Before Lucky could identify the voice, he was grabbed from behind and turned around, he barely had time to register Juan's face before Juan's fist connected with his jaw, sending him staggering back into Emily.

~Kelly's~

Elizabeth walked out of the kitchen and saw Nikolas in deep conversation with Laura. Judging from the serious look on Laura's face, it was probably about her and Lucky. She sighed heavily, sometimes she felt so overloaded. She was only 18 and everyone was relying on her, to save Lucky, when sometimes all she wanted to do, was run as far as she could away from everything. But that would be selfish, and Lizzie was the selfish one, not Elizabeth. Well at least not visibly selfish anyway.

She glanced to the door, when it opened, swallowing a groan, when she recognized the latest customer.

Carly spotted Elizabeth behind the counter and smiled cattily, moving towards the counter. "E-liz-a-beth, you're right where you belong as usual."

"And where would that be Carly?" Elizabeth asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"With the rest of the help, behind the counter." Carly said. "So get busy and serve me." She flipped over the coffee cup. "I'm waiting."

Elizabeth picked up the coffee pot, and thought about it for a long minute. Inflicting 3rd degree burns on the bottle blonde probably wouldn't be very nice. Satisfying but not very nice. It was times like this that she hated being nice, she thought to herself, filling the coffee cup.