The Ripple Effect
Chapter 9
~Docks~
"Lucky," Emily whispered. "It was Lucky."
Nikolas closed his eyes expecting to feel disbelief or surprise, but he didn't. Instead he felt like the other shoe had finally dropped. Something had been off with Lucky ever since he had returned. The Lucky before the fire would have cut off his hands before he would hurt Emily, but this Lucky was different.
He let go of her hands and moved past her to sit on the bench. This Lucky was so different, that he had sensed the anger and a hint of violence coming off of Lucky for months now, but he had tried to ignore it. "I wish I could say I was surprised." He faced her when she sat down beside him. "But look at what he did the first time he saw Luke, he decked him and ran away."
"He didn't mean to hurt me." Emily argued a little too desperately. "I was trying to help him and he lost control."
"Emily he's been losing control a lot lately. And regardless that doesn't excuse him for putting marks on you. So how did this happen?"
She averted her eyes. "I told you I was helping him."
"With what? What could you have been doing that he gave you these bruises?" He demanded pushing her sleeve up to expose the dark rings again.
She was quiet, she didn't like thinking about Lucky kissing her, because it really hadn't been a kiss to her. A kiss was an act between two people that had the potential to be magic. The more she thought about Lucky's mouth on hers, and his weight pressing her to the bed, the more uneasy she became. Maybe she had been in denial where Lucky was concerned, but the memory of yesterday and last night had forced her to wake up.
"Emily?"
"It's hard to explain Nikolas." She sighed heavily and began. "You know how hard it is for Lucky to talk to Elizabeth? That every time he does he ends up hurting her."
Nikolas nodded.
"Well he's been wanting to tell her some things, so I told him to practice on me. To pretend I was Elizabeth and tell me what he wanted to tell her," her voice drifted off. "I just thought I could help him and Elizabeth."
"But?"
"He lost touch with reality." After hours of denial she finally said the words out loud. "He really thought I was Elizabeth, and he just wouldn't stop. Even when I fought him and yelled at him, he wouldn't stop."
Nikolas felt his stomach drop and he carefully took her hand in his. "He didn't stop what Em?" He was afraid he knew and he hoped he was wrong, but he needed to know for sure to help Emily and Lucky.
"Kissing me." Her admission was soft, difficult for him to hear.
"Hey Em, Nikolas."
Elizabeth's greeting stopped Nikolas before he could speak, he turned to look at her and for the first time in months he wished she were anywhere but here.
Grateful for the reprieve, Emily shifted on the bench to look at Elizabeth. "I was just on my way to see you."
"Oh well I just got off," Elizabeth looked at her watch. "I'm meeting someone, and then I have to get to L&B." An idea popped in her head and she grabbed Emily's arm, pulling her from the bench. "I need to talk to you alone for a second." She turned back to Nikolas and shot him a smile. "Excuse us a minute. Hey is that a new shirt?"
He looked down automatically and opened his mouth to respond, but she went right on speaking. "It is? Great green is a good color for you. Now excuse us," she pulled on Emily's arm again.
Emily shrugged her shoulders at Nikolas and let Elizabeth pull her away from the bench. "You're in a good mood."
"I am?" Elizabeth looked surprised. She hadn't been, after Luke had left she had felt really depressed. But as the clock inched along moving closer and closer to the time, she was going to see Jason again, her spirits had picked up.
"You look like your flying." Emily studied her friend, if she didn't know better, she would think that Elizabeth's good mood was drug aided. She hadn't seen Elizabeth look this full of life in … she frowned she couldn't even remember the last time. Her face was glowing, her eyes sparkling, the smile was wide on her face, and it seemed like she couldn't stand still.
"Jason was kissing her."
Lucky's words came back to her. That couldn't be it, could it?
"Earth to Emily, come in Emily." Elizabeth grinned as Emily blinked owlishly at her.
Emily couldn't help but respond to the grin. She hadn't seen Elizabeth smile like that since before the fire. "What?"
"Can you do me a favor?" Elizabeth repeated, drawling out the words in exaggerated slowness.
Emily rolled her eyes at her antics. "Sure."
"Good," Elizabeth checked her watch again. "Can you call Jason at exactly 1:45?"
"Why?" It seemed her brother was the cause of the good mood. She still didn't know how she felt about that.
"Please Em."
"Yeah I can," she caved, she really had to speak to her brother and Elizabeth about what was going on between them.
"Great." Elizabeth grinned again and then took a step away. "I got to go."
"Wait. What am I supposed to say to him?"
"Oh I don't know," she bit her lip and thought about it. "Just ask for me." With that she turned back to the bench. "Bye Nikolas, I need to go, but I'll talk to you later."
"Bye Elizabeth." Nikolas got to his feet when Emily joined him.
"I almost forgot." Elizabeth turned around on the stairs to face them again. "I found out some stuff and need to tell you," she looked around before going on. "About Zander and the rave, but I'll have to fill you in later."
"Elizabeth are you okay?" Nikolas couldn't help but question her. She was acting so strangely.
"What?" Elizabeth demanded. "Can't a person be in a good mood?"
"Of course I just mean…"
"I'm fine Nikolas. But I am going to be late." Elizabeth smiled again then was gone as quickly as she'd arrived.
Emily looked over at Nikolas and saw the same look of surprise reflected on his face, that she knew was on hers. "You saw it too."
"I saw what?" Nikolas focused on her.
"Elizabeth. When was the last time you saw her like that?"
He stuck his hands in his pockets and thought about it. He had seen her smile and laugh for months, but nothing like that. "I thought she was happy for the most part. I knew things were rough with Lucky, but I thought she was happy."
"But?" Emily prompted him moving back to the bench. She wanted him to say it out loud because then she could too.
"When you see her flying like that, her eyes dancing, it makes you realize that she hasn't been happy in a really long time. I never realized she was so good at pretending." He dropped heavily on the bench and stared blindly at the water. Seeing her today only showed how desperate he had been around her. He wanted her to be happy so badly, that he had bought into her act that she was, and in truth she was really only halfway alive.
"It hurts doesn't it?"
Emily's soft question got his attention. "What hurts?"
"Caring so much for someone when all they see you as is a friend." She knew the pain he was feeling very well.
~PC Grille~
"Alexis are you eating alone?"
Alexis jolted when she placed the voice. Her fingers tightened convulsively on the pen in her hand, before she forced herself to loosen them and looked up. "Yes I am Sonny."
Sonny pointed to the chair opposite her. "Can I join you?"
No of course he couldn't join her. She was here trying to work, because her office was too quiet, and gave her too much time to think about last night and him. So why would she want the object of her distraction to join her at a lunch she was only picking at to begin with? She didn't, she wanted him to leave, she wanted to be alone, so she could figure out what she was thinking. "Of course you can join me."
Sonny smiled and sat down.
"But if we do discuss business I will have to bill you."
The grin was lighting quick, and the dimples devastating. "I would expect nothing less from you, I could turn this into a business lunch and write off the expense entirely."
Alexis leaned back against the chair. "Now that is an idea."
"But I don't want to talk about business," he nodded at the waiter who set a drink in front of him. "I would rather talk about you."
"Me?" Alexis reached nervously for her water. "What about me?"
"Are you okay? I know you were upset last night, and this morning you ran out of the garage so fast, I was worried."
She turned away and took a long sip of her water buying time. She had been hoping he hadn't seen her this morning. She hadn't been prepared to see him when she got off the elevator in the garage, so she did the only thing she could do. She turned around and got back in the elevator, went to the lobby and took a cab to work. "I was just running late."
Nerves, he could see them running just under the surface. She was so calm and in control when it came to her work, that nothing fazed her. But in her personal life, the cracks showed, and right now he was looking at some cracks. It gave him hope that she had felt something last night as well. He decided to try to help those cracks along, and wondering what type of response he would get from her, he took the first shot. "So why didn't you take your car then?"
"It's been acting funny lately, I keep meaning to get it checked." Her response was quick, she'd had time to prepare, and the ball was back in his court.
Sonny raised his eyebrows. "You know I can have someone check the car for you."
"Sonny what do I look like to you?" Alexis pulled her glasses off and leaned over the table towards him to make a point. "Do I seem like a helpless woman, who needs a man to take care of her car for her? I can take it to a mechanic myself, that's what their there for after all. So I can handle it myself, if it becomes necessary." And she wouldn't have to do that because there was nothing wrong with her car.
"I didn't mean to infringe on your control." He replied after a minute, there probably wasn't anything wrong with her car, but with Alexis you could never quite tell. "So if you're feeling so confident today, you want to talk about the wedding?"
Unfortunately for Alexis she had just taken a bite of her salad, right before he lobbed that question at her. She swallowed wrong and that set off a fit of coughing. "What about the wedding?" She managed finally.
"I just figured that was what Ned was calling to discuss with you last night." Scored with that hit.
"He was just checking in, he does that. That's what happens when you're in a real relationship." Deflect and counter, deflect and counter, it was just like dealing with any opposing counsel.
"Meaning what?" Sonny took a sip of his wine.
"Meaning the psycho blonde you're with these days."
"Ouch, the claws are back out." He put his hands over his chest in mock surrender. "And here I thought we were friends."
"I'm sorry Sonny." She began to twirl her glasses in her hand. "I had a bad morning and I'm taking it out on you."
"What happened?"
She pointed to the table and the list she had been working on. "Ned wants me to finalize the guest list so we can send out the invitations." She tried hard but she couldn't quite stop a scowl from crossing her features.
Sonny kept his face neutral. He was getting used to hiding the uncomfortable feelings he felt whenever he thought about her marrying Ned. Ned was so wrong for her, he was a Quartermaine through and through, he just hid it a little better then the rest. Lois had finally seen it and broken free of him, he wondered what it would take to make Alexis see it as well. "You're moving ahead then."
"Of course, I agreed to marry him, so why would I change my mind?"
"I don't know maybe the fact that you almost hyperventilate every time you think about being Mrs. Ned Ashton, for the rest of your life, is what makes me wonder if you really want to marry him." Sonny swirled some pasta on his fork. "Do you need a paper bag?"
Alexis glared at him. "A few justified concerns, does not mean I am backing out of the wedding. I love Ned, so why wouldn't I marry him. And I won't just be Mrs. Ned Ashton." She swallowed hard before saying those words.
"Of course not, you will also be one of the Quartermaines."
"I will still be the same person. Alexis Davis." She retorted.
"Don't you mean Alexis Davis Ashton?"
Her glasses clattered to the table. "I didn't change my last name when I married Jax, why would I change it now?" She liked her name, it was her name, her identity.
"Yeah but when you married candy boy, you weren't in love with him. It was a business relationship. This time you're in it for the long haul. Forever and ever Mrs. Ashton, of course you're Mrs. Ashton #7, but remember two of those marriages were to the same woman." Sonny couldn't help but needle her a little bit. She was far to good to waste her life on a user like Ashton. He had tried, for Lois and Brenda's sake, to get along with Ned. But after he convinced Brenda to wear a wire on him, any pretense of getting along with him went out the window. He tolerated Ned now, because he used to be one of the few votes of reason on the ELQ Board. But now he wasn't even that anymore.
"So what's in a name?" Alexis demanded. "I'll still be Alexis the best attorney in New York and most other states. I'll still be in control, I'll still love popcorn and American Movie Classics, changing my name won't change that. Just because I'll be Alexis Ashton, A Squared, doesn't mean I'll change. I mean look at you," she gestured at him with her fork, spilling the salad on the table. "You're name is Michael Corinthos, Jr. and you changed your name."
"Alexis calm down." He wanted to get a rise out of her, but not this much of one.
"Besides it's not like I haven't changed my name before. I was once Natasha Alandria Davidovitch. Could you imagine if I went in front of the bar with that name? The judge would kick me out before I could get it all out. So Alexis Davis works, and now I…" she gasped. "I guess…"
Sonny moved to her side when she began to gasp. "Breathe Alexis."
"Alexis Ashton will…" gasp, "work."
Sonny pushed her head between her knees. "Johnny."
"Right here." Johnny tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a paper bag, he had taken to carrying around with him. "There's nothing to see here people, move on." He turned on the curious onlookers with a glare that inspired them to move.
"That's it take it easy." Sonny told her softly, brushing her bangs back from her face while she breathed in the bag.
"This is so ridiculous." She pulled the bag away when her breathing began to settle.
"Quiet." Sonny brought the bag back to her face.
"Why do I keep doing this?" She asked when he finally took the bag away.
Sonny moved back to his seat. "Because your afraid."
"Why? What's changed? I love Ned, so why does the thought of marrying him, drive me to this?" She held up the brown paper bag with a confused look on her face.
"Maybe because deep down you know that he's not the one for you." Sonny offered keeping his voice low.
"Not you too, everyone seems to be against this wedding. The only ones in our families who are even remotely supportive are Nikolas, Emily, and Lila. Why is that?"
"We can see things that you're too close to see." He kept his voice even, trying to reason with her. Reasoning with a lawyer is never easy. They like to be the ones that say what is going on, not listen as things are being explained to them. So he had to tread lightly. "You two have had a lot of problems, you still do, and yet you seem to think this wedding will magically change everything. Marriage doesn't work like that."
Alexis thought about that. When Ned had first suggested getting married, he had mentioned it as years off in the future, so it was easy to agree and forget about it. Plans and her never seemed to have a knack in working out, so she put the proposal away and moved onto other things. But when he mentioned setting a date, because of the Eddie's Angel situation, she had been upset. No she had been afraid. She liked the idea of marriage, sometimes, but to actually get married, that was another thing entirely.
"But Ned wants to marry me."
"So, what do you want?" He asked.
She wasn't even aware that she had told him that. She didn't want to be alone for the rest of her life. Ned was willing, no he actually wanted her on a permanent basis. No other man in her life had ever wanted her like that. Add to that the fact that she did love him on some level, and marriage made sense, at least to her logical mind. It was just her illogical heart and stomach that weren't paying attention. "What everyone else wants, to be loved, needed."
"And Ashton does that for you? He makes you feel loved, needed, secure?" He couldn't help but add that.
Secure was one thing that Ned never made her feel. He liked to put limits on his love. The realization of that made her want to change the subject. "What about you? What do you want Sonny?"
You the answer was on the tip of his tongue. "What everyone else wants, to be loved, needed."
She smiled wryly at him. He had managed to cheer her up, of course he always seemed to do that for her. He smiled back, and those dimples of his flashed, making her blink. If only he wouldn't look at her like that. It would make her life so much easier.
"Don't settle Alexis." He took a chance and covered her hand on the table. "There is someone who will make you feel all those things you wanted as a little girl."
"I stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago Sonny." She looked at their hands, then back at him. "Besides if he does exist, what's taking him so long to get here?"
"Maybe he is here, and you just haven't realized it yet." His thumb moved softly over the pulse point in her wrist, and he noted how it jumped under his touch.
"Son…"
"Alexis are you ready to go?" V interrupted Alexis, coming to a stop by the table.
Alexis pulled back immediately and looked up at her friend in confusion. "Go?"
"Yeah we had some things to discuss." V turned to Sonny. "Mr. Corinthos."
"Ms. Ardnowski." Sonny managed a smile when he really wanted to scream.
"That's right," Alexis began to shove her papers in her briefcase. "Sorry Sonny I'm late already."
"No problem." His eyes caught hers. "Think about what I said."
~Docks~
Nikolas turned to look at Emily, he knew that she was talking about herself, and him. They had never discussed the time that she had wanted more from him and he had been oblivious to her feelings until it was too late to stop the pain he'd unwittingly inflicted on her. He had been afraid that it would hurt her if he mentioned it, so he'd kept quiet. He had also been relieved, because he didn't know what he would have said if she had wanted to talk. So he'd kept quiet and tried to put their friendship back on track. It had taken a long time, but he thought he had finally succeeded. Now that she had brought it up he still didn't know how to handle it.
"Why do you say that?" He asked finally.
"Nikolas you forget how well I know you." Her smile was slightly bitter. "I know your feelings for Elizabeth run deeper then hers do for you."
"Does she know?"
"No the person you like is normally oblivious." She couldn't help the catty comment, but she hurried on trying to hide it. "She thinks you've let the idea of you two go. That it was only temporary madness on your part."
Nikolas heard the bitterness she was trying to hide and knew then that the hurt he'd unintentionally inflicted on her was still there, at least a little. He sighed heavily at that realization he hated hurting her.
She misread his sigh. "Don't worry Nikolas, it eventually does pass. Just look at me. I'm walking proof." She had gotten over him too, she had Juan in her life now. Of course one of the reasons she had jumped into the relationship with Juan was because he was the first guy who showed any interest in her. Because she was tired of the guys that she did like, only liking her as friends. That she wanted someone to want her for a change.
Now though she was trying to ignore the fact that not only did Juan want her, he seemed to want lots of other girls as well. She couldn't be too mad, Juan had served his purpose he had gotten her over Nikolas or so she liked to tell herself. She couldn't help but gasp at that thought. Where the hell had all of those thoughts come from? They couldn't be true. Her relationship with Juan wasn't based on fear of being hurt again or being alone. It just couldn't be.
"Are you okay?" He couldn't help but notice her distress. He took her hand drawing her attention.
She focused on him and tried to bury the thoughts that had rocked her. "I'm fine." She took a breath and tried to remember what they had been talking about, Elizabeth, right. "You'll get over her eventually."
Nikolas took a chance. "Like you got over me?"
Color flooded her face but she didn't look away. "Yes, like I got over you. Soon you'll go back to just being friends again."
He searched her face, for what he wasn't sure, but whatever he was looking for he didn't see it there. He sighed and lowered his eyes, and they happened to land on the bruises on her arms. The sight of them caused him to switch focus. "Finish telling me what happened with Lucky."
Emily blinked at the sudden change of subject, but she couldn't help but be relieved. The way he was looking at her made her pulse race and the last thing she wanted was to fall under his spell again. "I told you he thought I was Elizabeth and he started to kiss me." She kept her answer brief hoping it would be enough.
"Go on." When she still didn't speak he went on. "Emily I know you think your protecting Lucky but you are not. By not telling me, you're making me imagine a lot of things that I really don't want to think."
She didn't want to tell him, because she didn't want him to think less of her. She knew she hadn't done anything wrong, but there was a small part of her that wondered if he would feel the same.
"Please tell me."
"He had me pinned on the bed, his hands were holding my arms down, and they were so tight." Her voice had lowered and her eyes went dark at the memory. "He was really scaring me. I was yelling at him but it was like he couldn't hear me. I finally managed to get a hand free and I slapped him. That brought him back."
"Em I'm so sorry," he shifted and took her in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. That must have been terrifying for her. Lucky was in serious trouble that much was obvious, but his primary concern right now was in making sure that Emily was okay.
She closed her eyes and felt the uneasiness start to drain from her. "He was so horrified when he realized what he had done, that I felt bad for him. He didn't even remember doing it to me. I tried to convince both him and myself, that it was his feelings for Elizabeth that had finally overwhelmed him. He had tried to deny them for so long that he just couldn't anymore, and instead of Elizabeth he let them out on me. I even convinced him to talk to Elizabeth. You know me, ever the cheerleader." Her voice turned mocking. "Well he blew that, and only made things worse with Elizabeth. I tried to convince myself that it was a one time fluke, that Lucky would never lose control like that again."
Nikolas brushed his hand over her hair to soothe and waited for her to continue.
"But something happened last night that really makes me wonder."
"What happened?"
"Lucky was upset, so he came to see me." She had decided to leave out what had set Lucky off, at least for now. "I thought I had calmed him down, until he was ready to leave…"
"Lucky I'll talk to Elizabeth and Jason tomorrow. I'll find out what is going on between them." Emily moved from the windowseat to stand in front of him.
"And what if she tells you she is dating him?" He asked softly his blue eyes locked on her.
Emily wrapped her arms around her waist, suddenly feeling chilled in her thin tank top. She honestly didn't know how she would feel if Elizabeth started dating her brother. She wanted both of them to be happy, she just wasn't sure if she liked the idea of them being happy together. She frowned when she realized how selfish that sounded. She was beginning to realize that one of the reasons she was fighting so hard for Elizabeth and Lucky to reunite were for her own selfish reasons.
Elizabeth and Lucky were the closest thing to a perfect love that she had ever seen outside of books, and she wanted to believe that that kind of love didn't just disappear. She needed to believe that, otherwise what hope was there for her. That was a selfish reason to want two people to stay together, and she didn't like the realization. She had a lot of thinking to do here. "I don't know Lucky. Let's not borrow trouble by worrying about something before we know the truth."
Lucky got slowly to his feet. "I'll try but it's just so hard, every time I close my eyes I see her wrapped up in Jason."
"Try not to think about it." Habit had her giving him a hug in farewell.
Lucky's arms came around her immediately, pulling her tighter against him. She felt his face in her neck and waited for him to release her but he didn't. She patted his back and tried to pull away but he didn't let her go. Her eyes fell on the bruises she had discovered on her arms and she couldn't help but remember how she got them. For the second time that day, for the second time in her life, she was afraid of Lucky.
"Lucky let me go."
He gave no sign that he heard her order.
"Lucky stop." She hissed in warning. Her struggles grew when she felt his lips on her neck. "Let me go."
"Elizabeth." Lucky murmured the name in her ear.
Sickened and scared Emily stomped hard on his foot and twisted free of him. As she had feared she saw the familiar vacant eyes staring back at her from a face with absolutely no emotion on it.
"Lucky." She raised her voice and sharpened her tone when he stepped towards her. She got through to him and he seemed to snap back to life again. "I think you should go now."
Lucky blinked at her then shrugged. "I already said I was going Emily. Let me know what she says." With that he turned and climbed out the window.
Emily hurried to the window and did something she hadn't done for years. She locked it.
"It was like he wasn't even aware of what he had done. Like he wasn't even there for those few minutes." Emily was standing on the edge of the docks by then, rubbing her hands over her arms.
Nikolas rubbed at the back of his neck, this was worse then he'd thought. Lucky was sliding out of control. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah he just scared me a little." She tried to dismiss her fear. "There's something else you should know." Since she had given away a little she knew it was time to tell the rest. "This isn't the first time that Lucky has lost time."
"What do you mean?"
"One of the reasons that I've been spending so much time with Lucky is because I'm the only one who knows that he is losing hours out of every day." She saw his look of confusion and hurried on. "I noticed that he drifts off when your talking to him, and during that time he has no clue what is going on. He finally admitted that its been happening a lot, sometimes for hours at a time."
"Why didn't he say anything?" Nikolas demanded. "Why didn't you?"
"He wanted to keep it quiet, he threatened to leave if I told anyone. I was just trying to help him."
So that was the secret that they had been keeping. Between that, Juan and the Ted situation it was no wonder Emily looked like she was about to drop. "I can understand your loyalty to Lucky, it's just this is awfully serious for you two to try to figure out on your own."
"I know that." Emily cut off the lecture with a gesture of her hand. "I've tried to convince him to talk to someone else, someone like Kevin Collins or Gail Baldwin, but he refuses. He is convinced that we can figure it out ourselves. You know how he is Nikolas, he convinced all of us that we could handle the Ted situation. He can be very convincing when he wants to be. But I think both situations are getting out of control, and we need help with both of them."
"I'm glad you finally told me. Now we just need to figure out how to make him get some help." He ignored her comments on the Ted situation, he had a feeling he knew who she wanted to get help from, and right now he just wasn't up to talking about Jason.
"I thought if he told Elizabeth she could get him to get help. He agreed to tell her that he still loved her, but wasn't going to tell her anything else. I figured once she knew that much, she would figure out the rest. But Lucky got weird with her again and it didn't work." She debated a minute then decided to go on. "Now I think it's a good thing that it didn't work. The last couple of times that Lucky has slipped into this trance and lost control he has been fixated on Elizabeth."
"I take it you don't mean in a good way." Nikolas pressed her when her eyes shifted away. "There's more then your telling me isn't there?"
"I just think that with her history she shouldn't be around Lucky when he's this close to the edge. He could scare her or…" she trailed off.
"Or hurt her." Nikolas finished for her. He never would have thought it was possible to believe that Lucky would hurt Elizabeth, but a part of him did.
"So what do we do now?"
"I have to talk to Lucky." He answered with a sigh.
"He isn't going to want to talk to you about this." She tucked her hands in her back pockets and corrected herself. "No he's going to be mad at me for telling you and will more then likely shut down on both of us."
"So he gets mad, it's not like the first time he's been mad at me. Remember for the first two years or so that I knew him I was the Cassa-Creep." He held out his hand. "Come on let's get some lunch and you can fill me in on the rest."
She took his hand in relief, she was glad she wasn't alone in this anymore.
"One more thing. I don't want alone with Lucky, at least not until he get a handle on things." His dark eyes were serious.
Emily was quiet while she thought about his order. She didn't like being told what to do, even if it was only out of concern for her. But a part of her felt relieved that he had told her that. Lucky's behavior had been getting odder lately. With his reaction to Jason, and what he had done to her yesterday, she really didn't want to be alone with her oldest friend anymore. "Okay I will try not to be alone with him. What about Elizabeth? Do we tell her?"
Now it was his turn to be quiet. He couldn't help but remember how happy she had looked when she had come roaring through here a few minutes ago. If she did know she would do anything to help Lucky, including making herself miserable again. "Let's hold off on that. There is no reason to bother her until we have a better idea as to what is going on. After all it's not like she's going anywhere."
Emily wondered if she should tell him, that it looked like Elizabeth was going somewhere, at least in her heart. She was moving away from Lucky. If she did tell him she had a feeling he would want to get Elizabeth involved in helping Lucky just to keep her away from Jason.
"Do you agree Em?"
"That sounds like a good idea." Emily said finally. "It's not like we have to worry about her being alone with Lucky anyway. So I don't think we need to worry her yet." She felt a momentary twinge of guilt but buried it. "Let's eat."
~12th and Waters~
Elizabeth hurried down the street, checking her watch every few feet, she was so late that she hoped he was still there. She reached the corner and paused to settle her breathing and straighten her hair before turning it. She saw him immediately, and the sight of him was enough to make her breathing turned erratic again. He was across the street, leaning against the bike, his head was turned away from her and it gave her a chance to study him unaware.
Why did he seem to get better looking each time she saw him? He was dressed ordinarily enough, just like thousands of other men. But there was nothing ordinary about Jason. The black boots, led into faded, well-worn blue jeans, the sun was hitting his hair, and it made it seem blonder then usual. The day was hot, so he had left his leather jacket elsewhere, and instead wore a simple blue cotton T-shirt, his arms were tan and well defined. The artist in her wanted to sketch those muscles that were so clearly outlined by his formfitting shirt. The woman in her though, wanted to touch those muscles, to see if they would quiver under her touch.
"Elizabeth."
She wanted to follow the path of those muscles in his stomach, first with her hand and then with her mouth. Would her breath make them dance, they way his breath on her skin made hers dance?
"Elizabeth." Jason repeated her name and touched her arm in concern.
"Jesus." Elizabeth yelped and jerked back from him. My god she was fantasizing about him, while she was looking at him. When had her crush turned into full-blown lust? What the hell was she going to do?
"Are you okay?" Instantly concerned he reached out to her again.
"I'm fine." She avoided his touch by backing away. She just needed a minute to get her weird reaction to him under control. "I'm sorry you startled me."
He frowned at her when she refused to look him in the eye. "I had been trying to get your attention, you were just standing there looking at me. Didn't you hear me say your name?"
Mortification caused her face to flame and she tried to battle it back. She really needed to get some perspective here. This was Jason whom she was fantasizing about. If he knew what she was doing he'd probably be embarrassed, or pity her, or not want to be around her anymore, so she needed to suck this up. She took a deep breath and put on her best fake smile. "No I must have been daydreaming, sorry." She stepped around him being careful not to touch him. "Thanks for meeting me, I'm sorry I'm late."
"It's okay." He saw through the smile to the nerves she was trying to hide. He wished he knew what she was thinking. "So what are we doing here?" He asked as he trailed her down the street.
"You are going to help me get what I want." This time the smile was genuine, she swallowed hard and took his arm, to turn him into a drive.
Jason looked up at the sign over the drive Al's Automotive Emporium and then back down into her grinning face. "You're buying a car?"
"Yes and you're going to help me." With that warning she led the way onto the lot. "Come on Jason."
"I didn't know you wanted a car." Jason commented when he followed her on the lot.
"What you think I want to ride the bus for the rest of my life?" She turned to look at him with a grimace on her face. "Believe me when I say that if I never see the inside of a bus again I will die happy. Everybody crowds you so you can't breathe, and the smells," she wrinkled her nose. "If possible they're even worse in the summer with all the heat and the swe…"
"Okay so you hate the bus." Jason cut her off and looked around the overflowing lot. "So what kind of car do you want?"
"It's not a question of what I want Jason, it's about what I can afford." She took his hand and led him to the left side of the lot. "That means secondhand used, which means these." She gestured to a series of vehicles that looked like they had a lot of wear and tear on them.
"If it's just a matter of money." He stopped in surprise when she suddenly turned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. "Elizabeth?" His hand automatically went to her back.
"Play along Jason." She whispered tightening her hold.
"Hey there folks. It's a beautiful day for car shopping."
Jason shifted his head and studied the man who had joined them. He was barely taller then Elizabeth but was probably close to three times her weight. He was wearing green plaid pants and a brown shirt that was littered with sweat stains. The sun glistened off his heavily greased black hair.
"Oh hey there sweet thing, I see that your back just like you said. And you brought your man with you aren't you a smart little thing. He can tell you just how sweet my cars are. I'm Al, Easy Al is what they call me, because I love to make your car dreams come true, just as easy as pie." Al kept smiling even though he was a little upset. He much preferred to sell cars to women when they were alone. They were so much easier to be led that way. And this one had seemed more brain dead then most.
Elizabeth put on the vacant look she had been practicing. "Of course I'm back. I told you I loved this car. It's just so cute and the color is to die for."
Jason focused on her as soon as she spoke, she didn't sound like herself. In fact she sounded like someone he thought he knew. He frowned and listened as she went on about the car to Al. She sounded like that annoying blonde nurse from the hospital, Angie, or Amy or something.
"But Jason here," she touched his stomach, getting his attention. "Will have the final say. He worries about me."
Al glanced at Jason to size him up. He could normally read people, in his business he had to, and he had to do it quickly. But he was having problems with this Jason. The man's eyes were sharp, but other then that Al couldn't get a read from him.
He focused on the girl instead and again tried to lead her to the red convertible he knew she wanted, even though she thought she couldn't afford it. "I still think you would look great in this little honey here. Just think how jealous your girlfriends will be when you come rolling up in this beauty. And think with the convertible, it will be so easy to load those shopping bags."
Elizabeth swallowed the blazing retort to the sexist comment, and smiled instead. "I know I love this car. But it is out of my price range. I think I'll stick with this one." She leaned against a gray Volkswagen Rabbit.
"Now the difference in price between these two is nominal." At her vacant look he swallowed his glee and went on. "It's not that much sweetie. In fact the worse deal here is the Rabbit."
"But last week the price swing between the two was over $2,000." Elizabeth reminded him. That was one of the reasons she had brought Jason with her.
"No it wasn't, honey you must be remembering the Pinto on the back lot, you know the purple one you just loved." He rolled his eyes in Jason's direction then quickly looked away when Jason just met his look with a cold stare.
"No I'm going to stick with the Rabbit and the price we agreed on last week, as long as Jason here likes it. And of course if it passes the…the," she looked blankly at Jason. "What did you call it baby? The mechanics field test?"
"Now honey there's no need for that, I have the papers saying it has been checked and certified, by one of the best mechanics in the city." The mechanic happened to be his brother-in-law but that made no difference.
"I think a test drive and an inspection is definitely in order." Jason spoke for the first time he was still trying to deal with the baby Elizabeth had just called him. He could see through the lies Al was telling easily. Judging from Elizabeth's actions so could she.
"Well I hate to slow things up, I had a couple in here just an hour ago, making an offer on this one. They said they would be back soon." He looked at his watch. "If you take it out for an inspection, and they come back and make me an offer, I'll have to take them up on it. You're just going to have to trust me little lady."
Elizabeth checked her watch and made a face. 1:47 she was late. "Jason."
Jason's cell phone began to ring and Elizabeth crossed her fingers. "Morgan."
Al's eyes widened when he put the names Jason and Morgan together and came up with Jason Morgan. Cautious eyes made a new study of the man on the phone.
Elizabeth saw him pale and stifled a giggle.
"It's for you." Jason held out the phone.
"Thanks." She took the phone. "Hello."
"So I'm calling like I promised and I have no idea why I am." Emily spoke quickly.
"Oh hey Em. I'm sorry I forgot to call you."
"You do realize we are going to have to talk."
"I had no doubt about that. Talk to you later though." Elizabeth disconnected and handed the phone back to Jason. Then turned to face Al and this time she spoke in her normal tone of voice. "So the keys and the intake papers for the inspection?"
Al's eyes slid from her to Jason who had his arms crossed over his chest and was studying the car. "I'll be right back."
Elizabeth leaned against a car. "So what do you think?"
"I think I want to know why you were acting like an idiot?"
"To get around Al." She hopped up the hood of an old Ford. "He has been jerking me around for weeks, jacking up the price, not wanting me to see any papers. I sent Nikolas here to scope him out. But Nikolas rolled up in the Jag, and the price of every car on this lot happened to jump about $2500. Then Lucky came by and Al offered him the Rabbit for $700 less then what he offered me. I just wanted to get a fair price for it."
"And how do I come in?" he leaned against the hood next to her.
"Well, I have to admit I was using you." She grinned slyly at him. "Let's face it Jason one thing you do very well is intimidate people. If you happened to intimidate Al, who was I to argue with that."
"And Emily's call?"
"Well I had a fifty-fifty shot with that one. Sometimes you answer the phone Morgan." She offered a bad imitation of him. "The other time it's yeah." That imitation made him grin. "So if you happened to say Morgan, and Al happened to recognize your name. Well there's no harm in that."
He had been used in a lot of ways, but to get a good deal on a used car was a new one. "Elizabeth are you sure about buying a car from him. Especially a used car. If it's just the money I can help you…"
"Stop." She jumped off the car and put her hands on her hips to glare at him. "I didn't ask you to come, so you would buy a car from me. I want to do this on my own. I have been saving money for just this reason for years, and I finally have enough to buy my car. Is this Rabbit," she gestured to the car. "What I really want? No. But it's what I can afford."
"I would like to help you, you helped me, you saved my life, the least I can do is get you a car." Jason argued.
"But then it would be you buying it, instead of me doing it for myself." She cried and saw the confusion in his eyes at her rant. "Give me your wallet." She snapped, holding out her hand.
He looked down at her hand then back into her eyes, which were shining in anger and pulled the wallet from his jeans and placed it in her hands.
She opened it and her eyes widened in shock at the amount of cash in it. "Jesus Jason what if you were rob…" She snorted. "Never mind."
She pulled a crisp $100 bill from the wallet and put it on his hand. "Now this is all the money you have, and you can buy this dirt bike, for just under that $100, it will be yours free and clear." She pointed to dirt bike that was chained to the fence.
"Or Ned, will buy you a brand new not even released 2001 Harley Davidson, fully loaded with everything you could possibly want on it. Now which one would you want? The bike you could buy yourself. Or the one that could be bought for you?" She crossed her arms over her chest and waited.
Jason looked at the bike and thought it wise not to mention the couple of hundreds he had in his jean pockets. He grinned and shook his head. "I get your point."
Elizabeth smiled back at him. "I know the car isn't much, but it will be the first big purchase of my life. Even the studio wasn't totally mine at first, because for a while Gram helped me. But this," she turned back to the little car. "This one is all mine."
He bent down and peered in the window at the cracked upholstery, and the old dial radio in the dash. "If this is what you want."
She looked longingly at the red Mustang convertible. "For now it is." She leaned back against the hood and tilted her head back, the heat from the sun, felt nice on her face. "And there is another reason you're here."
Jason mimicked her pose. "What's that?"
"Well I assume since you were a bike mechanic at one point, you know something about engines. Maybe even car engines, if not, you probably know someone who does. I'm not an idiot, I do want to get the car inspected before I buy it."
"I can do that." Her eyes were still closed and he used the opportunity to study her. Her grin was wide, her cheeks were turning slightly pink because of the sun, but the color looked good on her face. She looked very relaxed and very beautiful.
"You do know what that means, don't you Jason?" She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. "That means you will be responsible for keeping my car running. If something goes wrong with it, I'll have to call you to get your expertise."
"I'll be responsible for it?" He questioned shifting closer to it. "How do you figure that?"
"It's a rule, when someone helps someone else buy a car, they have to be available if that car breaks down." She couldn't seem to stop herself from leaning against him, while she looked up into his face. "So it looks like your going to have to stay in town."
"So all of this is to get me to stay in town?" He lowered his voice, his hand moving around to rest at her back. "You could have just asked."
"I tried that once. You left anyway." Her eyes were serious and she shifted again, so she was leaning against him instead of the hood, his thigh resting between her legs. "I wanted to hedge my bets."
The wind caught her hair, and he brushed it from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "You could try asking again. You might be surprised at what I'd say this time." He slowly lowered his head down closer to her upturned face.
She matched his move by letting herself relax fully against him, except for her neck and head which she angled up closing the distance to him, meeting him halfway. She felt his breath on her face, and her eyes began to drift closed.
The shrill ring of the cell phone broke the spell and Elizabeth tensed up again. Why was it that phones seemed to ring at the absolutely worst time?
"Are you going to get that?"
Jason's voice broke her mental cursing and she flushed when she realized it was her phone ringing and not his. "Right." She backed away and dug in her bag for the phone. "Hello … That's okay Chloe … Where? … No I can do that, I'm downtown already. Bye"
She closed the phone and nervously ran a hand through her hair, before finally putting the phone back in her bag. "I need to go."
"So I gathered." Jason felt the disappointment settle in his gut. "I'll talk with Al and get the car checked out, then I'll meet you later."
"Okay." She was nervous all over again. "It's a date." Her eyes went wide. "I mean, it's not a date, it's just that's a plan." She began backing away. "That's right. I'm planning on seeing you later." She turned away. "Bye Jason."
"Elizabeth wait." Jason closed the distance between them, when she stopped but didn't turn around. "You're key."
She opened her eyes in surprise, she hadn't expected him to say that. She turned around and reached for the key he had in his hand. Her fingers brushed his, and she couldn't help but feel a jolt of electricity at the contact. "Thanks." Her voice was a lot huskier then usual.
"I think I should thank you for letting me do this for you." He pulled another set of keys from his pocket. "I made you a spare."
She glanced down at the keys in his hand, and before she even thought about it, words were flying out of her mouth. "Keep them, you'll never know when you need a safe place to get away from it all." A hint of surprise crossed Jason's features and she hurriedly started moving again. "I need to go. I'll see you later."
"Elizabeth." Again he called after her stilling her flight.
God she really needed to leave before she embarrassed herself even worse. "Yeah?"
"You have something of mine." His voice came from directly behind her and she felt his breath on her neck. "And I'm going to need it back."
She nervously licked her lips. "W-what?"
He turned her to face him. "My wallet."
She blinked in surprise then smiled in relief, before digging in her bag for his wallet. "I wasn't trying to steal it."
"Mm-hmm." He held out his hand.
"I wasn't." She slapped the wallet in his hand. "I just forgot." She saw Al walking towards them, and heard her Lizzie voice screaming in her ear and decided to go for it. She stood on tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.
His mouth parted in surprise, his lips, warm, soft and experienced. Before he had a chance to deepen the kiss or pull her closer, she pulled back and stepped away. "Bye sweetie." She said loudly before hurrying away.
Jason watched her run to catch a bus at the corner, and shook his head. Things were moving between the two of them. He wasn't sure where exactly but they were definitely moving.
"So did the sweet thing have to leave?"
"Her name is Elizabeth and if you can't remember that, I suggest you don't call her anything at all." Jason ordered without turning around.
The sweat began to roll off of Al's brow at those words. "Of course I didn't mean anything by it."
Jason turned around, his eyes coolly assessing the man in front of him. "I assume those are the papers?"
"Yes." Al held them out nervously. A quick phone call to his brother had confirmed that this was in fact The Jason Morgan. He couldn't help be a little nervous being around him.
"Good." Jason took them from him. "This is a good start. But you know what I'm going to need from you Al? I want your original intake forms from when you bought the car, and your records of all the work you did on it."
"Now those are private materials I don't let anyone see those."
Jason just looked at him and waited.
"Of course I'll go get them." Al began backing to the office.
"Al everything better be on there. I'd hate for my mechanic to find something that isn't." Jason called after him.
Al swallowed hard. Who knew that sweet little thing would be the end of him?
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