Thanks so much for your wonderful replies. And to the person who said they hated Liason, boy did they read the wrong author. LOL As a reward here is part 2.
Love, Lies and Chances
Part 2
General Hospital
"Oh my god!" Carly's cry startled the others gathered beside the nurse's station.
"Let it go Carly," Sonny took her arm to try to pull her away.
"What's wrong?" Lucky asked in puzzlement.
Turning to look Elizabeth found herself face to face with Jason. Judging from the stunned expression on his face he had figured it out. And judging from Carly's rapidly increasing anger so had she. It was nothing less than the reaction she had expected to receive.
"Don't tell me to be quiet Sonny," Carly hissed loudly, jerking her arm free of his restraining hold she moved in on Elizabeth. "You cold-hearted bitch. How could you do this to him?"
Feeling the sting of Carly's heated accusation Elizabeth knew it was only the first of many accusations to come. "Hold your tirade for a minute." Turning to Nikolas she sent up a flag. "Will you take Brenna to my Grandmother please? She doesn't need to hear this."
"Are you sure?" Nikolas asked even as he took the baby. "I can stay for moral support."
"It's okay I can handle this." Nikolas still looked reluctant but gradually moved away from the brewing argument.
"What is going on?" Emily asked even though she had the sickening suspicion she already knew what was causing her brother's unnatural paleness and Carly's temper.
"I'll tell you what's going on," Carly retorted.
"Carly keep your mouth shut," Sonny warned her.
Ignoring his warning she moved closer, her built up temper finally had a target and she would be damned before she tried to hold it back.
Elizabeth saw the train wreck coming but didn't try to stop it.
"There was a time I dreamed about seeing a little girl with piercing blue eyes. Eyes that were the same as her daddy's," Carly began. "Well I finally saw a girl with Jason's eyes today, she just happened to be yours as well."
"No." Lucky's denial was adamant and immediate. He knew Jason and Elizabeth had been drawn together for a time, but to have his child? It was a ridiculous thought.
Elizabeth kept her focus on Jason trying to read his reaction but he wouldn't meet her gaze his attention remained on where Nikolas and Brenna had disappeared.
"That's enough Carly." Sonny tried again to stop his wife.
"No it's not enough," Carly countered. "Are you going to try to deny it?"
"Deny what?" Refusing to be intimidated Elizabeth met her gaze squarely.
"That Jason is the father of that little girl?"
"No." This time it was Emily's turn to deny. Elizabeth could never be that cruel to Jason. Elizabeth knew how much he loved Michael, how devastated he had been when he'd had to give him up. Elizabeth had told her what a good father she thought Jason had been, so there was no way she would keep his child from him. And still the doubt remained. The fact was, Elizabeth had kept the baby a secret, why would she do that unless Carly was right?
Desperate for answers Carly asked again. "Is Jason the father of your child?"
When Jason turned to look at her, when his eyes finally met hers, she answered. "Yes he is."
The admission stole Carly's anger and seemingly transferred it to Emily. "How could you?"
Flinching at the tone Elizabeth ignored her present and hopefully future friend and addressed Jason. "We need to talk privately."
"It's almost a year too late for that don't you think?" Carly piped up.
"Back off Carly," Jason finally spoke. "When?"
"Can you come by my Grandmother's house around 6:30?" Elizabeth asked and was relieved when he nodded. Turning she faced an angry Emily and a still stunned Lucky. "If you want answers from me you'll have to wait until after I speak with Jason." With those words she walked away.
"What just happened?" Emily wondered aloud.
"Let's go check on Michael." When Carly shook her head Sonny pulled out the big guns. "He's probably wondering where we are. I don't want to leave him alone."
Carly's look of mutiny faded and she nodded. Moving closer she gave Jason a hug. "Come on Jase, Michael would love to see you."
"I'll stop by later." His voice was hoarse but he didn't care.
"Jase," Carly pleaded. She knew that Elizabeth's surprising return was going to be bad for Jason but she hadn't counted on this. She hated the look on his face.
"Carly leave it alone." Taking her hand Sonny pulled her away from Jason, yet he couldn't help pausing by Jason. "You know where to find me."
Jason nodded and Sonny and Carly finally left.
"Are you okay?" Emily moved into Carly's empty position next to her brother.
"I'm fine."
"Jason…"
"Don't Emily," he warned her off and headed for the elevator. "I can't talk about it now."
"Just answer me one thing." Emily pursued him. "Is what Elizabeth said true? Is there a chance you could be the father?"
"Yes." With that he stepped on the elevator and disappeared.
"Did I miss a memo somewhere?" Lucky wanted to know, he felt like he'd just entered the twilight zone. "Did you know she had a baby?"
"No I didn't know." Emily snarled. Anger was slowly replacing her confusion. "It seems that Nikolas knew."
"You caught that too?" Lucky asked. "Somehow I don't think he just found out yesterday either."
"Oh I know he didn't. He's seen Elizabeth quite a few times since she moved. Whenever he had business on the West Coast he made a point to drop in on her." Emily released the words sharply as if she were firing a gun. "The only question I have is why didn't he tell me?"
"Why didn't Elizabeth tell us?" Lucky added.
"And the most important question of all, why the hell didn't she tell the father of her child?" Riding the anger Emily set off to find Nikolas and Elizabeth, it was time to get some straight answers. Lucky followed close behind.
Nurse Amy Vining emerged from the other side of the round bearing wall, her eyes were wide because of the information she had overheard. Audrey was bound to have a conniption when she found out the news.
Room 217
"Slow down Emily."
"Not now Lucky," Emily continued her furious march to Audrey's room.
"Yes now." Making the decision for her he took her arm and pulled her into a vacant room.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to get your brain to work. You can't just barge into Mrs. Hardy's room shouting accusations," he explained patiently.
"Why the hell not?"
"Emily you know why." He bent slightly until he could see her mutinous eyes.
"Fine," she never could hold out against his patient look.
"Promise?"
"Yes I promise," Emily all but growled the words.
"Good," letting go of her arm he led the way across the hall to Mrs. Hardy's room.
Emily entered the room in time to hear Mrs. Hardy say. "She's grown so much since the last time I saw her."
"Wait you've seen her?" Emily's promise was quickly forgotten.
"Emily," Nikolas voiced a warning.
Ignoring both men's warning looks she went on. "You knew about the baby?"
"Of course I knew."
Infuriated Emily turned on Elizabeth. "It seems the only people you didn't tell about the baby were your best friend, your former fiancé and who else? Oh that's right the baby's father."
I.C.U.
"How the hell could she do that to him?" Carly's anger hadn't lessened with distance, it had continued to grow, and when they discovered Michael had been taken for tests she didn't have to try to hide it.
"We don't know all the facts," Sonny pointed out quietly.
"Don't give me that," she turned on him quickly. "Don't you dare try to convince me that if a woman kept your child from you that you would be calm about it." As soon as the words left her mouth Carly turned away. The realization of that being exactly what her and Alexis were doing to him crashed into her, and she quickly became nervous.
"Of course I wouldn't be calm," he snapped. "What Elizabeth did, I would consider a betrayal. Just because a man isn't the one giving birth to the baby doesn't mean he doesn't have a right to know about it. I would be furious with anyone who kept me from my child."
Carly ran a shaky hand through her hair. She couldn't say she was surprised by his words. She had expected nothing less from Sonny. After all he had been prepared to take her and the whole Quartermaine family to court in order to get the custody of their baby.
"What we have to remember is that this didn't happen to us, it happened to Jason. We may be angry but who is to say he is? Jason doesn't get angry at things or slights the way other people do. He forgives which is something I seem to be incapable of doing." Sonny couldn't help but sigh in amazement at his friend's behavior. "He's the best person we know, we need to support him no matter how he feels."
"Who the hell are you? And what have you done with my husband?" Carly wanted to know.
Courtney paused in her approach to Michael's room. It looked like an argument was brewing between Sonny and Carly. If Sonny saw her it would only get worse, so she quickly turned away.
"A slight?" Carly practically yelled. "You think all Elizabeth did to Jason was some sort of slight? Sonny she kept his child from him for almost a year. Jason, the best person we know, was kept away from his little girl by Elizabeth Webber the bitch you always used to get mad at me for going after."
"What did you say?" Courtney asked in a small voice.
Hallway
"What were you doing in there?"
"I was trying to get some answers from Elizabeth," Emily retorted. "Answers that you already seem to have."
"Elizabeth told me that she told you she would talk to you after she spoke with Jason," Nikolas reminded her.
"It's a bit late for her to talk to Jason isn't it?" Emily asked sharply. "She should have done that when she found out she was pregnant."
Frustrated Nikolas took a step back trying to regain control. Emily's angry outburst had been going on for several minutes now. He'd known she was going to be angry, but he thought she'd be more hurt. Was it wrong that he hoped she would move to the hurt stage sooner rather than later?
"You knew the whole time didn't you?" Lucky asked even though he already knew the answer.
"No he didn't know Lucky," Emily sing-songed an answer for her fiancé. "Nikolas wouldn't have kept something this important a secret, especially not from me."
Nikolas felt the jabs of her words and knew this was going to be bad.
"I went to you when I found out Elizabeth had mysteriously left town," Lucky reminded his brother. "I asked you if you knew where she was and you said you didn't. Later when she finally got in touch I asked her about it and she didn't say a thing, she didn't say anything about being pregnant either."
"What are you trying to ask me?" Nikolas asked.
"Did you help Elizabeth leave town?"
"Yes." Nikolas saw no reason to hide his role in things any longer.
"Why did you lie to me?"
"Elizabeth didn't want anyone to know. Do you remember how strained things were between me and Elizabeth at that time because of the lies I helped you tell her as well as my own lies to her?" Nikolas asked him. "When she came to me and asked me for help I wasn't about to let her down. When she told me to keep it a secret from everyone I did as she requested."
"I'm not everyone," Lucky retorted angrily.
"At that time you were, at least to Elizabeth." Nikolas explained simply.
"Did you know she was pregnant with my brother's child when you helped her flee?" Emily wanted to know.
"Elizabeth didn't even know she was pregnant when she left," he answered carefully.
Emily saw the truth in his eyes, the truth he didn't want to admit and pressed him for it. "If she had known and told you, would you still have helped her leave? Even if you knew Jason didn't know about the baby?"
He met her gaze squarely and kept his answer simple. "Yes."
Disappointed in him Emily turned away to try to stem the tears. "You lied to me too."
"I know I did. I'm sorry but I had no choice, I was keeping a friend's confidence. You're the one who taught me what it means to be a friend, I couldn't let her down."
"Did I also teach you how to lie or betray?" Emily demanded angrily. "I don't think I did, I think that was something you were born with just like every Cassadine is."
Stung by the method of her attack Nikolas tried to regroup. Cloaking himself with the ingrained dignity and aloofness he used most of his life to survive he adopted a regal tone. "I'm sorry if you feel betrayed. I don't believe I did anything wrong. I was merely helping someone I love."
"You helped Elizabeth keep a baby from her father. You kept me from knowing I had a niece," her tears started to fall. The anger was beginning to fade again leaving behind the feeling of betrayal by her friend and her fiancé. "If Elizabeth hadn't returned to town would you ever have told me the truth?"
Nikolas knew that his answer would devastate them both but he didn't try to lie. "I would have only told you when Elizabeth said I could."
Disappointed and nauseous, Emily turned and walked away. Seeing her leave Nikolas felt a piece of his heart break.
"How could you do that to her?" Lucky yanked hard on Nikolas' arm until they were facing each other.
"This doesn't concern you Lucky." Nikolas snapped.
"Doesn't concern me?" Lucky's voice rose in shock. "I almost married Elizabeth, Emily's my oldest friend and you're my brother, how the hell can you say it doesn't concern me?"
"Because it's true. You know the players but your not personally involved Lucky, you have no right to be angry or hurt."
"I almost married her," he reminded his brother.
"You also lied to her, repeatedly, you cheated on her with her own sister, and the only reason you were marrying her was out of a sense of obligation," Nikolas reminded him coolly. "Explain to me why you think Elizabeth had a duty to keep you informed on what was happening in her life?"
Lucky could only stare at him in shock.
Nikolas went on after a minute of waiting for Lucky to respond. "I didn't think you could. As for Emily she's my fiancé, it's our problem to solve you have nothing to do with it."
"That's where you're wrong Nikolas," Lucky called after his brother stopping him in his tracks. "I'm Emily's friend, so I'm going to be there for her. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to help her through your betrayal and there's no way you can stop me."
Cliff Road
Jason was racing the wind, racing the demons that were chasing him, but most of all he was racing the hurt he felt over finding out he had a daughter long after he should have known. He hadn't been there when Elizabeth had found out about the baby. He hadn't been there during the pregnancy or even the birth. He had missed the birth of his daughter, how could he understand that? Would Brenna understand she was older?
His attention was wandering and knowing how dangerous that was when you were on a bike he slowed and pulled over to the side of the road. Was it by chance or design that he'd stopped in the same spot he's once taken Elizabeth to? That night was still so clear in his mind. Teaching her to play pool at Jake's, the feel of her in his arms, the smell of her hair, the confrontation with Lucky and then the drive out here where she'd tried to end their friendship. That night, when she tried to walk away from him, drove home just how much she meant to him. He'd seen the pain in her eyes that night, she hadn't wanted to walk away anymore than he wanted her to.
Her attempts to walk away from him didn't work anymore than his attempts to push her away. It seemed the only way they were able to stay away from each other was when one of them were out of town. But even when he was out of town she remained in his mind. He didn't think of her every day but he did think of her more often then he'd thought he would. And he knew she thought of him when he was gone, she'd told him that herself.
As happy as he had been to see her yesterday was as confused and hurt as he felt now. She had hurt him before that much was true, but she had never been deliberately cruel. When she hurt him the first time it was because she was torn between her feelings for him and her loyalty to Lucky. It had been easier to understand, to forgive, because as much as she may have hurt him she was hurting herself that much more. She'd hurt him again when she'd turned to Zander instead of him after her ordeal in the crypt. But those hurts were nothing compared to the pain he was feeling now.
How many times had he talked to her about Michael and how much being his father had meant to him? She had been the first person to ask him what it meant to be a father. She had listened, she had understood his pain, even comforted him over the loss of Michael. So how could she suddenly turn around and keep his child from him? It didn't make any sense.
How much pain could she have been in to keep his child from him? Was any amount of pain a legitimate excuse to explain her actions? He could still remember the pain he'd felt when Courtney told him about the baby they had lost, a baby he hadn't even known about. As painful as that night had been it was nothing compared to what he was feeling now.
How was he supposed to forgive the unthinkable? He didn't normally question people or demand things from then unless it was business, but he had to do it now. He needed to know why. He needed an explanation that made sense to him. He needed something to soothe the incredible pain he was feeling. He could only wonder if Elizabeth would be able to provide him with what he needed.
Hardy House
"Nikolas." Elizabeth's smile was genuine when she opened the door to her unexpected visitor. "This is a surprise."
"You forgot this at Wyndamere," he held up a plush stuffed animal.
"I don't recognize that as being Brenna's," she raised a brow in suspicion.
"Well," Nikolas shifted on his feet. "It is now."
"Come in," with a roll of her eyes she stepped back. "You're going to spoil her."
"I'm her godfather I'm entitled." Spying Brenna in her playpen he immediately headed in her direction. "Hello beautiful."
"She has you so wrapped and she barely even speaks only gurgles," Elizabeth observed with a teasing smile.
"With you as her mother that lack of speech won't last long," he returned easily and ignored her mock glare of outrage.
The strain that had existed between them the last time they had both been in Port Charles had vanished with time. It hadn't happened overnight, but their relationship had begun to heal when she had come to him for help to get her out of town. She had barely spoken with him in months until that day she showed up with no warning at Wyndamere asking him for help. Before that visit she had rebuffed every overture he had made to try to repair their relationship. He knew if he said no, or tried to get her to delay her departure, their friendship would never heal, so he had helped her without hesitation. He'd even managed to convince her to take some money to help finance her new life. Later when she found out she was pregnant they grew even closer. He didn't regret helping her, or keeping her secrets. Even if it meant Emily was furious with him he wouldn't change a thing.
"She didn't take it well did she?"
The question drew him from his thoughts. "Pardon?"
"Emily didn't take the news that you've known the truth all along very well did she?"
"May I?" He gestured at Brenna and when she nodded he picked her up. She grew so quickly he always missed so much in between visits. "Pictures don't do her justice."
"I know," Elizabeth smiled proudly, "but of course I'm biased." Battling down familial pride she returned to the subject at hand. "Stop avoiding my question. What happened with Emily?"
"She's angry and hurt," he admitted finally.
"I'm sorry I know your going to catch a lot of flak over my secret now that its out."
"I can handle it." Again his response was easy he had no regrets.
"You shouldn't have too." She collapsed on the couch beside him and couldn't help but smile when she saw the faces he was making at her daughter. "I'm glad you were here for me and Brenna when we needed someone."
"So am I. How did it go with Jason?"
"I haven't seen him yet. He'll be here in about an hour," her nerves spiked again. The conversation was one she had been preparing for forever had judgment day had finally arrived. It was finally time to pay the consequences of her decision. She could handle it, as long as nothing spilled over on her daughter.
"You didn't have time to tell me earlier how he took the news about Brenna," he pressed for more answers and settled a sleepy-eyed Brenna more comfortably against his shoulder.
"How do you think he reacted? I could have hit him with a sledgehammer and it wouldn't have had the same impact. I hated having to do it in front of all those people." That was yet another piece of guilt she'd have to work through.
"When those elevator doors opened and I saw all those people I was tempted to just let them close and take Brenna back to the car," he admitted.
Spying her dozing daughter she stood and took her from Nikolas. "I'll put her down."
Nikolas used the time she was gone to settle himself more comfortably on the couch. The discussion they were about to have was bound to be uncomfortable for both of them but it had to be done.
"She's out like a light," Elizabeth's smile faded when she saw his expression.
"I see your still wearing Daniel's ring," he gestured to her hand. "Does that mean you got the answer you needed?"
"What do you mean?"
"Does the fact your still wearing his ring mean you now know you're no longer in love with Jason and are willing to move on with your life?" He asked pointedly.
"Daniel had nothing to do with my visit. I'm here to help Gram, and tell Jason about Brenna."
Recognizing an evasion when he heard it Nikolas wasn't about to let her get away with it. "Those might be some of the reasons you're here, but they're not the only ones. Do you still love Jason?"
Elizabeth was quiet for a long time while she considered the question. Was she still in love with Jason? How could she be in love with him and keep his child away from him at the same time? Didn't one action cancel the other out? "I don't know how I feel about him," she answered honestly. "But even if I do still love him, and he manages to find a way to love me, it won't be enough."
"What do you mean?"
"Love can't survive without trust," she explained.
"You don't trust Jason?"
"He doesn't trust me." She replied and wasn't surprised that she still felt a flicker of pain at the realization. "He didn't trust me before he knew about Brenna, and I'm positive he doesn't trust me now."
"Trust is important." He argued more for his sake than hers. "But so is love."
"Love doesn't work without, without honesty. He knew how much I needed the truth and he lied to me anyway. No relationship, no love no matter how strong can survive without trust."
"Trust can be rebuilt," he continued doggedly.
"Nikolas are you feeling okay? Because it almost sounds like you're encouraging me to reconcile with Jason."
"No." His response was adamant. "I only want what's best for you, what will make you happy. If that turns out to be Jason so be it."
"But you prefer Daniel." Elizabeth couldn't help but tease when she saw how pained saying those words made him look.
"It doesn't matter what I prefer, it's what you prefer that counts." Nikolas got to his feet to make his way to the door. "I'm going to leave before Jason shows up, no point in starting the meeting off with an argument."
"Thanks." She opened the door for him, and he was heading for his jag when she was prompted to speak. "I don't know how I would have gotten through these last few years without you."
"You would have managed fine. You're too strong not to. I'm just glad you let me in." Turning he jogged the rest of the way to his car, it was time for Round 2 with Emily.
When the doorbell rang precisely at 6:30 a jittery Elizabeth jumped. Taking a few cleansing breaths she remembered from Lamaze she headed for the door and opened it. "Jason you're right on time. Come in."
"Thanks," Jason moved inside and took stock of the unfamiliar room. He knew she had only been at the house for a few hours but toys and other baby things had already taken over the tastefully decorated room.
Battling an unfamiliar sense of uneasiness she tried to project an aura of calmness. She didn't know why she even bothered, Jason always saw through her, but she couldn't help but try. "Would you like a drink?"
"I'm fine," as uncomfortable as she was he took a seat on the couch.
"Brenna's napping, she'll be up soon. I thought we could talk until then."
"Fine." His answer was flat.
It wasn't going very well and if he didn't start answering with more than two words at a time it was really going to be bad. Swallowing hard she plunged into the heart of the matter. "I'm sorry you found out like that. I was going to find you today and tell you about Brenna in private. I just wanted Brenna to see her Great-Grandmother I didn't know everyone would be there or I wouldn't have had Nikolas bring her when he did. I know it may sound hollow but I wasn't trying to hurt you."
Jason reluctantly nodded. He had an unusual need to stall her explanation and gave into it. "Where are you living now?"
"I'm living in Napa, building a life there. I have a good job at a gallery and I'm able to bring Brenna in with me a lot of the time. When I can't I have a neighbor, a free-spirited bon vivant named Chris who takes care of Brenna."
"And you have a fiancé as well," he reminded her of the diamond on her finger.
"Daniel's a very nice man," she nervously twisted the ring on her finger. "He treats me with respect, has a good job, and he adores Brenna."
Jealousy was an unfamiliar emotion for him but he had no problem identifying it as what he was feeling. The only question was if he was jealous of Daniel because of the time he spent with Brenna, with Elizabeth, or both?
"I need to clarify something," although still unsure Elizabeth decided to tell all of the truth. "This is an engagement ring, but Daniel and I aren't engaged."
"I don't understand."
"Daniel proposed, I haven't given him my answer," she admitted. "I couldn't, not until I spoke to you."
"What do I have to do with you getting married?" Gripped by a painful emotion he couldn't quite identify he shifted a little closer to her.
"I needed to tell you about Brenna. I needed to see you again and settle things before I could move on."
"And if he hadn't proposed would you have bothered to tell me about my daughter?" Jason asked sharply finally allowing some of his anger to show.
Feeling the sting of his words she got up from the couch to pace away, wrapping her arms protectively around her she finally turned to face him. "Yes I planned on telling you."
"When?"
"Soon. I was already trying to get time off when Gram got hurt."
"Why now? You kept me away from her for close to a year now. Why was I suddenly deemed worthy of knowing?" Jason demanded the truth from her.
She could hear the pain in his voice and her guilt increased. "I heard you got married again, and this one seemed to be lasting. When I found out you had married Courtney I knew it must be the real thing. You wouldn't have married Courtney, Sonny's sister, unless you really wanted to," she couldn't help a slight sneer. "It appears you finally found a woman worth fighting for."
Confused Jason got to his feet. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that every time you pushed me away you used the excuse that your world was too dangerous for me to be in and you cared too much about me to let me be hurt by it." Studying him discretely through her lashes she tried to figure out what he was feeling. "It seems you cared enough for Courtney that you couldn't stand to be away from her, potential damage or not."
Jason didn't correct her assumption but remained quiet to see what else she would say to try to explain things.
"I hoped marriage meant you had reprioritized your life and would be willing to be a part of your daughter's life."
"I would have been there from the first if you had only told me," he snapped bitterly. The more he told himself to calm down, the angrier he got. The hurt, though still there, was fading, and rapidly being turned into anger at her betrayal.
"I know you're angry," Elizabeth started.
"And I know I hurt you," he interrupted her. "But did I really deserve to have my child taken from me?"
"It's true I left town because I was so hurt I could barely breathe," she admitted quietly. "You weren't supposed to hurt me Jason. You, above everyone else, knew what the lies Lucky told me had done to me. You knew I couldn't handle anymore lies yet you lied anyway, and you did it intentionally."
"What about your lie?" For once he ignored her pain, her hurt, and focused on his own. "No matter how much pain I caused you did I really deserve this?"
Elizabeth couldn't help but turn away from his pain. She had known the longer she waited to tell him the more hurt he would feel, and the angrier he would be. Perhaps she had kept him away because of her pain, but there were other reasons as well. But for the first time since she'd discovered she was pregnant she wondered if those reasons she had relied upon were good enough.
"Maybe I should have told you about the baby. I was thinking about it the whole way home from the doctor's office. I was trying to figure out if I should tell you over the phone, or come back to Port Charles and tell you in person, or ask you to come to me. Before I could make up my mind Nikolas called me. He wanted me to hear the news from him. It seems he'd just found out you had married Brenda."
Sighing tiredly at the unfairness of it all he scrubbed at his face for a long time before focusing on her again. "It wasn't romantic."
"I know." Surprising both of them she laughed and it sounded bitter to both their ears. "The fact you didn't love her made it all the worse. Had you married her because you were in love with her I would have been hurt but I would have told you about the baby and we would have found a way to handle things. But that wasn't the case. You married a woman you didn't like. A woman you could barely stand at times for Sonny and Carly. It was proof that there was nothing, I mean nothing, you wouldn't do for them. There was no way I could tell you about the baby then, I couldn't, I've been there, I wasn't going to subject my child too it."
"What are you talking about?"
Haunted by the demons of her childhood her voice rose and took on a desperate tone. "I was the duty, the obligation my parents had to look after. There is no way I would ever let my baby feel that she wasn't wanted or loved," she held up her hand to stop his interruption. "I know you would have loved her, but she would realize eventually that she couldn't measure up. She would figure out that your first loyalty wasn't to her, but to Sonny and Carly. I've felt that pain I was never, ever going to let my child feel it."
"You know that's not true," Jason countered sharply. "You know I once gave up everything for Michael, I would have done the same for our baby."
"I didn't want you to give up everything. I never asked you to do that, and I never would. All I ever wanted was for the baby to matter more to you than your need to help and protect Sonny and Carly. That wasn't too much to ask for, it wasn't to much to expect," she sighed at the unfairness of it all. "And I don't think you could have done it."
"Yes I could," he argued. "I walked away once for a child, I could certainly reprioritize my life for another one."
"Sonny wasn't in town the first time you walked away from your life, who is to say you would have made the same choice had he been in town?"
"Why are we talking about things that might have happened years ago?" Jason felt his frustration rise. "I would have reordered things for you and the baby."
"I know you would have tried. But the question is would Sonny have let you? Sonny's not the same person that used to approach me desperate for information about you but willing to give you the space you so desperately needed to heal," she pointed out. "You're not the same man either. Something made you believe that you didn't deserve to have a life outside of what you did for Sonny. I couldn't take the chance that you would begin feeling like that again not with a baby on the way."
"I tried to have a life with you." Jarred by her words, her observations he felt desperate to assert some control. "You're the one who ran away."
"You lied to me," she reminded him just as desperately. "You knew I was terrified with worry about you and you let me swing. All you had to do was tell me you were working on something, you would be careful, and would tell me about it when you could, but you didn't do that. Instead you lied and hurt me deliberately."
He could still hear the pain in her voice as she talked about that time that was so long ago. It seemed the memory was still as painful for her as it was for him. Even as he instinctively responded to her pain he buried the response. He was in pain too, and for once he wasn't going to bury it.
"I hurt you, I get that. But I also apologized to you. That night I told you I loved you," his words were as bitter as the memory. "That night meant everything to me, and it meant nothing more to you than payback."
"That's not true." Forgetting her vow not to touch him she took his hand. "I couldn't stay away from you that night. All the pain, all the hurt that I was feeling wasn't strong enough to make me stay away. Then once I saw you I gave in. For once I gave in to what I was feeling, what I always seemed to feel when I was around you. That night, that long overdue night between us wasn't about revenge it was about love."
"If it meant so much to you why did you run away from me that next day?"
"I didn't run away, I left. I'd made arrangements to leave before I ever saw you that night. In fact I'd gone to Jake's to tell you. I didn't intend on making love with you that night, I only planned on saying goodbye."
"And instead of telling me you left me a note and ran," he retorted angrily.
"I didn't run," she maintained. "I left just like you did to me on more than one occasion. Maybe I began to run when I found out about the pregnancy, I don't know."
Noise coming from the baby monitor on the coffee table drew their attention, and they both shifted to look at it.
"Just like clockwork," Elizabeth murmured after checking her watch. "6:55 on the dot every night."
"Really?" His curiosity about Brenna was all consuming.
"Are you calm?"
"What?" Jolted his eyes turned back to her.
"I know you want to meet Brenna but I don't want to bring her down if you're still upset," she explained. "I realize we still have a lot to talk about but can we table it for now?"
"I want to meet her," he whispered.
"I'll be right back."
Suddenly nervous Jason started to pace then forced himself to sit. The hours since he'd found out about Brenna had seemed to crawl by, but now it seemed that things had been rushed. Surprisingly he was plagued by doubts, and concerns. What if she didn't like him?
"Jason."
Elizabeth's soft voice broke into his thoughts and he got quickly to his feet.
"I want you to meet your daughter, Brenna Marie Webber," she pronounced proudly and without hesitation placed her daughter in her father's arms. "Brenna this is your daddy."
Jason's focus remained on the tiny bundle in his arms. Her light blue eyes were open and fixed on his face. He could tell she was studying him as if to discover if he was worthy of holding her. Her little hand began to wave and he touched it with a finger that she immediately gripped. Brenna must have decided he was worth it because she suddenly began to smile at him. The smile, the shape of her mouth was just like Elizabeth's and he couldn't help but respond.
"She's so beautiful."
"Yes she is." Knowing it was safe, that Jason's attention was firmly on his daughter she brushed a tear from her eye. In that instant she knew the answer to Nikolas' earlier question. She most definitely was still in love with Jason.
Are you still interested? Let me know.