Author's Note: Realizing it's been a month since I last updated, I figured it was about time to get off my butt and write something! Though technically I sit on my butt when I write... :p Gotta tell you that I LOVE the new quick edit feature. No more floppies!!!! YES!!!!!!!

lighthope: Never update GC again? :o But you just did so the threat holds little weight! :lol: Yes, I was thinking Reuben and Elizabeth might be good for each other myself. We'll see...depends on people's reactions. I must be 200 chapters behind on Set's story by now...seriously, I cannot read that fast!

AuroraOra: LOL! Thanks for reading!

carsonjourney: You know that Jason will come through for his damsel! Reuben's fate is entirely up to the readers, I don't care whether he lives or dies after he serves his purpose :D

theblondeone07: Another person besides myself thinking Reuben and Elizabeth...I always knew I was predictable :lol:

Silent Typewriter: You get Jason in this one! Hmm...run over by a car. I could do that....and enjoy writing it too! Thanks for reading!

ashton: Glad you like it!

starbright: Thanks for always reading, and punctually [faceI'mpunctualtoo...not] I love hearing from you!

mob-princess55: It may take me a long while but I will finish this story! I was going through past reviews, and I saw your name and I don't recall seeing it before? Did you used to have a different screenname?

Stephanie: Thanks for the review! I hope you like what I do with Reuben and Journey! :D

Reflection

Chapter Nineteen: Hostage

Jason had dealt with the issues down at the warehouse as quickly as possible, signing what needed to be signed and leaving what he didn't personally need to oversee. He kept catching Benny shooting him curious sideways glances. Apparently it wasn't only obvious to Jason himself that he was distracted. Benny didn't ask questions though. Which was probably a good thing. Jason couldn't have thought how to explain Courtney to him.

He'd walked from the warehouse to Kelly's, hoping to arrive while Courtney was still awake. He wanted to take her on that bike ride. He usually went on them to clear his head and to be alone, but the feeling was something he wanted to share with her.

He approached the window and saw that Elizabeth was still cleaning up. He tried the door. It was unlocked. He let himself in.

He knew Elizabeth had seen him, but she made a point of ignoring him as she had been doing quite often these days. He stood, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence, for a long moment, but she never did. Finally, he quietly asked the question he wanted to ask. "Is Courtney around?"

Elizabeth didn't raise her head. "Nope."

"Do you know where she went?"

Elizabeth's head rose this time, her eyes flashing. "How would I know? I don't, and I also don't care," she snapped, turning on her heel to storm into the kitchen.

Jason looked after her for a long moment, mourning the loss of their friendship. Trying to become something more had been a mistake. It had only hurt Elizabeth, something he'd never meant to do. But he couldn't fix it if Elizabeth wasn't even willing to meet his eyes. He turned and left.

Elizabeth didn't sleep that night. She lay awake, fuming over Jason, Courtney, and herself. She never heard a key turn in the lock downstairs, or someone coming up to their room.

She eventually gave up and spent the few hours before her shift started at her studio, painting up a furious storm. When she walked into the restaurant to relieve Penny, Courtney was nowhere in sight. The other girl told her she hadn't seen her all morning.

As the day wore on, Courtney still didn't show. Elizabeth kept looking at the door, waiting to see her dumb blonde head bobbing through it with an excuse. But she never appeared. Elizabeth was starting to get concerned when it hit her.

Courtney must have spent the night with Jason.

Rage boiled within Elizabeth.

She picked up the phone and dialed a number she wished she wasn't so familiar with.

Jason picked up on the first ring.

"Courtney hasn't shown up for work today," Elizabeth said, not bothering to tell him who it was.

"So?"

"I thought she might be with you." Elizabeth tried to keep her voice even and casually, but it came out too high, strained with bitterness.

"She's not."

Elizabeth didn't dare hope. Jason was very specific. He answered the question and only the question. She had asked if Courtney was with him now; if Courtney had been there before, he wouldn't say so unless she specifically asked. He and Sonny were masters when it came to vagueness. "Have you seen her at all today?" she tried again.

"No, I haven't seen her since yesterday." A frown creased Jason's forehead. With every question, his concern grew. Where was Courtney? Why wasn't she at work?

Elizabeth was speechless. She hadn't been expecting that. She had thought Courtney had forgotten the time because she was so lost in spending time with the guy on whom she had a childish crush. Apparently, she was wrong. If Courtney wasn't with Jason, where could she be?

She suddenly remembered last night. The scream that wasn't. The flash of black outside the window. How she'd gone out, seen no one there, and just shrugged it off as nothing. What if she had been wrong? What if something had happened to Courtney?

Her grip on the phone tightened. She had a queasy feeling in her stomach. She didn't like Courtney, but that was only because of her growing relationship with Jason. Courtney really wasn't that bad a person. And if that scream, that flash of black hadn't been nothing, if it had been serious, it was all her fault. Courtney could be out there somewhere, held captive by one of Sonny and Jason's enemies or worse. And any injury she sustained was all on Elizabeth's head.

"Jason," she began in a small voice, "I need to tell you something."

Ten minutes later, Jason was racing across the hall to Sonny and Carly, adreniline and fear gushing through his veins. He burst through the door without even bothering to knock. His two best friends, who had been cuddling on the couch, nearly jumped out of their skins. The wild look in Jason's eyes and the words he spoke silenced any verbal objection that may have sprung from their lips.

"Courtney's gone."

Jason had to force the words out. Saying them made it real, more real than it had felt even when he heard from Elizabeth about what she'd seen and heard last night at Kelly's.

Sonny stood up. "What do you mean, gone?"

"Someone has her. Courtney left work last night, and Elizabeth was still scrubbing tables. She thought she heard a scream, and she looked up and saw some guy dressed in black through the window. She went out, no one was there, so she thought she'd imagined it. But Courtney never came back to Kelly's last night and hasn't showed up for work this morning."

"What an idiot," Carly muttered, referring to Elizabeth.

"Carly, now is not the time," Sonny snapped. Carly pressed her lips together but didn't utter another word. "Someone must have grabbed Courtney last night," Sonny continued. "We need to find out who, and why."

"I already called Benny and Myer. They've got people on it."

Before they could discuss it further, the phone rang.

"Shh," Sonny hissed, slicing the air with one hand for emphasis while he picked up the phone with the other. "Yeah?"

"Mr. Corinthos, how good to speak to you again."

There was no mistaking that disgustingly smug voice. "What do you want, Alcazar?"

"I want you to remove your protection from Ms. Barrett."

"Not gonna happen."

"You are in no position to deny me anything."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

There was a pause, in which Alcazar smiled, and glanced over his shoulder at the girl bound and gagged to a chair. Her eyes were wide with anger and fear. "I have your sister."