Jason brushed the wisps of hair from Elizabeth's face as her head became heavier on his chest. Lately, stolen moments under the cover of darkness were all they seemed able to achieve but the love they shared for one another made it all worthwhile.
The pad of small feet preceded the creak of the bedroom door which opened a crack and Cameron's little face peered in. "Hey, buddy," Jason inched out from underneath Elizabeth, who had succumbed to a deep slumber, and crouched down in front of the little boy with tired eyes. "What you doin' up?"
"I had a bad dream," Cameron mumbled in a mildly distressed voice.
"That's okay. Would you like me to sit with you until you fall back to sleep?" Cameron nodded his head and passively allowed Jason to carry him back to his own bedroom, directly opposite the nursery for Jake.
The little boy clumsily reached for a colourful book which he passed to Jason with a hopeful smile, "Will you read to me?"
"Okay," Jason whispered in a voice softer than he ordinarily possessed.
Pacified, Cameron climbed onto Jason's steady knees and listened intently as he read aloud in a low voice. Once the book reached its end, Jason tucked Cameron in and waited patiently until he succumbed to sleep under his protective eye. It was one of those precious moments that his lifestyle simply wouldn't allow. With Elizabeth and the boys - his boys - he could pretend that his very existence as Sonny's mainstay wasn't the root cause of chaos within Port Charles. Yet before the dawn would break over the harbour, he would have to sacrifice that happiness for another day.
"Excuse me," Jeff paused mid-review of the patient chart Nadine requested he read over when Monica approached the nurses station from one of the nearby corridors. He practically dumped the files back into the nurse's arms and rushed toward Monica before she could contemplate an escape route. "Monica, hey."
"Dr. Webber, I'm sorry but I'm very busy."
Jeff shook his head softly. She was an expert at avoidance and had been since before the day they were married; he wasn't sure why he expected or hoped the years would have moulded her any differently. "Listen, I understand that you don't want to talk about us here," he respectfully lowered his voice, as he leaned into her circle of space. "But we do have to talk." It bruised him a little to wake up alone in his hotel suite but he worried more for her state of mind. "Monica?" Jeff persisted, his voice a little louder when she actively dismissed him in favour of the patient files stacked on the desk. "Monica, I appreciate that this is awkward, to say the least. After Carolyn and I separated, I wouldn't allow myself to look at another woman much less develop any kind of romantic relationship." He cautiously circled around her with a hushed voice, "But what happened between us wasn't a betrayal to the love you had for Alan, or his memory."
"Have," Monica swivelled on her feet to stare him down. "The love I have for my husband is none of your business."
He embraced her hostility with an air of calm and reassurance. "Monica, of course you still love him. You always will. I meant to say that you don't need to feel ashamed -"
"Don't you dare presume to tell me how I should or shouldn't feel," she viciously bit back. The dehydration and sharp pain in her head as it throbbed in retaliation for the amount of alcohol she had consumed overwhelmed Monica, all the more so whenever Jeff relentlessly inched closer to her. "Because I am very much ashamed. Yesterday was a mistake, kind of like my decision to marry you in the first place." The blasé tone in her voice advised Jeff to back off, which he did physically and emotionally, and Monica barrelled beyond him and Elizabeth who hesitantly stepped off the elevator with an inquisitive expression.
"Monica," Tracy serenaded her sister-in-law with a devious, melodic voice. Monica responded with an audible exhale as she followed her onto the elevator which was due to descend to ground level; the air was too thick in the hospital and threatened another bout of nausea. It seemed that wherever Monica went, her sister-in-law was never too far behind. "A little bird told me your bed wasn't slept in and you didn't come home until dawn."
"Well, if that little bird is Alice then you were trespassing in my house."
Tracy braced herself for the inevitable remark of 'I gave it to her' from her brother which mercifully never came. "You looked very cosy with Dr. Webber. Isn't he a former husband of yours?" Monica rolled her eyes at the acidic remark.
"Is Alan here?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she pretended to look for him and Tracy folded her arms across her chest, unbothered by the fact that her 'visions' of Alan were known to most Port Charles residents. "Because if he is, I'd like you to tell him from me to count himself lucky that he's already dead or I'd throttle him with my bare hands for leaving me to deal with you alone."