Emily had stood silently on the stairs listening to the war of words between her brothers. In their haste to leave the house neither of them even noticed her. Emily's heart was divided. As happy as she was for AJ's joyous news, that how equally unhappy she was for Jason's heartache. She had known how miserable Jason was with his life, but tonight she had gotten the full impact of just how much he had been hurt by AJ's need to walk away. Emily felt her own anger welling up for her father. Suddenly the man she had once thought would do anything for his children had a completely different spin to him. "Papa?" She walked cautiously into the sitting room.

"Yes?" Joseph returned in a rather harsh tone.

"I couldn't help but overhear...."

"Yes, it seems you are going to be an aunt," Joseph said in an effort to focus on the one good thing that had come out of his sons' conversation.

"I know, but that's not really what I am talking about."

"Then what is it?" He eyed his daughter carefully almost forgetting how in tune she was to most things going on around her without ever letting on.

"It's Jason."

"What about Jason?" Joseph wasn't all that sure he was up for this conversation. He had yet to process all that he had heard from his youngest son.

"How unhappy he is."

"Unhappy?"

Emily sighed, "Yes, unhappy. It was quite obvious to me that Jason's hurt and angry. He deserves to have a life like AJ and like me."

"He can."

"Apparently he doesn't think so."

"That's complete nonsense."

"Papa," Emily said softly. "Why did you let AJ go?"

"I did no such thing."

"Papa, you may have sheltered me from what you do, but please don't insult my intelligence. I am a big girl now. I think it's time you started treating me as one. I am about to be married in a few months. Don't you think it's time that I became a true part of this family?"

"NEVER!!"

"Why?"

"Women have no place in my world." Joseph's old school ways were glaringly obvious.

"I understand that. I never meant that I wanted to be part of your business, but I think I have a right to know why you didn't want AJ involved either. More importantly, Jason has a right to know, too."

"I have already explained this to Jason time and time again," Joseph Morgan sighed.

"Well, it seems to me that Jason isn't satisfied with the answer."

"Emily, dear, this really isn't anything you should be concerned with. I will talk to Jason. I think right now he just needs some time to cool off."

"I doubt that's going to happen."

"Things will be fine once we can sit down and discuss everything," Joseph said yet he was less than sure about his statement.

"I hope you are right," Emily returned leery herself.

"Oh by the way," her father said. "I told Jason that you and you alone will be working on the Coronary Care Benefit. One Morgan involved is plenty."

"Why?" Emily questioned.

"I have my reasons."

"Would that reason have anything to do with Elizabeth Malucci?"

His daughter's straightforward question stunned him. "Why would you ask such a question?"

"For the same reason that you pulled Jason off the benefit. I have seen the sparks between those two. I may be young Papa, but blind I am not."

"Then you understand why I am trying to keep distance between the two of them. Elizabeth is a married woman, and she's married to a man you very well know can't stand your brother. I am just trying to avert a natural disaster."

"You can't fool with Mother Nature," Emily half smiled.

"What?" Joseph said with obvious confusion on his face.

"I am just saying that no matter what you do, Jason is going to find a way to do what he wants."

"Emily, Elizabeth is a married woman!" Joseph stressed again.

"Yes – but she's married to a monster who treats her as if she's a nonentity. You have seen it. Papa, Elizabeth's unhappy......"

"What, you know this from a few committee meetings?" Joseph shouted unable to believe that his own daughter was condoning the potential pairing of Jason and Elizabeth.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Even though she said very little about her life, the things Elizabeth did say spoke volumes to that fact. Papa, I know that you love Rocco like a brother and I know that you want to believe he can handle his son, but isn't it obvious he can't? Especially not in his present state."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Joseph was suddenly flustered as he thought about the timid girl who stood in his foyer. The young woman who had been concerned for her father in law – his friend.

"I just want you to keep an open mind," Emily stated.

"WHAT!? You want me to keep an open mind about my son having an affair with a married woman?? Emily what on earth has gotten into you?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that both Jason and Elizabeth are miserable. I can't help thinking that maybe they need each other."

"That's complete and utter NONSENSE! You hear me? NONSENSE and I will not stand for it! I have to make a few business calls. Would you mind leaving me?" he asked.

"Fine," Emily kissed her father gently on the cheek before leaving the room.

Joseph ran his hands over his face in frustration. Jason's outburst and now Emily's words left him reeling. His own daughter was endorsing Jason's feelings for Elizabeth. The idea baffled him to no end. No more so than Jason's resentment of his brother. How had he missed that for so long? Joseph lowered himself into one of the many chairs in the sitting room to think about what Emily had said, yet the only thing he could come up with was that Jason, no matter what his son wanted needed to stay as far away from Elizabeth Malucci as possible.

Jason pushed the empty shot glass to the edge of the bar. He had lost count as to how many he had already had, not that it mattered much anyhow. He could have crawled into a bottle of scotch but that still wouldn't irradiate the utter despair he felt. Why he had picked the bar of The Drake Hotel to drown his sorrows he hadn't a clue. Or did he? It was only a short elevator ride to his penthouse. A place that he could only imagine still held Elizabeth's scent. If he closed his eyes, Jason was able to see her moving about the rooms in her flowing black satin evening gown. That night Elizabeth had been a complete vision to him and since that time she had been etched in his memory.

Jason watched as the bartender poured more of the amber liquid into his shot glass. "Mr. Morgan," the man questioned. "Are you all right sir?" Jason nodded with glassy eyes. Not a convincing response, the young man behind the bar thought.

Jason thought long and hard about the question that had just been asked him. He knew he was anything but all right, yet he couldn't quite put his finger on exactly when his life had turned upside down. It wasn't anything new, this anger he had about AJ's happy existence. So why was it that tonight he had completely lost his cool? Could it have been AJ's total disregard for all he had sacrificed so that his brother could have all the things that Jason was never to have? AJ's admission that Courtney was pregnant certainly was the final straw for Jason. The image of AJ and Courtney holding a precious infant in their arms was more than he could bear to picture. Or could it have been that suddenly his longing for a wife had been intensified by his desires for Elizabeth? Somewhere in the recesses of his mind Jason knew that was the true reason. Up until the day he had met Elizabeth, Jason had resigned himself to a life that had been scripted for him, but upon her entrance that well planned script had taken on some rewrites. Rewrites that the original author hadn't planned on.

Jason's fury with his father returned. Joseph's order/request that he be banned from the charity event, and more importantly Elizabeth Malucci, carried no weight with Jason. This would be the first time that he had ever disobeyed a direct order from his father, but there wasn't a damn thing Jason could do to stop himself from making Elizabeth his. He understood that Joseph believed that this was just another elaborate game of cat and mouse that he and Anthony had played over the years, yet to Jason it was anything but a game. He wanted all the things his brother had. Jason wanted a wife, a child and a safe home not laden with the ever- present threat of violence behind every door. He couldn't help but sense that Elizabeth wanted those things as well.

He had watched her closely at lunch. It wasn't difficult to see that she was completely surprised by the easy nature of his family. That was one thing that Jason had to commend Joseph for. Family was sacred to him and he treated them as such. He had made every attempt to keep a normal family existence even though there was very little that was normal about the life Joseph led. Jason couldn't stop from wondering if he couldn't do the same. Why couldn't he have the life he wanted and still work within the constraints his father had enlisted for him? He had watched Joseph do it for so many years now – Jason knew it was possible. However, was it possible to do with the woman he had in mind?

He berated himself for entertaining such thoughts. War was imminent. That was a fact that Jason knew in his heart. Anthony Malucci was a time bomb just waiting to explode and Jason making a move on his wife would only hasten its detonation. He would also incur wrath from his own family. Joseph would have never stood for what Jason was contemplating. To his father, marriage, no matter how bad of a one it was, was just as sacred as his family. The ideas that Jason toyed with were the antithesis of what his father believed. Jason found himself almost laughing at his thoughts. Here he was planning out a future with another man's wife without so much as an inkling that the woman was even remotely interested in the same thing.

Again Jason pushed his shot glass to the edge of the bar. He turned and surveyed those sitting in the smoky room as he waited for the bartender to fill it again with scotch. It was at that precise moment that his eyes locked with Elizabeth's.

Elizabeth stood wide-eyed as she swallowed hard around the lump that had suddenly come to sit at the back of her throat. She couldn't believe that Jason was actually sitting at the bar before her. If she hadn't long ago given up on God, Elizabeth surely would have suspected divine intervention.

"Elizabeth?" There was little Jason could do to hide his surprise.

"Hello Jason," she said feeling relief wash over her. The idea that Jason Morgan was within reach was not only a comfort but it was intoxicating as well. At that moment Elizabeth preferred to indulge in the dizzy feeling he elicited rather than dwell on the fear that Anthony and his actions had instilled in her.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I could ask you the same thing," she remarked coyly. "I thought you said you only used this place for business. Isn't it a little late in the day to be doing business?" Her question caught him off guard, leaving him without an answer. "Cat got your tongue?" she laughed as the earlier events vanished from her mind's eye.

"No!" Jason hated that he was all of a sudden rendered speechless. No wonder all those around him were able to read him like a book when it came to his feelings for Elizabeth, he thought to himself.

"Do you think that I could get a drink?" she asked the bartender. While Jason's presence had eased her initial anxiety, she still needed a stiff drink to settle her underlying nerves.

"What would you like?" the young man asked.

"Tangeray and tonic please. You never did answer my question," she said turning to Jason.

"Nor did you," he countered relieved his that his voice had returned.

It was now Elizabeth's turn to be at a loss for words. "I just needed some fresh air," she finally offered.

"And you had to come the whole way into the city to get it?" Jason asked arching his brow.

"Maybe. Thank you," she said as her drink was placed in front of her. The both sat in an awkward silence neither knowing what to say next. "I never did get to properly thank you for all that you did for me the night of your sister's engagement party," Elizabeth smiled finally breaking their silence.

"I was just following orders," Jason returned in his most business like tone. He had to keep his thoughts in check. It would be so easy for him to whisk her up to his suite and enact all his fantasies from that night, but the small voice in his head resonated Joseph's words.

"Your orders were to buy me a change of clothes?" Elizabeth smiled coyly as she brought the glass to her lips again. "I don't think so. By the way, how did you know what size to even buy? Everything fit perfectly."

Jason shifted on the barstool unnerved by her probing questions. "I just assumed you and Emily were about the same size. I am glad to hear that you found the outfit satisfactory." Jason heard his own voice and didn't even recognize it. To his ears it sounded so stiff almost monotone.

"Yes I did. Thank you again." Elizabeth swallowed the last of her gin and tonic. Jason watched as she picked up the lime wedge and began to suck on it. He was instantly aroused. His mind entertained so many thoughts that he couldn't stop his imagination from playing tricks with his body. "Could I have another please?" Elizabeth motioned to the bartender as she discarded the lime into the empty glass.

"Certainly."

"So really, what are you doing in the city at this hour?" Elizabeth asked again.

"Tying up some loose ends for my father," he lied.

"It must be nice to have such a close working relationship with your family."

"It has its moments," Jason said recalling the not so pleasant conversations he had had with his father and brother that day. He motioned for his own empty shot glass to be filled.

"I enjoyed having lunch with your family this afternoon. Your father was very generous. That must be where you get your own generous nature." Elizabeth reached out and stroked Jason's hand.

Her slight touch sent shockwaves through his body that had to be off the Richter Scale. "Thank you." Jason did his best to hide his blush. "It's really Morgan Enterprises that's the generous one."

"I see you are modest as well," Elizabeth purred.

"How did your meeting with Emily go?" Jason said in an attempt to divert the conversation away from the direction he knew it was headed.

"Rather well. We got a great deal accomplished." Elizabeth silently recalled Emily's query into her intentions about Jason. She knew that being Anthony Malucci's wife didn't make a damn bit of difference to her right now. The only thing that mattered was her desire of the man sitting next to her.

"That's good to know. Unfortunately I won't be able to be as involved with the benefit as I originally thought....."

"Why?" The word caught in her throat as the fear that Jason had been able to placate was back with vengeance. Without Jason's presence, Elizabeth knew that gave Anthony an open opportunity to wreck havoc on everyone around him and that included her.

"My father needs me on another company project," he lied again.

"That's too bad. I was looking forward to working with you." Again Elizabeth stroked Jason's hand which in turn sent another aftershock through his frame.

"Elizabeth, why are you really here?" Jason's voice grew harsh as he fought desperately against his innermost urges.

"What?"

"Why did you pick here of all places to turn up when you have the entire city of Chicago at your disposal?" Jason pulled his hand back giving himself the distance he so frantically needed. Elizabeth stared into Jason's ice blue eyes without an inkling as to how to answer that question. "What, cat got your tongue now?" Jason took a long swig from the bottle of beer that up until now had sat silently on the bar puzzled why he felt the sudden need to be so nasty.

"NO!" she shot back quickly.

"Why then? Why here? There must be hundreds of clubs, bars in this city. Why are you here?" he huffed.

"I...well...," she stuttered for the second time that night.

"You what?" His impatience got the better of him.

"I needed to feel safe, okay? I just needed to feel safe!" Elizabeth blurted out before she had the chance to stop the words from falling.

"Safe?" Jason almost choked.

"Yes," she whispered looking away.

"Elizabeth," Jason reached for her shoulder and forced her eyes and his to meet. "What do you mean safe?" His arrogant voice from minutes before had been replaced with one filled with concern. "Anthony, what did he do?"

"Nothing," Elizabeth attempted to cover.

"Wrong answer," he corrected. Jason hadn't trusted Anthony Malucci long before he had even known who his wife was, but now adding Elizabeth and his feelings for her to the mix had Jason running wide open. He wasn't about to let anything happen to the beautiful creature before him.

"Really Jason," Elizabeth reached out and touched him softly which in turn clouded Jason's already jumbled thoughts. "It's nothing I can't handle. Besides I'm sure that Anthony was...." She paused searching for words to create a response Elizabeth knew that Jason wasn't about to believe. "He was just beside himself when he heard about Rocco's angina attack....."

"You expect me to believe that?" Jason cut her off.

"Yes."

"I don't think so. Malucci doesn't give a damn about his father. If I didn't know better I would have to say he's counting the days until Rocco croaks!"

"JASON!" Elizabeth was taken aback by his crass remark. "No child wants to watch their parent die before their eyes," Elizabeth said recalling her own trauma of the last days of her mother's life.

"No normal child," Jason corrected. Elizabeth knew how true Jason's remark was. It had become abundantly clear in the past months that Anthony was anything but normal. "Tell me why you thought you would be safe coming here?" Jason questioned.

"You," she whispered knowing that if she ventured down this road there would be no turning back.

"Me?" Jason countered more than a bit shocked.

"Yes. The other night when you brought me here..." she stammered, "I can't explain it. I just felt protected. I wanted to feel that way again."

"Why?" Jason desperately needed to know what was going on inside her head.

"What am I going to do without him?" she gasped.

"Elizabeth, what are you talking about?"

"I don't know. Forget it okay? It's not your problem," she retorted as she hastily got up from the barstool.

"Your walking in here made it my problem," Jason stressed certain he was falling deeper and deeper into a black hole. "Let's get out of here. Alex," he turned to the bartender, "if anyone asks I was here alone. Understand?"

"Perfectly, Mr. Morgan."

"Let's go."

"Where are we going?" she questioned.

"Somewhere where nobody knows either of us," Jason said taking her hand in his and leading Elizabeth out of the bar.