Part 8

Carly Corinthos trudged wearily down the steps to the main floor of her penthouse to see her husband sprawled out on the couch, half-asleep, with an unfinished glass of scotch in his hand. Sighing softly, she tiptoed over to him and gently pulled the glass out of his grasp before he spilled it all on his favorite sofas.

The slight movement startled Sonny, and his obsidian eyes flew open. Carly smiled apologetically and sat down next to him, arranging the cushions around him so that he would be more comfortable.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to wake ya."

"It's okay – I shouldn't be sleeping anyway," Sonny sighed wearily, shifting on the couch. He knew he was supposed to be up and working, but the minute his wife snuggled into his side and leaned her head on his shoulder, all thoughts of departing flew from his head. "Carly…"

"Hmm?" Her fingers traced a heart over his olive green shirt, and Sonny closed his eyes, relishing the feeling. Instead of speaking, he pressed a kiss to her golden hair and tightened his hold around her waist.

Long moments passed and still they sat, holding each other. Michael slept peacefully upstairs, a big relief – Carly had been trying to get him to bed for the past hour. But the young boy was worried about Gramma Bobbie and Uncle Luke and even Cousin Lucky. Despite the fact that Sonny and Carly had tried to keep him far away from the Spencer-Cassidine feud, Michael still knew something was dreadfully wrong.

"You're thinking too loud."

Sonny opened his eyes at the sound of his wife's voice, shaking his head briskly. "Yeah…"

She looked up at him, her brown eyes dull and tired. "You wanna talk about it?"

There was a long pause, leading her to believe that he didn't. After all, it was nothing new. Sonny Corinthos didn't emote; he didn't discuss his feelings or worse, his fears. It had been pointless to ask.

"I'm…I'm worried about this whole Spencer and Cassidine thing."

She blinked, snuggling up under his chin. She could feel his pulse racing at her temple, and his heart pounded a steady beat under her palm. "I know."

"How's Michael doing?"

His top button found itself between her thumb and forefinger as she played with it absently. "Okay, all things considered. He's confused. And scared that something's gonna happen to Mama."

Sonny's fingers clenched in the fabric of her red tank top. "That won't happen. I won't let anyone hurt Bobbie."

"I know," she assured him softly. "I know you won't. I told him that – I told him that Daddy would take care of Gramma just like he'd always take care of us." Her sigh was lost in the folds of his oxford shirt. "He wanted to believe me, but he's just so scared."

Sonny's lips found her hairline as she continued to speak, her words growing softer and her breathing erratic. "H-He doesn't see Mama anymore at the hospital o-or Kelly's. She's at the Brownstone all the time, and Roy's with her. After what happened to Lucas…God, they barely go outside anymore." She closed her eyes tightly, her fingers fisting in his shirt. "Can you believe that, Sonny? Poison. Poison in my brother's milk." Her husband trailed his fingers through her soft tawny locks, doing his best to soothe her wordlessly. "He just came back from soccer practice and wanted to show Lucky his new moves, and then…"

"I know, I know," Sonny murmured, wrapping his arms around her slender body. She had lost a lot of weight in the past week, and he could feel her hipbones and ribs protruding from under her pajamas.

"And Lucky did it," she whispered, a single tear racing down her cheek and falling onto Sonny's now-wrinkled shirt. "He did it."

"Shh," Sonny soothed, not knowing what to say. "Carly, he's not right. He's not right in the head. You know that."

She nodded mournfully. "I didn't want to believe it. None of us wanted to. Mama would just say he was tired, under a lot of stress from Deception. And Luke didn't even want to talk about it. Nikolas…I think he's been trying to help, but it's like Lucky cut all ties with him…God, I don't know what we can do…"

"Carly." Sonny's voice was sharp and terse as he straightened abruptly, cupping her face and forcing her to look up at him. "Carly, listen to me. Nothing is going to happen to you or Michael or to the Spencers. We'll stop this, I know we will."

Tears were swimming in her dark brown eyes. "But who else has to die before we do, Sonny?"

He gave her a little shake, drawing in a quick breath when her cool hands closed over his own. "No one. Do you hear me, Carly? No one else has to die."

Carly closed her eyes, berating herself for crying again. God, she had sworn she wouldn't do this. "Elizabeth did."

Sonny's hands slid from her face and into her lap, his fingers twining with hers. "Elizabeth's safe, Carly. She's on the island with the guards. She's fine. It was only an act. You know that."

"She could have died, Sonny," Carly pointed out, ignoring the surprise evident on her husband's face. "If Nikolas had given her one drop too much, she would really be dead."

"How-" Words seemed to escape him. "How did you know that?"

Instead of shrinking away, Carly met his gaze dead-on. "I heard you on the phone. I know what happened."

Sonny sighed, removing one hand from hers to roughly grasp the back of his neck. "Carly…"

"Stop." The tears had stopped, and something new was shining in his wife's now dry eyes – something he couldn't altogether place. "Don't say anything, Sonny. I didn't mean to listen in, but I was in the kitchen and I heard. I know what she did – Mama gave her the poison, didn't she?"

Normally, he would have cut the conversation off by just getting up off the couch and attending to his work, but something in her voice kept him rooted. After a long pause, he finally answered. "Yes."

"From the hospital?"

"Yes."

"And Nikolas was supposed to put it in her drink and make Helena think that she had passed out, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She quirked one perfectly plucked sandy eyebrow at him. "So? What happened?"

The mobster licked his lips, his gaze settling on his half-finished glass of scotch on the table. "He put the poison in her wine and they drank it. Elizabeth passed out completely – no pulse, no heartbeat, or so it seemed. When Helena was satisfied, she left the yacht convinced that Nikolas had fulfilled his duty to the Cassidine empire. Lucky burst in on them just then and thought that Nikolas killed her."

Carly closed her eyes at the mention of her cousin's name but didn't say anything, the almost imperceptible nod of her head imploring her husband to continue.

"He went out of his mind, and Nikolas got his men to keep him at bay while Elizabeth started coming to. That's when my men boarded the yacht and got her out of there. Lucky still thinks she's dead, and for all intents and purposes, she is."

Carly was staring at her hands, fiddling with her wedding ring. "She could have died."

"But she didn't."

"She could have," the blonde repeated, finally looking up at him, and Sonny was almost unprepared to see the regret and loathing in her eyes. "She was willing to. She knew that one drop too much could have killed her, right – I mean, she had to know. But still, she did it." He watched her shake her head ruefully. "And here I am, hiding out in my penthouse."

His hand reached out for hers. "Hey…"

Carly cut him off with one shake of her head. "They're more my family than they are hers – I'm Bobbie's daughter, Luke's niece. She was just going to marry Luke's stupid son. I should have been the one helping them, trying to fight this, and instead, I've done nothing. Meanwhile, she was totally prepared to give her life just so-"

"Hey, come here." Without waiting for an argument, Sonny reached out and pulled a tearful Carly into himself. "It's okay. Carly-"

"I should help," she whispered, her hand fisting in his shirt. "I need to do something. They need me to help."

"They need you to stay safe," Sonny corrected. "They need you and Michael to stay safe and to stay out of this." There was a brief pause in the conversation, and Sonny decided to seize the moment. "Carly, I think you and Michael should go to the island."

She straightened almost immediately, a wild look in her eyes as she stared down at him. "Sonny-"

"I want you safe," he repeated firmly. "I-I can't deal with it if Michael comes home from the park and someone's poisoned his milk, Carly. I can't. Let me send you to the island. Let me get you out of here – you need to be safe. I can't protect you as well here-"

Her finger on his lips silenced him, and Sonny closed his eyes when her perfume washed over him as she leaned closer. "You protect us just fine, Michael Corinthos. You do a damn good job protecting us." Her fingers tenderly stroked the raven hair at his temple. "Michael and I need to stay here, Sonny – with you. He needs to be with his father – he needs to know that everything is going to be fine because his daddy will always look out for him. You know how scared he is now? You ship us out to that island and it's going to be ten times worse. He needs to be here, with his family." She settled into his side, her fingers slipping in under the fabric of his shirt as she lightly stroked his chest. "And I need to be here with mine. I need to stay for Mama and Lucas and Uncle Luke – I can't leave them here to fight alone and go off to play in the sand at the island."

She could see his slight pout. "Elizabeth's off playing in the sand at the island."

Carly wrinkled her nose at the vision. "Yeah, well, Muffin's done her part. She's already fought for them. Who knows – maybe she's fought the most. She deserves to disappear and take things easy for a while. She needs to do that. And we need to stay here and keep fighting."

"Then we'll keep fighting," Sonny promised, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and feeling a wave of comfort and relief wash over him when she snuggled deeper into his chest. "Luke and Nikolas both know that I'm here if they need anything. It looks like we're all in this together."

"Back to the days of the Spencer-Corinthos alliance," Carly chuckled to herself. "Seriously – who'da thunk it?"

Sonny grinned and pressed another kiss to her hairline. They were silent again for a long time before Carly spoke.

"Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"She's on the island with Jason, isn't she?"

"Do you really want the answer to that?"

"You just gave it to me."

He smiled, practically feeling her grimace against him.

"Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you talk to her?"

"Elizabeth?"

"Yeah."

He shook his head, his fingers running idly up and down her spine. "No."

"Oh."

He knew there was more to her little interrogation and as usual, Carly didn't disappoint.

"Sonny?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you talk to Jason?"

"Yes."

"How's he doing?"

"Good."

The clock ticked audibly, each second making its departure known to the two inhabitants of the penthouse, and Sonny could almost hear the gears in Carly's head ticking away as well.

"Is he…happy?"

The mobster's sigh rustled through her tawny hair. "He's gettin' there."

"Oh."

The scotch in Sonny's glass swished when he picked it up, the amber liquid catching the light and sparkling as he raised it to his lips.

"Sonny?"

"Mm?"

"If you talk to him again – Jason, I mean – could you ask him to…ask him to tell her I said…thanks."


The sun had disappeared halfway under the brilliant waves, painting the sky in rich, warm tones of pink and red. A slight breeze rustled its way across the earth, kicking up loose grains of sand and making Elizabeth's hair flutter and tickle Jason's shoulder. Not that he could complain.

They had been sitting out together, watching the sunset silently for a little while. There just didn't seem to be a great need to talk. And just as he was settling into the comfortable silence, Elizabeth's hesitant voice cut through it.

"Jason, can we talk?"

He did his best not to show that he was startled, and what was more, uncomfortable. When he turned to face her – somewhat reluctantly – his calm eyes betrayed nothing. "Sure."

She nibbled on her lip, knowing that he wasn't going to say any more and that the ball was indeed in her court. Wonderful. "We really need to talk about…about this whole thing. My leaving Port Charles, coming here, all that stuff." He remained silent while she gathered her thoughts.

"Last night…you didn't let me finish what I had to say." He raised his head sharply, cerulean orbs boring into hers. "You're the first one to ask my why I did what I did. Nikolas didn't ever ask – I think he might've thought that it was too good to be true, you know, so that if he asked he'd jinx it and I'd change my mind." She licked her lower lip, and Jason averted his gaze to the ocean once more. "I did what I did because it was the last thing to do. The Spencers are like family to me, Jason – they always have been. So when Helena told Nikolas to prove his loyalty to her and the Cassidines by getting rid of me – the woman he was supposedly in love with –" Playing with the sand, Elizabeth missed the way Jason flinched. "The choice was easy. Pretending to die would save my family. It would give Nikolas a way into Helena's inner circle. He could figure out everything and take it straight to Luke, who'd know exactly what to do to take her down."

The seagulls screeched, soaring majestically through the sky. Jason's hands had tightened around his glass, cutting his circulation off and making his knuckles a pasty white. Still, Elizabeth played with the sand.

"I was the key to all this. I was the one last obstacle in Nikolas' way to becoming a true Cassidine, as Helena saw it. And with me gone, nothing can stop Nikolas from figuring all this out and making it right again." She turned her body sideways to face Jason, and an uneasy feeling grew in the pit of her stomach when she saw how tightly his handsome features were set. "It wasn't about dying for just Lucky."

She saw him steel his jaw at the mention of the boy's name, but forged on anyway. "It was more about dying for…for the dream that Helena Cassidine wouldn't be able to terrorize anyone anymore. It was about protecting the Spencers, who've always looked out for me and loved me like a daughter; for Nikolas, who's been one of my best friends and has always cared about me; for Bobbie, who's always been the first to offer advice or her help, and who's suffered enough at that witch's hands; for kids like Lulu and Lucas and Michael, who don't deserve to inherit that legacy of feuding and bloodshed just because they've got the name 'Spencer' tacked onto their family tree."

Jason's eyes softened at the mention of the boy he had once considered a son, but as quick as a flash, they hardened once more as he resumed staring out at the crisp blue ocean.

He heard what she was saying; he heard the soft, pleading sound of her voice as she implored him to understand. And though he tried to, the moment brought him back to all those times she had implored him to understand her commitment to Lucky. All those times that she had shied away from his touch, his kiss, only to tell him that she loved Lucky. He had to hear that over and over and over; at one point he had found himself bitterly wondering if she knew any phrase other than "Jason, I love Lucky".

She had been confused then, and he hadn't blamed her; her entire world was shifting on its axis. Her old friend came back to town after being gone for such a long time, and she suddenly discovered that their relationship was nowhere near as platonic as it used to be. He didn't blame her for being confused and torn; on the other hand, he couldn't help but blame her for the way she had treated him. She had always taken Lucky's side over his; Lucky was always in the right while he was standing ambiguously in some gray area. And he wouldn't soon forget the way she had looked at him after that tussle with Lucky on the docks. She hadn't trusted him and he had done his best to understand. But moreover, she had – knowingly or not – trampled all over his feelings and made them seem worthless. And try as he might, he just couldn't understand that.

And sitting here on the seashore, listening to her speak, was too similar to standing in the park and listening to her proclaim her love for Lucky, telling him not-too-implicitly that he just didn't fit into her life.

Her words floated over him as an angry, uneasy feeling gnawed away at Jason's stomach. "That's why I did it, Jason. No one deserves to have the threat of Helena Cassidine looming over their family; no one needs to live with that fear and uncertainty, waiting for her next move. She's a dangerous woman capable of dangerous, terrible things." Elizabeth shrugged helplessly. "She stole Lucky from us. She took him away in that fire at the garage and he's never been the same since, no matter how hard we tried to pretend."

Yeah, it was funny how it always came down to that – pretending.

He could feel her big blue eyes trained on his though he offered only his profile. A long moment passed, and that gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach only increased.

"Jason, I didn't die for Lucky. I don't want you to think that." She shifted closer, dropping a hand on its knee. And it was strange – the touch that once put Jason at such ease now made his stomach clench painfully. "Jason, I've closed the book on that part of my life."

Her lips were pursed together and her eyes peered soulfully back at him when he finally turned to look at her. "I don't want to live in the past like that, Jason. I did it before. I don't want to do it anymore."

Something inside him fluttered hopefully. But she couldn't mean…

The sun had already disappeared, and the faint moonlight made Elizabeth's eyes glitter like sapphires. "I don't know how to tell you what it meant, Jason, to wake up and see you with me. To know that no matter what, you'd always be there to protect me and take care of me. And being here these past few days, here, with you…" A ghost of a smile ran across her full lips, and her eyes softened tenderly. "Jason, you need to know something."

He closed his eyes tightly.

"I don't want to keep hiding from you. Doing this dance that we've done since you came back to Port Charles the last time." She swallowed once, scratching one palm with the nails of the other hand. Lord, this was the hardest thing she had ever done. "I don't want to be with Lucky anymore."

His piercing blue eyes flew open, and Jason turned on the sand to face her, bewilderment written all over his handsome face.

The intensity of his gaze unnerved her, and Elizabeth pulled her lower lip in between her teeth. "I-I can't be with him anymore. It's too different now. I'm n-not that person anymore, and neither is he." Her heart was racing; Jason was just staring at her. He had yet to say anything. "I-I'll always love him, but I'm just not in love with him anymore. He'll always be an important part of my life, but he can't-"

Jason closed his eyes. It always came back to that. It always came back to how damn important Lucky was. She just couldn't stop saying his name. And, he noted with a cringe, while she had said that she didn't want to be with Lucky anymore, she hadn't said anything about who she did want to be with.

Yeah, it always came back to that – how Lucky was so fucking important and how he himself had yet to find a definite place of his own in her life.

With a brisk shake of his head, Jason pulled himself to his feet. Elizabeth watched, stunned, as he brushed the sand off his jeans, but he studiously avoided his gaze as he stood.

"Elizabeth, stop." His voice was soft, tightly drawn, weary, and Elizabeth had no choice but to snap her mouth shut as she craned her neck up to look at him. Oh, no. Something had gone dreadfully wrong. Somewhere, she had said something and completely messed it all up.

He looked down at her then, and for the first time, she couldn't read his emotions. The mask had descended, the one that was reserved for everyone but her. Never her. Until now.

"I can't do this anymore," he offered simply, holding his hands helplessly out at his sides. "I-I can't. Y-You're confused and you don't know what you want, and, Elizabeth…" He trailed off, turning to face the dark seas and shaking his head once ruefully. "I can't stand around anymore and wait for you to chose me."

With that, he turned slowly and ambled back toward the house, his footsteps heavy on the cool sand.