Disclaimer: I don't own General Hospital, or its characters.

Author's Note: I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed so far, I really appreciate it and hopefully you enjoy this chapter as well!

In this chapter, I'm going to do my own version of "the dinner" and at the beginning, I'm using some direct quotes from the show, which I got from the transcripts on Journey Online.

Love, Daisies, and Troubadours – Chapter 3

"Ouch!" Courtney slammed the oven door shut and danced around the kitchen shaking her burned hand. Realizing that it was useless to shake it, she rushed over to the sink and held it under the icy cold tap. Rosie nudged her head against her shin and Courtney smiled down at the dog.

"It's a good thing I'm only reheating dinner and not making it myself, huh Girl?" she asked, reaching down with her free hand to pet her. She pulled her hand out from the water and inspected it. "Well at least I know just how hot those pans can get," she said, trying to make the best of the situation.

It was later that afternoon, and after Carly had picked Michael up, Courtney had decided to make Jason dinner, her way of saying thank you for everything he had done these last few months. And, she was still trying to figure out exactly what he had meant when he said the word "tonight" in the park. He could have meant he'd just see her tonight, or they'd get to hang out just the two of them tonight, or he meant that they would… even at the thought of it, Courtney felt her cheeks heat up and she decided to stop overanalyzing things for the moment.

She knelt down to her helper and held her head between both hands, kissing her nose. "Why am I so nervous? It's just Jason, it's not like we haven't practically been living together for the last couple of weeks. Of course, it's different now, he's not protecting me from anyone, or guarding me, or even saving me." She sighed and blew the hair off of her face. "Oh god, is he going to think this is a date?"

So much for not overanalyzing.

Luckily she didn't have much time to think because as she righted herself from petting the dog she heard the front door open.

"Courtney? I'm home. Where are you?"

"I'll be right there!" Courtney called, instinctively running her hand through her hair. She smiled brightly as she walked out into the living room. "Hey, you're back earlier than I expected."

"I got Benny to cover the rest of the job for me." He looked around the apartment. "Michael's gone and Carly's not here to interrupt, right?" he asked, grabbing her by the waist and giving her a kiss. He pulled away. "Are you cooking?" he asked, leaning in to kiss her again.

Courtney laughed. "Not so much cooking, as heating up a takeout order from Kelly's," she confessed. "But, I'm not totally helpless in the kitchen, I did bake chocolate chip cookies for dessert." Jason raised an eyebrow at her and she laughed again. "They're really good, I promise."

"We'll see about that." He picked up her hand and looked at it. "Did the stove attack you?"

Courtney grimaced. "Oven actually. It's not as bad as it looks though." She smiled as he brought her hand to his lips and she rolled her eyes. "Much better, thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, sit down, and I'll finish getting dinner ready," he said as he lead her over to the table she had set for the two of them.

"I don't think so," Courtney said, twisting out his grasp and turning to face him. "Why don't you go wash up and I'll get dinner on the table," she suggested. "By the time you get back downstairs everything will be ready and we can eat."

"Sounds good, I'm starving.' Jason kissed her cheek and headed upstairs, leaving Courtney to go back into the kitchen.

She was setting the last dish on the table as Jason came back into the room. "Need any help?" he asked her.

Courtney jumped, not having heard him come back down. As she turned to look at him her hand brushed against the side of one of the hot dishes, forcing another cry to escape from her lips as tears stung her eyes.

"Here let me see," Jason said, grabbing the burnt hand and inspecting it. "Sit down, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Courtney managed to say as he blew on her hand. "Guess I really heated things up, huh?" she asked.

Jason grinned at her and knelt down next to her. "That's okay, we'll get you some gloves for the next time you cook," he said. "Well, the good news is I think you'll live."

Courtney smiled. "I'm fine now," she said. "Just feeling a little foolish, that's all."

"Please." Jason took his seat across from her. "If you want to talk foolish sometime, ask Carly about the time she tried to help Michael build a snowman by pouring water onto the snow. She single-handedly melted the entire thing while Michael and Max stood by and laughed."

Courtney laughed. "I'll have to remember that one. So." She gestured to the food spread out before them. "Should I serve, or will you?"

"I think I can handle it." He waited until he was done before speaking again. "So what's the reason for dinner tonight?" he asked.

Courtney lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug. "It's just my way of saying thank you for everything you've done these last few months," she explained. "I mean, when Sonny told you to watch me, you had no idea what you were getting into."

"It really hasn't been that hard Courtney. And you don't need to thank me." He smiled again. "Besides, I think it's worked out for the best, don't you?"

"Definitely," she agreed, immediately hoping she didn't sound too eager. Though, he was the one to say it first. Oh good, the overanalyzing part of the night was back.

"Dinner was great," Jason said awhile later, pushing his chair back from the table. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Courtney answered, taking a sip of her water. "Did you save room for dessert?"

"I still don't know about these cookies," Jason replied. "How many times did you burn yourself baking them?"

"None," she said sticking her tongue out at him. "They're really good, I promise!"

"Yeah you've said that already." He stood up. "Why don't you go on over to the couch, and I'll go get the cookies?"

"Deal."

He came back a few minutes later, balancing a plate of cookies and two glasses of wine on a tray. He set it down and sat next to her. "What? Oh, the wine?" He shrugged. "Well, we had water for dinner, but who drinks water while eating cookies? And the beer in the fridge didn't seem like a right choice, and we're out of milk, so I figured this was the best choice."

Courtney laughed. "Sounds good to me," she said. She watched him take a bite of one of the cookies. "Well?" she asked knowingly.

"Best chocolate chip cookie I've ever had," he said, leaning forward to retrieve the two glasses of wine and handing one to her. "So what did you do the rest of the afternoon?" he asked.

She settled back against him, filling him in on the minor details of her day. As she did so, she realized how comfortable she was, it was just like when he would stay the night with her in the apartment she had shared with AJ and they'd stay up all night talking about random things. She had forgotten how much she had missed doing that.

"So really," she concluded. "Once Michael's sugar rush wore off it was a pretty uneventful day." She took a sip of the wine and turned her gaze to him. "What about you? How was work?"

"Same as always," he said.

"I see." She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. "What exactly did you have to do tonight?"

"I had to make sure an export of supplies went out on time." Jason toyed with a strand of her blonde hair, hoping it would distract her from the conversation.

"Oh." She twisted slightly to face him better. "Is that all you and Sonny deal with? Coffee?" No such luck on the distraction.

"No, there are other things, but coffee is the main one." He dropped his hand to massage the back of her neck.

"Well what exactly is it that you and Sonny do?" She chewed on her lower lip. "I mean, I know about Sonny's reputation and the whole underground unsavory factor of business, but what exactly is it?"

"Hey," Jason said, using his hand on her neck to draw her closer. "I didn't leave work early so that I could talk about work," he said, using his other hand to lightly tickle her side.

"No?" Courtney still had a million questions that she wanted to ask him but she was slowly forgetting each and every one of them.

"No," he repeated, with a shake of his head. He took the wine glass from her hand and set it back on the table.

Courtney felt her body go warm as his arms went around her again and thought to herself that he was definitely doing a good job of making up for the lack of kisses earlier in the day.

Awhile later, what seemed like hours later to Courtney, they finally broke apart from each other and Jason smiled down at her, brushing the hair from her eyes.

"It's getting late," he said. "We should probably call it a night soon."

A quick glance at the wall clock showed Courtney that indeed, several hours had passed since dinner. "Yeah, we probably should," she agreed, hoping he couldn't feel her heart pounding as hard as it was. And even though he was right, she was pretty comfortable where she was. Then her brain kicked in and she realized the possible meanings of him suggesting that they go to bed.

Jason kissed her again. "Do you work the morning shift?"

"Seven a.m. bright and early," she said.

"Okay, well maybe we can spend the rest of the day getting you into your new place?" he waited for her to nod her agreement before going on. "It's a plan then. I may not be here when you wake up, there's an early shipment coming in." Jason flinched as he realized he brought up work again but he kept going in hopes that she wouldn't start with the questions again. "If I don't see you before you leave, I'll stop in for coffee."

"Sounds good," Courtney murmured, resting her head on his chest. She was still trying to figure out where exactly she was sleeping tonight.

Jason's next words answered that for her. "All right, should I tuck you in or do you think Rosie will get jealous?"

"I'll be fine," she said softly, surprised at how disappointed she was. Sure, it was probably too soon to even think about sleeping with Jason, but for those few moments the thought had entertained her mind she definitely wouldn't have minded.

"You okay?" Jason asked, lifting his head.

"Yeah." She forced a smile onto her face. "I'm just more tired than I thought," she said. She sat up. "Oh! I forgot to clean up the table from dinner," she said when she saw the mess still lying there.

Jason waved his hand at it. "Go on to bed, I'll take care of it."

"No, that's okay," she protested. "I can—"

"I've got it," he repeated, kissing her again.

"You're sure?" Courtney looked at him doubtfully but he nodded. "Okay," she relented. She offered him one last smile. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night."

"Night." She got up from the couch and walked upstairs to her room, with Rosie close at her heels.

She smiled as she turned off the lamp next to the bed and Rosie snuggled her way up to her head. "You're right girl," she whispered. "We're falling way faster than we should."