Chapter 25

Elizabeth entered Kelly's from the back alley. She didn't want anyone to see her. She needed to change and then talk to Lucky. The sooner she did the better it would be for her and for Lucky. He may not realize it but she knew she was doing the right thing. He would only end up hating her later when they relationship didn't work out. She managed to make it to her room without too many stares. She removed the gown and selected jeans and a sweater for tonight's ride with Jason. She wished she could throw the gown in the trash, but she knew Laura and Carly wouldn't be too happy if she did. The gown probably cost more money than she'd ever made working at Kelly's. If it was just Carly, Elizabeth would tear up the gown and send it back to her in a gift-wrapped box, but she couldn't do that to Laura.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She was happy. She smiled and it covered her whole face. Gone were the sad eyes and the fake smile. For the first time in a long time she didn't have to pretend. She was happy, truly happy.

Jason opened the penthouse door to see Carly sitting on the couch with an ice pack on her face. He smiled thinking of Elizabeth punching her in the face.

"What are you so happy about?" Carly's face hurt to talk.

He approached her with his arms crossed. "I'm just imagining Elizabeth punching you in the face."

"Oh, what? Did she go running to you and cry the victim?" She stood to face him. "Look at me, Jason. I'm the victim."

"Carly, you made her relive the worst moment of her life and you say you're the victim. You're lucky a punch was all she did. What could she have possibly done to warrant that?" Sometimes he wondered what possessed her to do the things she did.

She could see he wasn't going to believe it was Elizabeth's fault. "She deserved it, Jason, after the way she hurt you."

He sighed. He knew this was about him. Why couldn't Carly stay out of his life? "You don't know what you're talking about."

Now that she had started, she couldn't stop. "I overheard you talking to Sonny at the hospital. I know you love her and that she turned you away to be with my idiot of a cousin. Did you think I would just let it go? She deserved everything she got for the way she hurt you."

Jason grabbed both of her arms. He had never been this angry at Carly before, not even when she had married AJ. "You don't have the right to judge Elizabeth and her decisions. You don't have the right to do what you did to her for what you think she did to me."

Carly stared into the cold menacing eyes. Jason had never looked at her like that before. She felt a moment of fear, but would not give in to it. "She did hurt you, I know it. I don't understand what you see in her. She's not good enough for you."

He released her and crossed the room. He needed to put distance between them before he did something he wouldn't normally do. "That is not your decision. This is my life, Carly, and if I want Elizabeth in my life then she will be."

"What?" Carly wasn't sure if she had heard that right. "Please tell me you did not just say you are going to let that little twit back into your life."

"Carly." His voice was full of warning.

"For the past two weeks, you have been suffering because of that girl. There is no way I'm going to let that go. There is no way I'm going to be okay with her being in your life."

He sighed. "When are you going to understand that you don't have a say in my life? I love you, but if you continue to make trouble for Elizabeth then you and I won't be friends anymore."

"I can't believe this." Carly was stunned. Jason was going to end their friendship over Elizabeth Webber. He couldn't be serious. She studied him for a long moment. She could see he meant what he said. "She means that much to you?"

"Yes, she does," he admitted.

She didn't think she could do it. She couldn't be nice to Elizabeth. She had spent the past year hating her and blaming her for everything that had gone wrong between her and Jason, even though she knew it wasn't Elizabeth's fault. Carly only had herself to blame for hurting Jason last year, and if she persisted she would only have herself to blame for hurting him now. As hard as it would be, she knew she had to put her feeling foe Elizabeth aside. If she didn't she would lose Jason, and she couldn't let that happen. She couldn't live without him.

"Okay. For you, I'll try to be nice to her," she said.

"You will apologise to her for what you did," he pushed.

"What!"

"Carly."

"Fine," she relented. "I'll apologise and be nice to her from now on. But if she does anything to hurt you again then all bets are off. You better tell her that because if she hurts you again, I'll make her life a living hell. Are we still friends?"

He was quiet for a moment. Carly was going to be Carly no matter what he did. He knew what she was like when he met her. She wasn't going to change now. Not that he wanted her to change. She just needed to respect Elizabeth and his decisions. "Carly, you don't have to worry about me."

"Yes, I do," she insisted. "Jason, I'm finally happy. Sonny and I are together and with Michael, we've made a family. I want you to have everything I do. I want you to be happy."

"I am happy, so please just let me handle my own life."

"Okay, I'll try. I'll leave Elizabeth alone. I love you, you know that right?"

He nodded and hugged her. "I love you, too."

Elizabeth stood in front of Lucky's office at Deception. So far she'd checked his room at Kelly's and her studio but hadn't found him. Deception was her next stop. She figured he'd come back here after the photo shoot. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. She knocked again, but no one answered the door. Maybe he was in his darkroom and didn't hear her knocking. She tried the knob and opened the door. She looked around before heading for the darkroom.

"Lucky," she called out. The red light wasn't on, so she knew she could go in without damaging any film. He wasn't there. She wondered where he could be. She picked up the phone and called Laura. She didn't know where he was either. Neither did Nikolas, Gia or Emily. A feeling went through her that she couldn't identify. Something bad was about to happen, she thought. She rushed through the door. She needed to see Jason.

Jason walked quickly through the park on his way to the hospital. Carly told him Sonny was at a doctor's appointment checking out his arm. Jason needed to see him and inform him that Jason would be making Max Elizabeth's guard. He was worried about Lucky. Elizabeth might not admit it, but he knew Lucky was not going to take their break up well. He feared Lucky was going to do something to Elizabeth. She needed to have a guard on her until he could deal with Lucky himself.

He cut through the field and was about to exit the park when he sensed something was wrong.

"Don't move," said a voice came from behind.

Jason recognised the voice and knew it wasn't some punk who didn't realize he was attempting to mug Jason Morgan. He turned to face the man Elizabeth had wanted to sacrifice her happiness for. "What do you want?"

Lucky stood just out of reach of Jason with a gun in his hand. "You out of Elizabeth's life," he sneered. "I warned you before to stay away from her, but I guess you're too stupid to understand. Elizabeth is my girlfriend. She belongs to me."

Jason remained silent. He was relieved. Lucky wasn't going to hurt Elizabeth. He was going after him, but Jason didn't want to get into this with Lucky here. The park was too open. The potential for witnesses was too great. He needed to get control of the situation. He needed to get the gun away from Lucky. He made a quick scan of the surrounding area. If someone came by, there was no telling what Lucky might do.

Lucky mistook Jason's silence for fear. He loved the idea of scaring Sonny Corinthos' number one enforcer. "I'm going to make sure you can't go near Elizabeth again."

He raised the gun and was about to pull the trigger when a voice yelled, "No!"

Elizabeth came running down the steps towards the two men. "Lucky, what are you doing?"

"Elizabeth, leave. I don't want you to get hurt," Jason spoke before Lucky could reply to her question. He was worried Lucky would turn his attention on her.

"Oh, isn't that touching," Lucky said sarcastically. "Jason Morgan protector till the end."

Elizabeth wasn't going to leave. They were in this situation because of her. She needed to fix this. She needed to get Lucky to put down the gun before someone got hurt. "Lucky, please put the gun down," she begged. "We'll go to Kelly's and talk, okay."

"No, Elizabeth. I know what you want to talk about. I know you were with him today. I followed you from the studio. You broke your promise to me. You can't go running to Jason every time you're upset. You're supposed to come to me. If you can't do that, if he is too tempting, then I'll remove the temptation."

Elizabeth took a step closer to Jason. "Killing Jason won't make me come to you. Please, let's go back to my studio and we'll talk about this."

Jason wanted to argue. He didn't want her going anywhere with Lucky. He couldn't keep her safe if she left with him. Looking at Lucky, Jason could see he was capable of anything at that moment. He wasn't willing to give Lucky an opportunity to hurt Elizabeth. "Elizabeth, please. You need to leave before something happens. I've got this under control."

"You really are stupid, Morgan," Lucky snarled. "I'm the one in control. I have the gun." He raised his hand again ready to pull the trigger. He didn't care if Elizabeth was present. It was probably better this way, he thought. Then she couldn't pretend it didn't happen.

"Lucky, no," she cried again. "You can't do this."

"He is getting in the way of our dreams. Can't you see that? I've already warned him but he won't listen. I won't let him destroy our future together."

Elizabeth took another step closer to Jason. She didn't want to have this discussion like this but couldn't see any alternative. "Lucky, I've tried to be the person you want me to be, but I can't do it. I'm sorry but I'm not in love with you. I was in love with a memory not the real you."

Lucky shook his head. "You're lying. Jason is making you say that. We promised each other forever, remember. He's trying to control you. Once he's gone, you'll love me again."

"No, I won't," she said more harshly than she intended. "We are not the same people we were when we made that promise. We were children. We didn't know what would happen when we left the church and stepped into the real world. We didn't know we'd be separated for a year. We grew apart."

"We didn't grow apart," he shouted. "I was kept prisoner by a psycho old woman and a deranged man. They tried to brainwash me. I was tortured and beaten almost everyday. The only thing that kept me going was you. I fought to come back to you, so we could live out those dreams we promised each other. I'm not going to let this brain damaged thug get in the way of that. I love you."

Tears filled her eyes thinking of all the hell he had gone through. "You don't love me. You love the picture you made up in your head. I can't be that person, Lucky."

"Yes, you can," he insisted. "You are that person. Jason's just confusing you. He's manipulating you. Can't you see that? He wants to take you away from me."

Jason could see Lucky was reaching his limit. He needed to act soon before Lucky lost it completely. He had to find the right moment to grab the gun. He was just worried about Elizabeth. She was too close. If he made a mistake, she was in the direct line of fire.

Elizabeth couldn't believe this was Lucky. Where was the man she had pledged undying love to that Valentine's Day in the church? How could she have not seen how troubled he was? Did she just close her eyes to his problems because she was so happy to have him back in her life? Had she been so afraid to stand up for herself that she was willing to ignore the warning signs he had given her? She thought of his insane jealousy of Sonny and his constant need for reassurance about her love. If she hadn't been so afraid to tell him the truth, she might have realized sooner that there was something wrong with Lucky. She needed to finally tell the truth and make Lucky see that he needed to get help.

"I haven't been honest with you. I've been lying to you for months before Jason even came back. I don't want to be a model Lucky. I don't want that dream. That was your dream and I was too afraid to tell you the truth. I don't want my picture used to advertise perfume. Jason didn't manipulate me into changing my mind. He's just given me the courage to say what I couldn't before. He's reminded me what I was giving up to make you happy." She paused to see if Lucky was really listening to her. "I was giving up myself to be with you, and I can't do that anymore. I realized I fell in love with Jason when you were dead. I'm sorry, but we can't live in the past anymore. We have to move on. If you search your heart, you'll see that I'm right. You don't love me. You haven't for a long time."

Lucky refused to listen, "No, we said we would always be together. A permanent lock. You'll see. When Jason's gone, you'll see that we are meant to be together."

Elizabeth yelled, "No", just as Lucky pulled the trigger.