He never wanted to be standing where he was now.
Nonetheless Jason Morgan's booted feet were planted atop freshly dug up earth and staring back at him was a dark marble stone that bore the name of his best friend.
The people who made these markers must have had Sonny's on reserve as it was here the day after the man was planted in the ground. It read his name, Michael 'Sonny' Corinthos Junior, his birth date, his death date, and three simple phrases, 'Loving son, loving father, loyal friend'.
Loyal friend indeed.
Jason couldn't help but laugh. He thought that if this day would ever come he would be standing here with tears in his eyes, frustration in his voice at the fact that he couldn't prevent it but now all he felt was the anger, the hatred boiling at the surface ready to explode until it would destroy everything in its path.
He wasn't going to subject his son to this.
Even though she deserved part of it, even though some of it was aimed at her, he wasn't going to subject Elizabeth to it either.
No, this rage was reserved for the man who should've known better, the man who could've prevented it all, the man who was like a father to him, the man who betrayed him.
"Bastard," Jason growled, "I hate you for dying, I hate you for being in this ground. I wanted to deal with you, Sonny. I wanted to be the one that put you there. Was that why you called me back? Because you knew that you were going to meet your maker, you knew that someone was after you and you wanted me to get some ounce of revenge before this happened or did you want me to take your leftovers?"
No, no that couldn't be it, Elizabeth would never be leftovers. She would always be beautiful to him, always be Elizabeth, always be held in a different regard than any other woman in his life and that just made him want to rage on more.
"Carly wasn't enough was she? Was she!" he screamed as he kicked at the earth, "It wasn't enough that you had to take her away from me, you knew how I felt about Elizabeth and if you gave a damn about me you would've picked up that phone and called me the minute you found out, the minute you knew about my son but you didn't!"
His hands slammed down hard on the top surface of the marble, the cool stone cutting into his skin, causing a trickle of blood to appear.
"You knew how I felt about her," he said in a choked whisper, "And you were the only one who knew, Sonny. I told you and I showed you and you pushed and pushed until I gave it all. I fucking told you why I left and you never bothered to say a word to her did you? Never bothered to explain why I walked out that morning."
He laughed as he wiped at the tears with the sleeve of his leather jacket, sniffling slightly as he tried to bat away the fresh ones that fell upon his cheeks.
"No you wanted to play dumb, to the both of us; you wanted me to suffer and her to suffer so you kept us apart. Why? What in the hell was going through your mind when she told you she was carrying my child? Did you think that since it worked out so well with Michael it could work out with another one of my children? Why is it that you get to screw around and produce as many kids as you possibly can and I…I'm left holding the bag. I'm left cleaning up your mess and wondering when I get my shot. Well here it is Sonny and you tried to keep that away from me too."
He kicked at the headstone in frustration. He wasn't sure if he wanted to knock it over or just pretend that it was Sonny's head he was beating into.
"I told you that I loved her too much to let her into this life!" he screamed, "I told you that Elizabeth wasn't fit for this world, that it would slowly kill her. I told you it would take away her freedom, her happiness, everything that made her so beautiful and you did it, you dragged her into this world and you took my son along with her! And then you die, you die a quick death before you can answer for what you've done. Did you even ask her how much she loved to paint? Did you ever ask her about the wind? Did you ever ask her about her art classes? Did you ever ask her about scrappy little Christmas trees? Did you ever ask her about me?"
His fingers curled around the sides of the gray marble as he started to shake it.
"Did you? Did you!"
The stone wouldn't budge and tired, sweating, crying, Jason collapsed to his knees in front of it. His body shaking from the tears and pure exhaustion, the world around him was turning hazy as the sun started to rise in the far east.
"You had Carly," Jason whispered as his fingers curled into the earth beneath him, "You took my best friend from me, you took Michael, why in the hell did you have to take Elizabeth and JJ too?"
His eyes were filled with tears, wanting to be released, Jason fighting to hold onto them, to hold onto whatever control he had left.
"I walked away to keep her safe, to keep her free," he said as he slammed his fists into the ground, "Why did you destroy her? Why!"
His fingers reached up and ran across the name chiseled into stone.
"Why the hell did you turn her into you?"
"Jason?"
His barely heard his name through the roaring in his head and he turned slightly, saw the petite figure in the darkness behind him.
His eyes moved from her feet to those shapely legs to those beautiful thighs to that incredibly narrow waist, all the way up too…
He sighed, devastation and relief written clear across his face.
"Hello Sam."
"I wasn't trying to be rude," she said as she moved towards him, "I was walking past the cemetery and I heard yelling, it sounded like someone was in pain. I wanted to help and…I saw you. You look like your in pain."
Jason turned away from her and stood up, brushing at the dirt that clung to his jeans.
"You also look like you could use a friend," she said as she reached out and touched the elbow of his leather jacket, "I'm not going to pry but I'm here if you need someone to listen."
Jason turned back towards her, looked down into that angelic face, that brown hair pulled back into a fluffy ponytail, but it was the eyes that reached out to him.
They were brown, not blue.
He sighed and nodded.
"I was going to head over to Kelly's to pick up some breakfast for my son," he said with a small smile, "Would you like to come?"
A smile came across Sam's face, "I'd love to."
Sam laughed as she took a sip of her coffee, half cream, half sugar, "I'm suppose to be helping you. You're not supposed to be listening to my horror stories of Fashion Design 101."
"You did help, got my mind off of things," he said with a smile as he took a sip of his own black coffee, "Besides I never knew that the fashion world could be so interesting."
"I tried to make it that way," she said as she touched his arm gently with her hand, "I would never bore you with the details of sewing and stitching. That class nearly put me to sleep," she laughed. "If you're ever interested I'll tell you the real good stories, like my research on Club Wear."
"Mmm, now that does sound interesting," Jason said with a smile and started to laugh.
This actually felt nice, sitting at a table in the corner of Kelly's, holding a conversation with a beautiful woman.
It felt normal.
"Tell me when you came to town," he asked.
"About a month ago," she said as she tugged on the end of her ponytail, "I needed to take a break from college; the bills were coming in quicker than I could pay them. I took a semester off and decided to start up at PCU down here. I'm looking around for a part time job as well. I was hoping to get into the Fashion Industry but none of them are paying internships and I actually need something that pays."
"Why don't you work here?" Jason asked, "I know the owner, I could put in a good word for you. The tips alone could help you save up for when you want to go back to whatever it is you came from. In fact I know someone that used to work…"
He stopped realizing that introducing Elizabeth to Sam would not be such a good idea.
"I take it the person you were just about to suggest is an ex," she smiled.
"That obvious?" he asked with a laugh.
"You just got this extremely painful look on your face," she smiled.
"It's not an ex, really," Jason said, "JJ's mother. We've been…we were friends for a really long time."
"Ah," Sam said as her hands fell around her coffee cup, "That type of friendship."
"No…no it wasn't…" he sighed as he ran one hand through his spiky hair. To this day he still couldn't describe the relationship he had with Elizabeth, "It's not something that I can really put into words. It's not really something I want to talk about."
She smiled as she reached into the pocket of her jogging pants, "Fair enough, now, let me treat you to breakfast since you were kind enough to listen to me babble on for the past hour."
Jason placed his hand on top of hers and then laid down a twenty and a ten, "This is my treat. Thank you for getting my mind off of things."
"It was my pleasure," she said as she placed the money back in her pants, "And since I get the feeling that you're about to leave…"
"I want to be home before JJ wakes up," Jason said as he motioned to the waitress that just came out of the kitchen with a large brown bag, "I'm bringing him home breakfast. He loves Mickey Mouse pancakes."
"You truly are a wonderful father," Sam smiled as she watched the waitress hand Jason the bag, "You can see how much he adores you."
"Not as much as I adore him," Jason smiled as he finished his coffee, "Thank you again."
"Wait," she said taking his hand when he started to get up, "I feel like I still owe you. Let me take you out to dinner. I won't speak a word about fashion."
He laughed, "What would we talk about then?"
She laughed as she pushed some of her long bangs from her face, "What do you say? There's this cozy little Chinese place that I'd love to try out. Tomorrow night, we'll say around nine or ten, therefore you'll have plenty of time to put JJ to bed and hopefully get a sitter."
"His mother will be with him," Jason said, skirting the issue of he and Elizabeth actually living together, "He's usually in bed by eight at the latest."
"Eight thirty then," Sam smiled as she wrote down her number on a napkin and handed it to him, "It's a date?"
Jason took it and looked down at it. He couldn't remember the last time a woman actually gave him seven digits. He was smiling when he was looking back up at her.
"It's a date."
Elizabeth ran one hand over her face as she yawned and sat up in bed. She blinked a few times before she realized where she was.
Jason's room in the penthouse and both he and her son were nowhere to be found.
She slipped out of bed and looked down at herself, wondering when she took the time to undress and put on a pair of pajamas. That must've been Jason. She remembered him holding her, them holding each other, and her feeling a peace that she hadn't felt in a very long time.
She fell asleep in his arms and as usual he took care of her.
Smiling she started down the stairs in search of her son, wondering if he was up to no good with one of the guards. She was startled when she saw Jason and him pulling food out of a bag at the table in the dining area.
"Morning Mama!" JJ squealed, "Daddy brought Mouse pancakes!"
Jason went out and bought breakfast.
This was the morning that she wanted to wake up to four years ago.
Better late than never.
She practically skipped over to the table and curled up in a chair beside her son, "Do I get anything to eat?"
"Western omelet," Jason said placing a Styrofoam box in front of her, "A biscuit and some sausage and bacon on the side. There's pork roll around here too."
"Jason," Elizabeth laughed as she laid the pancakes out in front of JJ, "How much do you think I eat?"
"I think you need to put some meat on your bones," Jason smiled as he stood up and poured some orange juice from a pitcher he brought in from the kitchen, "Doesn't she JJ?"
"Hmm-mph," came JJ's muffled reply.
"And what did you get?" Elizabeth asked leaning over to his side of the table.
"Black coffee."
"Jason!" she sighed as she held out a piece of bacon, "Eat it, eat it, I'm serious if you want me to eat, eat this."
He laughed as he tried to push it away but when his mouth was open she shoved half a slice in there and he managed to choke it down.
"Thank you," she grinned satisfied and started to work on her omelet.
Jason wished this was real, the family portrait they must've made sitting here eating breakfast together, but he knew that it couldn't be.
No matter how many tears were shared, how much progress they made, how much of a family they wanted to be they couldn't, not now, not yet.
And things were going too well for him to mention his date.
Here, she couldn't believe that she was actually standing here, at the sight where Sonny was killed. Amidst the ruins of charred wood and rubble, she looked around her and tried to figure out how the hell she got here.
Not just here, but here, in her life, at this very moment.
Waking up to a note left by Jason was something that devastated her and realizing why he left that note only made the burden more difficult to carry. He simply did what he thought that she wanted; it was something that Jason always did.
When she had curled up against his side four years ago, listening to his soft breathing, assuming he was asleep, she had whispered that this couldn't change everything.
He had to have been awake, heard it all and assumed as well.
He left so he didn't have to face her leaving again. She let him stay away because she wanted him to come back for her and not something he considered an obligation.
Falling in love with Sonny wasn't suppose to happen, standing in the middle of the burnt down warehouse wasn't suppose to happen, Jason being out on a date right now with a woman he spilled soda all over wasn't suppose to happen.
Neither was JJ, but he did, and he was the most important thing to the world to her.
She carefully picked her way through the pieces of rubble and started towards the back of the warehouse, the area closest to the docks. She couldn't see him very well in the dark but she was sure that Francis was looming around here somewhere.
Max was suppose to be on duty tonight but after last night's fiasco he asked for the evening off.
Elizabeth could hardly blame the man. One minute she was seeing Sonny Corinthos' ghost and hearing his voice on the phone and the next she was pleading with Max to be him.
Frankly she was surprised the man didn't quit.
But he wouldn't. He was loyal to Sonny, he was loyal to Jason, he was loyal to her.
He was also running a background check on the woman Jason was having Chinese food with.
She scoffed and shook her head. She knew that she blew it with Jason, knew it the moment she held JJ in her arms and decided to keep their baby a secret, knew it the moment Sonny Corinthos kissed her and she didn't push him away. She knew that she had absolutely no right to be jealous, to want to be in the position of the soda girl Sam but it was still inside of her, somewhere buried deep, the mutual attraction, the connection, the wanting Jason that never seemed to stop.
Neither did wanting his friendship back and right now, because of their son, that was more important than anything else.
She missed the late night rides, the staring at the stars, the pretend fights and the way they just use to listen to each other talk for hours on ends. She missed the man that made her believe she could do anything, the man that made her want to be free. She missed the friend that she made all those years ago in a bar named Jake's.
She wanted that back more than she wanted Jason in her bed.
Running a background check on Sam was for his own good, that and she didn't want any woman near her child until she was sure who that woman was and where she came from.
Another trait she picked up in the mob lifestyle.
That and the fact that there was still no word on what happened to Sonny Corinthos.
She was also becoming more and more curious as to why Sonny would've called Jason back to town before something happened. Was he keeping things from her?
She looked down at her purse which was starting to vibrate. Quickly unzipping her bag she dug out her cell phone and smiled at the caller ID before picking it up.
"I'm coming back now, Francis."
"If Jason knew that I had let you out of my sight…"
"I need a few minutes," Elizabeth said looking around once more at the blackened remains, "I don't think it helped any but I still needed it."
"I'll be right at the entrance," Francis said.
Elizabeth smiled and flipped the phone shut before placing it back in her purse and slipping it over her shoulder. That was another thing she loved about this life, Johnny, Francis and Max, three men she could no longer live without.
She started to pick her way back through the shell of a warehouse, avoiding pieces of brick and splintered wood, when she found herself slipping, her ankle twisting and herself falling right to the hard cement ground, her head connecting with a large, charred four by four.
Moaning slightly, Elizabeth rubbed her forehead and blinked, her vision blurred. She felt wetness on her hands but couldn't see what it was, couldn't figure out where it was coming from. She tried to move, tried to sit up, wondering what happened, wondering where she was.
Images started to materialize in front of her eyes and the warm liquid on her hand was red, blood red. She heard someone in the distance calling her name and she looked around, feeling woozy as everything started to fog up again.
Then she looked up and saw him, standing over her in Italian leather shoes, a three piece black suit and dark black hair. He bent down, moved closer, whispered something as he reached out to her, seemingly wanted to help her.
Her eyes widened when her vision became clear and she stared at the man in horror.
Then she screamed.
"You have to give me something," Sam groaned as she chewed on a piece of egg roll, "You look like a very private man and I won't ask what you do for a living but can't I at least ask what you like?"
Jason smiled as he placed his beer back down on the table, "Bikes and pool."
"That's a very limited source of entertainment," she laughed as she ate a piece of General Tao's Chicken with her chopsticks, "Not that I don't find those things fascinating."
"Most people don't," Jason said as he leaned his elbows on the table and watched her slip a piece of noodle into her mouth. She had a very full mouth, one he was starting to like looking at.
"I don't think there's anything wrong…" she covered her mouth and took a sip of her water, "Excuse me," she said with a slight blush, "I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying a nice cold beer and a game of pool after a hard days work. I'd love to do it. It's my idea of a perfect date."
"Sitting around a biker's bar?" Jason asked with raised eyebrows, "Really?"
"Oh yeah," Sam laughed as she picked up another piece of chicken with her chopsticks, "All that leather and a bunch of Harley's parked out front. I'd love to hang out at a place like that sometime."
"Yeah?" Jason asked nodding, "I might be able to arrange that."
"Really?" Sam asked as she held up the chicken this his lips, "Taste this, its wonderful."
Jason opened his mouth to accept the for and chewed on it slowly, aware that Sam was watching his every move. He swallowed it and then took another sip of his beer, "That was good."
"I thought so," she said quietly as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, "I'm having a good time tonight Jason."
"Me too," he said somewhat surprisingly.
"I think we should do this again sometime," she said as she looked down at her plate, twirling the remaining noodles with her chopsticks.
A second date, which might lead to a third, he thought, and he might have to eventually tell her about his living situation with Elizabeth.
He thought it would be better for the both of them if he came clean now and he started to lean forward, opening his mouth to speak when the inside of his jacket started to ring.
"I'm sorry, I have to get this," he said as he pulled out his phone, "Yeah?"
"We need you back at the penthouse."
"What happened?" Jason asked turning away from Sam and into the leather cushion of the booth he was in, "Is JJ ok?"
"JJ is fine, he's still staying overnight at Bobbie's with Michael," Johnny said into the phone, "But I need you here at the penthouse, now."
"What's going…" then Jason heard it. Elizabeth was screaming something he couldn't make out in the background.
He wondered if this is how his life would be ten years from now; him out on a date with another woman and Elizabeth always needing him.
"Jason..."
"I'll be home in a little while," Jason said looking at Sam, "Whatever it is…"
"I wouldn't have called you if I didn't need you," Johnny bit out word for word on the other end of the line, "She knew about your fucking date before you even went on it, Francis opened his big mouth. Now get back home."
Jason still hesitated, still wondered what the hell could be so damn important.
"I can't believe you have to think about this," Johnny said quietly on the other hand.
Jason sighed as he ran his hand over his forehead, "I don't."
Then he slammed his phone shut and stuffed it back into his pocket.
"I need him here with me now," Elizabeth said pushing against Francis, "You don't understand. I need JJ."
"Elizabeth we need you to calm down and tell us what happened," Johnny said soothingly as he walked over to rejoin her and the two other bodyguards, ""JJ is fine, he's at Bobbie's…"
"I want my son!" she screamed as she slapped her hands against Johnny's chest. "Get me my son, now!"
She was hysterical, crying, shaking and the blood was oozing from a vicious head wound she suffered when she had fallen in the warehouse. She wouldn't let anyone touch her, she wouldn't let them take her to the hospital and she wouldn't quit. She wanted her son and she wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"Elizabeth, there is…"
They all turned towards the door when it burst open and Jason stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the scene in front of him.
"What the hell…Elizabeth? Elizabeth, what happened?" he was beside her, checking her arms, her hands, seeing if she were hurt anywhere else, "Elizabeth…" he said caressing her forehead, his eyes reflecting pain when his fingers came back with her blood on them, "Why the fuck isn't she at General Hospital?"
"Because we were waiting for you," Johnny barked right back at Jason, "I'm getting the car."
"No! I want JJ!" Elizabeth screamed as she started pushing against Jason.
Francis and Max quickly followed Johnny out the door, both of them deciding to call the Brownstone just in case.
"Elizabeth, Elizabeth listen to me," Jason said as he took a firm hold of her arms, "Elizabeth look at me, look at me."
She did and what he saw scared him. Her blue eyes were wild, looking confused and hazed, unsure of where she was or what was going on. He was beginning to think she might have a concussion.
"Elizabeth…"
"We need to get to JJ," she said as she scratched against his leather jacket with her nails, "Michael and Carly too, we have to get them now, you don't know Jason. You don't know whose back."
Sonny again, Jason mused. Grief stricken Elizabeth Webber was seeing more visions of her lost lover.
"We'll talk about this once we get you checked out," Jason said as he struggled to slide an arm around her shoulders, trying to keep her upright against him but she fought out of his embrace.
"No!" she screamed and pushed him with all her might, nearly causing him to lose his balance.
"Elizabeth?" Jason hated to see her like this, hated to see her so damn lost.
Then before his eyes he saw her skin pale, saw her lose all sense of time and place as her eyes fluttered shut and she started to fall to the floor, one word whispering upon her lips.
"Alcazar."