Elizabeth opened the door to Jason's bedroom allowing the dim light to filter in from the hallway. She had taken her time tucking JJ in, assuring him that his father would be there in the morning and kissed him goodnight about a million times. She then decided to change into something more comfortable and slipped on a pair of pajama pants and her favorite black tee shirt that was tucked away in a drawer back home until very recently.

Basically she was stalling.

She wanted nothing more to do than make things right with Jason. She wanted to see him smile at her again, see the way his eyes twinkled when he teased her, flirted with her. She wanted him to be the one to teach her how to point a gun correctly, she wanted to wake up in bed with him, their son nestled between them. She wanted to fix everything that was broken and yet she was terrified that it wasn't possible.

Walking up beside the bed she wrapped her arms around her waist as she looked down at him, his hands rested gently on his stomach, eyes closed, breathing even, smooth, his face resembling that of a beautiful angel. She swore to herself that she wasn't going to waste another minute of her life with him, if they couldn't move past things then they would still have some sort of relationship for their son. There was always going to be that connection between them.

But they had to move past it, she thought as she looked away from him, feeling a tear slide down her face, her and Jason deserved to finally be happy; together.

She was pulled back to the present when she felt his large hand take hold of hers, "I thought you were asleep," she whispered as she brushed her face with her free hand.

"Were you hoping that I was?" he said with a small smile, that familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"No," she quickly denied, "I was just…" she bit her lip before smiling, "I was stalling."

"We did this before," he said motioning for her to come closer, "You were the one who took the step Elizabeth, you were the one who admitted that you wanted to be with me." He watched her look away, pull away from him emotionally, "Now it's mine turn, to admit it, to tell you how I feel."

She laughed softly, "I'm not sure I can handle it, Jason," she said. "I've put you through so much hell. I can only imagine the hate that you feel for me."

Jason pulled his hand away and patted the space beside him on the bed, wanting her to be near him, wanting to be able to reach out and touch her if that was at all possible. He watched as she sat down beside him, avoiding his eyes, her fingers twirling the chestnut locks he loved so much. He couldn't resist reaching up and running his fingers down her cheeks.

"I remember the first time I actually felt these locks on my face," he said as he rubbed strands of brown hair between his thumb and forefinger, "I mean, they've brushed up against me when I hugged you, when we were chasing the wind," he smiled, "that night I danced with you in Kelly's," he loved the way she turned away blushing, "But the first time I actually felt them dancing across my cheek was when you were leaning over me, yelling at me to open my eyes and I swear, Elizabeth, it was like God had sent me an angel."

"Jason, please…" Elizabeth sighed as she quickly turned back to him. She couldn't deal with him saying wonderful things about her, not when she had kept his son from him for all those years.

"I don't think about God a lot," Jason said as he dropped the locks he was playing with and turned away, staring intently at the wall across the room, "I explain him to Michael if he asks but I don't really pray, I don't know how, I didn't know how until I held you in my arms when I carried you out from that crypt. I remember screaming in my head to God, telling me that I deserved to die and not you. I remember offering my own life for yours. I guess that's bargaining really. Then when you opened your eyes and you asked for Zander…" he sighed as he closed his eyes and they flickered open when he felt her nimble fingers dancing across his jaw.

"You were the reason I made it through," she whispered, "And I don't care what happened in the care beforehand or afterwards. You were the reason I refused to stop breathing, Jason."

"That was when it started," he whispered as he turned towards her, wincing slightly and then shaking his head when she pulled back, pressing her hand against his face, "My fear for your life. I wanted…" he licked his lips and let out a slow breath, "I've always wanted to protect you but I didn't realize what it was costing you. The bomb, I was able to get to you, but when you were in my arms Elizabeth, limp, from that moment I knew that I had to keep you at a distance, no matter how much you fought me." His eyelids fluttered closed again, "I could live without you being my…being a part of my life," his eyes opened again, his icy blues glistening with tears, "I couldn't live my life if you were dead. There would be no point."

Elizabeth leaned closer, pressing her forehead against his, the tears that fell from his cheeks mingling with the ones that were now slipping down hers. That was how she explained Lucky to him that night in Jake's all those years ago. Lucky made her get the point and he was telling her now that she made him get that.

He simply had no idea what he meant to her.

"Jas…" she whispered.

"Let me," he wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs, "Let me finish. When I…when we…" he sighed as he pulled back a bit, feeling the need for some air between them, "All I thought about was that moment, I didn't think about you leaving, I didn't think about the next day, that's not me, you know that. I just remember seeing the look in your eyes, the confirmation, you telling me that nothing had changed. Nothing had changed, Elizabeth. I was still afraid that my life was going to get you killed. I didn't want you dragged into this world and if you were so determined to leave it than I was going to help."

"That was my…"

"I couldn't walk away anymore," he said cutting her off, "I couldn't let you walk out that door and then see at you Kelly's, order a cup of black coffee and not picture you in my arms, writhing beneath me, bringing me more pleasure than any other woman has ever brought me. I couldn't walk through the park anymore without thinking about you, Elizabeth. I couldn't pass by the Docks without looking up at your Studio. Port Charles was tainted with you. If I was going to end things with us I had to make them permanent. I had to leave town. I had to protect you, Elizabeth. You deserve so much more than this." He let out a shaky breath, "And I told Sonny that."

Elizabeth's eyes grew wide. Sonny had never shared the knowledge that he knew why Jason had left town. He had just let her deal with the situation in her way and at that moment Elizabeth realized that was the best outcome for the situation. She was made as hell at Jason for leaving, she would've been even madder if she had known his original intentions.

"You did what I hated," she said as she softly ran her fingers through his spikes. When he winced she leaned up and pressed a small kiss on the cut on his forehead he received from the tumble down the stairs, "You made a decision for me, Jason and I…" she laughed softly, "If Sonny told me I would've went over to your penthouse and broken everything in there. I would've had a Jason fit." She laughed when his face screwed up into a disgust scowl, "I'm the only one that call is that but the boys know what I'm referring to. I can't hate you," she whispered as she twined her fingers through his, "I did the same thing. I made a decision about you being in JJ's life and that was…I don't ever want you to forgive me for that, Jason. No matter what comes out of this room tonight, no matter what happens between us, I think that JJ needs to stay with you. When I saw you lying in the hospital bed, I couldn't even think about what I've done. You don't even know your own son, a month does not make up for it and with this business every day is a gift and I'm not going to keep your son from you at all…humph."

Jason smiled when he pressed the palm of both his and her hands over her mouth, "Your rambling, Elizabeth. JJ happened before…between…Sonny tried to explain what happened between you two."

Elizabeth looked at him startled when he removed his hand, "Sonny? Sonny told you over the phone what…"

"When I was in the hospital, I saw Sonny," he said quietly as his brows furrowed, "I know how weird that sounds."

"It doesn't sound weird," Elizabeth said, "Most people talk about seeing a white light."

"Sonny told me he was in purgatory," Jason said looking at her with a half of a smile.

She nodded, "That sounds about right," she looked up at him with sad eyes, "He told you about us?"

"He didn't…he didn't really say much, just that it happened," Jason swallowed, "I don't want to hear about it but I feel like I have to. I feel like I have to give you a chance to explain things to me, Elizabeth because I was the one who walked away. I shouldn't decide who you can and can't be with. I've never done that before."

"Sonny had Francis on me," Elizabeth said, "Francis must have seen me go to the drug store, he must've seen how sick I had been looking at Kelly's, he put two and two together and I guess that he just informed Sonny. Sonny had him escort me over to the penthouse and Sonny offered me help. I couldn't turn it down, Jason. My Gram was still mad at me for moving in with you in the first place, I wasn't going to involve Zander, I knew where Lucky stood on the subject of you. Sonny said that he would move me in, he refused to let me sit in that studio when the heat didn't work half the time," she laughed softly, "It sounded like a direct order from you." Chewing on her lip for a few seconds she pulled his hand into her lap, "Carly watched me grow, month by month, my stomach extending with your child and Sonny waiting on me hand and foot. I knew that I should have told her the truth and I made Sonny swear that he wouldn't…" she sighed as she felt more tears slid down her face, "I was so damn mad at you for just walking away after what I thought was the most incredible night of my life, I just couldn't get over that…" she choked and looked away, "So I made everyone else suffer, Carly, Sonny, now you. Sonny tried to keep me happy, he would take me places, buy me things that I didn't need, he encouraged me to go back to school and as a thank you I chose law school. I didn't even realize that I was becoming so use to his world, the organization, that I was a part of it. After JJ was born Sonny became an Uncle and the two of us were inseparable. We didn't kiss until six months after JJ was born and than a year later…" she looked away, tried to pull her hand away but Jason wouldn't let her, "Sonny's proposal was a little surprising but at that time we knew Jason, you weren't coming back, Carly wasn't coming back, we wanted some type of security. Sonny didn't want to be on his beach alone in his old age, he wanted someone beside him, ideally it would have been Carly but there was nothing wrong with settling for his best friend. That's how I looked at it."

She wiped her face again with her free hand, "Sonny at first wanted me to perform the divorce between him and Carly because she was so anger and bitter and he just yelled it at her, wanting her to hurt as much as he was hurting. In the end he was going to go with the Dominican Republic and give Carly a settlement that would've kept her happy financially for the rest of her life. He would've never embarrassed her in a court room by having his mistress perform the divorce. He might have said it, I might have in a heat of anger but we would've never done it. He loved her too much to put her through that kind of pain, I think he loved her too much and that's why he let her go. I think they both knew that it was too much for the both of them."

Jason nodded, "He told me that too. I just…I need to know, Elizabeth. Would you have gone on forever without telling me about, JJ?"

"No, no," Elizabeth said shaking her head vigorously as she took his face in her hands, "What I said to you before was true, Jason, JJ was starting to ask questions and if Sonny hadn't gotten on that phone I would have. I would have made sure that you were in his life. Three years was too damn long and if I'm not rotting in hell for what I have done I will be rotting in purgatory for it."

"I knew that you wanted me to come back for you," he said softly as he pulled her hands into his, "And I know that once you start a lie, another comes along, then another one, until it becomes something so big that you can't tell what's real and what's not anymore. One month became another, and then another, and then another…"

"Until our little boy was growing up so fast and it hurt to look at him," she whispered, "Because I was seeing you and realizing what I had done. I knew that you would come back and want JJ all for yourself so every time I picked up that phone I had to put it back down, telling myself 'One more day'," she whispered, "'One more day of just me and JJ before Daddy comes.' I just wish that I…"

"I can't dream," Jason said, "I can't imagine what would have happened and I can't think about what didn't happen. I can only live for right now, Elizabeth and that's what I want. I want you and me and JJ to live together as a family. Sonny said that if I'm trying to make you jealous I need to find a better way to do it than Sam McCall."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And that I need to let you explain why you were in Lorenzo's arms the other night."

"The other…" Elizabeth gasped, "I should've known that was you driving away, thinking things that weren't true. What you saw was me giving Lorenzo a hug after he accepted my refusal for a date with such grace."

"You refused to go on a date with him?" Jason asked.

"I need to concentrate on my son," Elizabeth said as she pulled the covers up on his body a little more, "I need to concentrate on you."

"This goes far beyond me wanting to be with you, Elizabeth," Jason said softly as he pulled her closer, "This goes far beyond more than friends and admitting feelings for one another. I care about you, I don't want to spend another minute of my life trying to hurt you, trying to get you back for things that can't be fixed, for things that happened years ago. I just…" he sighed.

"I want to love you," she whispered as she leaned up and pressed her warm lips against his. She felt his fingers weave through her hair, felt him pull her closer and she could have easily fallen under his spell, easily slipped her tongue into his waiting mouth, easily pushed him back on the bed.

But he was injured and she had to pull back.

Jason was left panting after that tiny kiss, "I…"

"Tonight has been wonderful," she whispered, "And I'd like to stay."

"I…"

Elizabeth cut him off again, "I don't think that we can, Jason. You just got out of the hospital and I know that you should still be there but I was not going to fight you on it. As much as I want you too I think that we should..."

"Elizabeth," he growled.

"What?" she asked curiously.

"I love you too."

Jason bit back a groan that tried to escape his mouth when he shifted in bed. He felt a heavy weight pressing against his fresh wound and he wanted so bad to push it off and move into a more comfortable position. When he opened his eyes and looked down he saw Elizabeth curled up against his side, JJ somehow snuggled between the both of them, one tiny leg thrown over Jason's uninjured thigh, the other tossed over both of his mother's.

Jason didn't care if his wound was going to reopen, he wasn't moving a muscle.

He smiled when he saw Elizabeth's eyelids flutter open, her lips turning upwards when she realized where she was. He ran his fingers through her hair and she looked up at him, her blue eyes shinning.

He mouthed the words 'I love you' and she mouthed them right back before sleep overcame them again.