"I'm letting the man stay here," Jason emphasized, "I'm asking you for one favor Carly, that's it."

"Yes Jas but I'm better at giving orders, at directing things," she smiled, "Have Mama take her shopping."

"Bobbie is going to help me with JJ and Michael," Jason said, "Elizabeth won't be able to pick out a dress if the boys are with her. I don't know why we're having this discussion. There's a known traitor sleeping down the hall and he's here because you told me that you weren't coming without him. I brought him here, I brought him under my protection and the thanks I get is you telling me that you can't take half a day to go shopping with Elizabeth?"

Carly held her hand up in the air, "You know me, since when the hell do I go out shopping and only take half a day. It takes at least a full day Jason and that doesn't even include shoes," she ended with a smirk, "Besides, I'm afraid to leave you here with Lorenzo. What's to say when I return he wouldn't have…" she raised her fingers in the air and made the universal quote sign, "disappeared."

"Oh for the love of…" Jason sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. There was no question about it, his house was getting fenced in and Carly was not getting a key.

"Jas, I'm getting use to Muffin, she's not as bad as I thought she was," Carly shuddered, "It's still painful to say that and it's even more painful to go wedding dress shopping with her. I'm not her best friend, I'm not her maid of honor, hell she threw me out of my own house. Couldn't you just settle for an occasional hug and being in the same room together?"

"No, no I can't," Jason said, "Because after you decided to sleep with my best friend you did nothing but push me until you could get me back into your life, same thing with Sonny, and now here I am, all these years later, still covering up your messes," he said motioning towards the other end of house with his finger.

"Oh no, Lorenzo came after princess first, don't pin that one on me."

"I'm still pinning you and Sonny screwing around on you," Jason said, "While I was out getting shot."

"There's a bright side to that, you and Elizabeth grew closer," she grinned.

Jason advanced towards the woman, "You know what, Carly…"

"I'll go, I'll take her, I'll offer," Carly said holding her hands up in the air, "But I can't guarantee that she'll say yes. She's probably thinking the same thing that I am, Jas. Her best friend should be here to do this with her."

"From what I'm told Emily hasn't bothered with a lot of people since she moved to Greece."

"Wow you sure know a lot for a man who just got back into town," Carly smiled as she crossed her arms across her chest, "We should sit down and have a talk because lately I've been so wrapped up in Michael that I don't…"

"Check on Alcazar and then go find Elizabeth," Jason growled, "I swear you give me such a headache sometimes."

Carly grinned and held out her palm, "Can't shop without cash."

Jason rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket, pulling out a wad of bills and handing it to her, "And you better use that. Elizabeth better not tell me that she paid for it herself."

"Like she would ever do that," Carly scoffed, "And we know she can't wear white," she backed out of the room laughing, "I'm going, I'm going."

Carly came to a stop in the doorway that led to the back deck attached to the house. Elizabeth was sitting in front of her, her hair brushing across her shoulders with the slight breeze, a newspaper, ignored and spread out on the table, a hot chocolate growing cool under the shade as her eyes remained fixated on the scene before her.

Jason was on the beach with JJ and Michael, tackling them, throwing sand in their face and acting like a man they rarely saw, a father, an uncle, someone who was finally allowed to let his guard down and just be.

Carly couldn't help but notice the difference in him. She knew that he had fun around Michael and JJ, that he was happy and glad to play catch or push one of them in the swings. He was always a little more at ease when he was around the children but now he just seemed content, like everything had fallen into place.

And she was getting use to the fact that the petite brunette that was five feet from her was the cause of all of this.

If you had told her in September, after Carly had stormed out of the penthouse in result of their last brawl, she would have never believed that the two of them could be in the same room together without snapping, let alone would be leaning on one another for support and comfort over a man they fought over, over another man that nearly brought danger to them, over another man that wanted nothing but happiness for Elizabeth Webber.

Carly would've never believed that she could have accepted Elizabeth as the one to make Jason happy but she was, she had given him a child, she had given him contentment and hell she was giving him a reason to wake up in the morning with a smile on his face. That was how Carly found him in the office this morning, pacing with a smile, not wanting to stay in his room and do it while Elizabeth tried to regain some energy from last night's midnight excursions.

Carly was about to make her presence known when she saw Elizabeth finally break out of her trance and reach for the hot chocolate on the table. It was then that she noticed it and gasped aloud, running forward and nearly tripping over her sandals.

"Good God would you like at that thing?" she said astonished as Elizabeth sloshed hot chocolate on the table and some of the deck flooring. Carly, however, ignored it, "This is at least three karats all together, with all the diamonds, is this platinum?"

"So Jason tells me," Elizabeth said with a small smile.

"Wait, no, no, no, no, Jas did not pick this out."

"All by himself," Elizabeth smiled as she brought her hand back down to her, "Isn't it beautiful? I couldn't have chosen a better one myself."

"Well damn girl neither could I," Carly laughed as she plopped down beside her, "Congratulations are in order."

Elizabeth smiled and looked away, her cheeks turning slightly red, "Thank you but Jason and I really aren't making a big thing about…"

"That's not true," Carly said, "Jason got a hold of me as soon as my door opened this morning and ordered me into his office to tell me the good news. I nearly passed out but I got over it," she said with a wave of her hand, "Jas and I are in the past and while I still feel that he is my territory I guess I can share him because I like JJ."

"That's kind of you, Carly," Elizabeth laughed softly as she wiped up the spilt hot chocolate.

"There's something else," Carly said, "I was thinking that maybe I could go with you and help you pick out a dress."

"Oh I was just going to wear…"

"No you weren't," Carly said and forged on when Elizabeth opened her mouth, "Jason said you wanted a simple ceremony and that's fine but Elizabeth this is your wedding day, you need something new, something white and yes it can be simple but I'm going to try and talk you into buying some extravagant since Jason is paying."

Elizabeth looked at her with raised eyebrows, "You really want to go shopping with me?"

"Jas is making me."

"Ah," Elizabeth laughed, "That sounds more like it. I knew we were getting along and all but shopping is an all day event."

"I know!" Carly exclaimed and then snorted, "Jas claimed we could get it done in a half a day."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Men. I'm glad that he talked you into this though because there was something that I wanted to ask you."

"Shoot," Carly said propping her feet up in the chair across from her.

"With everything that has happened between us, throughout the years," Elizabeth said, "I feel the need to apologize for being so short and never listening to your side of the story. You use to stop by Kelly's and visit and we would talk and chat while you ate but then Jason happened and well, nothing gets between two women like a man," she said with a small smile, "And Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos are the manliest men I know."

"And Lorenzo Alcazar," Carly grinned, "But you are not going anywhere near…"

"I never would," Elizabeth said, "Carly I just wanted to…there's too much history to start over but I was hoping that we could…try, for our kids, for the organization, for Jason."

"I'm not an innocent in this," Carly said, "I still think you had no right to dictate whether or not I saw Jason and I know that you had no right to go after Sonny but that's in the past and I think that we should leave it there. If you're willing to forget the things that I have done than I'm willing to forget the things that you have as well."

Elizabeth smiled softly, "I regret coming between a man and his wife but I will never regret stepping between you and Jason. Jason is…"

"Your Sonny," Carly said quietly, "Except that you two don't want to kill each other."

"All the time anyway," Elizabeth said as she reached over and squeezed Carly's hand, "I have another favor to ask, one that is going to sound really odd."

"Try me," Carly smiled.

"I would like you to be my maid of honor."

Carly's eyes widened, "You want me to what?"

"I have to give you credit Carly, you've been consistent these past seven years," Elizabeth smiled, "You've stood by my side and argued and bickered with me and you never gave up. Emily hightailed it out of here and didn't even bother to ask what happened when Jason left town, she just assumed that I was at fault. And my sister," Elizabeth snorted, "She fucked Lucky Spencer before I barely shut the door on his ass. I'll never be able to forgive her for that."

"I can promise you that I'll never sleep with Lucky Spencer," Carly said seriously and then they both burst out laughing before Carly smiled at Elizabeth, "Thank you for asking me, it really means a lot and I would be honored to be your maid of honor," she laughed softly, "And we have got to go now to get you a dress." Carly pulled her up out of her seat and then stopped, her smile slowly fading, "Did Jason say who he…"

Elizabeth nodded and looked away, "Johnny. Francis is going to be walking me down the aisle, giving me away. Jason thought that Johnny, well they both know that…"

Carly nodded and then forced a smile, "Let me go tell Lorenzo that he will be safe here for the day and run a brush through my hair then we'll say goodbye to our boys and be set to go."

"Okay," Elizabeth said, "I'll meet you on the beach."

Carly nodded and disappeared back into the house while Elizabeth cleaned up the table and looked out towards where Jason and the kids were, noticing that Johnny was approaching her fiancé, dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt. She smiled softly, glad that he was getting into the feel of the island and relaxing.

Her smile disappeared once again when she realized that Jason's best friend wouldn't be able to stand up and watch him finally get married to the one woman he truly loved.

Jason looked up from the paper he was staring at when Elizabeth walked into the room, a smile on her lips, exhaustion clear on her face. He looked at his watch and realized that it was well into the evening and the two of them would be putting JJ to bed together soon.

"I'm sorry I took so long," she said collapsing on the chair in front of him, "I was done within an hour but Carly insisted that she had to have a beautiful dress to prepare the people who were going to be seeing me. I reiterated that it was only going to be a handful but you know Carly," her smile faded when she noticed that Jason had gone back to staring at the paper in his hands, "Is everything alright?"

"I was unpacking the rest of our luggage," Jason said looking back at her, "I was hoping that we could stay for a couple of weeks, at least until the city dies down, before we have to rush back and put everything in order," he shook his head, "Right now this is the only honeymoon I can give you."

"That doesn't bother me," Elizabeth said getting up and walking towards the desk, "The look on your face is what…"

"This fell out of your sketch book when I picked it up," he said quietly as he handed her the sketch she had drawn, "You know that I would never look at your work unless you wanted to show me and the only reason I understand this is because…"

"Its people," she whispered, "It's you and JJ."

"And you."

He pointed to the view of the penciled sketch. It was being told through someone's eyes, someone who was sitting at a desk in the Corinthos-Morgan Coffee Warehouse, legal paperwork in front of them, a view of a father and a son visible through the doorway. The father was showing his young son the workings of the warehouse.

Attorney Elizabeth Webber was watching Jason Morgan show his namesake how to run an empire.

"I never…it didn't…is this how you see our future?"

"Does this scare you?" Elizabeth asked taking the sketch away from him as she leaned against the desk, "It was something I did while JJ was playing with Michael. It was just something that popped in my head."

"Something that you thought about," Jason said getting up from the desk and walking away.

"Jason, you're starting to scare me," Elizabeth said quietly as she shifted to look at him, "I thought that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me."

"I do," Jason said, "There is no question about that Elizabeth, it's just that…"

"What? What is it that has you so tense? You need to talk to me Jason, explain it to me, because I don't understand how this little picture can…"

"My job was to protect Michael from this business," Jason said, "And now it's to protect my son from this business and that picture is implying that…"

"Your welcoming your son into this business," she said, "I'm sorry. I assumed that you would want to pass this down to…"

"I want JJ and Michael to be able to make their own decisions."

"That I know," Elizabeth nodded, "I wasn't trying to persuade you to…"

"But to do what I do," he said quietly, "I don't know if I want that for our son."

"Okay," Elizabeth said licking her lips and walking towards him, "Okay, let's say that my sketch is just something that I envisioned in my mind, let's say that it's not a prediction for the future, let's just say that it's me telling you that whether or not you decide to pass on your legacy to our child, to our children, I'm okay with that."

Jason sighed and nodded as his arm fell around her waist, "I know it's just…I'm so use to protecting Sonny's child. It's a whole different feeling when you're protecting your own."

"It's scary as hell isn't it?" she whispered, "I hope that you understand I moved in with Sonny because I felt that he was the only one who was going to be able to protect your child nearly as well as you could have."

He nodded, "Sonny did what was right when it came to JJ. I'm glad that you went to him."

"And you are going to do right by your son," she said quietly as she pressed a kiss to his chin, "Be it by passing down the rule of the organization or helping him open his own motorcycle shop. You are going to be, you already are, a wonderful father Jason. Your children know that they have your support in whatever they chose," her eyes sparkled, "Even if JJ wants to be an artist."

"That's fine with me," Jason said.

"Even if he's a starving artist who will be living with us until we grow old and gray."

"That I might have a problem with."

Elizabeth laughed softly, "I have a different piece of work you might like better than this sketch," she said walking away from him and picking it up from the desk, "It's an engagement present."

"I didn't know we were supposed to get each other an engagement present?" he asked.

'You gave me this ring as a promise of the many wonderful things to come," she smiled softly, "I've got something that I hope means as much to you as this ring means to me, even though it didn't cost me a thing and it's not that important."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" he asked quietly.

"Okay," she smiled as she folded her sketch up and backed out of the room, "I'll be right back."

And she was, in a matter of five minutes, with a canvas held tight against her body, the painted side hidden from view. He smiled as he stopped his pacing and leaned back against the desk, arms folded across his chest.

"You didn't get any splinters did you?"

"No," Elizabeth said softly as she leaned towards him and placed a soft kiss on his lips, "But there's a whole bunch more of these that have to be stretched."

"I'm up for the challenge," he smiled.

"Ready?" Elizabeth asked stepping back and turning the painting around. She smiled as his eyes examined it and she knew that he wouldn't be able to take in the vivid details that she had included in the background but he would be able to get the main portrait that she was trying to betray and she felt the tears hit her eyes as she watched Jason run his fingers over the painting.

He was tracing the tiny outline of his son.

"It's you and JJ," she smiled as she pointed out the painting of him kneeling down next to his son, pointing out something, explaining it in ways that only Jason Morgan knew how. "I put you both in your favorite outfits, blue jeans and leather jackets."

With a bike in the distance, Jason could make that out.

"I know that it's no diamond engagement ring…"

"It is to me," Jason said quietly as he took a firm grip on the painting, "Thank you, Elizabeth."

"Well, something has to go next to The Wind," she laughed softly before she bit her lip.

Jason shook his head, "The Wind is going in our bedroom, this," he said holding it up, "Is going in my office at work so I can show everyone my son and his mother's artistic ability." He looked at her amazed, "When the hell did you find the time to do this?"

"For four years I had no inspiration," she said quietly, "It was like the passion inside of me to paint was gone, like the magic of it was taken away and I could barely draw stick figures. The minute I got back on your bike…"

"The night of your birthday?"

"I came home and sketched this," she smiled softly, "And the painting took me a few weeks. I was a little distracted by the threats and the shootings," she said rolling her eyes.

"And you stood by me then and your still here," he said looking back at the picture, "Doing what you do best, being Elizabeth," he pulled her close to him and pressed a kiss to her chestnut hair, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Good," she said sliding her arms around his waist, "Because I want that too."

He smiled against her hair, "We agree on something," he then looked down on her, "And the calls have been made. Sunset tomorrow I'm going to make you my wife."