Before The Storm

The accident and surgery happened on Friday the eighth of May. This takes place over the long weekend that follows as well as that four-day week at school. This is the Jason-bedrest week.

"Hey, Mr. Morgan," Elizabeth smiled into the telephone. "It's me, Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth, dear," the man on the other end burst out. "Why, hello. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," she replied politely, trying to chase around the last of her elusive Frosted Flakes. "And you?"

"Good, good," came the robust answer. "Busy as always, but good. Do you want to talk to Jason?"

"Actually, I was wondering if it would be okay if I came over." Finally catching the soggy flakes, Elizabeth crammed them into her mouth and deposited the bowl in the kitchen sink. "I mean, if you and Mrs. Morgan aren't busy and if Jason's up for it."

"We're all up for it, honey," Alan assured her. "Jason should be awake." He held the phone away from himself and yelled toward the stairs leading down to their finished basement. "Jason? You down there? You awake?"

Elizabeth heard a muffled reply and smiled into the phone as she hopped into her sandals and bent over to cinch the strap.

"Yes, he's awake," Alan said a moment later. "He's set up camp in the basement for the duration of his imprisonment, as he calls it. So, yes, honey, feel free to come on over anytime. Monica, AJ, and myself are planning to go over to Jason's cousin's house in about an hour or so, just to let you know. I'm not sure if your parents are okay with you being over when we aren't…"

Elizabeth chuckled. "You know my dad way too well, Mr. Morgan. I'll double-check and be right over."

"All right. See you then."

"Bye, Mr. Morgan."

"Goodbye, kiddo."

No sooner had the phone been replaced in its cradle than Elizabeth was already snagging her purse off the counter and making a beeline for the garage. "Mom! Dad!" she called into the den where she knew they were reading the paper. "I'm going over to the Morgans'! I might stay for lunch!" There was no reason to mention the lack of supervision – not if she wanted to get over there and cheer up her boyfriend.

"Okay," her dad replied casually, and Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised that he didn't come barging into the foyer to demand answers to his overly-paranoid questions. She didn't know what it was, but ever since the day before yesterday at the hospital, her father had rapidly adjusted to Jason's presence in all of their lives. If Elizabeth didn't know better, she'd swear that something about Jason's brave attitude in the face of sudden and imminent surgery had impressed her father. And if she were greedy, she'd swear that her dad actually seemed to like the boy now. But that would be pushing her luck.

"We might be going over to the Carroll's," her mother informed her from the den. "So if you come home and we're not here, don't worry."

"'Kay, Mom," she called out before shutting the door behind her and racing over to her car.


"Lizabeth's here! Lizabeth's here!" Little AJ Morgan could barely contain his excitement when he saw Elizabeth's gold Acura pull into the neighborhood. He squinted out of the curtains as she parked on the street and got out, and then took off for the basement.

"Jason! Jason!" he yelled. "Lizabeth's here!"

Jason couldn't help but grin at his little brother. The young boy had taken a real liking to her, even though he had never cared to even talk to any of his previous companions. Not that the fact surprised Jason – what was there about Elizabeth not to like?

"Well, don't you think you should let her in?" he asked seriously, a smirk tugging up the corner of his lips.

A look of horror passed over his little brother's face and in an instant he was charging back up the stairs, not wanting to delay Elizabeth's arrival a second longer than necessary.

"AJ!" he heard her cry when the boy greeted her at the door. "Hey, buddy, how're you?"

"Good," he smiled shyly. "Are you here to see Jason?"

Jason snickered to himself – AJ was a riot. He could almost picture his girlfriend smile at the question that was posed to her every time she set foot in the Morgan home.

"Yes," he heard her answer. "But where are your parents? I'd better say hello to them first."

"They're over there," he informed her, pointing to the office. Elizabeth walked in the direction he indicated and AJ followed close on her heels. Reaching the computer room, the brunette knocked on the door to get the adults' attention.

"Hi," she smiled. "Mr. Morgan, Mrs. Morgan. How is everything?"

"Elizabeth, honey," Monica beamed, rising from her desk chair to give the girl a hug. "Hello, hello. Everything's fine. How have you been? How's school going? Ready for the AP Exams?"

Elizabeth groaned, rolling her eyes. "Oh, man, don't remind me, Mrs. Morgan."

At the desk, Alan chuckled. "Why? Is it really going to be that horrible?"

"Calculus is," Elizabeth nodded. "I can handle the other two, but I'm worried about Calc."

Monica nodded in confirmation. "That's what Jason says he's worried most about, too. He doesn't care about Physics or Chemistry or anything else – he's just stuck on how hard the math one will be."

Elizabeth shrugged. "Well, the good thing is that we only have to review now. Mr. Alcazar's been a great teacher, and I think he's really taught us a lot, despite what he thinks. I honestly think we're ready for it – with a little more practice – even though it's still scary to think about it."

Alan smiled at her. "All of you kids will do fine," he assured her. "Well, don't let us keep you – Jason's in the basement."

Elizabeth grinned as a rosy blush stole over her cheeks. "Thanks, Mr. Morgan."

"No problem," the older man sang out as the brunette turned and disappeared down the hall.

"Those kids," Monica sighed. "They're just too cute."


"And then Maggie called him a meanie, so Pete ate her paste," AJ related to his brother and his girlfriend as he bounced up and down on the couch in his Spiderman shorts and matching shirt. "Then Maggie started crying, and Teacher put Pete in Time Out."

"Oh," Elizabeth clucked from her seat on the couch. She was sitting Indian-style on one of the large green couches in the Morgan basement, and Jason was lying on his side behind her, offering her his stomach as a backrest. "That's not good. This Pete must be a real troublemaker."

Jason smirked as his fingers grazed lightly up and down his girlfriend's bare arm. Elizabeth really had a talent when it came to little kids – AJ was his own brother and even he couldn't feign enough interest in his stories.

"Oh, he is," AJ assured her. "A real troublemaker. He even puts his mouth on the drinking fountain."

Elizabeth's mouth formed a shocked O. "On the drinking fountain?"

"Yeah!" AJ repeated, raising his voice for emphasis. "That's low."

"I'll say," Elizabeth agreed. "You should never put your mouth on the drinking fountain – it spreads germs."

"Do germs make you sick?" AJ wanted to know. "Because that's what Mommy said."

Elizabeth nodded even as Jason chuckled behind her.

"So, you'd believe Elizabeth over Mom?" he teased his brother.

AJ glared at him as he bounced. "I just wanted to know what Lizabeth thinks," he replied witheringly at his older sibling.

Elizabeth chuckled and then elbowed her boyfriend in the stomach when he dared to roll his eyes. AJ watched in silent and slightly confused observation as Jason wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's narrow waist and tickled her, laughing along with her as she yelped and squirmed and hit him on the chest.

"Can I ask you guys a question?" AJ finally spoke up as his older brother ceased his tickling and apologized to his girlfriend with his lips. "OK, ew."

Jason pulled away and glared at the boy, but Elizabeth pressed her finger to his mouth to silence him.

"Sure, AJ."

"Okay," the boy began seriously, finally sitting down still on the couch that doubled as a trampoline. "So, you two are a couple, right?"

Jason glanced up at Elizabeth and caught her gaze. "Yeah," he answered, still holding it.

"So that means she's your girlfriend and he's your boyfriend, right?"

Elizabeth smiled down at Jason and nodded. "Yup."

"But how long did it take for that to happen?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, finally looking at the young boy.

"Like, when did you start dating? When did you start liking each other?"

"Well, I guess we started dating over Spring Break, right?" Jason asked Elizabeth as he propped himself up on one elbow. "In Clover?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Even though we didn't go on a real, formal date until later, all the time we spent together in North Carolina was technically dating."

"OK," Jason nodded at his brother. "We started dating in Clover. Now, when did we start liking each other…?" He braved a mischievous glance at his blushing girlfriend. "Well, I started liking her from the second I picked her up when she fell in front of the lockers."

Elizabeth grinned down at him. "Well, I've got you beat – I liked you for a long time before that."

His eyebrows shot up. "Since when?" he demanded, rising up slightly on his elbow before Elizabeth pushed him back down.

"Since the first day of Calculus."

AJ watched as his brother's mouth dropped open. "The first day of – But, Elizabeth, that was all the way back in September!"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I know."

"But-But-" Jason struggled to find the right words. "Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you say something? We started hanging out in February – that's almost six months of difference, Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth shrugged again. "I was shy."

Jason huffed in disbelief. "She was shy," he repeated to his brother as he reached for her waist to resume the tickle war. "She was shy. That's why we waited an additional six months before we actually started talking."

Elizabeth yelped and curled into a ball as his fingers assaulted her. "Hey," she cried out. "Damn it, Jason! I was shy! What more can I say? I didn't know if you'd like me or if you even knew my name-"

He stopped then, and took advantage of the fact that his hands were gripping her waist to bring her closer, holding her mere inches from his face.

"I knew your name," he said softly as his blue eyes traveled over her face. "And I thought it was a really pretty one."

A sweet smile bloomed across her lips and she leaned down to brush her velvety lips against his. His hands framed the rose petal skin of her face, holding her in place and deepening the kiss as AJ practiced his gagging noises to provide the perfect background music.

Seeing that neither of them cared about his discomfort and disgust, AJ shrugged and asked his last question as his older brother and Elizabeth continued to play tonsil hockey.

"So, then, does that mean you guys are in love?"

Jason almost choked at the question, so couched in innocence, and Elizabeth had to gasp for air. Hovering just a scant distance over his face, she could see the shock in his eyes as he struggled to comprehend his little brother's question, much less answer it.

"Uhhh…"

And she herself, for all her stunning wordplay and excellent English skills, wasn't much better. "Ummm…"

"AJ!" His father's voice came drifting down the stairs. "AJ? Where are you? It's time to go to Chloe's!"

"Yeah!" AJ shouted as he catapulted himself off the couch, his previous question and its ensuing embarrassment a distant thought to him now. "Let's go to Chloe's!"

Elizabeth heard footsteps coming down the stairs and straightened as quickly as she could, wiping her smeared lip-gloss from her lips as Jason did the same. When Alan and Monica came downstairs to check on the three of them, all they saw was an eager AJ hopping about the room and a very calm, composed Jason and Elizabeth seated on the couch.

"Well, kids, we'll be leaving now," Alan announced as Monica ushered her two men up the stairs. "Be good and stay out of trouble."

Jason rolled his eyes, the meaning behind his father's words not lost on him or his libido. "Sure, Dad. See you. Have fun."

"Mom! Did you know that Chloe got the new Mario video game?" AJ asked excitedly as he danced up the stairs in front of his mother. "I can't wait to play it again! But I have to be Yoshi – I'm only good if I'm Yoshi."

Jason sighed as the trio reached the top of the stairs, and was about to say something to Elizabeth when his father suddenly popped back in view with a lethal glare directed at his oldest boy.

Jason scowled back and urgently waved him up the stairs, hoping Elizabeth didn't see the If You Make A Move On Her… glare being bestowed upon him.

He heard the garage door open and waited until he was sure the rest of his family was safely out of the house. When he was, he turned to the blushing brunette still leaning her lower back against his stomach.

"Elizabeth…"

"Hey," she burst out suddenly, whirling around to face him. "Are you hungry? Because I am. What say I make you some lunch?"

"Uh, sure," he replied slowly, still confused as she hopped up off the couch, taking her body heat with her as she made her way toward the downstairs kitchen. Apparently, she was still a bit embarrassed from his little brother's faux pas, and Jason decided that he'd better wait to tell her that he thought he was falling in love with her.

"Let's see…" Her voice drifted lazily over to him and Jason watched her bend into the refrigerator, offering him a very appealing view of her cute bottom clad in light blue denim shorts. "We've got turkey, pizza, and peanut butter. What do you feel like?"

"Not the turkey," Jason informed her. "It's starting to smell weird. Do me a favor and throw it out, please? I don't even know how long it's been sitting in there." He heard her drop the offending poultry into the trash can. "And I just had pizza for breakfast."

"Peanut butter it is," she announced triumphantly, grabbing it from the fridge and shutting the door with her bare foot. Jason watched her move to the dishwasher, her silver toe ring clinking on the tiles as she walked.

"Hey, Elizabeth," he called out. "You ever tried peanut butter and honey?"

She poked her head out from behind the wall that separated the kitchen from the stairs. "Honey?"

"Yes, darling?"

He chuckled when she grinned and rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Jason – honey?"

"Sure. It's awesome. You've never tried it?"

She shook her head.

"You wanna?"

He could see her considering it. "Sure. How do I make it – just drizzle honey over the peanut butter?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay." She set to work getting out clean knives and plates, and then dug out the honey from the pantry. Jason watched as she busily prepared the sandwiches and poured two glasses of chocolate milk for them. She stepped out of the kitchen and moved the coffee table closer to the couch so they could set their plates on it, and then went back to retrieve the food.

Jason set his plates on the table and waited until she had settled herself on the couch in front of him. Elizabeth grabbed her own sandwich and handed him hers, and he waited until she took the first bite.

"Not bad," she nodded. "It's pretty good."

Jason watched as a drop of honey squeezed out onto her thumb, and as she lifted the sticky digit to her mouth, he grabbed her wrist.

"Allow me," was all he said as he closed his lips around the tip of her thumb and licked it clean. Ever ticklish, Elizabeth was giggling before he was done, and tried to squirm away. Jason was faster, and snaked an arm around her waist and tugged until she fell down on the couch next to him, flat on her back, still laughing.

She tried to get up, but Jason kept his free hand over her rib cage, anchoring her to the couch. His bicep soon became her pillow and she glared up at him as she nibbled on her sandwich.

"We shouldn't be eating while lying down," she informed him seriously. "It's not good for digestion-"

He snuggled next to her and allowed his fingers to feather over her ribs. "We shouldn't be doing a lot of things," he replied around a bite of the gooey sandwich. "But that never stopped us before."

She laughed and scooted closer, and the two of them spent the next few hours cuddled on the couch, watching movies, listening to music, talking, or just laying quietly.

Jason had a check-up appointment later in the evening with Dr. Marsden at Mercy, so Elizabeth returned to her own home. Her parents came about an hour after she had, and all three of them sat down to a lazy dinner of chicken stir-fry and biscuits on the deck out back.

Jason and his parents returned home and the first thing the boy did after his father helped him to his permanent spot on the couch was reach for the telephone. It was only when her father complained two hours later that he had to place a call to a colleague that Elizabeth finally abandoned the telephone.

The next day was an institution day for their teachers, which meant that both Elizabeth and Jason's parents bustled off to their respective hospitals while the two teenagers got the rare opportunity to sleep in.

Elizabeth woke up around nine, hopped into the shower, quickly changed into her favorite blue "twirly" skirt and white tank top and headed over to Jason's. She knew of the spare key in the flowerpot by the door and let herself in.

Jason was still asleep on his couch in the basement, and was overjoyed to open his eyes for the first time that morning and see his girlfriend perched at his side. Elizabeth waltzed about the room, straightening cushions, opening windows, and clearing away AJ's monster trucks as she chattered on about one thing or another, but Jason was too absorbed in watching her twitter gaily about to listen.

She helped him to the bathroom where he quickly washed up and then walked him back to the couch. After setting his legs up on pillows and making sure he was comfortable, Elizabeth headed to the kitchen to make breakfast for them both.

Not wanting her to go through too much trouble on his part, Jason insisted that cereal was fine. But Elizabeth had a strong hunch that he'd been eating a lot of cereal lately, so she opted to see what else was stored in the cabinets. There wasn't much, as the downstairs kitchen wasn't used as much as the one upstairs.

After assuring him that it wasn't any trouble at all, and that she liked taking care of him, Elizabeth trekked upstairs to see what Mrs. Morgan kept in her pantry. There were frozen waffles in the freezer, much to Elizabeth's distaste, and lots more half-empty boxes of cereal.

"Jeepers creepers," she muttered as she scanned the shelves in the pantry. "Is that all you people eat? Quit the Corn Flakes for one week and I'll bet Kellogg's sees a huge dip in fourth-quarter profits."

Finding nothing to her liking, Elizabeth decided that the best thing to do would be to make something. An omelet? French toast, perhaps?

But she wanted something healthy – after all, Jason still had a lot of recovering to do. He could barely support his own weight, and two days had elapsed between this morning and the surgery. Even the long scars on the back of his shaved legs were only beginning to heal.

Trying not to think about that, Elizabeth reached for the flour and grabbed a half-empty carton of eggs before running back downstairs.

"What've you got?" Jason asked as soon as she came into view. He strained to see from his position on the couch, but Elizabeth just offered him an enigmatic smile and dumped the items on the kitchen counter.

"I am making you breakfast," she announced as she got out a big bowl and set the oven to three-fifty.

"What are you making?" he repeated, but she kept her back to him as she bustled around the kitchen.

"You'll see," was all he got in way of an answer. He watched her whip up something in a bowl and then pour it in a pan and set it in the preheated oven for fifteen minutes. As the timer counted down, Elizabeth ran back upstairs and came down a few minutes later with a wire basket full of fruits.

From his spot on the couch, he had a clear view of her as she got out a knife and quickly began chopping up the fruit. Strawberries, grapes, apples, bananas, even slices of orange and grapefruit. Occasionally, she'd get a trickle of juice going down one of her fingers, and he'd be treated to watching her lick or suck it off.

The oven announced that the mystery pastry was done, and Elizabeth donned a thick mitt and pulled it out. It sat on the cooling rack as she finished with the fruit and threw the peels away.

The pastry was cut into pieces like a pie, and Elizabeth got out the plates and piled the fluffy concoction high with fresh fruit.

Reaching for glasses, she poured them both orange juice and made her way to him at last.

"So, what is this?" Jason asked, peering down at the golden pastry. Snagging a grape, he popped it into his mouth as she retrieved the juice.

"It's called a fritatta," she informed him, taking her customary spot in front of him. "Sydney taught me how to make 'em. It's just eggs, flour, butter, and a pinch of salt. You can eat it plain or with cheese, but it's exceptionally good with fruit. Plus," she added, sweeping her eyes over his form to make sure he was comfortable. "I figured you needed the vitamins."

He smiled and reached for his breakfast, the fact that she had made this just for him causing him to feel surprisingly warm inside. "Thanks – looks great."

The next half-hour passed easily as the twosome nibbled their way through breakfast while watching the morning news on television. Jason had found out not long ago that Elizabeth was a regular news nut – she rarely left the house without making sure she was at least somewhat abreast of national and international events, not to mention the weather.

When they were done, Elizabeth cleared the table and set the dishes in the sink before cleaning up the mess she had left in the kitchen. Jason lazily flipped through the channels as he waited for her to return, and sat up when he heard the unmistakable clank of the dishwasher.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing?" he asked, trying to catch a glimpse of her in the kitchen.

"Nothing," came the reply.

"That's not nothing," he informed her. "You're loading the dishwasher, aren't you?"

There was a moment of silence. "Maybe."

"Elizabeth," he groaned. "Come on, you're a guest. You don't have to do that. My mom will take care of it."

"That's not the point, Jason," she tossed back. "Just give me a second – I'm almost done."

He huffed and resumed waiting, flipping to the comedy station to see if there were any reruns of South Park on. When Elizabeth came back, she saw Jason seated normally on the couch for the first time, his toes digging into the beige carpet.

"So," she smiled, taking a seat next to him and feeling a rush of warmth through her body as he pulled her into his side. Her head nestled into the crook of his neck as always as his hand gently traced large, sweeping circles on her thigh. "What do you want to do today?"

Jason flipped the channel to three and turned the DVD player on with the second remote. "Have you ever seen The Godfather?"

"The Godfather?" she asked, crinkling her nose. "Isn't that a mobster movie?"

He nodded. "Only the best one."

"No thanks," she replied immediately. "I can't stand mafia flicks."

"Why? They're amazing," Jason insisted. "What's wrong with 'em?"

"I saw Good Fellas with my dad once when I was eight," she informed him, pulling her legs up beneath her on the couch. "Scared the crap out of me. Same with Edward Scissorhands, come to think of it. I couldn't go to the barber for a year after that one."

"Yeah, well, The Godfather's a classic," Jason replied. "It's really not scary at all. What do you say – do you trust my judgment?"

She graced him with the Mona Lisa smile he loved so much while looking back up at him, and Jason was mesmerized by the way her sapphire orbs twinkled in the sunlight. "I trust you."

The simple statement brought a smile to his lips, but before he could say anything back, Elizabeth was already hopping off the couch and making her way toward the entertainment center.

"Is this it?" she asked, pulling out a three-title disc set bearing the likeness of Brando, Pacino, and De Niro.

He nodded and she slipped in the first disc before grabbing a white afghan from the loveseat across the room and returning to his side. Jason pulled it over both of their bare legs and settled back, inviting her back into her customary spot in his arms.

She sighed and waited as the opening credits rolled, and Jason took the opportunity to smell her hair. Today it was coconut. He loved it when she used coconut shampoo – it made him want to just bury his nose in her hair.

"Oh, hey, that's actually kinda neat," Elizabeth conceded as images of Connie's merry wedding floated across the screen. "Cool."

The scene switched instantly to a darkened, smoke-filled room, and Jason didn't even have to look at the TV to explain what was happening. And that was a good thing, as he was busy examining ten perfectly polished bubble gum pink fingernails.

"Ok, that's the godfather. His name is Vito Corleone, but everyone calls him the Don."

The brunette in his arms snickered. "Just like Sonny."

"Exactly," Jason grinned. "And the way he's going, I wouldn't be surprised if he started giving out orders to behead horses, either."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Ok, see that guy? He's here to ask the Don a favor. Watch."

Elizabeth nodded and listened intently to the dialogue, barely noticing when Jason leaned more heavily into the armrest, causing her to be lying square on his chest. She shivered when he trailed his fingers over her bare arm, lingering playfully over the thick strap of her tank top and the bra strap underneath.

"Elizabeth?"

"Hm?" Her eyes were still trained on the screen as the Don and his gang – including a lone Irishman – left their dark lair and rejoined Connie's wedding reception.

"I'm so glad you're here."

She shifted against his chest just enough to peek up at him. "I like it right here." Her eyes fluttered closed when he pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead.

"You know, I'm pretty lucky to have you helping me through this," he mumbled, rubbing his cheek and two-day stubble against her dark hair.

"Yeah, and you'd better remember that, Morgan, the next time I come around looking for a favor," she joked.

Jason smiled. "Seriously, Elizabeth. Thank you. I love having you here with me."

It was the closest he was brave enough to come to saying the words "I", "love", and "you" together. It wasn't that he was afraid to, per se. Well, he was. But his greater concern was that Elizabeth wasn't ready to hear something like that. When AJ had mentioned it the day before, she bolted like a Welsh rabbit, and after admitting that she trusted him – which was no small statement – she had done the same. No, if she needed him to wait, then he would.

The brunette sighed happily and rubbed one hand over his chest, her blue eyes still trained on the television screen. Several minutes passed before Jason broke the silence.

"So…first day of Calc, huh?"

Elizabeth chuckled, finally sitting up and looking at him. "You still hung up on that, Morgan?"

He shrugged. "Not every day that a guy gets paid such a compliment. So…first day?"

Her eyes met the ceiling as she considered his question. "Well, actually, first week, pretty much. I noticed you on the first day, and I started liking you during that first week. Remember – it was Homecoming week, and we all had to dress up for the different days?"

Jason nodded and she continued. "I think it was the third day of the week, and it was Dress Like A Kindergartener Day. I still remember you in your Ninja Turtles shirt and olive green overalls, with that cute little red bandana tied on your head. You were just adorable."

Jason laughed at her recollection. "So of all the moments that you could have chosen to start liking me, you didn't pick the track practices or the hallway kickboxing or any of my many other studly moments. No – you had to pick the one where I was wearing a tight shirt with cartoon amphibians on it."

She giggled and reached up to stroke back the hair at his temple. "Pretty much."

"Well, all right, then."

There was a moment of silence before Jason's voice interrupted an elderly Italian man's dirty wedding song about masturbation.

"Hey – how come you never wear your hair in pigtails anymore?"

"Jason."

The rest of the day passed slowly and peacefully for the couple. They spent six hours watching the first two movies in the Godfather trilogy, and then Jason played his clarinet for Elizabeth. By the time AJ got home from school, they had pretty much exhausted all avenues of entertainment and were only too happy to join him in a ridiculously long game of Monopoly played by the rules of a five-year-old.

Elizabeth went off to school on the next day with both hers and Jason's homework from over the long weekend. Tuesday couldn't pass quickly enough for the brunette, and Mr. Alcazar had to grin at the way she lit out of the school building at 2:40 as if her pants were on fire. Brenda and Sonny accompanied her to Jason's house, where the foursome quickly completed what little homework they had while watching reruns of Saturday Night Live in the basement.

The Morgans came home early from General Hospital that day and ordered all the kids pizza. When Elizabeth finally got home in the late evening, she headed straight to her room and took a half-hour nap until her parents arrived.

Wednesday passed similarly, and since Jason had a doctor's appointment, Elizabeth returned to her own home. Her mother and father were waiting for her when she stepped in through the front door, and the three of them sat around in the den until dinner, just watching whatever happened to be on TV and enjoying each others' conversation.

Her father inquired about Jason and Elizabeth assured him that he was doing well. Jeff nodded and Caroline announced that it might be nice for them to bake a batch of cookies and show up at the Morgan home. After all, it had been entirely too long since she and Jeff got to sit down with Alan and Monica.

Elizabeth agreed immediately, and she and her mother set to work baking a gooey batch of chocolate chip cookies as Jeff rooted through his office in search of some mystery document.

When the cookies were done and sealed in plastic wrap, her father finally appeared from the den holding a magazine in his hand. When they inquired about it, he told them that it contained a special feature-length article about Lower Leg Exertional Compartment Syndrome, and he had vaguely promised Jason before the surgery that he'd bring it over for him.

The evening outing was wonderful, as the adults enjoyed sangria on the deck by the pool and Jason and Elizabeth resumed playing house in the basement. AJ was out for the evening, riding his bike through the neighborhood with his cousin, so they had the entire floor to themselves.

"Hey, guess what?" Jason asked her as she came bouncing down the stairs.

"Vanilla Ice called and said he wanted his shirt back?" she asked sweetly, gesturing to his ripped blue tank top that most likely used to be a t-shirt.

"No," he replied witheringly. "Marsden said that my legs were healing really well and that I didn't need the entire week of bed rest. I'll be back at school tomorrow on crutches."

"Great!" Elizabeth beamed, clapping her hands with delight. "And after only five days – wow."

"Yeah," he grinned back. "I mean, the basement's cool and everything, but I miss the sunlight."

She laughed and sat down Indian-style on the carpet in front of him. "So, do you want me to come pick you up tomorrow?"

"Sure," he nodded. "What time do you usually leave?"

"About seven-fifteen," she replied. School started at seven-forty, and she usually had a good ten minutes of free time before her first class.

He nodded again. "OK. I'll be ready."

And ready he was. Elizabeth pulled up in his driveway at exactly seven-twelve and rang the doorbell. Alan greeted her with a smile and invited her to help herself to a muffin or whatever random breakfast food was sitting on the counter, but she declined politely and made her way down to the basement.

Jason already had his backpack, which she quickly picked up, and was hopping toward the stairs with his crutches. In about five minutes, he was seated comfortably in her Acura and Elizabeth drove them both to school, the frenetic notes of – what else? – Bohemian Rhapsody resonating through the speakers.

The day was rather uneventful for her, but slightly difficult for Jason. For the first time, he had to actually carry his backpack through the halls because he needed his hands free to operate the cumbersome crutches. Besides that, he had to leave class five minutes early, usually with a helpful companion, to avoid being jostled in the halls as he made his way toward the elevator reserved specifically for disabled or injured students.

But other than minor inconveniences, Jason didn't have many problems. Granted, instead of trying to trip him, Brendan now helped him grab his books, and instead of shoving him in the halls, Petey now carried his backpack along with her own. Elizabeth always helped him to class whenever she could, and the two still ate lunch together although they opted for the lush grass outside the theatre instead of the congested cafeteria.

The day ended and Elizabeth waited until the hallways and stairs were relatively empty before helping Jason to the car. She stashed their books in the backseat and helped him into the passenger side, carefully laying his crutches in the trunk.

She waited until they were stopped at the light to turn on the radio, and when she did so, Bohemian Rhapsody was playing once again.

"Paradox!" she whooped, wiggling her hands out of the open moonroof as Jason stared at her, wondering what, exactly, had possibly possessed his girlfriend. "Time stopped!"

"What?"

She seemed to remember that he was with her at the moment because she blushed a really pretty pink, causing Jason to wonder if other parts of her body looked that nice when she blushed. He bet they did.

"Oh, don't pay attention to me – it's just a stupid little joke I have with myself."

"Paradox?" he repeated. "What's that?"

"Well," she began, trying to find the right words to explain. "When the past and future – or in some cases, the present – meet, then what occurs is a paradox. In scientific terms, it has something to do with the space/time continuum and all that jazz, and in literary terms, it just means contradiction or irony."

"So why did you just say it when you turned the radio on?"

"Because this song was playing when I turned the car off this morning, and it's playing when I turned it on," she explained. "So the past met what was then to be the future. A paradox. That means time never really passed between the two points in time." She turned to him then, adjusting her slim sunglasses over the bridge of her nose. "Silly, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Jason." Despite the fact that he was crippled, Elizabeth still took the opportunity to whack him on the arm, and Jason couldn't help but laugh.

Presently, they arrived back at the Morgan house where Elizabeth immediately helped Jason down to the basement. He collapsed on the floor in weariness, glad to cast aside the painful crutches, as she ran back out to the car to bring in their backpacks. Because it was late in the year and they were both graduating seniors, there wasn't much homework. But whatever work there was, they did it dutifully before setting it all aside and resuming their marathon-studying for the AP exams.

"I can't believe they're next week," Elizabeth grumbled to herself as she thumbed through her Psychology notes.

"And I can't believe Ms. Purdy didn't bother to teach us anything this year," Jason groused right back. "It's an AP class, and yet all we did was watch stupid 'tree in the wind' – what was that? Nelle? Jodie Foster was in it – movies and do those retarded Cosmo quizzes."

"Yeah," his girlfriend agreed over the neon orange vocab cards she was busy setting up before them like a giant checkerboard from Hell. "You'd think we could actually fit in some actual work, but noooo. That class was so mindless."

"OK," Jason began, leaning forward and helping her arrange the cards. "I'll quiz you first, okay?"

She nodded and the two busily got to work, barely looking up when his parents came home with burgers and fries. Elizabeth only got up twice – once to use the bathroom and once to call her parents and let them know she was studying with Jason. The two nibbled down their dinner as they shifted from Psychology to Calculus.

Ten minutes into their math study session, Jason got a call from Taggert. He wanted to know if they could arrange some type of study group, and Jason just invited him to come on over. Within fifteen minutes, Sonny, Luke, Taggert, Ryan, and Charlie were all over with their books, notes, and calculators.

Jeff and Caroline even dropped over later in the evening, apparently tired of wondering where their daughter was. Elizabeth barely looked up from her three-dimensional conic section graph when her parents wandered down the stairs along with Jason's.

They tried to do their best to help the kids, but when Ryan began postulating a new theory about the approximation of the area under a curve being just an average of every single existing slope, they realized they were in way over their heads.

The study party raged on until ten-thirty, and Elizabeth was the first to say that she thought it was time she got home and went to bed. After all, they still had school tomorrow, and it was a particularly busy day for her. The rest of the boys agreed and slowly dispersed after making plans to get together the following day to resume the marathon.

Jeff offered to drive Elizabeth's car the three miles to their home as his wife drove the car they had originally come in, and the exhausted brunette agreed. She somehow managed to stumble straight from the front door to her bathroom, where she haphazardly brushed her teeth and barely managed to shed her jeans and baby tee before collapsing under the sheets.

Elizabeth awoke early on Friday morning just so she'd have time to take a nice, long, steamy hot shower. It did wonders for her aching back and neck – spending hours leaning against the Morgans' oversized couch was not a good way to go – and an Advil cinched the deal.

She picked up Jason at promptly seven-fifteen, and they drove to school together. She helped him to his first hour class and waved hello to Roni before dashing up to her own room on the third floor where Mr. Lewis was waiting for her. Thankfully, he knew where she was and didn't put her through the embarrassing ordeal of explaining why she was thirty seconds late.

The first and second hour passed before she saw Jason again as she made her way to her AP English class on the third floor. He was at his locker and Sonny was helping him dump his books and backpack inside.

"Jason?" she called, her strappy sandals clicking on the floor as she walked over. "Where are you going?"

"I have another appointment today," he answered, pulling his head out of his locker long enough to look at her. "Did you forget?"

"I did," she admitted. Sonny snickered and she glared at him before glancing from one boy to the other. "Need any help?"

"We're good," Sonny assured her. "The 'rents are waiting downstairs, so he'll be fine."

Jason nodded and gripped his crutches as Sonny slammed his locker shut and locked it. "Yeah. See you in Calc, Elizabeth."

She kissed him quickly, ignoring Sonny's patronizing awww. If Jason had been able to, he'd have immediately sucker-punched his best friend, but Sonny knew that his hands were otherwise occupied and took full advantage of that.

"See you boys later," she called over her shoulder as she ran to her own classroom around the corner.

"See you," Jason replied, his eyes glued to the seat of her denim capris.

Sonny walked him downstairs where his parents were waiting at the Main desk, and exchanged pleasantries as they signed the release sheet. Waving goodbye to his best friend, the Cuban turned and made his way back to his English class.

Jason stretched out in the back seat of his dad's Lincoln as they drove to Mercy. His parents were chatty and optimistic, and encouraged by Marsden's glowing reports of how well Jason's muscles were healing.

After half an hour, thanks to his dad's death-defying highway driving skills, the Morgans found themselves at Mercy. They rode the elevator up and slowly made their way to Dr. Richard Marsden's personal office.

"Hello," the doctor smiled stiffly as they entered. "How are all of you doing this morning?"

Alan and Monica smiled back as Jason quickly hobbled over to the nearest chair, eager to set down the offending crutches. "Fine, thanks."

"So, Richard," Alan began, seating himself and folding his hands in his lap. "What's the good word?"

His question surprised the doctor slightly, and it took him a minute to compose himself. In front of him lay a thick file filled with what Jason assumed to be x-ray images of past and present and all sorts of miscellaneous charts. The doctor carefully lifted the file and brought it closer, exhaling slowly before opening it gingerly.

"Alan, Monica, Jason."

Immediately, Jason knew that he didn't like the tone of his surgeon's voice. Dr. Marsden's black eyes remained glued to the x-ray photographs as he selected a few and turned them upside-down before placing them in front of his parents.

"Well, I might as well not beat around the bush. I have some bad news."