"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth whispered as he stepped into the room, causing her to step back, causing her toes to come in contact with a piece of glass, "Ow, God damn't."

"Calm down there, Lizzie," he said locking the door and putting the chain on. He then clucked at her before he helped her over to the bed and sat her down on the edge, picking up her toe and plucking the tiny piece of brown glass out of it, "Seriously, if your going to drink beer, do it with something good. Coors Light is piss."

"What are you doing here?" she asked as her eyes followed him into the bathroom, "What are you doing? Get back here!"

"Calm down," he called over the running water. He reappeared a few minutes later with a wash cloth in his hand, bending down in front of her again to wipe the small amount of blood off of her toe, "I take it that this place doesn't have any bandages?'

He stood back up, his hands shoved in his khakis, causing his leather jacket to bunch at the sleeves, "Seriously Lizzie, you were suppose to be moving up in the world, not down."

"Fuck you Sly Eckert," she growled, "How the hell did you find me?"

"It took me a while," he shrugged as he walked over to the fridge and pulled it open, taking out two bottles, twisting them open with his palm, "Shit, not the twist off, fuck, here," he said handing her one, "I gotta admit, I liked that you used your real name, well, almost real name," he grinned, "He had me searching for you under everything else and I just couldn't find ya. Surprised that you wound up here, you know I got family around these parts?"

Elizabeth shook her head as she took a long sip from the bottle, "I don't know many people around here."

"I ain't got family around here," he said, his face cringing, "I got family around the better parts of Port Charles. My Uncle owns some Blues Club and my Aunt runs this place called Kelly's."

"Bobbie?" Elizabeth asked. When Sly looked at her with a raised eyebrow she shoved the bottle back in her mouth, gulping down some more.

"Looks like you haven't been hanging around here, you wanna tell me what's going on?" he asked.

"Does it matter?" she asked, "You're just going to take me back and my life will once again be all about the mob."

"But I'd like to hear about your adventure," he said as he pulled out a chair from the table and sat down, propping his feet up in the one across from him, "Tell me who else you met in Port Charles?"

"I told you I didn't meet many people," she said as she stood up, "I don't want to talk about it, Sly. Let's just get this over with."

His eyes followed her as she walked over to that damn black bag of hers, watched her fiddle with the strap and gnaw on her lip like she always did when she had something weighing heavily on her mind. She then closed her eyes and took another sip of the beer.

"What you say in here is between you and me, Lizzie," Sly said, "You know that I won't take anything back, you know that I won't use it against you."

Elizabeth sighed and turned to look at him, her blue eyes mirroring pain, "I use to know you. I use to think that I loved you and look what happened, Sly."

Sly looked away from her, taking a long sip of his own beer, "You really know where to hit a guy, Lizzie. You know I feel bad about that but what did you want me to do?"

"Protect me, save me," Elizabeth said as she walked towards him, "Would that have been so hard? You were already earning a pretty decent salary and I had some money from waitressing."

"We would've never made it out of the city alive, Lizzie," he said, "He would've had us killed had I stepped in when he wanted you to start stripping. There would've been no chance for us. We would've been dead by midnight."

"Sometimes I wish I were dead, Sly," she said, "Sometimes I think it would be better off for the both of us if we were both just six feet under." She watched him blink and then look away from her again. She felt her heart constrict, "God Sly, no, tell me you didn't."

"I was his right hand man anyway, Lizzie, it was just inevitable that we made it official," he said, "I don't understand what the big deal is."

"The big deal is that you were only a bartender at a mob joint," Elizabeth said, "And that didn't have to change, you could've…"

"I'm perfectly happy being his hit man," he said, "You are the one that has a problem with this world."

"I have no problem with this world," she snapped, "I have a problem with him and with you thinking that you can force me into it."

"You're not an adult," Sly said, "You turn eighteen in another year and you can go…"

"No, that's it, I'm done, I'm not going back," she said, "I've had it. I'm tired of this, I'm tired of people running my life for me. You want to take me back, I will kick and I will scream and you might just have to present me to him in a body bag."

"What the hell happened to you here?" he asked, "Why are you being so damn difficult?"

"Difficult?" she laughed, "Are you fucking kidding me? You saw me change, Sly, before your eyes, I was this shy girl who was afraid to go to second base with you and then nine months later I'm on stage stripping and you watched me and you enjoyed it and I thought that was normal, I thought that was okay until I met someone who…" she stopped and turned back towards her bag, placing her beer on the table and opening it, digging for her clothes, knowing it was time to escape.

"He's on your tail," Sly said, "That's why I'm here. I told him that you were tired of it, Lizzie, but he won't let you go," she heard him place his beer bottle on the table behind her, "Don't you think I feel guilty for watching you? Don't you think that when I go to bed alone at night…"

"Which isn't often…" she snorted.

"That I don't think about what I did to us," he said as he came up behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "We were so good together, Lizzie, the way you felt in my arms was just…"

"We were kids," Elizabeth said as she turned towards him, "I was a child, you were sixteen going on twenty five. We didn't know what we were doing. Look where it got us? I'm running scared and you're killing people for a living."

"He knows where you are, Lizzie, I was suppose to come down here and get you," he said, "I didn't expect to find you at some seedy hotel I expected to find you cuddle up with some rich…what happened?"

"What?" she asked, "What are you talking about?"

"This isn't you," he said waving to the motel, "I tracked you to Connecticut and I found out that you spent two weeks hiring yourself out as a private stripper in Greenwich. Coming here, to Port Charles is bad enough, but if you came here you would've…"

"Leave me alone, it's done, it's over with, I was planning on leaving by the end of the week and instead I'll just leave now, just give me some time, please Sly, just tell him you couldn't…"

"No," Sly said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, "I want to know…" her hair moved, her bangs brushing from her face and he noticed the small bruise by her eye, "Who the fuck did this to you? What asshole were you fucking around with?"

"No one," she said shoving against him, "I said let it go, I will not…"

"I'll start naming names and that'll get a reaction out of you," he said as he let her go, "Let's start with my cousin, Lucky Spencer."

"You are being an ass," Elizabeth said through gritted teeth, "Let it go."

"No? Okay his brother Nikolas Cassadine," he said and received only her back being presented to him, "How about the Quartermaine's," Sly saw her body tense, "Did I hit a nerve Lizzie? Alan's too old, maybe rocker Ned? No, no response there, could it be A.J.?"

Elizabeth knew she should say it was A.J. or some other random guy in this town but she couldn't get her lips to work. She could only get her eyes to flutter down, pray that he didn't stumble upon his name. She didn't want to be caught in the middle of enforcer versus enforcer.

"I don't think its A.J.," Sly said as he grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him, "But if it's Quartermaine related…oh my god."

"Why didn't you leave it alone?" she asked pushing him, watching him fall back on the bed while she struggled with her tears, "Why couldn't you let me be free, Sly?"

"You blasted him for his involvement with the mob and you crawled right into bed with one of them, Lizzie, you got some nerve, if he finds out about this…"

"No!" Elizabeth screamed as she turned towards him, pulling him up, grasping his shirt, "Sly I swear to you, I will go back to him, I will find some way to get you money, I'll do anything Sly, anything just please, please he can't know, take me back, we can go now, Sly please."

"You're in love with him," Sly whispered, "You're in love with Jason Morgan. Lizzie, how the hell did this happen? You know better than to try and get yourself wrapped up in these things."

"I know, I know," she cried as she moved away from him, burying her face in her hands, "And I didn't mean to, Sly. I just was supposed to be here for a couple of weeks. I wanted to earn some more money so I could get down to Florida and out of the country and I don't know what happened, it just happened."

"And he knows?" Sly asked as he approached her, his fingers sliding through her hair, "He knows everything."

"He knows that I'm underage and he knows that I'm running from an organization," Elizabeth said biting her lip, "He doesn't know who and I don't want him to know. It's over Sly, there is no reason for anyone else to find out about this please,"

"Shh, shh," Sly whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace, "I should've done right by you a long time ago, Lizzie, and I'm going to start doing it now. I'm getting you out of here, away from it all, okay?" he pulled back and wiped her tears away with his fingers, "Don't cry on me, I turn into putty when you cry on me, you know that."

She nodded slowly.

"Who else knows about you and Morgan?" Sly asked, "Lizzie if you disappear and he finds out about this, the first person he is going after is Morgan, you know that right?"

She nodded eagerly this time, "I know and that's why I was going to give up my trail, I wanted him to follow me down South."

"That's not going to happen, I'm going to take care of things from now on," Sly said, "I'm going to need a couple of days. I have to wire the funds to a bank account I have here. I'm going to fix this for you, Lizzie, I don't know what he'll do to you if he finds out that you hitched up with the enemy."

"Sly, I…"

She wanted to tell him that she was grateful, that she forgave him for everything in the past when he said he would take care of things, when he would do right by her. Sly turned out to be an enforcer but he was also the one that protected her during her first few days as a stripper. He watched out for her when he could and maybe what he said was true, maybe by doing nothing at all he kept her alive.

Her being alive led her to Jason Morgan and she would never regret a moment she spent with him.

She licked her lips, ready to continue when another knock disturbed her. She was slightly shocked when Sly stepped back and reached for his gun, loading it and motioning to the door with his head.

"No, get in the bathroom," she said, "I'll get rid of them."

Sly nodded but he still didn't put his gun away. She wiped away her remaining tears as she headed for the door, avoiding the glass that she had yet to pick up, and unlocking it quickly. She was floored to see the man standing on the other side.

"Sonny."

"Maybe I come in, Elizabeth?" he asked with a small smile, one dimple showing on his left cheek.

Elizabeth knew that she should shut the door, she should turn Sonny away and take the help that Sly was offering her, yet she knew that she couldn't. Sonny wouldn't have come unless it was important and she was interested to hear anything he had to say about Jason.

"Please," she said stepping aside, "Watch the glass," she carefully avoided it again and removed the towel from the bed, "I'm sorry, I know this isn't…"

"I'm surprised your staying overnight," Sonny said as he squinted while looking at her face, "You were suppose to be gone, Elizabeth. What happened to your eye?"

"It's why I'm still here," she said smiling nervously, "I was mugged on the way to the bus station and all the money I had was in my bag so," she shrugged, "I had to stay in town a couple of nights to earn some more of it."

"Okay," Sonny said as he looked around the motel room, "But even a seedy place like this costs…" his eyes fell back on Elizabeth and he saw her wince and look away, embarrassed. His heart started aching again, "I'd like to offer you a way out of town."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said with a sad smile as she tucked a piece if damp hair behind her ear, "But I won't be able to take it. I promise you that I won't bring danger to your family. I'm going to leave town in a few days. Nothing will happen, I promise you, your family is safe. I just need a few more days."

"Did someone contact you?" Sonny asked, "Because it sounds like you know…"

"I know that he's coming after me," Elizabeth said quietly as she looked away from the man who had become a true friend to her, "And I know that I have to leave as soon as I can in order to protect everyone. I shouldn't have gone to Lily but I owed it to her Sonny. She had a right to hear it from me."

"So did Jason," Sonny said quietly, "But I know that he won't listen to a word you have to say."

Elizabeth nodded, "Thank you for coming by, tell Lily I said thank you too."

"I have a private jet," Sonny said, "That will take you anywhere you have to go, you name the exotic location and you'll disappear Elizabeth," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills, "With all this. I can have it fueled up and ready to go by tomorrow morning."

"Sonny, I can't let you…"

"You lied to me," Sonny said, his chocolate eyes blazing, "You put my club at risk, you put me at risk, you put my family at risk with your lies and your past. You owe it to me to get out of town. This is the quickest way possible, take it."

Elizabeth knew that Sonny was right so she nodded, "I will pay you back every dime that you give me. I'll pay for the flight and the fuel and everything."

"You want to pay me back?" Sonny asked as he advanced towards her, "Tell me who I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for, tell me who is after you, tell me where you came from, Elizabeth. I need to know what the stakes are if he comes…"

"He won't," Elizabeth said licking her lips, "I'll figure out someway to leave a trail. I'll figure out something before tomorrow, Sonny."

"Elizabeth," he said softly as he placed his hand on her shoulders, "Elizabeth had I known I would've tired everything in my power to protect you but now…after all this," he sighed as he turned away shaking his head, "I'm asking you to help me protect my family. Please, tell me what organization I'm up against."

Elizabeth could almost hear Sly holding his breath in the bathroom, could almost hear him whispering in her ear that she should never let the enemy know of your whereabouts. Sly would consider Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan their enemies.

She didn't.

"Chicago," she said quietly, "I'm running from the largest mid west run organization in the country, Sonny."

"Alcazar?" Sonny asked with wide eyes, "You're running from Alcazar, Elizabeth? He's your boss?" he watched as her eyes water, "Elizabeth, what is he to you?"

Elizabeth laughed bitterly as she blinked back her tears, "He's my husband."