Jason pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened to Lily finish up the Spanish version of the cursing out he had just received in English. Sonny had arrived at his private island a little over an hour ago and was settled in with the doctors there. The children had already been deposited and were safely tucked away with their parents.

The organization was still very weak and Jason was notified before receiving Lily's phone call that Luis Alcazar had landed in the city and was now settling into the top floor of the Port Charles Hotel, his right hand man, his enforcer, Sly Eckert, was with him.

The burden was now solely placed on Jason's shoulders to make things safe once again.

"Jason?" Lily sighed frustrated, "Jason, I know you are angry but this is ridiculous. This isn't Elizabeth's fault, she didn't…"

"Lily, I don't want to hear this right now," Jason said, "I just want to know that you and Sonny and the kids are safe. Call me if anything else happens."

"I swear to you if you hang up on me I will fly to wherever the hell you are Jason Morgan," she yelled into the phone, "I've had it. You and your wounded pride, you and your 'She did all of this' nonsense; Elizabeth was forced into her life. She was obviously running away from Luis Alcazar for a reason and you are seeing what that reason is, Jason. She didn't choose this life and she didn't choose for this to happen and it's about time that you wake up and realize that. She didn't set you up, she fell in love with you and she was afraid to tell you, for a good reason might I add, what was going on. Do what you're best at Jason, protect her, don't use her as a pawn in this…"

"He's starting a war," Jason said quietly, "And she is my best chance at having that avoided."

"Alcazar wants the territory as well as Elizabeth," Lily said, "He is determined that nothing and no one is going to stop him. We've been up against this before and we've seen the consequences, someone always dies in the end."

"It's not going to be me," Jason said as he moved down the hallway, realizing that he hadn't checked on Elizabeth in a while.

"I don't want it to be Elizabeth." Lily turned when she heard her children calling her, "I have to go, I'll keep you updated on Sonny's condition. The doctors said that he's resting comfortably now but they're still unsure if there's going to be any long term effects."

Jason squeezed his eyes shut as he came to stand before Elizabeth's door, "He'll be fine, Lily."

"I hope you are too, Jason," Lily said quietly, "Hasta luego."

"Goodbye," Jason said as flipped his phone shut, sliding it into the pocket of his jeans. He didn't even bother to knock at Elizabeth's door, just turned the handle and pushed it open, surprised to find her room empty. He didn't think that she was stupid enough to try and escape.

He hurried back down the hall, heading towards the living room and kitchen. As he approached he noticed that the bathroom light was on and the door opened slightly. Knocking with his knuckles the door fell open more and he was startled to find Elizabeth standing in front of the sink, the medicine cabinet above it open and her hands filled with more pills than he could count.

"What the…"

"No, no," Elizabeth said shutting her fists around the Tylenol capsules and holding them against her chest. She tried to shove past Jason but his hands were gripping her arms, causing her to wince in pain, causing her hands to loosen on the pills. They scattered on the floor by her feet and she twisted away from him, bending down to pick them up.

Jason was right before her, slapping her hands away from the medication. Brushing them away with his fists, the sounds of her cries echoing in his ears, "Elizabeth, no."

"Why?" she asked shoving him, watching as he fell on his backside, "I heard you on the phone with Lily, I know what Luis is up to. He doesn't want just me anymore Jason. He's not going to settle for a trade so why do I have to go back there? Why!"

She scrambled over his body and ran towards her room, slamming the door shut behind her and flicking the lock to deny him entrance. She then plopped down on the bed, her blurry eyes scanning the room for something, anything that would end this pain. She let out a yelp when her bedroom door came crashing open with a booted kick.

"You are not taking the easy way out," Jason said as he advanced towards her, "Stop thinking it."

"You think this is easy?" she asked jumping up from the bed, "You think that my life has been something that someone else envies? I don't want it anymore and I'm only seventeen! Seventeen!" she shouted as she jammed her fists into his chest, "Tell me why it's not okay to want out of this world, tell me why it's not okay to want to end the past three years of misery. It's all gone Jason, my family, my friends, my freedom. I just went through this life motion by motion trying to find something to live for, something worth fighting for and then…then I fucked it up all over again and I see no point, no reason to go on." She closed her eyes and gave him a sad smile, "Tell Lily I love her and thank you for being there when no one else was."

Jason watched as she reached out to him. He thought that she was going to pull him into a hug and while part of him still wanted to deny it the other part wanted to hold her, keep her tucked away and tell her that he would never let anything or anyone hurt her ever again.

He never expected her nimble fingers to reach for his gun.

"No!" he yelled as he grabbed it from her, a shot firing off and hitting the wall beside them, burying itself deep in the concrete surface. He tossed the gun behind her on the bed and caught her in his arms before she had the chance to collapse on the floor.

He wasn't sure if it was the weight of her petite body, the weight he carried around on his shoulders or the weight that now seemed heavy on his heart but it was all too much for him, for the both of them, and they fell to their knees in the middle of the room; Elizabeth's heart wrenching sobs the only sound to be heard.

Jason didn't know how long they had been sitting there. Time had ceased the minute he walked into the bathroom and saw Elizabeth, that blank look in her eyes, that bottle of pills in her hand. He still hated to think about it, still hated to wonder what would have happened if Lily would have stayed on the phone with him a minute longer, if he decided that he would leave her alone for just a few more hours.

He knew that instead of sitting across the room from her on a carpeted floor, watching her piece her life back together, little bit by little bit, he would be burying her body somewhere.

He also knew that he was supposed to kill her, he threatened to kill her. She was his enemy; she was the one who brought all this upon him and his family, his organization. She should be the first one to go; she should be the one to pay. And he thought the he could do it, he thought that he hated her enough to be able to pull the trigger.

He was beginning to realize that the hate was simply covering up the love.

Watching her sit there, leaning against the bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, saying nothing, doing nothing, looking at nothing, he knew that he was more likely to shoot himself than he was to harm Elizabeth Webber and he hated that because the danger, the betrayal, the lies were all still there.

"I met Sly when I was 14, well, I was going to be 14 that November," Jason heard from across the room. He couldn't believe that timid voice was coming from Elizabeth, the woman who loudly told Candy to keep her hands off of him.

"It was my first day of high school and I don't know how but I got a locker right next to a juniors locker," she smiled sadly at the memory, "And he just shut his and said to me, 'You look shy but your pretty cute so I'm gonna introduce myself.' It was like puppy dog love at first sight," she laughed as she wiped the tears from her face, "I told him that I was still adjusting to the beaches of California being from Colorado, he told me about this tiny little town he grew up in New York. He said it was too small to name. Then he told me that each one of his parents was murdered, then I told him I thought my mother was and we were inseparable. I think that's why he was with me because I wasn't…" Elizabeth closed her eyes and became quiet for a minute, "I wanted so much to be as pretty as the other high school girls that flirted with him, that had their hands all over him and if I had any idea that my wish was about to come true I would've…"

Jason ached to move, to crawl across the floor and pull her into his arms and quiet her. He knew this was going to be painful to explain, it was going to be painful for him to hear it but he needed an explanation as much as she needed to give him one.

"Sly was right, I was shy, we didn't get to second base until after a month of dating and that took a lot of coaxing, sex was a whole other issue," she said as she ran her fingers up and down her arms, "He didn't really pressure me but for my birthday he handed me a dozen roses at the end of the day, by my locker, in front of everyone with a card that said I love you," her eyes met Jason's, "So I gave in and I went too far, too fast," she sighed and closed her eyes again, "I missed a part, something that…" she licked her lips, "When Sly and I first started dating he impressed me with all the money he had and he asked me to stop by with him one day at his work so he could get his pay, his cash pay. He said that he worked at a club. I should've known right then, my instincts were telling me to run the other way especially when he introduced me to the man that was soon to be my future husband. I had no idea that at the time Sly was working for Luis Alcazar my father was also borrowing money off of him. When my father couldn't pay it back he offered me to Luis and I had to go back to the club that made my skin crawl, I had to wear skirts that barely covered my ass, I had to let men paw their hands all…"

Elizabeth let out a frustrated sigh and ran her hands over her wet, tired face. She hated reliving this, hated the images that flashed through her mind, hated that instead of a bad dream it was all memories. She laughed as she removed her hands.

"Luis told me that I would never have to do anything that I was uncomfortable with. He told me that he hated that my father had to work his debt off this way but in the end things would have a way of working out. At first he was very nice. He let me work in the early evenings and even let me do my homework in his office. He said that school was very important for such a bright, beautiful woman like me," she laughed out loud and rolled her eyes, "I was so fucking naïve, I should've seen right through that."

Jason wanted to tell her that at the age of fourteen a young woman would believe practically anything that was told to her by a powerful business man. As the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together he was beginning to realize that she was as sucked into this world as he was. He never wanted to get out, she couldn't if she tried. So she put on a brave front and fought her way through it, easily turning into Lizzie Webber.

"After about two, three months, Luis started dropping hints that I would make more money stripping," she said, "He said it would pay my father's debt off quicker and that I'd only have to do one five minute dance a night. He was going to give me two weekdays off of my choice and I could leave immediately after my stint on the weekends," she laughed bitterly, "He told me that I could go out and be a normal teenager," shaking her head she continued, "I talked to Sly about it and he said that he didn't care, that he thought it would be sexy to see me up there making all those men cheer and hoot and holler. I had no idea that a real man would've knocked the first guy out that tried to touch me. Because they touched me, all over, and I use to think that was the worst part. I use to think…" she bit down on her lip, hard, until she felt blood, "For a year and a half I stripped, my hours becoming longer, my grades failing, watching Sly sleep with other woman, watching Luis become more interested in me. All that time I thought I was getting my father out of debt when he was just digging another hole. Luis told me that my father had gotten so far in he wasn't sure if there was anyway he could be repaid, then he did his usual smirk and told me that he had bought me something for my sixteen birthday."

Elizabeth's dull, lifeless eyes meet Jason's tortured blue ones, "A two karat diamond engagement ring with an interlocked wedding band."

Jason's mouth tried to work, he tried to form a coherent sentence but at that moment it didn't seem possible. His bleeding heart no longer bled for him but for the young girl that sat across from him, the young girl who was forced to grow up too fast.

"My father signed a consent form for me to marry Luis Alcazar," she snorted, "I was sold to a mobster and I had no idea at that time what it is he did, I just acted as a stripper. My father was assured that his debts would be cleared and I had no say in the matter. As I was forced to say 'I do' to Luis in front of a judge and Sly as one of our witnesses my father was being taken down to one of the wharfs where he was beaten to death and thrown into the same murky waters my mother was. I was never able to bury him properly because the next day Luis had us all packed and we were moving to Chicago to take over someone else's territory. That's when I started to get pawned off, I like to call it whored out," she said with a forced smile, "Luis would introduce me as his wife, explain that I was willing to do anything to make my husband's friends more comfortable around our organization. I had to do it, anything, everything, with men Luis' age, with enforcer's like Sly, with older don's who were in their sixties and soon people started to realize that I was up for grabs. If Luis okayed it anyone could fuck me. Some of those men even left money on the table in the morning."

Jason closed his eyes and remembered their first sexual encounter, him handing her the money. He knew that those were her terms of the agreement but he also knew that something had sparked between them and he knew that she would be back for more, without asking for money. He hated that he made her feel like the whore Alcazar made her out to be.

"I could only last six months in that life," Elizabeth said, "I was just slipping further and further into this black hole and no one was there to help me. Sly, while still my friend, had become more dedicated to Alcazar and was being handed his choice of women, Luis had no intention of letting me go or keeping me all to himself. I was dying inside, a little each day, and I knew that if I didn't get out of there soon…" her eyes found his gun which now rested beside his hand on the floor, "I didn't want to die, I still don't, I was just so lost, confused, empty, like I am now. I had to use what I knew to get here. I had to strip, I had to find some way to earn money to make it down to Florida, to make it out of this country, out of his reach."

Elizabeth sighed as her voice quieted, "I didn't mean to stop in Port Charles, Jason, I didn't mean to fall in love with you. I never intended for Luis to find me here, I never intended…" she looked away embarrassed, "To have my bag stolen, to have to screw some guy for a job and a hotel room. I never meant to stay any longer than necessary but fate kept intervening and I…" she licked her lips again, "Let me turn myself over to him, Jason," she whispered, "Let me try and end this madness by giving Luis what he wants, his wife back. You can stay here, I'll go back on my own."

For the first time since Elizabeth started her explanation Jason spoke, "No, Elizabeth, I'm not sending you back to Luis Alcazar."