Part II
A sudden brush against his skin and a thud caused Jason's eyes to snap open. He found himself looking directly into a pair of blue eyes. The blue eyes belonged to a young child that was no more than six months old. He clutched at a yellow afghan that was partially wrapped around him and the rest draped over Jason's leg. Jason rose to lean on his elbow and lifted his body into a sitting position. Never for a moment breaking his gaze with the young child that stared up at him with curious eyes.
Gradually, the events of the previous day registered in Jason's mind and realization came over him of who the child was. It was Elizabeth's son, Cameron.
"Cameron!"
Both the child and the older man swung their heads around to fix their eyes on the source of the exclamation. Elizabeth stood in black jeans and a camisole at the kitchen entrance with her hands on her hips. "Cameron Steven Webber," she began, striding towards them. "I told you to let Jason sleep."
The petite brunette squatted down to meet her son's eye level. Elizabeth rubbed her nose against Cameron's, making the boy giggle. "You were supposed to play with your toys and leave Jason alone." Swiftly lifting him, she plopped him among his spread out toys in the middle of the room. The afghan traveled with Cameron to the floor, revealing Jason's state of undress.
Rising to her full height, Elizabeth looked away. "Good morning or should I say afternoon, it was about time you woke up." At Jason's bewildered stare, Elizabeth added, "It's little after noon. Sorry about Cameron. Emily dropped him off this morning. He usually plays on his own, but I think he must have been very curious to bother you." Her were eyes everywhere, but on him.
Pushing down emotions that threatened to surface, Jason cleared his throat loudly and then murmured, "Don't worry about it."
Nodding her head, she mumbled, "We'll let you get dressed then." With that said she marched straight back into the kitchen.
After spending more than enough time in the bathroom to get dressed Jason returned in his outfit from the night before to an empty living room. There were still toys scattered on the floor and the afghan now neatly draped over the back of the sofa. There was no noise coming from the kitchen and no legs were visible below the swinging doors leading to the kitchen. Jason remained at the bathroom door, contemplating where the young mother and her child had gone when the bedroom door swung open and a beaming Elizabeth and a still inquisitive Cameron in her arms joined him.
Unconsciously, Jason took a step back from the family.
"Ready for some brunch?" Elizabeth asked already moving towards her kitchen.
She stopped in her tracks at the sound of her name.
"Elizabeth." Taking in a breath Jason continued. "I need to get going."
Pivoting on her heel, Elizabeth turned back around with questioning eyes. "Don't be silly. You barely ate last night and you need something in your stomach. I have coffee."
"Thank you, but its best if I leave."
His eyes never reached hers.
Nodding his head in acknowledgement, Jason slowly backed away. His eyes flicked a quick glance at Cameron and then Elizabeth right before he spun around and walked out the door.
Elizabeth and Cameron both stared after the blonde man that had walked through their door. His intense, aching blue eyes were Elizabeth's only thought.
Silently, Jason closed the penthouse door behind him. It looked as it had the night before, but there seemed to be something off. Something missing. It felt empty. She wasn't here. His sad blue eyes scanned over the penthouse and landed on the luggage that sat at the foot of the stairs. He had never seen them before. The clicking of heels on the polished stairs drew Jason's attention to the figure that came to stand on the last step.
Samantha McCall stood in a Sherpa coat, a duffel bag swung over her shoulder. She looked extremely tired. There were sagging bags beneath her eyes that the makeup was no longer able to conceal. The strong willed, determined woman Jason had meet months ago was not the one currently standing before him but, a troubled, broken one remained.
Taking another glance at the luggage resting by her, Jason asked, "What's going on?"
"I-I'm leaving." She flicked her dark brown hair over her shoulder and reached down for a bag.
Jason's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Leaving? Where—Where are you going?"
Pulling up the handle of her carry on, her miserable brown eyes met Jason's. "I'm going to go see my brother for a few days and spend sometime with him." Painfully, inhaling she continued, her voice gruff, "I won't be needing my room here anymore."
A light bulb went off in Jason's mind as to what Sam was doing. She was leaving the place that reminded her of her daughter. The place that they had planned on raising the baby in. "Have one of the guards drop you off at the airport and be careful."
"I will."
A long silence followed. Both of them at a loss of what to say to the other.
"Jason," Her voice bounced off the walls. "I want to thank you…" Sam's eyes rimmed with tears. "I want to thank you for everything you have done for me and…my baby" She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and one tear, escaped slipping down her cheek. "I'll never forget what you did for me and her."
Numbly he nodded his head. His hand trembled. He clenched it into a fist to halt the quivering.
The dark haired woman gave him a sad smile as she passed by him to reach the door. She stopped with her hand on the knob to look over her shoulder. "You're a good man Jason. Never forget that. Goodbye."
Then she was gone.
The penthouse that had been full of activity the last few years was now full of deafening silence. The people and the things that had been constant reminders of what could have been were now gone. It was all vacant now and now just the place that served only the purpose of retreating to from the outside world.
For a long moment, Jason silent lifelessly stood in his penthouse. Nothing running through his mind.
Soundlessly, Jason forced his legs to carry his numb body up the stairs. Step by step his body grew tenser and the will to go on thinned. Once, at the second floor he blindly made his way to his room. None of the hallway decorations or the odor that traveled through the air registered in his mind.
Walking past his king size bed Jason entered his bathroom. Stripping down to absolute nudity, Jason climbed into his shower stall. With one flick of his wrist, water gushed down like a newly filled river, washing over his body that felt ancient. The room instantly filled with steam. Jason placed a hand on the cool black marble of the wall and leaned his weight against it. Water rolled down his closed eye lids. The defined muscles that had grown stiff and rigid loosened. The warm streaming water that hit his bare skin relieved him of the tension that his muscles were soaked in.
The lukewarm water rejuvenated his body and soul, but his heart remained broken.
Fallen leaves, crunched under his boots as Jason walked towards Kelly's courtyard. The chilly November air had no affect on the enforcer as he strode to the diner with the leather coat flapping at his sides, revealing the fitting black shirt he wore. It was one of the effects of the accident that made Jason's life easier rather than difficult. He could walk around without a jacket and not end up in bed with a fever. Carly and Emily yelled at him whenever they caught site of him sans a coat. The only reason he wore one in the winter was to avoid ringing headaches from lectures from everyone including Sonny.
Jason looked up in time to see the outline of a woman pushing a carriage en route for the diner as well. He noticed that she wore a brown suede coat and pushed a gray stroller with the hood pulled down. She picked her child out of carriage and pulled open the door. Leaning against the door she tried to maneuver the strolling inside and was having no luck with it. Squinting his eyes, he realized who the petite young woman was. It was Elizabeth.
Quickening his pace, Jason reached the stroller. "Hey. Need some help?"
Her flushed red face brightened with a smile. "Hey! Yeah, that'd be great."
"Here, I'll get it. Go ahead." Already grasping the handle of the stroller.
"Thank you," Elizabeth said over her shoulder as she entered the warm diner.
Once inside, Jason moved away from the stroller and came to stand beside Elizabeth. Cameron wearing a black short jacket and a red sleeper stared up at him from under his hoodie and once again, Jason could do nothing, but stare back at him.
It had been a week since he had last seen Elizabeth and Cameron. After walking out of their apartment, he had spent most of his time at the warehouse trying to keep busy and away from the penthouse. He had gone over coffee invoices for the whole month of October and the recent ones of November. Some days he had woken up still in his office.
That one night that he had spent at Elizabeth's was the best night of sleep had gotten in ages. Elizabeth had been right that talking helped and it had, more than he thought it would. It still hurt to think of the baby, but he knew that it wasn't his fault. That she was in a better place instead of the dangerous world that she would have lived in. Talking to his old friend had helped and he wanted to thank her for that. He would start that right away.
Elizabeth and Cameron were both now sitting comfortably at a table. Both out of their gloves and coats gone and perfectly at ease with their surroundings. The young child still gazed up at him. Noticing that her son was focus on the older man, the young woman looked up at Jason and the corners of her mouth quirked. "Will you join us?"
His friend was being kind and offering him a seat at her table. If she wanted his company then she would have it even though he was stopping by for only coffee. "I will in a second."
Jason strode to the counter. Penny looked up at him immediately, a pen posed. "Can I get one of those biscuits that Morgan always gets when he comes here?"
The veteran waitress gave him a strange look, but did as he asked. "Thank you," he murmured taking the biter biscuit from her and turning back around.
The frown that made its way to Elizabeth's face was replaced by a soft smile, when she noticed the cookie, that Jason held in a tissue.
Seating himself across from Elizabeth and Cameron, Jason held out the cookie for the young child and waited. Slowly, the light brown haired child reached out for it. Looking down once at the cookie he held, he looked back up at the older man and grinned.
For the first time in two weeks, a smile appeared on Jason Morgan's face. Softening his tired facial features.
"Jason," Elizabeth's voice drew Jason's attention away from her son, who sat on the tabletop chewing on his cookie.
A proud smile on her face. "I would like to officially introduce to you my son, Cameron."
Jason smirked at her manners.
Peering down at Cameron Elizabeth continued her introductions. "Cameron met our friend Jason."
The young boy gabbled something and went on munching on his cookie.
Elizabeth laughed at her son's behavior. "I think he likes you."
A feeling of comfort ran through Jason the longer he remained seated at the table. He had thought being around Cameron would have been difficult, but it was the opposite. He felt calm and ease being around the child. His heart still ached, but it not as intense.
"Hey, Cameron."
His young dancing blue eyes lifted instantaneously at the sound of Jason's low voice.
Jason noticed a stuffed animal peaking out through Cameron's arms. "What have you got there, an elephant?" Taking the elephant from him, a wave of sadness passed through Jason as he stared down at it.
"What is it?"
Looking up, he met Elizabeth's concerned eyes. The concern in her eyes was genuine reminding Jason that she had a kind heart and was just worried about him.
He closed his eyes for a moment before he spoke. "I brought a stuffed animal like this for the baby. It was a panda bear like those in China and other Asian countries." His heart clenched in pain. "There was a bookshelf full of toys and travel books for her. Sam packed up the room like you said she should have. The guards took apart the nursery the other day. I came home and it wasn't there anymore."
The words flowed out of him and Elizabeth listened silently, taking in every word that he passed his lips.
"The room wasn't pink anymore. The toys were gone. The rocking chair that would sway back and forth all the time, it was gone. My bare feet touched hardwood floor instead of the pink carpet that had been installed. It was empty except for the box full of travel books. It felt like the room had never existed and it was all a dream."
Jason's blurry vision remained on the elephant.
"When I came home from the hospital after my miscarriage, a package arrived for me. It was a yellow baby pillow and blanket." Her voice grew thick. "I cried when I saw it and felt empty inside. I looked around the apartment and I felt that horrible for having the things in the house when a baby wasn't going to be living there. It's hard, but eventually your mind begins to accept that the baby wasn't a fantasy, but a reality that didn't happen."
His head bowed in understanding. Elizabeth had gone through the miscarriage and in the end grew stronger from the experience. He knew she had suffered, Carly had told him about seeing Elizabeth in the hospital after they had brought her in. that she had cried begging for her baby, but yet she was now a single mother taking care of her son and working full time. He admired that about her.
"How about we order some dinner?" Elizabeth asked her son, who through out the conversation had remained quiet, nibbling on his cookie with his gums. "What about you?" she asked, looking up at Jason.
She was changing the subject for him. "I just want some coffee."
Elizabeth frowned right away. "No coffee for you mister." A playful glint shown in her eyes. "Order your number seven." Within moments she had signaled Penny over and rattled off their orders. "I'll have my usual and the mashed taters and peas for Cameron. Jason will have the number seven with no onions."
"Add two glasses of orange juice to order too." muffling out Jason's attempts at ordering a coffee.
"You remember my order?" he asked, surprised.
"Some things you never forget."
The tugging on his sleeves kept Jason from replying. He looked down to see Cameron gazing up at him, his chin and lips covered in crumbs. Pulling the child softly towards him, Jason gently used a tissue to brush away the crumbs. He swiped the shell pattern tissue over Cameron's nose, tickling him, making him giggle. Jason continued to tickle the child under the ribs, until he was laughing and squealing uncontrollably. Elizabeth soon joined in on her son's laughter.
Penny arrived at a table bursting with mirth. The three occupants of the table were all in casual wear; Jason had finally taken his leather jacket off. They all looked comfortable, smiles gracing their faces. They all quieted down as she set down their plates and flashed them an amused smile.
Shortly after their meals arrived, Cameron had his back leaning against Jason's shoulder as his mother tried to feed him mashed taters. He squirmed this way and that way, avoiding the spoon his mother held out for him.
Elizabeth placed the spoon filled with taters down with a huff. "I give up. He's being stubborn."
Jason chuckled at her pout. "Here let me try," he set his sandwich down and reached for the spoon.
Cameron remained leaning back on Jason with his mouth wedged shut. Making sure that the spoon was full of mashed taters and that there was a small amount smashed at the tip. Cameron closely watched as the spoon rose in the air and traveled towards his mouth. Jason brushed the tip of the spoon between the small child's lips and waited. He repeated his ministrations until Cameron's mouth fell open and the spoon slipped right in.
Elizabeth watched in amazement as her son's nose wrinkled and then he swallowed. Cameron licked his lips and looked up at Jason with expecting eyes. Jason smiled down at the 6 month old child and filled up another spoon.
After their plates were cleared and they were bundled up, ready to leave Jason noticed that Elizabeth was staring at him. "What is it?"
"Nothing," she shook her head. "I was trying to remember the last time that Cameron finished a meal without spitting it out at least five times."
"He spits at you?"
Elizabeth nodded her head as she pulled on Cameron's hoodie.
"I would pay to see that," he chuckled.
"Hey," Elizabeth squealed, smacking Jason's arm with her gloves. "Do you have any plans?"
Jason's sandy blonde eyebrows shot up in surprise. "No."
"Would you like to join us ice skating?" she requested.
"Ice skating?" Jason parroted.
"Yes, ice skating." A mischievous glint in her blue orbs. "Come on it will be fun."
Jason stared at her as if she had sprouted an extra two heads. He did not ice skate. The last time he had been any where near an ice rink was when Emily had dragged him to one. He had been on the ice for ten minutes tops before falling on his ass.
"Please," she pouted.
And as usual Jason Morgan fell for the pout. "Fine, but I am not skating."
"Uh huh."
"Seriously," Jason emphasized.
She smiled coyly. "I didn't say anything."
The older man's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Let's go."
Jason held the door wide open for Elizabeth as she pushed the stroller through the door. He had thought his evening would be just like the rest. At the warehouse passing the time or riding his bike avoiding the penthouse until it he felt to drowsy to keep going. Of all things in the world he was going to go ice skating.
A small smile made its way to Jason's face as he stood beside Elizabeth and Cameron outside Kelly's. The feeling of dread at being around children wasn't there anymore instead he felt content being in their company.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
For the last ten minutes Jason and Elizabeth's conversation had been back and forth, yes and no. In his stroller, Cameron's head bounced back and forth from his mother to Jason, an amused grin on his face.
"No," Jason said once again, glaring at the brunette.
"Pretty please," Elizabeth pleaded.
He glared at her through narrowed eyes. "No."
They were at a small ice rink by the Quartermaine mansion. It was a public rink that was empty at this time, which Elizabeth had been very grateful for. She stood on her old white pair of skates with her hands on her hips, gazing up at Jason with imploring eyes. He had rented a pair of black skates that he wore laced up tight, but he refused to step on to the ice.
"Just for a few minutes, please?"
The older man muttered something under his breath and finally agreed. "Fine. Will you be happy if I come on the ice and do nothing?"
"Yes," she clapped her gloved hands in delight.
Cautiously, Jason slide into the rink and stood there. For someone that had never gone ice-skating willingly he had great balance. "Happy?" he asked, dropping his hands to his side.
She circled him with perfect ease. "Very."
"You're good at this."
"Nah, not really," Elizabeth skated further away from him. "When I was younger, one of the only times that I was really happy was when we went ice skating. I took some lessons, but after that I just skated for the fun of it."
Jason watched her in wonder as she skated from corner to corner, taking small jumps here and there.
At Cameron's soft giggle, he turned around and plucked the boy from his stroller. He squealed at the rush of being swooped from his stroller. Together, Cameron and Jason watched Elizabeth twirl around, staying in her spot. She did a toe loop that Cameron clapped his hands in delight upon seeing. They both watched with wide eyes as Elizabeth made her way to the far side of the frozen pond and skated towards them gaining speed. She took off, shifting to the opposite direction in mid-air before landing effortlessness. She had completed the Lutz, a move she had avoided doing for a very long time. She reeled from the rush.
Elizabeth exhaled a relived sigh at the landing and glided towards uneven ice. The blade of her ice skates scraped against the ice and she felt herself lose balance in slow motion. Her eyes closed not wanting to have them open when her face connected with hardened snow. Instead of colliding head first with cold solid ice, she felt something warm and rock-solid. She felt something around her waist as well.
She was scared to open her eyes, but they shot open at the sound of her son's laughter. Looking up Elizabeth found Jason's worried cerulean gazing down at her. Their bodies were molded together, his leather clad arm, keeping her in place. A tingling sensation ran through her as Jason's breathe brushed her cheek.
Regaining air in her lungs, Elizabeth joked, "Looks like we have someone with potential."
His electrifying blue eyes began roaming her body for injuries. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Thanks for the save."
"No problem. What are friends for?" His arm falling from her waist to hold Cameron closer to him.
"It's getting late. We should get going." She was already moving towards the bench their things sat on.
Jason walked beside Elizabeth as she pushed Cameron's stroller. He had offered to push, but she had said she was fine doing it herself. Spending time with them was enjoyable even after Elizabeth had scared him to death when she had tripped and almost fallen. Seeing her drift towards uneven ice, his reflexes had kicked in. He was relieved that he had reached her in time. He had never wanted Elizabeth to get hurt when they were very close and it was no different now. He was thankful she wasn't harmed.
Reaching the stoop of her building, Elizabeth stopped and turned to face Jason. "Did you have fun today?"
"Yeah," he answered, a smile gracing his face.
Elizabeth returned his smile with one of her Mona Lisa ones. "Good, I did too."
Bending down in front of Cameron's stroller, he found the child fast a sleep. "Good night buddy," he murmured.
Straightening to back to his full height, he smirked at Elizabeth. "You better get inside, before he wakes up. Do you need me to walk you in?"
"No that's not need. Thank you though." She pushed the door open with her shoulder and reached for the stroller.
Gently, Jason helped Elizabeth lift the stroller up the stairs.
He walked down the steps once he was sure she was in the door. "Bye, Elizabeth," he called out to her from the bottom of the steps.
"No, it's I'll see you later."