Title: Painting Little Devils

Chapter Two: Plans Go Awry

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or anything General Hospital related. I receive no money for this.

Days after her trip to Vista Point, Elizabeth stood in her cramped kitchen pouring over the ancient cookbook her grandmother had loaned her, silently cursing herself for ever thinking she could attempt to cook. Lucky had slowly gotten better and was currently lounging on the living room couch in jeans and a hooded sweatshirt watching re-runs of 21 JumpStreet, commenting on how the police procedures were all wrong.

"It's a TV show, Lucky," Elizabeth called out to him after he claimed Officer Hanson had to be the worst cop ever. "Plus it's not like people tuned in to watch it for believability. It was all about Johnny Depp." But she knew Lucky was not listening so she turned back to the recipe for New England Pot Roast and frowned at the directions. "I should just stick to the basics: fudge, brownies and hot chocolate," she murmured under her breath. She had placed the meat in a deep pan and was trying to decide what to she should do next when there was a frantic knocking at the door.

"I got it," Lucky called out and Elizabeth listened as he trod across their tiny apartment to open the door. "Oh hey, Em," he said in a jovial fashion.

Disgusted with her lack of progress, Elizabeth pushed the cookbook aside on the counter and walked into the living room to meet a somber looking Emily. Lucky had ushered their friend to the couch and sat beside her, looking at her with concern. "Em," Elizabeth said as she sat on the other side of Emily. "What's wrong?"

"Oh everything!" Emily cried dramatically. "I'm so sorry about just coming over. I usually go to Jason with stuff like this but he's the last person I can talk to right now." All it took was a little prodding from Lucky to get Emily going as she launched into a long drawn out story about how she felt torn over her feelings for Sonny even though she knew her brother did not approve.

"Jason thinks you're making a mistake?" Lucky demanded in an overly modulated voice and Elizabeth silently thanked Heaven that Cameron was staying at her grandmother's for the evening. "Jason's judgement is usually something I don't trust but for once I agree with him. Sonny's far too dangerous."

Emily turned hurt brown eyes to Elizabeth. "Do you think so too?"

Elizabeth sighed and opened to mouth to respond but Lucky cut her off. "Of course she does. She used to be friends with him but realized he was such a danger to everyone who surrounded him that she backed off." Elizabeth frowned at her husband's words. She thought no such thing. Sonny was someone she deeply admired and respected even if his business dealings were...questionable at best. There had been a point in time, long ago, when Sonny had been a valued and trusted friend of hers. Time, however had taken its toll on their friendship and now they rarely spoke but she harbored no ill will toward her old friend. She had gotten over any feelings of resentment she felt toward Sonny or Jason for excluding her from certain dealings. Time had a way of healing those wounds.

Lucky continued before Elizabeth could refute his words: "Trust us, you should get away while you still can. He will only hurt you," Lucky said in a stern voice as he waved his hand in the air for emphasis. "Look at the list of women he already has hurt, Em. It's got to be a mile long at least."

Emily instantly jumped to defend Sonny, causing Lucky to nearly shout how dangerous the mobster was once again, even going so far to mention the deaths of several of the women he had been involved with. "Elizabeth and I think he's too dangerous. We know what kind of a man Sonny is..." Lucky did not say but it was implied what kind of a man Jason was as well. But Lucky knew better than to besmirch Jason's character to his loyal little sister.

Elizabeth stared off to the side, contemplating her part in this conversation. It irked her that Lucky spoke for her when he didn't even know he feelings on the subject and assumed that she would agree with his opinions.

Slowly she stood, noting that neither Emily nor Lucky turned to notice when she did. She walked into the kitchen, debated for a moment about what she should do about the dinner then decided to put the roast into a zippered plastic storage bag in the refrigerator. After she washed her hands and cleaned up the pots and utensils she had planned to use, she closed her Gram's cookbook and with it under one arm, she went into the living room once more to get her coat.

Lucky was lecturing Emily as if she were a misbehaving child and Emily listened, pouting slightly and emphatically shaking her head and blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay. Neither noticed as Elizabeth pulled on her thick burgundy coat and draped her black scarf about her neck. She walked to the door, grabbed her purse from the small wooden table next to the door and turned to face her husband and her best friend. "I'm going to pick up Cam. I'll be back in a while."

Both faces that turned to look her way were full of surprise. "Um, sure," Lucky said, looking confused. "How long will you be?"

Elizabeth gave a noncommittal shrug. "I don't know. I think I might stay a bit and chat with Gram."

Her husband frowned and gave a quick glance over his shoulder at the abandoned kitchen. "You're not cooking then?" At his wife's curt no, he stood and reached for his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. "Can you run by Kelly's and get us something to eat?" He handed her a twenty dollar bill. "You know what I like and what Em likes too."

Elizabeth glanced down at her friend's tear-streaked face and Emily nodded, as if to give her approval of the plan. "Fine." Elizabeth grabbed the money from her husband's outstretched hand and left, slamming the door behind her. It gave her little satisfaction. In fact, it made her feel like a spoiled brat who didn't get what she wanted. It's not like they really meant to exclude her, right? Lucky didn't mean to try to speak for her, he just –

She pushed the thought aside. What had happened to her? When had she become someone she didn't even recognize anymore? There had been a time when she would have interrupted Lucky, telling him exactly what she thought and felt. The old Elizabeth wouldn't have stood for Lucky doing the things that he had been doing lately.

As she climbed into the driver's seat of her sedan, she thought of all her actions in the past few weeks. She had been behaving like a secretive teenager, running off to paint every chance she got without telling Lucky about it. Did it really matter if he found out? She thought of her husband and how his behavior lately had changed. If she told him about the painting, he would just tell her she was wasting her time. They needed money. She knew he would say that she needed to focus on working and paying the bills not wasting the hard earned cash on such frivolous things like painting.

She had taken to hiding her supplies at her grandmother's house as well as all her current works. Audrey had turned Elizabeth's old bedroom into a home office but Elizabeth was slowly turning it into a makeshift art gallery. Elizabeth had even found some older paintings up in the attic of her grandmother's home and had pulled them out and arranged them in the bedroom on all the easels she could find. Others rested on the carpet, leaning against the wall for support. Most were landscapes and the occasional still life. And then there was the painting she did for Jason, The Wind. She never got around to giving it to him, or even finishing it. Part of her did not ever want to part with it.

It had been on one of her sojourns to the dusty attic that she had come across an old box of her sketches for an art class she had taken years before. What she had found right on top of the stack of papers was a pencil drawing that she had not seen in years. She remembered the assignment clearly; the class had been commissioned to each draw a figure in motion and Elizabeth had done just that. She had chosen to draw Jason Morgan shooting a game of pool. She had captured him leaning over the billiard table, ready to take a shot. She had almost forgotten about that sketch, how hard she had labored to get the exact angle of his cheekbone and the right proportions for his elegant hands.

It had been on impulse for her to take the box of sketches down from the attic to the office. She had pulled the top drawing out of the box with the penciled words 'Jason in Motion' at the bottom and tacked it up on the magnetic board Gram had put in the room above her computer desk.

Elizabeth had stared at the drawing and remembered the day she had sketched Jason at Jake's. He had shown her how to play pool by standing right behind her, leaning over her helping her line up the shot. She had never been more aware of another person in her life. It felt as if Jason were a part of her as they moved as one. Then Lucky had arrived and yelled and demanded that she leave. She had refused, saying he had no right to tell her what to do.

Elizabeth wondered what had happened to that girl, the one who stood up for herself, the one who called Lucky on his behavior when he acted like an ass. Elizabeth wanted more than anything to find that girl again. Maybe she would be able to figure out what to do.

But as she pulled to a stop in front of her grandmother's home, Elizabeth was pondering just that. Had she changed that much after marrying Lucky? Had she become some sort of Stepford wife, doing his bidding without question? She knocked at the front door briefly and tried the knob, turning it and letting herself in. "Gram?" She called out into the vast house. "Gram, it's me."

Audrey Hardy walked out of the living room into the entry way and smiled at her granddaughter. "Oh, hello dear. I wasn't expecting you until later." She walked to Elizabeth and helped her out of her coat and scarf.

"Change of plans," Elizabeth murmured, trying to not sound as bitter as she felt. Audrey eyed her suspiciously but blessedly said nothing. "Where's Cam?" she asked the older woman.

Audrey gestured towards the room she had emerged from. "He's playing in the living room. LuLu came over for a while and played a few games with him. She's such a sweet girl."

Elizabeth smiled at the mention of her sister-in-law. "Well, I'm going to go say hi and then..." she cast a surreptitious glance at her grandmother, "then I was hoping I could go up and paint a bit?"

Audrey, who was glad to have more time with her great-grandson and her granddaughter, smiled broadly. "I told you that you could come here and paint as often as you wished. I love having you two here," she hugged her granddaughter but pulled away and quickly added, "Are you staying for dinner then?" Elizabeth nodded and asked if that would be all right. "Of course it is. Will...Lucky be joining us?"

Elizabeth turned away and set her purse on the hall table, avoiding the shrewd eyes of her Gram. "Um, no. He's – he's still resting and he is actually...probably still lecturing Emily as we speak."

"Lecturing Emily? Why on earth would – ?"

"It's a long story, Gram," she told the older woman, casting a glance at the entrance of the living room and seeing Cameron sitting on the rug surrounded by a sea of toys. "I'll tell you about it at dinner but let me go say hi to Cam first, okay?" She flashed a warm smiled at Audrey and was rewarded with an equally loving smile from the older woman. And together they went into the living room to see Elizabeth's son.

Cam gave a delighted laugh at seeing his mother then when the novelty of seeing her wore off, he turned back to his pile plastic barn animals but not before he picked up his stuffed bright blue Cookie Monster and shoved the monster's arm into his mouth with a delighted giggle.

Jason had not been able to stop thinking about Elizabeth since the day he had thought he had passed her on the road to Vista Point.

He had gone up to the Point and had looked out at the city, wondering if he had missed Elizabeth by mere minutes. Once there, he had sighed and had taken deep breaths, trying to regain that sense of calm. There was just something about that place that made him feel at peace. Sure, it was crawling with memories – good and bad but Jason believed that each experience had molded him into the man he was today and he liked to think that his time with Elizabeth had made him a better person. Up at the Point, he had loved to hear her talk about her life and all the places she wanted to go, the things she wanted to accomplish. She had so many dreams. He wondered if she ever got to fulfill any of them since they stopped their talks.

The only bad thing was that the last time he had seen Elizabeth at Vista Point things had been strained at best. He had been with his ex Courtney and she had been with Lucky. They had not even spoken to each other. Courtney had prattled on nervously, trying to fill the awkward silence while Elizabeth, still angry with him for not sharing with her, had avoided his gaze and looked pained at the whole scenario.

But that had been the low point and he was not the type to live in the past. What was done was done and obsessing about 'what ifs' always seemed a pointless pastime. He was just grateful that his relationship with Elizabeth had repaired enough for them to become friends again, even if they were more casual friends than anything else. It was a start.

Jason had taken the cliff road back to Port Charles and his responsibilities after his trip to Vista Point. Sam had been waiting for him and had thrown herself into his arms, declaring how happy she was he came back so soon. He patted her back and wondered when she had gotten so damned clingy, or maybe she had always been that way and he had never noticed or it had never bothered him before.

In the days following his trip to Vista Point, he had gone to the warehouse, taken care of some threatening people for Sonny, been the voice of reason for Carly and her latest scheme, played catch with Michael, played his usual Thursday night poker game with Benny and the guys, and spent time with Sam. It was the same old thing.

Sam liked to be held and reassured that he did indeed love her. It had been endearing at first. She was so fragile emotionally. He had been glad to tell her how much he loved her but lately it had become irritating and her cloying was driving him insane. He spent more and more time handling the paperwork at the warehouse. Benny would look on disapprovingly but said nothing more about Jason taking time off. The accountant knew the younger man was running away from something or someone and had no intention of meddling any more than he already had.

Jason sat behind the desk in his office at the warehouse and heaved a deep sigh. He had finished the last of the paperwork for the day and was now free to go home.

Home.

Hell, he thought. He had promised Sam he would spend the evening with her. She had something planned, but he did not know what. Probably some dinner then who knew what. She kept trying to get him to take scented bubble baths with her. He did not do bubble baths – scented or otherwise.

Deciding to call it a day, he headed out to his motorcycle in the parking lot outside the warehouse. He straddled the machine, started and revved the engine, taking off back to the Harborview Towers, taking his time in doing so.

When he unlocked and opened the door to the apartment, he saw Sam waiting on the couch, dressed in a tight black dress with her midnight hair done up elaborately for the evening. "Jason," she smiled and strode across the room to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you're back. Are you ready for what I have planned?"

Jason smiled down at her. "Yes." He paused, gently extracting her arms from around his neck. "What are we doing tonight?" Slowly he began shrugging out of his leather jacket when his cell phone rang before Sam could respond to his question.

"Don't answer it," Sam begged. But Jason shot her a you-know-I can't look and dug the phone out of his jacket pocket. He glanced at the caller ID for a nanosecond before he opened the phone and held it up to his ear. "Sonny?"

"Jason, we have a situation," Sonny said in strained tones

Jason frowned and shifted his weight a bit. Sam was eyeing him warily, her mouth drawn into a firm line. "What do you need me to do?" he asked his boss.

Sonny sighed and continued in a low, raw sounding voice. "That son of a bitch Rodriguez has made a move onto my territory, breaking the truce we made last year. I need to send a message to him about keeping his word."

Jason turned his back on Sam, facing the front door instead of her sour looking expression. "Tell me."

"I need you to shake things up."

At Sonny's words, Jason closed his eyes and sighed. "Do you want me to – ?"

"Damn it Jason!" Sonny yelled into the phone, losing his temper. "This bastard has gone too far. He broke his word and has brazenly moved into my holdings. He has to be stopped."

"Do you want me to handle this now?" Jason could just see Sam's face if Sonny said yes. She would not be a happy girl.

"I know you had plans with Sam – "

"She'll understand," Jason interrupted, not quite believing his own words. "I'll call you when it's done."

"Thanks Jason." Then Sonny hung up.

Jason cursed under his breath as he hit the end button on his cell phone. Slowly, he turned to face his fiancee, knowing that she would not be happy with the news. One look at her frowning face and he knew he was wrong.

Sam wasn't just unhappy, she was completely livid

--Reviews and thoughts are more than welcome. :)

A/N: I hate Sam. A lot. I find it hard to write her without letting that hatred seep through. She's just the most awful, boring character ever created so I guess that 'blah' factor shows in my depiction of her. Okay sorry, I guess I just needed to vent.