Author's Note: Okay, soI took a little bit of a hiatus from writing... okay, it was over a month, and I'm really sorry about that, but trust me, it was needed! I'm back, here's another chapter, hopefully you enjoy it, and I promsie to be quicker with the updating from now on!

When Jason awoke the next morning it was to an empty bed. He sat up, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he did so, and searched the room for Courtney. Surely she wasn't so stupid as to try and leave in the middle of the night, was she? Jason wasn't so sure. Seeing her clothes still folded on the chair where she had left them the night before, he decided she was most likely somewhere in the house, but where?

Courtney watched Jason through the crack in the door that separated the bedroom from it's adjoining bathroom. She saw as his eyes swept across the room, looking for her and she couldn't help but smile over the fact that he clearly thought she had taken off while he was asleep. She leaned her head against the doorframe as she watched his eyes fall shut again. She smiled for a second before catching herself. She pushed herself from the doorway and gave herself one last look in the mirror. Taking a deep breath she pushed the door all the way open and walked back into the bedroom.

"Good morning!" Her voice jarred him awake again, his eyes opening at the sound and falling on his new wife. His freshly showered, towel-clad, new wife.

"Morning," he said with a nod. "You're up bright and early."

She smiled brightly at him, squeezing the water from the ends of her hair as she did so. "I've got class early this afternoon and I thought I'd get some studying done beforehand. Besides." She dropped her hands from her hair and sat on the foot of the bed, facing him. He tried not to look as her towel shifted slightly. "I guess I have to go see Carly and my dad today. You know, let them know we're married now." She controlled the tone of her voice, mixing the right amount of bitterness with resignation.

"And AJ?" Jason stared at her curiously. Maybe she was just naturally a morning person, but Courtney was unusually cheerful. At least, she had been until the mention of their marriage.

A brief shadow flickered over her face at the mention of her boyfriend. "I haven't decided what I'm going to tell AJ just yet," she admitted carefully. "I can lie to my dad, I can lie to Carly, but he--he knows me better than that."

Jason nodded. "If you want, I can be there when you do tell him." He watched as she began to comb her hair with her fingers.

Courtney's laugh was sharp. "I think you should be anywhere but with me when I tell AJ I'm married to you, his half brother."

"Speaking of." Jason threw the covers back and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "You're a lot happier this morning than I expected you to be."

"I think happy is a little premature," she said, looking down at her feet. She look up again at him quickly. "Don't misunderstand," she began. "I did a lot of thinking before I fell asleep last night, and believe me, I'm more grateful to you than you'll ever know, but… this is all still a lot to deal with, to say the least." She waited for him to nod before going on. "And, I know you're putting yourself on the line, and that this isn't exactly going to be smooth sailing for you either, so I'm going to do what I can to make it a little easier on both of us." The lie fell effortlessly from her lips as she had rehearsed it all through her shower.

Jason offered her a half-smile as he stood up and walked around to where she was. "It'll take some time," he agreed. "But I think with that attitude we'll be off to the right start." His eyes fixated on an errant bead of water that clung to her collarbone and he swallowed.

Courtney watched him as he stood in front of her and fought the urge to roll her eyes as he averted his eyes from her. Carly was right, she decided as she pulled the towel a little tighter around her and moved from the bed to grab her clothes from last night off of the chair. Guys really are the most predictable creatures in the world. She turned around again and offered him a small smile.

"I'm just going to go get dressed," she said, motioning to the clothes in her hand. "But um, I will need to get some of my things from the apartment today."

Jason nodded. "Whenever you're ready, we'll go." He cleared his throat. "Did you want me to bring you up some breakfast? I don't know if you want to face the family yet or not."

She shrugged. "I can't hide from them forever," she pointed out. "I'll be fine, but thanks for the offer." She smiled once more and went back into the bathroom to get dressed. The door closed with a defined click and she fell into it, pressing her head hard against the cold wood. She took a few deep breaths and then dressed and dried her hair, preparing to face whoever would be waiting for her downstairs.

Breakfast, it turned out, consisted of Courtney, Faith, and Sonny, with Adella nowhere to be found and Jason promising to be down in five minutes. He had suggested she wait for him before heading downstairs but she had declined, saying she needed to prove to them that she wasn't going anywhere.

So now they sat, in uncomfortable silence, with Sonny reading a newspaper and Faith staring at Courtney as she drank her coffee. Finally, Courtney sat her own coffee cup down and met Faith's eyes with her own. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

Faith pounced. "How did you do it?" she asked eagerly, She leaned her elbows on the table, her chin resting in her hands.

"Do what?"

"Bobby," Faith clarified. "Did you shoot him? Stab him?" Her eyes lit up. "Stab him and then shoot him to make sure the job was done?"

"Faith," Sonny sighed but didn't raise his eyes from the paper.

"What?" She rolled her eyes at her husband before turning back to Courtney. "You're part of the family now, so I can tell you this, we've all thought about killing Bobby before. Hell, Adella probably had some ideas on how to do it." She leaned back and shook her head. "I still can't get over it, out of all of the people in this world who wanted Bobby dead, Little Miss Muffet gets the job done." She raised her coffee mug in appreciation. "You may just make it in this family after all, little girl."

"And we all know that having Faith's approval is the most important thing." Courtney looked up to see Jason standing in the doorway of the dining room, a slight smirk on his face. He walked over to Courtney and dropped a kiss on her cheek before sitting next to her. He poured his coffee and then faced Faith again. "Faith, that's the last time you mention Bobby to Courtney."

With a roll of her eyes, Faith sighed. "It must be nice to have such a protective husband." Her eyes were on Courtney but the comment was directed to Sonny. "You'll have to tell me what you did to get that."

"It's easy Faith," Sonny said, still not looking up from his paper. "Jason loves his wife." The sarcasm was thick and unapologetic and Courtney cringed at the words.

"Yes well, love me or hate me, I'm not going anywhere." Faith smiled cheerfully and set her cup down and pushed her chair back. "As pleasant as this is, and as much as I'd love to see breakfast with Adella, I need to start getting ready for my day. I'm meeting with Lorenzo Alcazar for lunch." She turned back to Courtney. "He's another mobster, in case you weren't familiar with the Alcazar family. Tall, dark, dangerous…you know, like my husband. Only dangerous." She walked around to where Sonny was sitting and placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving scarlet traces of lipstick. "Have a great day Darling, I sure will." She straightened up and left the dining room with one last wave at the table.

"She's…" Courtney's voice trailed off as she looked over at Jason hesitantly.

Jason shook his head. "She's Faith, she may or may not be psychotic, but she's good to have in the family. Keeps things interesting in any case."

"I can see that."

"Anyway, I spoke with Johnny and he's ready to take you to your place to grab whatever things you need today," Jason said as he set his cup down. "I thought if it was okay with you, you could just take enough to get you through the next few days and then this weekend we'd go get everything else?"

Courtney nodded. "That's fine, I just really need my clothes and my things for school." She looked at her watch. "Do you think he'd be ready to go now? Like I said, I have some reading to do before my next class and I know Carly won't be at the apartment, so I won't have to talk to her just yet."

"Sure," Jason said easily. "I'll make the call right now. He'll be here in fifteen minutes to drive you over."

"Thanks, I'm just going to go upstairs and finish getting ready then." She rose from the table and was surprised when Jason's hand fell on her wrist. She looked at him questioningly and his eyes darted towards Sonny and he smiled slightly. Realizing what he wanted, she bent down and pressed her lips against his quickly. She was surprised when his hand found the back of her head and engaged her in the kiss for longer than she intended. He let go of her and winked, telling her that he would come get her when Johnny was there.

As she made her way upstairs to the bedroom Courtney's mind raced again. She felt dizzy and weak and sick and it was all because of that kiss, only not in a good way.

She was married to this man. The ring on her finger was a constant reminder of that. She was married to Jason Morgan, and if he had his way, it was forever. That's why her plan needed to work. She couldn't spend the rest of her life in this sham of a marriage, subjecting herself to empty kisses whenever he felt necessary.

"Courtney."

She stopped and turned towards the voice. Adella was calling to her from the small office on her left. Cautiously she stepped through the doorway.

Adella smiled tightly. "I'm not going to harm you child, relax." She rose from the desk and gestured for Courtney to come deeper into the room. "Did you sleep well last night?"

It was odd to be making small talk with the woman but Courtney nodded. "I did, thank you."

"Good, this is your home now, you should be comfortable here." There was still a slight bitterness in Adella's voice, but also a hint of resignation. "I'm not going to mince words here, I'm not happy about this current situation, but if this is what Jason wants, then I have to accept it." She paused and smiled fondly. "Jason is very dear to me, I love him like he's my own, sometimes I love him more than my own children." She sighed. "He's a grown man, I know this, and while he may not have my blood running through his veins, you should know that I would go to the ends of this earth to protect him."

"He is a wonderful man," Courtney interjected but Adella waved her hand dismissively.

"Your declarations of love and admiration, sweet as they may be, are unnecessary with me, as you could tell me nothing about him that I don't already know, and frankly, after only this short time, I wonder how you could. But," Adella sighed deeply. "What's done is done, I can't pretend you aren't married to Jason." She eyed the ring on Courtney's hand. "Of course, a proper wedding will be in order, we should move on that quickly. The families will all be in town next month, we should try and have it then, if that's to your liking." She paused but went on without Courtney's approval. "But we'll discuss that another time, back to the topic on hand." Adella perched herself on the edge of her desk and stared at Courtney intently.

"As I said, Jason is family, and I protect my family. I'm sure you understand, don't you? I mean, family is important to you as well, isn't it?"

"It is," Courtney agreed.

Adella's face lit up. "It pleases me to hear you say that. Your father…Mike is it? How is that diner he runs, business is good for him?" She didn't wait for Courtney to answer. "I hope it is, what with all of the trouble he's gotten himself into lately. Oh dear, I see you're surprised I know about that?" She smiled slightly. "It would be a shame if his gambling debts weren't paid off in a timely manner, wouldn't it be? I hope for his sake, and for yours, that he stays away from those card tables."

Courtney's throat went dry at the mention of her father. "How did you--"

"And your mother, Janine," Adella continued on. "Quite a piece of work that woman is, isn't she? Running the same tables that landed your father in the mess he is? I imagine that makes for a strained relationship between the two. Atlantic City is beautiful though, isn't it? It's hard to believe it can be such a violent and dangerous place, I do hope your mother is well-guarded and safe at that hotel she works at, it would be tragic if something was to happen to her." Adella's eyes landed hard on Courtney's. "Now, I understand that you're quite naïve to my world, but you do understand what I'm saying, don't you dear? I've spelled it out quite clearly for you, haven't I?"

"Crystal," Courtney whispered.

"Wonderful!" Again, Adella didn't wait for her to finish her thoughts before moving on. "And I sincerely doubt I need to even get into what could happen to your friend Carly, or your…why, I guess he's your ex-boyfriend now, isn't he? Now, I know he's Jason's brother, and well, I can't even imagine how this little bit of news is going to rock the Quartermaine family, It should be interesting indeed!" She laughed slightly. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I just wanted us to be on the same page, Courtney. If anything happens to Jason, I will hold you personally responsible, but I will make it my duty to make sure that you witness each and every person you care about pay for your mistakes."

"Hey, there you are." The tension was broken as Jason appeared in the doorway. "I've been looking all over for you, are you ready to go?" His eyes darted between the two of them. "Okay, what's going on in here?"

"Nothing," Courtney said quickly, moving to stand next to him and sliding her hand into his. She looked back at Adella and smiled. "Adella just called me in here to tell me she wants to start plans for our wedding as soon as possible, isn't that right?"

"She's right," Adella conceded, not breaking her smile. "What do you think Jason? I was thinking the end of next month would be the perfect time."

"I'll go along with whatever Courtney wants," Jason said, releasing her hand to slide his arm around her waist. "But we'll have to discuss this later. Courtney, Johnny's ready to take you into town." He turned back to Adella. "I also have some things to take care of, but I'll be back in a few hours and we really should decide what to do about the Alcazar situation before dinner tonight. Sonny will be totally useless in the matter."

"It's nothing new," Adella said with a wave of her hand. "Very well, I'll clear my schedule for the afternoon and will get things in order for us to go over." She smiled at Courtney. "Think about everything I said Courtney, we'll also discuss them later."

"Of course," she answered politely before allowing Jason to guide her out of the room. She didn't object as Jason pulled her into his--their-- bedroom and shut the door.

"What was that really about?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. "When I walked in there you were white as a sheet and there's a look in your eyes that tells me you weren't discussing flowers and music."

"I can't do this!" She exclaimed the second he was done talking. "Jason, Adella is crazy. Faith is psycho. Sonny doesn't talk! The entire family needs to be put into Shadybrook for observation. It's only my first morning here and I can already see this! "

"What happened?" Jason asked again.

"What happened? What happened?" Courtney laughed as she paced the short length of the room. "Adella just threatened not only the lives of my family but the lives of everyone I know if I betray you. And she was smiling as she did it!"

"Good thing you don't have any plans to betray me then," Jason said mildly.

"Jason!"

"I'm kidding," he said, raising his hands in the air. "I'm sorry. Adella shouldn't speak to you like that, and I'll talk to her again, but Courtney, I can't say she's not serious in what she says. She means every word of it."

"That's comforting," Courtney said sarcastically. She stopped pacing and turned to look at him. "How am I supposed to handle this? What am I supposed to say? I'm not going to live a life where someone is constantly threatening me."

"Courtney, it's going to be okay. Adella said her piece, she won't bring it up again unless she's given reason to. As long as you don't give her that reason to, you'll never hear that from her again. I'll see to it." He moved to open the door again. "It really is okay Courtney." His voice dropped a little and she was reminded of the time she ran into him on the docks. "As long as you're with me, everyone you know is safe."

"Yeah, no pressure there," Courtney muttered to herself as she grabbed her purse and followed Jason out into the hallway and down to the waiting car.