Note: Happy birthday Jo! I worked really hard to get this up for you (Ooh! Dirty!) – aren't you proud? I'm just sorry that our favorite guy is evil in this one. Seriously, what was I thinking! Hope you have a fabulous day, love-ah!

Chapter Seventeen

Her midnight blue eyes arrested his the instant Jason pushed open the door of her room, but Elizabeth's glare held no anger.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

A smirk made his lips twitch when he saw what she was gesturing to. On the bed was a little picnic basket tied with a blue silk ribbon, and its contents lay on the pale white sheets. A burger, French fries, a few bottles of Sprite, a little plate of brownies, an apple turnover, and a daffodil.

"Did you see a dark-haired Irish guard lurking around here earlier?"

Elizabeth's slender brows furrowed as she tried to remember. "I think so."

Jason nodded affirmatively as he slid into the chair he usually occupied. "Johnny O'Brien, one of the guards I told you about. It looks like his work."

To his surprise, she was grinning down at the food. She even lifted the little daffodil and spun it between her fingers, studying the petals with a soft smile that took the tension right out of her delicate features. "That's nice of him. Were we really good friends or something?"

The enforcer lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "You were always nice to him, but then again, you were nice to all the guards you knew. Francis was your favorite, I think."

"Francis…" Her voice trailed off as she stroked one yellow petal. "Have I seen him yet?"

Jason shook his head. "He hasn't come in yet, but he's almost always pacing in the hall outside the door."

She nodded and set the flower down. "Next time you see him…can you tell him to come on in? Johnny, too."

That surprised him. The brunette was in better spirits today than she had been all week – maybe Johnny was on to something with his fast-food-in-a-basket idea. But then again, Elizabeth had made some headway. She didn't give in to as many tantrums and she seemed to be taking the first steps to accepting her predicament and all it entailed. She had sat through many long conversations with Alan and Monica – she always told him to leave and he suspected that she thought it might be hard for him to hear the medical outlook since he had been through it all before – and knew what her chances for a full recovery were: slim. Despite her wariness of the two doctors, Elizabeth had to admit that they had been supportive and a big help. It wasn't until their third conference together that she discovered just how close she had been to them, and the Drs. Quartermaine rose in her respect for not pushing memories of her old life on her.

She had also accepted brief visits from her former friends – very brief. Nikolas had stopped by a couple times and Elizabeth found him more tolerable than his younger brother, whom she staunchly refused to admit entry to her room. Johnny, Max and Francis were only too happy to comply. A dark-haired man by the name of Zander Smith also dropped in to see her, and she found him to be the easiest to get along with – besides Jason – because they never talked of anything heavy and serious. It was most likely because they didn't seem to have as profound a connection or friendship as she and Nikolas – and even that twip Lucky – supposedly did. Zander didn't expect anything from her. He merely dropped by with a cocky grin and a lame joke and talked to her about inconsequential things. And she appreciated it.

Nikolas, on the other hand, had been a fountain of knowledge. Though she hadn't asked him to, he had methodically gone through a long list of people she allegedly knew, even drawing out little diagrams when she asked him to slow down because her head was spinning. It turned out that he was the half-brother of Lucky Spencer and the stepson of Luke Spencer, and that his father had been Luke's mortal enemy and the son of the woman that had kidnapped his half-brother several years ago. Elizabeth had shaken her head as all the connections and details rattled around in her head, musing that she sure knew how to pick the winners.

Jason had stood – or sat, rather – by during the whole ordeal and when he sensed that the information session was wearing her out, he had calmly asked Nikolas to leave. The young man had done so with promises of stopping by later, and Elizabeth had collapsed onto the bed, exhausted, as soon as he was out the door. Jason had thought that she had fallen asleep after a little while, and had been surprised when she began to quietly ask him questions about her connections to various people in the town.

She learned about Emily Quartermaine, his sister, who was also in the hospital. The girl was supposed to be her best friend and hadn't even stopped by to see her. Sensing her irritation, Jason had explained that Emily was fighting breast cancer and was doing well, but was still somewhat scared to come see her.

He told her about the Quartermaines, who ran the hospital, and the Cassidines, who thought they ran the world. The Spencers were next on the list and Elizabeth learned that Luke's wife, Laura, was hospitalized in a mental institution. Her youngest son seemed poised to follow in her footsteps, she had remarked to an amused Jason.

He had told her everything she wanted to know until she was too tired to listen, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Jason had stayed with her while she slept. He was there when she woke up and after poking at her hospital food with thinly veiled disgust, the conversation turned more toward him. She knew that he didn't wear suits to work or punch a timecard daily, and she didn't entirely believe that he just operated a coffee warehouse. Caving when he reflected that there was no way to hide it from her, Jason had given her the broad details of his employ, nothing that she hadn't already suspected thanks to a previous glimpse of the Glock he kept in his waistband.

Elizabeth still hadn't asked him for the details of his accident, and she refused to take him up on the offer to read to her from the book he brought with him every time he entered the room. There was something about Jason Morgan that told her she could trust him, but there was also something inside her that forced her to keep some sort of distance. Letting people come close right now just wasn't an option.

He was content for the time being to simply sit silently and study the wall as she sat propped back in bed. Being confined in the small room had long ago started driving her crazy, but there were remedies for that problem. The one that she found suited her best was something akin to meditation. She didn't know how it started; all she knew was that one day while Jason was sitting nearby, she had tuned into this one spot on the wall directly opposite her bed and her mind had just taken off. She heard and sensed everything around her – the beep of the monitors, Jason's steady and even breathing, the squeak of a nurse's sneakers down the hallway – but it was like she was closed off from all of it, sitting deep within this tomb of a body as the world continued to pass her by. Nothing touched her, nothing affected her, and she was safe. And alone. And it was a good feeling.

She was about to try that again when there was a soft knock at the door. Jason started, surprised until he remembered that whoever was knocking had been granted clearance from either Johnny, Max or Francis. Elizabeth watched the door open slowly and then two dark-haired people poked their heads inside.

She easily recognized one as Prince Nikolas Cassidine – however ridiculous she felt that title was – but the other one, belonging to a little girl in pink overalls, was unfamiliar. Her fingers still toyed with the daffodil Johnny sent her and Elizabeth tipped her head once, motioning for him to enter.

"Hello there," Nikolas smiled, hoping his sister wouldn't notice the somewhat formal tone he had unconsciously adopted while speaking to Elizabeth. He didn't know if she would appreciate the more familiar tone he was so used to using around her, so he tried to treat her like an acquaintance he had just met, and it seemed to be sitting just fine with her. Lulu, however, wasn't used to it just yet and he had no way of knowing how this encounter would turn out. But when his little sister had worked up the courage to ask him to take her to see Lizabeth, he just couldn't refuse her.

"Elizabeth, I want you to meet someone. This is my little sister, Lesley Lu Spencer. We call her Lulu for short."

An empty bottle of whiskey twinkled under a thin ray of sunlight that filtered in through the drawn curtains of the pool house. The reflection hit him directly in the eye and AJ groaned, rolling over on the carpet and half-heartedly groping around for a cushion he knew had been under his head a while ago.

He didn't know how long he had been passed out, and he figured it was either early morning or late afternoon judging by the angle of the sun. The past two weeks had been dizzying and he had once again fallen into the bottle. So much for the umpteenth stint at rehab.

Resolving to tell Jason definitely hadn't proved as easy as he had hoped. Things had spiraled out of control so fast and now that he looked back on it, he wasn't even sure how he had fallen into this abysmal situation in the first place. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong fucking everything.

It was as if time had seen fit to bring him back to exactly seven years ago; the feelings were all the same. The guilt, the remorse, the anger were all there, greeting him as old friends.

Time was running out; the longer he waited, the worse the outcome would likely be.

He had to tell Jason.

Courtney curled her knees into her chest, watching Carly as her sister-in-law returned from the kitchen with two bowls of cookie dough ice cream. Though Sonny often pitched a fit about her frozen pizzas and dinners-in-a-box, the mob boss begrudgingly allowed her ice cream and didn't make a big deal out of it. Courtney took the bowl slowly and just stared at it for a long moment before taking up the spoon.

Carly watched her curiously as she settled down onto the green couch. "What's wrong?"

The younger blonde lifted one shoulder wearily in reply. "Nothing. I'm just tired, I guess. I didn't sleep too well last night."

"Are you sick?" Carly asked. "Sometimes, when I push myself a bit too far, I make myself sick. You haven't been overdoing it lately, have you?"

Courtney shook her head. "No, it's just…I don't sleep well without Jason."

Her sister-in-law nodded sagely, licking a smear of ice cream from the corner of her mouth. "You miss him."

The young woman nodded miserably. "He's been spending all his time at the hospital, and when he's not there he's at the warehouse, and I just…"

"Miss him," Carly repeated. "Yeah, I know. I miss Sonny, too, when he sends us to the island. But it won't be for too long, sweetie, I don't think."

Courtney was silent for a long moment before her brows furrowed. "Isn't this…weird?"

The metallic clink of a spoon against the bowl met her ears as Carly set it on the coffee table. "What do you mean?"

"This is going to sound much worse than it's supposed to," Courtney warned, shifting closer to her sister-in-law. "But since when did Elizabeth become so important to him? They haven't spoken for months."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Even when she's unconscious, the little waif still manages to get her claws in him." Shrugging, she pulled a pillow into her lap and hugged it to her chest. "Jason's got a hero complex, and for some ridiculous reason, he blames himself whenever anyone around him gets hurt. The two of them used to be…whatever they were; trust me, he's only there out of pity and when she gets out of the hospital, we can all return to our normal lives."

"Here's hoping," Courtney murmured, setting her half-empty bowl on the counter. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"You know when you…when you were with Jason and he got shot?"

The question took her back to one of the lower points in her life and Carly nodded uneasily. "Yeah."

"Well, did you ever think that maybe…Elizabeth stole him from you?"

The blonde snorted. "Think? I know she did. The muffin always had her eye on him and she did whatever she could do to keep me away from him. Ever since then, she's had him under her control. I thought he finally wised up when he broke it off with her…" She trailed off and shook her head. "Listen, don't worry about Elizabeth, okay? She doesn't even remember anything about Jason or anyone else for that matter. And hey – Jason loves you. He loves you," she emphasized, squeezing the younger woman's hand. "There's nothing that's going to keep him from marrying you and making a family with you – especially not some muffin-faced waif that can't even remember her own name."

Tears pricked at Courtney's eyes at the mention of a family – a family she wouldn't be able to give Jason thanks to what had happened aboard Alcazar's yacht. She cleared her throat and tried to come up with something to say – anything – before the memories took over. But she failed. The voices of his men as they yelled for her. The way the slick metal railing felt in her hands. The frigid waves as they engulfed her body, cutting straight through to the bone.

Courtney bowed her head, trying to blink away the tears that had rapidly pooled in her eyes, and cleared her throat once more. Her heart was pounding and she was certain all the blood had drained from her face, leaving her feeling cold and clammy.

Carly was watching her with concern. "Hey, hey – you sure you're doing okay?"

"I-I don't know," she croaked out. It was the first honest thing she'd said in almost two weeks. "I…I think I'm…" She trailed off, burying her face in her hands as Carly gently brushed her hand through her long golden mane. "I think I need to get out of here."

"Boss? You wanted to see me?"

Lorenzo Alcazar's obsidian eyes fell on one of his men as he entered the large office. "Enrique, I need you to report to Ruiz – he has business that I want you personally to take care of."

The young man puffed out his chest, pleased and flattered with the personal order. Mr. Alcazar rarely delegated assignments outside of his top circle, and this was truly an honor. "Yes, sir, Mr. Alcazar."

His amusement was short-lived as Lorenzo watched the young man scuttle away, eager to do well on the trivial assignment. With a sigh, he turned his chair to face the windows beyond which lay the sparkling dark waters of the harbor. The yacht was his palace, his domain, imperceptible to all except his inner circle. He rarely conducted business on land and he hoped not to have to – at least, not in this little town.

He glanced at his platinum watch, grimacing when he noted that he still had half an hour before he could place his call to the Sandoval family. They shouldn't be much of a problem; they had coveted his services for years but since he had been based primarily in Spain, a trip to the North American continent never made it to his agenda.

But the Iberian wasn't what it used to be, and he was forced to seek other markets. The eastern coast was a hotbed for all sorts of illegal goings-on, and he knew he stood to make a fortune. The Sandoval family was one of the most powerful individual families in the area, almost as powerful as the league of all Five Families put together. A partnership with them would be most lucrative; he'd be able to spread his goods throughout all of New England, concentrating on Gotham City itself, naturally.

The only problem was that the Sandoval family was based farther inland than he liked, and their transport routes weren't nearly as discreet and safe as Lorenzo preferred. After having his men conduct the proper research, he had decided himself that the best ways to filter arms into the east coast and directly down to New York City was through the small harbor town of Port Charles. It was a sleepy little place that was barely a dot on the map, and it was perfect. However, the only way to transport his shipment inland to the Sandoval base was through the waterfront property – all of which was owned by either the Corinthos organization or the Quartermaine family. The doctors weren't as shrewd when it came to real estate and property as was Mr. Corinthos, and it was the mobster's warehouse piers that Lorenzo coveted most fiercely.

He had tried negotiating at first with Corinthos, but the man skull was as thick as his ego was big. He had tried to force his way in, but he had severely underestimated the sort of organization Corinthos led. With all his own experience, he expected that the kingpin of a sleepy little town in bumfuck upstate New York would be fairly easy to subdue. But Corinthos' men were loyal and cunning, and nothing short of an all-out mob war would grant him the property he so desired. And Lorenzo did not need that sort of publicity.

And so when a golden opportunity had presented itself, he would surely have been a fool not to reach out and grab it. The moblord's sister took a joyride while intoxicated and struck another motorist, causing the young woman to have no recollection of her life. And it wasn't just any woman – it was the town's sweetheart. Elizabeth Webber, as his sources informed him, came from a family of doctors that had all but built General Hospital from the ground up and the young woman had ties to nearly every influential family in town. She was practically part of the Quartermaine family due to her old friendship with the young Emily Bowen; she was counted a Spencer due to her broken engagement to Luke's son; she was even once one of Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan's associates. Not only that, but she was rumored to have saved the enforcer's life.

The enforcer that was currently engaged to the woman that cost Elizabeth her memory.

A wicked smile curved his lips and Lorenzo's eyes danced with the sparkling water. He had the incriminating evidence in his back pocket; he had everything he needed to ensure himself the property of both families – the Corinthos organization and the Quartermaines. If he played his cards right, though.

It would be easy to scare the black sheep of the affluent family; AJ Quartermaine was all but shunned by all, and there seemed to be a deep, permanent rift between him and his enforcer-brother. The man was also once married to Jason's fiancé, which only made things more interesting. By playing on his fear of being eliminated by his own brother, Lorenzo could easily scare AJ into working to get him his family's property. And then, well, he'd just play the other end against the middle. Doubtless, the last thing in the world that either Sonny or Jason wanted was for fair Courtney's name to be implicated in costing another woman her memory and almost her life in an unreported hit-and-run accident.

The rewards reaped from this endeavor would be fantastic, and Lorenzo could almost taste the fruit of his victory.

It was about three in the morning when Jason finally finished up his work at the warehouse. Since he was so close to the hospital, he figured that he might as well stop by to check up on the guards – and Elizabeth. When he had left her, Nikolas had just brought little Lulu in to see her.

Johnny and Francis didn't have much to report. Elizabeth was doing fine and had allowed Nikolas and Lulu to stay for quite a while before asking them to leave. She had slept after that, and had later been wheeled away for more tests. She had been brought back to her room recently and had asked for a hamburger with curly fries.

That made Jason smirk; it was hardly the sort of food a recovering patient should be eating, but he didn't blame the guards for not being able to deny her. Francis could never say no to the young woman he had once guarded, and Johnny was just a softie anyway when it came to women, probably because he had grown up as the only boy with seven older sisters.

Max replaced Johnny and Francis outside the door as the two friends shuffled off to get some food and some sleep, and Jason quietly stole into the hospital room. To his surprise, the lights were on and Elizabeth was sitting up in bed, looking completely alert.

She glanced up when he came in, but other than quirking an eyebrow at him – a movement so subtle it was almost imperceptible – the brunette made no move to acknowledge his presence.

He meant to stay only for a minute, just to see how she was before letting her get some sleep and going home to Courtney, but Jason found himself lowering his body into one of the plastic chairs as if completely by virtue of habit. The brunette was looking better than she had for the past week. Color had finally returned to her pale skin and though she still had noticeable circles under her eyes, they weren't as dark as they were before. She had washed her hair recently and had let it dry naturally in soft waves, and her long nails were clipped. Elizabeth always used to like to keep her nails a little on the long side, and she'd usually paint them a subtle pink color. But today, her nails were short and nude.

She held something in her hands, something pink that he couldn't quite make out until it came whizzing through the air at his head. Instinctively, he ducked without even waiting for reason to tell him that he didn't need to. The ball pinged against the sill of the window, making the blinds crackle, then bounced off the ceiling and into Elizabeth's waiting hand.

A small smirk on her lips told him that she had been anticipating that, and what was more, she had all but mapped out the little pink superball's journey. She tossed it to herself and he could see her sapphire orbs dart around the room, lingering at certain points, and he knew instantly that she was planning another route for the ball.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Lulu Spencer," she murmured in reply, studying the metal railing of her bed as she rolled the ball between her fingers. Out of habit, he waited for her to say something more – Elizabeth liked to talk and would frequently ramble on – but the young woman remained quiet, clearly having no use for extra words.

"You've been playing with it since?" The attempts to start up a conversation sounded hollow and awkward to him; after all, Jason Morgan didn't start conversations. He let other people talk. But that was kind of hard to do considering the other person wasn't saying much. It was almost an out-of-body experience for him, but he brushed off the surreal feelings as best he could.

She nodded. "Nothing else to do."

His gaze lingered on the books Nikolas had brought for her. A few colorful magazines, a green leather-bound book whose title he couldn't quite make out at the distance, and The Little Engine That Could. That must have been from Lulu. "What about reading?"

"The magazines are ridiculous, the print in the Preust is too small, and I've already been told the train story twice."

Amusement kicked up the corner of his mouth. "Lulu read it to you?"

"Twice," she repeated with a nod, flexing her wrist as she prepared to launch the superball. "Move your left foot."

Jason barely had time to do what she asked before the little brunette flicked her wrist and sent the ball flying. It hit the wall across from her, crashed into the ceiling and made an impression on one of the tiles, hit the window sill by his elbow and then bounced off the metal railing on her bed before hitting the leg of his chair – right where his foot had been – and returning to her small hand once more.

He wasn't aware that his jaw had dropped until Elizabeth smirked at him, clearly amused. "This is how I've been entertaining myself."

It was all Jason could do to snap his mouth shut and just stare at her as she resumed tossing the superball to herself, her eyes following the streak of bubblegum pink through the air. He was still getting used to the changes in this new Elizabeth – her temper, her language, her succinct responses, her acute memory and reasoning skills, not to mention the math deduction that seemed to occur instantaneously in her head – and this new skill threw him for a loop. Now he understood why she was studying various points in the room – she was visually judging the surface of the wall, predicting where it would send the ball if she applied enough force to it; she was taking in the criss-crossing ravines that the tiles made in the ceiling, making a note of where the ball would go if it bounced off the flat surface versus the groove; she was mentally analyzing her environment, making inferences and predictions and then acting it all out with the foreseen outcome.

It still blew him away.

Elizabeth didn't mind the silence at all; she actually liked it. When she had awoken the first time after surgery, there had been this dull ringing in her head. It had receded since and wasn't bothering her anymore, but it did make her appreciate silence. When it was completely silent in the room, she could always tune in to the tiniest noises, and she tested herself by trying to figure out what the noises were. If they were noises made by people, she tried to guess how far away that particular person was and would then wait to see if she was right. So far, her record was pretty impressive. Right now, for example, there seemed to be some heavy-set individual padding along at a steady face about ten feet down the hall from her door in those damn squeaky sneakers that seemed to abound in the hospital.

She sighed to herself and settled back in the pillows, still playing with the ball. It had been sweet of the child to give it to her. She was afraid to she'd been a bit blunt in the meeting; she didn't remember being too concerned for the fact that the little girl was scared and desperately hoping for her to show some sign of recognition. She didn't have the patience for that, especially not after what that Lucky boy had tried to pull. She just didn't need that sort of mental aggravation. It was hard enough for her to deal with her situation on her own terms, and she'd be damned if she tried to deal with it on someone else's.

So she had been entirely frank when the little girl hesitantly asked her if she remembered who she was. No, she did not.

Did she think that she would again someday?

She didn't know.

But what did she think?

That the chances were slim and she wouldn't get her hopes up.

Elizabeth had expected for the bland answers to chase the child away, but little Lulu didn't show any desire to leave. Instead, she had simply extended one chubby little hand and dropped the pink superball baring all sorts of teeth marks into Elizabeth's palm, and instructed that she keep it.

The gesture, meaningless under any other circumstance, had softened something inside of her and she had asked Lulu if she wanted to sit on the bed. Nikolas had tried to hide the tears in his eyes as he deposited his sister onto the white sheets and pulled up a chair for himself. For the next hour, they talked of Lulu's school and the boy that always put his mouth on the water fountain, and then the young girl had innocently launched into a long story about how her big brother didn't remember who he was, either, once upon a time but he used to sneak back and see her all the time. Nikolas had tried various times to intervene and distract her, but the young girl wouldn't be deterred from relating what she hoped would be a helpful if not inspiring story.

Elizabeth had let her continue but had admittedly tuned her out after a little while and spent the rest of the conversation letting her fingers memorize the little imperfections in the ball where Lulu's teeth had clearly done a number on the rubber. After a while, Lulu suggested that she read to her, and had pulled out her train book and proceeded to do just that. Apparently, once wasn't enough because the little girl started it once more from the beginning to make sure Elizabeth got it.

She had waited until the last page before telling them that she was tired, and Nikolas apologized hastily and picked his little sister up once more. The two of them said goodbye and Elizabeth had fallen asleep not too long after with the little ball clutched in her hand.

She had slipped back into reality as seamlessly as she had slipped off into slumber, and she just lay still in the bed for a good long time before her tests, just thinking. Almost two weeks had passed and she was doing much better. She felt better physically, which was probably the reason she was no longer snapping at everyone that looked at her. There was still so much pent-up rage inside of her, anger that she could feel stewing deep within her, but she refused to let it out for the time being. She had to concentrate on getting better and getting out of the hospital; that was her goal, that was her focus, that was what she would strive for single-mindedly.

But as she lay in her bed, telling herself to concentrate only on improving, her thoughts had drifted elsewhere. Jason's rough voice found her once more as she remembered his offer to tell her about what happened to him, and his offer to read to her. She didn't know what would prompt a man like Jason Morgan to say that to her; the first thing that had occurred to her was that perhaps the act of reading held some special significance.

But since she didn't have any clue about her past relations with the man, she didn't have much to back up the inference. One guess was as good as another; maybe Jason Morgan, the big, bad hitman that she had figured out he was, just got a kick out of reading to people. He might even have a habit of tucking his gun way into the back of his jeans and making it just in time for Story Time at the library.

The thought made her laugh, and it was the first time she'd actually done so since she had woken up.

But the quest to discover some hidden meaning behind his offer was a useless one, especially since she didn't plan on asking him any time soon about what relationship they had. The focus right now was to stay abreast of the chaos and pain, not drown in the forgotten memories.

So she had to think of his offer to read to her as just that – a simple offer, free of any hidden agenda or esoteric connotation.

She had thought of him reading to her up until the orderlies came in to wheel her off for more tests. And after that, she had brushed those thoughts aside as inconsequential and instead distracted herself by wolfing down a burger and two orders of cheesy fries. The food was disgusting and greasy and ridiculously fattening but she didn't care; she indulged herself freely, especially after having to put up with the hospital's version of food for a while before the guards took matters into their own hands.

And after she was done with her tests, she had amused herself with the little superball until Jason arrived. He had surprised her; she definitely wasn't expecting him tonight. It was late, and she hardly believed that he had all the time in the world to just stop by and see her at three in the morning.

But still, she was glad that he was here. It was better than being alone again.

The clock ticked audibly in the background as Elizabeth rolled the ball between her palms, letting her gaze slide discreetly over to Jason. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, his hand cupping his chin as he stared at one of the legs of her bed. Elizabeth shifted in the bed, letting herself slide down on the pillows, and was suddenly overcome with the urge to hear him finally read to her.

"Jason?"

He looked up in surprise and was about to answer when his cell phone cut him off. Bewildered, he first looked down at the silver device clipped to his belt and then up at her. Elizabeth snapped her mouth shut and pretended to be interested elsewhere, silently giving him permission to answer it.

Jason slid out of his chair and into the hallway, letting the door click softly shut as he answered it. "Morgan."

"Jason?"

"Courtney?" He blinked in the harsh fluorescent lighting, scrubbing one hand over his jaw. "It's late – what's going on?"

"I…I decided that I want to go to the island for a while."

The statement confused him and he frowned at the wall, not knowing what to say. "Oh."

"I just…I need to relax, take a breather, you know, and I…I think this would be good for me. Carly and I, we were talking earlier tonight and…she helped me pack and I'm leaving in about twenty minutes. I know you're working at the warehouse so you don't have to rush home; it's okay. I just need a change of scenery for a little while."

"Oh." He nodded once, moving aside as an orderly shuffled by with a sealed bag of clear liquid in his gloved hands. "Okay. When do you think you'll come back?"

"I-I don't know. I'm just going to get to the island and take it from there. You're not mad, are you?"

Her sudden desire to leave puzzled him, but he had never stood in the way of anything his fiancé wanted. "No. Call me when you get there so I know you're safe."

"I will. I love you, Jason."

"I love you, too."

"Bye."

She hung up without waiting for him to repeat the word – Jason rarely said goodbye at the end of a conversation – and the mobster clicked his phone off and dropped it into his pocket. Courtney did seem a little tired in the past week, and she seemed to have lost some weight. If she thought she needed a change of scenery for a while, then she did. Still, it confused him but he didn't linger on it.

Wrapping his hand around the handle, Jason quietly opened the door and stepped back into Elizabeth's room. "You were saying something, Elizabeth."

The brunette's raven lashes fluttered over half-concealed pools of midnight blue, and her lips were gently parted. She shifted slightly in the bed and Jason could tell she was almost asleep. "It was nothing."