Hey! Sorry this is late, I meant to post it before now. I'm actually finished, so I'm going to post the last chapters and the epilogue all at once. Thanks everyone for reading and the great reviews. I don't know if I would have finished this story without them.

A/N: This chapter has been edited to fit the rating here. The original is posted on my message board.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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There You'll Be

Chapter Nine

"'Cause, it'll bleed, it'll hurt
It'll take everything to say that I'm yours
It'll sink deep into my heart
If you fall in love and fall right back out
It'll crush, it'll leave me blown away
But I'll regret every single day
If I don't try with you
You're worth the pain I'm going through
I'll give myself, give my self away
And take a step of faith"

-Rie Sinclair, from Step of Faith

Only a few weeks had passed, but as she pulled her car into the driveway of her Grams house, Elizabeth felt like she had been away from Port Charles for years. Everything was different. Where the trees had been full with leaves of changing colors and slowly falling to the ground before she left, now they were bare. The air now was cold, the dj on the radio predicting temperatures to only reach the upper thirties with a chance of snow. That was nice actually, especially since it was less than a week before Christmas. Cameron should have a white Christmas this year. It wouldn't make up for their broken family, she released a sigh, but there was no sense in dwelling on things she couldn't change. Originally she had intended to stay in Brunswick until after the New Year, but she just couldn't imagine spending Christmas away from her friends and family.

No matter how upset there were bound to be.

As much as she hated it, she had told her Grams over the phone she was pregnant. Elizabeth didn't want her to find out about it from anyone else, not after all the support she had given. Grams first response had been happiness, a new child was always a miracle, but she had asked what she was going to do about Lucky. That's when she had been forced to tell her about Jason. In telling one truth she was finally forced to tell it all. The drug abuse, though Grams knew about, Maxie, which she hadn't. Being with Jason and not telling Lucky. That day in her bathroom when she took the pregnancy test, what Lucky did and said.

The disappointment in Grams voice had hurt, not just because of Jason's job with Sonny, but because she had broken her marriage vows to Lucky. Only, Elizabeth couldn't regret the night she and Jason were together, not just because of the twins, but she had needed him that night and as always he had been her rock.

Elizabeth paused, gripping the steering wheel tight as that truly filtered into her mind. Jason had always been her rock. "How could I be so stupid?" she whispered, not wanting to wake Cam in the back seat. How could she find that in Lucky? The ability to be strong through anything, to be there for her no matter what, how could she find that in Lucky when Jason was always the comparison? She loved Lucky, this wasn't a lie, but had she carried a young girl's love too long and expected it to live up to a woman's expectations? She wasn't completely screwed up though, at least she knew to get out a bad marriage when it was time.

"Come on Cam," she was forced to nudge him awake, unable to scoop him up and carry him inside the house like normal. She shoved his hat down over his ears, so he wouldn't get cold, and guided him half sleeping up the three stairs, knocked and waited for an answer. "Grams," she smiled at the familiar face, "We're here finally."

"Well Elizabeth," she smiled but glanced behind her nervously, "You made good time," she opened the screen and helped guide Cam inside.

"I was surprised, but then I remember it was always faster coming home than," she paused as she walked into the living room and found that her grandmother had company. Three people she should have expected to be sitting right here when she walked through the door. It didn't matter if they were invited by her Grams or if they took it upon themselves to be here after learning she was coming home early. She knew exactly why they were sitting here. "It took getting there." She finished dryly, placing a hand on Cam's shoulder and moving him closer to her leg.

"I'm tired Mommy," he murmured, rubbing at his eyes.

"Why don't you let me put Cam down," her grandmother suggested, then walked close, "Just talk to them," she whispered before leading Cameron down the hall toward the back of the house where the bedroom he usually used was.

"Elizabeth."

"Nikolas," she answered back. He sat on the couch next to Emily, each dressed for the cold, sweaters and denim. Nikolas had an arm around Emily and a tea cup sat on her leg and their expressions were identical, concerned, guilty and just a bit of what looked like anger. She didn't know what they were angry about, if anything, she was the one who had every right to be upset. "We just keep meeting up like this." She smiled, though not nicely and not failing to notice that neither rose to perform their usual hug and kiss on cheek greeting.

Lucky sat sullenly on a chair next to them, with a cup cradled in his hands. Though he looked better than he did the last time she had seen him, he still was a far cry from the man who had stood before all their family and friends and promised to honor and keep her. To love and to cherish her. How quickly those promises were broken when a pill was involved. "Lucky." Her lawyer in Brunswick informed her that Lucky had received his copy of the divorce papers, though he had yet to sign and file them before she left. By accounts he had them for two weeks now, she couldn't understand what the hold up was. "Emily."

Instead of waiting for someone to speak, she turned to remove her coat, ignoring Nikolas' quickly drawn breath. The ballet neck sweater did nothing to conceal her pregnancy, and why should it, she was happy to be pregnant. The babies were a blessing not something to be ashamed of. A small smile touched Emily's lips, that she didn't' miss. Maybe it would be easier to talk to Emily than she thought. How could Emily be upset about her brother's children? They were her nieces or nephews, Emily should be happy for Jason, not just siding with Lucky.

"How have you been," Emily asked, "We wanted to stay to see you when you came home from the hospital, but figured it was probably best to go home." Emily figured right, though Elizabeth didn't say it aloud. Emily wasn't stupid, the mood Jason had been in after the news of the twins set in, he probably would have shot first and asked questions later. "Jason didn't tell us much that night," she began and Lucky rolled his eyes.

"Jason," he grunted snidely, setting his cup down on the coffee table much harder than necessary. "We must not upset Saint Jason, my wife's hero."

"If you would sign the divorce papers I wouldn't be your wife and we wouldn't' have to have this conversation at all," she shot back. Nikolas stood, holding out his hands.

"Okay," he started slowly, "Let's just calm down and talk rationally, can we do that?" She lifted an eyebrow but said nothing, just went over to the recliner on the other side of the room and carefully lowered herself into it, careful of the belly that had seemed to swell overnight. "Now, I know that a lot of things have happened that may seem like they can't be fixed, but Elizabeth, you and Lucky love each other, there is no reason why you should be rushing into this divorce."

"Nikolas, with all due respect because I know you care about Lucky, but this isn't your concern."

"That didn't stop you from interfering when he and Emily were breaking up," Lucky pointed out, "But you're good at being a hypocrite aren't' you? You ride me for months because I slept with Maxie all the while holding on to your little secret that you fucked Jason."

"I was supposed to just let you overdose? Let you destroy your life?"

"So you lied to save me?" he frowned, "Poor, poor, Elizabeth the martyr. Sacrificing her great love for Jason Morgan while she endures her marriage to her worthless husband."

Her first instinct was to protest, she wasn't trying to be a martyr, she was trying to remain true to her marriage vows, but in all honesty, the moment she let Jason kiss her, she had broken those vows as well. Two wrongs didn't make it right. The fact that she had no regrets should have been her first clue. "You're right," she whispered, surprising them all. Even Lucky who had been the one to accuse her looked like he hadn't expected her to say that. "I wasn't trying to be a martyr, but I didn't think anything was wrong with being with Jason. It didn't matter that I was planning to leave. I was trying to protect you, instead of letting you hit rock bottom on your own."

"I don't need you to protect me."

"I know," she nodded in agreement. "You're an adult." She placed a hand over her face, "I'm just as guilty of being an idiot as Jason is," she murmured more to herself than the rest of the room. Jason had been trying to protect Sam, taking her choices away, and she was trying to protect Lucky, doing exactly the same thing. She hadn't wanted to seem selfish, or wrong, when in truth, if she had simply left Lucky, no one would have blamed her for it. "You know," she stood and went back to the closet to retrieve her jacket ignoring their protests, "This has actually been very enlightening."

"Nikolas, you're wrong. There is every need to rush this divorce. I'm not in love with Lucky. I'll always care about him, I hope he's getting the help he needs to turn his life around, but I'm not in love with him. I should have divorced him months ago when I saw him let Maxie into our apartment that third time so they could have sex in my bed." She shivered as she remembered sleeping on that sofa bed. How low she had sank to try to hold on to a marriage that she didn't want anymore but felt obligated to fight for.

"Elizabeth," Nikolas started but she just ignored him.

"Emily, I hope you can find some happiness for your brother. You know no matter how much he hid it, that Jason always wanted a family of his own." Then she looked at Lucky and drew in a deep breath pulling the wool cap neatly over her head. "Lucky, I loved you. I loved you with all my heart and I don't regret one moment of our marriage. I'm sorry we failed, but I'm not shouldering all the blame for it. Yes I slept with Jason, yes I'm pregnant by him. Yet until that night, I honored my marriage vows, no matter how much you accused me of sleeping with Patrick. Being married to you taught me that you can't take marriage or relationships for granted. We fell apart, and I'll accept my role in that."

"I don't want to," he began but she shook her ahead.

"Sign the papers Lucky," she said simply, "It's time to end this endless circle that we're on. I'm tired of riding around on it, afraid to take the step that my heart knows is right because of what everyone else will say or feel. You, me, Jason. This time, I'm going to take the path I've known deep in my heart was the right one all along."

"He'll get you killed," Nikolas pointed out.

"I could have been killed when Courtney hit me with her car. I could have been killed when Helena made you drug me. I could have been killed when Jax's car went off the road. Being with Jason doesn't automatically mean I'll be killed, nor does it ensure that I'll never be hurt. The only thing being with Jason promises is that I'll be happy." She smiled finally growing up, "That's the only thing in life that you're ever promised, the chance at happiness. Whether or not you take that chance is up to you. I refuse to look back on my life and say, well I lived a good long safe time but I was never truly happy?"

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Jason walked back to his living room, carrying the bottle of imported beer in one hand and half listening to the conversation on the cell phone in his ear. He took a long swallow, walking over to his balcony, trying not to remember the last time he had been out there with Elizabeth. Holding her in his arms had felt so good, for once he wasn't thinking of who could hurt them, or what could happen. It was dangerous, but for that moment there had only been her and they way she felt and he had been content. "No Edward, those numbers are right." He answered the question for the third time, "I don't care if you don't believe it, it's the truth. Are you complaining?"

At the man's swift denial, Jason almost laughed. The two of them would never be completely in sync, Edward was much too annoying, domineering and condescending, for that to ever happen. Yet since he had agreed to help ELQ with their little problem, Jason had come to understand the man better. Though he inwardly vowed to never utter the phrase family duty to any of his children ever. That thought itself brought on a smile of its own. His children. A dream he'd never dared hope to have. "Yes, all the plans are in place and will be ready for the stockholders meeting the night of the Christmas party." He paused, unsure if he should do this or not, but if he were going to take one step, he would take it completely. "Is it okay if I bring a guest?"

There was silence on the other end and Jason wasn't surprised. Edward probably thought he would show up, drop his bombshell and escape into the night getting as far away from the family as fast as human possible. Then he rolled his eyes, "No Edward, not Sonny, though he is a stock holder and," he paused letting the man make of that what he would. "I was speaking of a," he paused, not knowing what to call Elizabeth. The woman who had his emotions twisted in a knot. The mother of his coming children. The woman he was itching to see and would have driven back to Brunswick tonight if he could make it back to the meeting tomorrow in time. "Friend." He settled for, knowing the truth would out anyway.

"Fine," he sighed, "And you don't have to call me every night, the numbers aren't going to change in the morning," Jason shook his head, knowing that Edward was taking advantage to attempt to draw him back into the family fold.

The door bell rang and he glanced down at his watch, wondering who could be coming over so late. "Go to bed Edward, it's late. I'll see you tomorrow," he ordered and hung up the phone, crossing to the door.

Blinked at the vision before him.

All he could think was how he had just been thinking of her, needing her. Momentarily speechless, they just stared at each other in silence. Her very presence made his head spin, greedy eyes devouring the sight of her. She was so beautiful, was the only thought that managed to form. Specks of white were melting on her black wool coat and the black cap she wore pulled down over her long hair. Eyes brilliant like a Venetian sky glowed with some inner secret that he wanted knowledge of. Then her mouth began to curve, moist, full and tinted the color of the deepest berry, making him wonder if she would be as sweet. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, yeah," he stepped back so she could pass, closing the door behind her, watching as she crossed to his couch and slipped off the coat and lay it across. Gentle, serene and more beautiful than he ever imagined, in just a simple cashmere sweater that stretched over her belly and a pair of black pants that reveal just how slender she was despite the babies. She pulled the hat off and tossed it aside, shaking out her hair, the heavy silken mass falling in loose waves over her shoulders. It made him want to touch, to feel it against his skin, twined in his fingers as he gripped the back of her head and sated himself on the taste of her. "When did you come back?"

"Just tonight. I went to my Grams first, that's where Cam is now."

"How is he?" He had spoken to him on the phone since leaving Brunswick, but he found he missed the precocious boy as much as his mother.

"Looking forward to Christmas," she chuckled, "He was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to find him since he wasn't at home." Her voice trailed off, making him take a step toward her, to trace a thumb down her cheek.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she swallowed and looked up, "Well, unless you consider the fact that Lucky, Nikolas and Emily were at my Grams waiting for me to arrive, a problem."

"So Lucky's out of rehab?" He had been so preoccupied with fixing up the penthouse and dealing with ELQ, Sonny and the business, that he hadn't realized Lucky could be home. "How did that go?"

"How do you think?" she smirked, then sighed heavily, "I walk into the door and there they are, Nikolas, Emily and Lucky, like they're about to stage some kind of intervention," she shot him a withering glance, "Don't think I couldn't appreciate the irony of that. So everyone is there ready to talk some sense into me I guess, and we start with the whole, I love Lucky so we can't get a divorce thing, and"

"Do you?" he interrupted.

"And Nikolas is raring up for one of those righteous lectures about how," her voice broke off in mid-sentence finally hearing his question, "What? Do I what?"

"Do you love him and don't want the divorce?"

"I thought we had been through this?" she looked at him, clearly surprised by the question. "I told you that I wanted the divorce."

"That was before he came back from rehab. And you said that you loved him, so I was just wondering if that had changed." Damned if he didn't sound like a needy fuck, but he had been here before too many times. They would take one step toward each other and then she would go back to Lucky. And he would be the one left standing alone wanting her. Wanting what he shouldn't dare to want.

He needed this time to be different.

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If she had needed to see how much her past actions had hurt Jason, all she had to do was look into his eyes at this moment. He was expecting her to say that she was going to give Lucky another chance. It made her feel horrible. "Do you remember that afternoon when you asked me to go to Italy with you and I said no? You warned me that there was something wrong with Lucky and I didn't want to listen. I couldn't take that step toward you because I felt I owed Lucky my loyalty. He was my first love, he helped me through the rape and when we realized that he hadn't died, I felt like I owed it to him to be there to make it through to the other side like he helped me. I don't regret that afternoon Jason. Just like all the other places my life has taken me over the years no matter how painful they've been."

She crossed to him, placing her hands on his chest, "You said you liked that about me, that I could look back with no regrets."

"I do," he said in a thick voice, now when everything was so important, he couldn't conceal his emotions behind that wall of his and part of her was glad, because when the next words were so important, so vital to their lives, everything they were should lay bare for the other to see. She reached own and took his hand, placing it over her stomach, over the two lives they had created.

"If I had gone with you to Italy, I wouldn't have Cam. If I had gone with you, we wouldn't have our babies. I'm not choosing Lucky," she laced their fingers together. "I'm making the right choice this time, the only choice. I want to be with you Jason. For twenty minutes or a lifetime, I want to be with you. I know that if we didn't take this moment and make it ours, I would regret it. I would regret it for the rest of my life."

"Can I show you something?"

"Yeah."

He led her from his apartment, and she smiled, knowing where he was going, knowing that he was going to ask her to move in over here and that she was going to say yes, but knowing that it would only be temporary because there was no way she was going to stay away from him now.

A moment.

It had changed her life and there was no turning back now.

He opened the door and stepped aside so she could walk in, then turned on the light closing the door behind him. And all she could do was gape. Gone was that dark, depressing atmosphere that seemed to hang over the penthouse like a storm cloud. Even in the night there was a sense of light in the room. A soft dusky rose that could have looked much too feminine, the airy room seemed much larger than before. Hardwood floors had been exposed and glossed to a perfect shine, covered by a center rug of cream, a mist green and brown design.

Before the fireplace, sat a bronze sofa that seemed to match the rooms passionate palate of earth toned furnishings that was a mix of modern and vintage. The balcony was framed by cream drapes and a pair of elegant chairs in mist green linen but drawn back to let in the night sky. The furnishings were perfect and seemed to await her final touches, family pictures or flowers. Books in the gorgeous case that lined a wall, and little knick knacks that made an empty apartment more a home.

As beautiful as the apartment was, that wasn't the thing that made her breath catch in her throat. On the wall over the fireplace, all framed in neat black trimmed frames and matte finishes were various images, some that she recognized immediately. The gondolas traveling on the channels. The old architecture and even the way the land seemed to open so gorgeously and grab hold to the heart and make it ache.

"Since I couldn't take you to Italy, I decided to bring it to you." He looked so nervous and completely different than the confident man she was accustomed to seeing that she didn't know what to say. He shoved his hands down into the pockets of his jeans, "I had a room done for you, one for Cam and a nursery," his voice got really soft then, but that glow in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

"The woman, that interior designer, she left the kitchen the same, expect for a new coat of paint in this weird green and new furniture. And I figured you wouldn't want a dining room set in here like Sonny did, so I had her fix that other room off the kitchen into a dining room." He was right, she preferred family meals in the kitchen. A dining room was perfect for company. "I just wanted you to feel comfortable here."

She trailed a hand over one of the framed pictures, and turned back to him, "You did all of this for me?" He just nodded stepped forward, taking her hand in his. Without a word she followed him upstairs, awed at the bedroom he took her in. Without telling she knew this bedroom was meant for her. Low slung furnishings beneath an extravagantly high ceiling lent an air of dreamy beauty to the room. An antique grisaille changing screen stood next to a smoke grey chaise. Tapestry in vintage smoke damask parted at the windows to allow in a view of the city. Italian sconces on the walls provided muted romantic lighting. Hand work gave the room a personal and artisanal touch, whether from the cool powder blue brush textures on the walls or the delicate chandelier that hung over a Napoleonic style bed.

If downstairs had captured the essence of Italy in pictures, Jason had recreated a Tuscany villa right here in her bedroom.

"Do you remember our night together?" He ran a finger along the side of her face.

"How could I forget?" she answered in a husky voice that told him it meant as much to her as it did to him. "Seven years until the moment was finally right."

"We started hungry," he reached down and began slipping the pearl buttons on her sweater free one by one. "I wanted to feel your skin against mine. I wanted to bury myself inside you." Carefully he peeled the sleeves down her arms, then tossed it aside.

The feeling of being yanked into his arms assault her mind, so vividly she could almost feel it happening yet when she open her eyes he was still standing there, watching with a gaze that burned with desire, more than that night they shared.

"All I wanted was to drown in you," he traced his thumb across her lower lip, then brought to his mouth to lick slowly as if savoring the taste of her. "I think I knew the moment you wrapped around me that it wouldn't be enough."

"I tried to protect myself by saying we could only be together for one night," she murmured, "I knew I couldn't allow myself to the think past the next few hours or I wouldn't have been able to stand it," she confessed.

"Part of me knew that it would be one night and I hated it. Right there in that moment I cursed the rest of the world because I had found something good and it couldn't last. I knew I would have to move beyond the moment and I didn't want to." He had seemed so comfortable with their night being just that. One night. It hadn't even occurred to her that he might want more, as she had. "I tried to cram every moment we should have had into those few hours."

"I tried to stay awake so the night wouldn't end," she admitted, "I didn't want to miss one single second."

"And now," he reached out and place a hand over her stomach, "Now we have a chance."

"More than a chance I'd say," she smiled, "Are we doing this for the babies Jason?" She needed to know. She knew their children had brought them back together. They had forced her to confront the tattered remains of her marriage and finally find the strength to put it in the past. She needed to know if he was with her for them alone.

"I'm not," he confirmed much to her relief, "We don't have to be together to be good parents. I think we would be pretty good at it. I would hope that you would even allow me to be a father to Cam as well."

She tried to blink back the tears those words brought and failed, "You don't have to say that for me."

"I'm not," he shook his head, "He's a good boy Elizabeth, you should be proud. You're raising one hell of a boy. I'd be honored if you trusted me enough to allow me to be his father."

"And you don't care that he's Zander's son? That some people think he's a bastard?"

"It would be a little hypocritical of me since technically, I'm one as well," he pointed out making her close her eyes and the tears spill over. "Now I think that's the last time we'll use that word in relation to any of our children."

"You're right," she nodded and vowed to put that hurtful word in the past with Lucky where it belonged.

"As for you and me," he leaned down and brushed his lips across hers once, so tenderly, she could almost feel her heart slow to a thump then begin to race in anticipation. "I really need you to understand," his mouth touched hers again, increasing the pressure just he tiniest bit, turning the caress into an actual kiss.

"What?" she breathed against his lips, aching for him to continue but wanting to hear what he would say.

"I want to be with you. Not out of obligation," one kiss that nibbled briefly at her lower lip, "Not because you're carrying my children," another kiss where his tongue licked softly at her mouth making arousal tighten seductively between her legs, "Not because I broke up with Sam," deeper this time his tongue seeking hers settling for nothing less than her full response, "Not because I want to protect you, or keep you safe."

She chuckled, "I understand. So why do you want to be with me," she teased and he surprised her with his heartfelt response.

"Because you're a part of me. Everywhere my life has taken me, I've carried a piece of you along in my heart and I didn't even realize it until you showed up on my door step. That one moment changed my life forever. Now I want more than a moment, I want a lifetime," he stared deep into her eyes, so clear and blue in a way that she had never expected, "Now I want it all." He touched a brief kiss to her forehead, "I want all of you Elizabeth. One night wasn't enough," he kissed a path along the side of her jaw, stopping at her lips for a deeper taste. Moving along her chin, the length of her neck, then the spot at the base of her throat where her pulse hammered, "One night will never be enough. Will you give yourself to me?"

And she knew that he was asking more than just sex. Jason was always the chance that was too big for her to take, but she wasn't that young girl anymore. She was a woman who knew what she wanted finally for the first time in her life. And wasn't afraid to reach out for it. "Yes, Jason."