After an endless night of tossing and turning Jason had finally given up on sleep all together. So there he laid for the better part of the night listening to Elizabeth slow even breaths and slowly driving himself crazy with the myriad of thoughts that paraded around his head – some good, some bad.

He turned his head and saw the bright red digital display of the clock read 7:15am. It was barely light out and as much as Jason wanted to get up and moving hoping that they would be able to get on a standby flight back to North Carolina that day he was torn enjoying the view of Elizabeth sleeping peacefully in the bed next to his. Rolling onto his side, Jason propped his hand under his head and watched as she slept. Her chestnut hair was a stark contrast as it lay fanned out across the silky cream fabric of the pillowcase. A couple stray strands fell against her cheek and they too drew his attention to her pale skin. To him she looked like an angel had fallen asleep beside him. In some off handed way Elizabeth Ryan felt like his guardian angel. She had shown up in his life at one of the most tumultuous times and through it all she had stayed riding each wave of the storm out with him. He was still having a tough time believing it all and he knew by far he was less than deserving all the support she offered him.

For the moment Jason lay there soaking in the view knowing that given his decision to leave racing would cut Elizabeth from his life. So he wanted to memorize every inch of her. He started at the tip of her head and worked his way down taking note of every slight curve that the thin sheets held beneath them. When he reached her feet he saw her bright red painted toes peeking out from under the comforter. Those fire engine red toes spoke volumes to who Elizabeth Ryan was. On the surface she came off as calm, cool and completely collected – a girl in charge of all situations yet beneath it all she was a spit fire waiting to erupt. It was that spit fire that had captured Jason's heart. The way she held on tight to what she believed in and pushed for it. It was that quality that had gotten him to come to Texas in the first place. She wouldn't give up and she wouldn't let him give up either. He was going to miss that when she was gone from his life. He was going to miss her. With that thought Jason lowered his head and continued starring burning her image into his mind.

Even in the depths of sleep Elizabeth could feel eyes on her. It was that feeling that caused her to stir. She moved slightly not willing to surrender from the world of slumber she had just recently fallen into quite yet. For the better part of night she found herself listening to the movements coming from the bed beside her. She imagined Jason reliving his afternoon with Jake over and over again. And it took all she had not to reach out to him or crawl into bed with him and tell him that it was all going to be okay – that no matter what he had had nothing to do with his father's accident. She knew that in her gut. When she had actually fallen asleep she wasn't sure but she did know she hadn't been asleep long enough. Again the persistent stare pulled on her until she had no choice but to open her eyes and submit to the morning. But when she did just that she found Jason's eyes locked on her. Instantly she felt self conscious and instinctively tugged the comforter close against her body. "Morning," she said softly.

"Morning," he returned.

"How long have you been up?" she asked trying to gauge just how long he had been watching her.

"A little while now. You want some coffee?" he asked swinging his long legs over the side of the bed.

"Yeah – yeah that'd be great," she answered still trying to shake off the odd sensation that surrounded her.

"Okay. I'll be back shortly," he announced as he tied his shoes and headed for the door.

When Jason was safely out of ear shot Elizabeth let out an exasperated groan and threw the blankets off her body. She scrambled out of bed and headed for a much needed cold shower.

Tightly closing the door behind her Elizabeth tried to busy herself with her normal morning rituals however that wasn't an easy task. All she was able to truly focus on was the thoughts of Jason that consumed her. She was falling deeper and deeper in love with him and no amount of wanting to put a stop to that helped. It was like she had been pushed and now she was free falling. Part of her felt exhilarated by it all and another part was completely terrified. She had been down this road before with disastrous result and even though deep down she knew that this time – that Jason – was different Elizabeth still wasn't able to completely forget the hell she had already been through.

She shook off those thoughts and dug through her make up bag grabbing a fabric head band and pulling her thick mane off her face. Meticulously Elizabeth set out several bottles of toners, face wash and creams before her and tried not to allow her eyes to trail to where Jason's own toiletry bag sat. Without thought she found herself peeking into it – nothing out of the ordinary really, a toothbrush some toothpaste, shaving cream and a razor and a few other essentials yet they all mesmerized her for some reason. Elizabeth opened the bottle of aftershave and the instant whiff of the scent that was truly Jason made her smile. She rubbed a little on her hand and drank in the aroma. That smell conjured many memories in her head, from their first dance and almost kiss to just a few nights ago when she found him alone drowning his sorrows at the bar. It was completely and totally Jason.

Elizabeth brought her fingers to her nose again and breathed in deeply allowing the fragrance to consume her until her body felt hot to the touch. Looking in the large mirror that covered the expanse one bathroom wall she saw how flushed her face was and beneath her thin cotton tee she felt her nipples stand erect while her mind traveled to forbidden places. "Get a grip," she instructed her reflection finally with a little frustration in her voice. Elizabeth then turned around and turned the cold water on in the shower full force, quickly stripped and stepped under its heavy stream wondering if when the freezing water hit her feverish skin it would make steam.

A half hour later she emerged from the bathroom completely dressed and with large white hotel bath towel wrapped neatly around her head only to find her coffee sitting by the television but no Jason. Feeling slightly defeated Elizabeth dropped her body onto her unmade bed and let out a heavy sigh not sure if she was happy to find him missing or worried that he wasn't there. It seemed as though her mounting confusion for it all was growing larger by the minute. Quickly she pulled the towel from her head and gave her thick dark tresses a shake which allowed them to fall into a mass of chocolate waves against her shoulders. She pulled her well worn jean jacket over the white tank top that hugged her body, slipped on her boots and set off to find Jason.

Her quest ended in the hotel restaurant where she found Jason sitting at a corner booth. She stopped short for a moment and studied him. Even though she could read the turmoil that surrounded him in every feature of his face she still found herself taken away by how handsome he was and the fact he didn't even know it. In that way he reminded her a great deal of Leo. He too never seemed to grasp the idea that the opposite sex found him incredibly attractive. Elizabeth tried to explain to him once that it was the whole package that made him so appealing not just his super good looks and that's the way it was for Jason as well. His looks got him noticed but it was his overall persona that held you captive – and Elizabeth Ryan was certainly his captive.

"Hey," Elizabeth said when she reached the table where he sat.

"Hi," he returned as she slid into the seat across from him.

"Anything look good?" she asked jiggling the menu Jason held before his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Breakfast – anything look good?" she smiled not at all thrown by his absent behavior.

"Not sure," he said truthfully. Even though he had been sitting there for some time starring at the menu he hadn't decided on anything and wasn't even sure if he had read a single entrée available.

"What can I get you?" a young girl dressed in waitress garb asked suddenly appearing at their table.

"Not sure at the moment," Elizabeth answered. "How about just two cups of coffee for right now?"

"Sure thing." The girl returned immediately and sat two steaming mugs of black coffee before them.

"Thanks," Elizabeth smiled.

For a few minutes the pair sat in silence. Jason lost in his own thoughts and Elizabeth trying to gauge how she was supposed to start this rather delicate conversation. Absently she circled the rim of her cup with her finger stopping for a moment as each thought popped into her head and then quickly discarded. Finally Elizabeth decided to just take the bull by the horns knowing deep down there would never be any easy way to bring this up to Jason. "So," she began, "are you ever going to tell me what you and Jake talked about yesterday?"

Jason looked up at her knowing full well his reprieve from her inquisition would end at some point but that didn't make him any the more ready to deal with it. Not daring to meet her intent stare he continued gazing into the depths of his black coffee.

"Jason," she prodded. "Don't you think it's about time we talk about this?"

"No," he said curtly.

"Jason." She tried not to whine since she did sympathize with what he was going through yet she knew deep down that he had to deal with this head on or spend the rest of his life guilt ridden and hating himself.

"What Elizabeth?" he countered her with his own cross tone.

"You know what. We came here so you could get the answers you needed from Jake. Did you? Was he able to help you understand what caused your dad's accident?"

"Nothing's changed."

"What do you mean nothing's changed?"

"I mean nothing's changed. I'm responsible…"

"That's what Jake said? He said you were the cause of your father's crash?" she cut him off.

"I'm not doing this with you," he said as he stood up from the table. "We need to get ready in case there is a standby flight for us today."

"Jason," she called after him yet that didn't stop his retreating form. "Damn," she said under her breath. Leaning back against the dark vinyl bench she crossed her arms over her chest. There was no way she would ever believe that the conversation between the two men yesterday confirmed Jason's worst fears. In all honesty she had to wonder even if Jake had given Jason concrete proof of his innocence in it all if the younger man would have believed it. Somehow Jason had convinced himself of his culpability and there was no changing that. Well Elizabeth was having none of it. Fishing through her purse she pulled out her cell phone dialed information and decided that if Mohammad wouldn't go to the mountain then it was about time the mountain came to Mohammad. "Yes, a listing for Alison Morgan, please."

Elizabeth snapped her phone closed and laid it on the table in front of her. After talking to Jake she was glad she had called him. She had been right all along. Jason hadn't been responsible in any way for Erik Morgan's accident all those years ago. He was just being too stubborn to listen to reason. She was more determined than ever now to get him to understand that. She just hoped that what she had just set in motion wouldn't backfire on her and Jake both. She left a sizeable tip on the table before heading back to the room she and Jason were sharing.

"Hey," she said softly closing the door behind her. "You get us a flight?" She watched Jason hurriedly packing what little he had brought with him.

"We're still on stand by."

"What's the rush then?" she questioned looking at her watch anxiously. "We might not even get a flight today," she stated trying not to sound hopeful about that fact. The last thing she wanted to do was leave Texas without getting this whole mess resolved.

"We're getting on a flight today!" Jason stressed. "I don't care if we have to make a dozen connections we are out of here!"

Elizabeth looked back over her shoulder at the door and then back at Jason. Jake certainly was going to have his work cut out for him. "Jason," she began but he cut her off.

"Are you going to pack your stuff or should I do it for you?" he asked agitated.

"I'll do it myself, thanks." She tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. She knew full well that Jason wasn't himself and he hadn't been since this whole nightmare began weeks ago so Elizabeth did her best to cut him some slack even though every inch of her wanted to slap some sense into him.

Slowly Elizabeth went to work at gathering up her belongings and placing them methodically in her suitcase. She held her breath when the sound of knocking on the door permeated the deathly quiet room.

"You about ready?" Jason asked heading for the door sure it was the bell hop there to take their bags down to the front desk.

"In a minute," Elizabeth answered without looking up.

"Just leave them at the desk…" Jason began but stopped short when he came face to face with Jake Russell.

"Leaving so soon?" the older man asked taking note of the luggage sitting on the floor.

All Jason was able to do was stare between Elizabeth and Jake with bewilderment on his face. He so didn't want to do this again. For him there was no need to rehash what he already knew. Nothing Jake said was going to change his mind and he suddenly resented Elizabeth for sticking her nose in where he didn't think it belonged.

"I can't let you leave until we talk son," Jake said making his way into the room much to Jason chagrin.

"There's nothing left to say," Jason countered while his ice blue eyes narrowed shooting daggers in Elizabeth's direction.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," she said meekly suddenly feeling more than a little awkward and a bit guilty for the ambush she just set upon Jason even if it had been for his own good.

Gently Jake pressed his hand on Elizabeth's passing shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. He knew that she was feeling uncomfortable about calling him but Jake like her knew it was the right thing to do. "I can't let you leave like this Jason," Jake began.

"That's too bad. I'm leaving on the first flight I can get," Jason said harshly.

"Not until I make you understand that nothing you did caused your father's accident. NOTHING – NOT A DAMN THING!"

"It's all there in black and white, Jake!" Jason said tossing the folder he carried with him from North Carolina at the man who had been like a father to him for years now. "Facts don't lie!"

"I'm not disputing the facts. A faulty part caused Erik's accident. Do you hear me a faulty part not the mechanic who installed it," Jake's voice rose an octave. He suddenly felt as though he were beating his head against the wall in all of this. "How the hell were you supposed to know that that tie rod was flawed? I mean jesus Jason, you have some special talent for gauging the strength of steel I don't know about?"

"I should have been more careful. I should have gone over it all before I let my dad get in that car," Jason choked back his anguish.

"We both went over that car with a fine tooth comb Jason. Just like we did before every other race. Neither one of us caught anything out of the ordinary when it came to that suspension part! If you are responsible then so am I!"

Logically what Jake said made sense and for a split second Jason was silenced but then the voices in his head the ones that wouldn't let go of his guilt took over. "Yeah but I was the one who installed the part. I should have known something was off."

"Damn it Jason! Your dad took a million practice runs after you replaced that tie rod. Don't you remember? Even Erik never felt anything wrong with the way the car handled. And you know from experience if something had been off he would have known it and said something. He didn't! What happened was an accident plain and simple," Jake stressed beyond frustrated.

Jason dropped his body heavily onto the bed and let out an aggravated sigh. He was tired of it all. Tired of fighting with Jake, tired of arguing with Elizabeth but most of all just plain exhausted from thinking about nothing else than this for the last several weeks.

"Son," Jake started as he joined Jason on the edge of the bed. "Stop torturing yourself. Stop burying yourself under blame that's undeserved. This is the last thing Erik would want you to do. Your dad loved you and he trusted you with his life…"

"Yeah and look where that got him," Jason interjected.

"STOP IT! You aren't responsible for what happened out on the track all those years ago. It was a defective suspension part and nothing more." Jason covered his face with his hands and wished he could just disappear. "You are no more to blame for a part you had no control over than I was when the ball joint let loose on your car. You remember that race? The one where you went spinning out of control and lucky for us you ended up in the infield, it could have ended differently Jason. You could have taken a header into the wall or god forbid crashed into the other cars out on the track. Do you remember that? Do you?" Jake pressed as Jason sat silent beside him remembering that event very clearly. It had been in his early days of racing and he recalled thinking as he was spinning out of control that the angel of his father must have been sitting on his shoulder when he landed in the grass of the infield completely unharmed.

"Yes," he finally answered.

"And do you remember what you said to me when we tore your car apart to find out what happened?" Jason turned and looked at him. He honestly didn't recall anything that he might have said that had been years ago. "When we figured out the ball joint pretty much imploded, you looked at me holding the pieces in your hands and said well doesn't this just suck?"

Suddenly that memory popped into Jason's head and he did remember holding the part in his hand and joking about how something so small going wrong could cause so much damage. "I remember," he said though he never looked at Jake as he spoke.

"So do you blame me for what happened back then?"

"NO!" Jason said as if Jake had just asked him the most stupid question he had ever heard.

"Then why are you blaming yourself? The situations are no different."

"They are entirely different!" Jason countered.

"The only difference I see was the outcome," Jake said. "And as unpleasant as it to think about Jason, you as easily could have died that day as your father did. Every time you get into that race car you could die. You know that as well as your father did. And that realization never stopped either one of you from doing what you love and what you are great at."

"I don't want to do it anymore."

"Why? Why are you going to throw it all away? You have worked so hard to achieve all you have and you know damn well that Erik would have been so very proud of you. Why are you just willing to let it all go?"

"I can't look at myself in the mirror, Jake. I can't stand to see the face that looks back at me. I can't get out of my head the crash and how and why it happened. I can't get past that I feel responsible!" Jason's voice came out in a strangled cry. "I don't think I can get back in my car again."

"Yes, you can," Jake stated firmly. "You have to if for no one else but your father. Erik wouldn't want this for you! He knew the risks Jason just like you do. That never stopped him and he wouldn't want this to stop you. We've all felt guilt Jase, guilt for things we thought we could control but see the funny thing is we don't have control over anything. I truly believe what's meant to be will be. It sucks that your dad died. I miss him everyday. He was my best friend. But I have to believe that there was a reason for it even if I don't understand it. But what I do know is that the reason wasn't so that you would carry around this guilt for the rest of your life."

"Why didn't you ever tell me about what caused the accident?"

"Honestly Jason, I never much thought about. We were all dealing with our grief and trying so hard to just live each day I didn't think about it. And when I finally did it didn't much matter. The way I saw it, it was just an accident caused by faulty part we had no control over. And by that time you had made your decision to race and well Jase, you looked human again and the selfish side of me didn't want to reopen old wounds. I just didn't see the need. I'm sorry."

Jason turned and looked at Jake for a long time just sitting there starring at him as if he were digesting all that he had been told. And the older man just sat there looking back at him with love in his eyes. Jake knew how hard all of this was on Jason. It was as though he was reliving that fateful day all over again and as horrible as it had been the first time around Jake could only imagine the pain added to it when Jason truly believed he had been the cause of it all.

"I don't know what else to say to convince you, Jason," Jake finally spoke. "I can't make you race. I can't make you feel differently about what did or didn't cause your dad's accident. All I can say is I love you, boy. I always have and as much as it pains me to say this I will back whatever decision you make," Jake said with a heavy heart.

The soft knocking on the door caused both of them to look up as Elizabeth tentatively entered the room. She could no longer stay away she needed to know what was happening behind the closed door. "Can I come in?" she asked softly.

"Sure thing sweetie," Jake said with a broad smile. Elizabeth Ryan held a special place in his heart.

"Is everything okay?" she questioned leery to met Jason's gaze. She was sure he was angry with her for forcing his hand and calling Jake. But in her heart she knew she had done the right thing. She couldn't let Jason continue beating himself without at least trying to help.

Jake turned to Jason knowing he was the one who needed to answer her question. He was the only one who knew if indeed things were going to be okay.

"I think we're getting there," Jason said as Jake's persistent stare prodded him to speak.

Elizabeth came forward and hugged Jason tightly letting out a relieved sigh. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I just didn't know what else to do. I couldn't let you leave without getting this resolved in some way," she smiled.

"I know I should be mad at you," Jason said trying very hard to cover his emerging smile yet the way she felt with her arms wrapped around him made him feel good. "But thank you. Thank you for believing in me."

"Always," she said laying her head against his chest.

Suddenly Jake felt out of place standing in the room with them. It was obvious that the pair had turned some invisible corner in their relationship and that made Jake extremely happy. Jason deserved happiness as did Elizabeth and he was certain the two had found that in one another.

"Can I interest the two of you in dinner tonight?" Jake asked reminding the pair that he was still in the room. Jason and Elizabeth looked between themselves and back at Jake. "Well? That is unless you two have something special planned alone," Jake winked at the two of them suddenly make them both jump back as if they had just been singed by a hot coal.

"Dinner sounds good," Elizabeth said quickly gathering her composure.

"Jason?" Jake turned to him.

"I don't know. We are on the stand by list for any available flight today," he stated. Jason was still a little on the uneasy side about being in Texas – especially spending any amount of time with his mother. And while he was slowly coming around to the idea that he wasn't responsible for his father's accident, Jason wasn't sure he had the wear withal to stand an evening facing Alison Morgan.

"You saying you don't actually have tickets for a flight home today?" Jake asked.

"No we don't," Elizabeth interjected.

"Then what's the problem? We'll get you a flight that leaves tomorrow and tonight we go out to a nice dinner," Jake announced and the tone in his voice told Jason the older man wouldn't be talking no for an answer. "Did you bring any nice clothes, boy?" Jake joked slapping Jason on the shoulder.

"What do you think?" Jason retorted.

"See that's the problem. Do you own anything that isn't grease stained?" Jake laughed.

"Yes!" Jason scoffed.

"Then I say you show me. I'll make all the arrangements and call you. See you both tonight."

Elizabeth stopped Jake as he headed toward the door. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed his scruffy cheek. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

"No sweetie, thank you." He returned her gentle peck on the cheek. "See you both tonight."

Jason and Elizabeth watched the door close behind him and were left alone again in the room both consumed with their own thoughts of getting through what they were sure would be an arduous evening with Alison Morgan.