Jason stopped and watched as Elizabeth's petite frame raced by him. Instantly he was filled an all consuming feeling that she needed him and didn't even have to look at her to know she was crying. Quickly wiping his hands on a nearby rag he set off following her. "Elizabeth," he called. "Elizabeth," he yelled again as she disappeared between the bleachers lining the practice track.

He took a few steps through the gate and walked between the metal stands until they opened revealing the track. It was quiet and he could hear Elizabeth's soft cries echoing in the distance. He turned his head and caught sight of her sitting high in the stands. His steps faltered for a moment unsure what he was supposed to do or to say. The only thing he knew was he wanted to wrap her up in his arms and take away all of her pain. Putting one foot in front of the other he made his way to the stairs and began climbing them one at a time. The sound of his heavy boots against the metal treads caused Elizabeth to look up. Her tear stained face broke his heart. "Can I sit?" he asked. She only shrugged her shoulders before moving a bit allowing him to join her. "What happened back there?"

"Nothing," she said wiping her eyes with the tips of her fingers. She hated Jason seeing her cry. She hated when anyone saw her that way. Elizabeth prided herself in being able to keep most of her emotions in check – except that of anger. She had been known to have a short fuse and at times that worked to her advantage.

Jason most definitely knew it wasn't nothing that had caused the tears in her eyes but he sat silently beside her not sure of what to say next. In many ways he was still feeling his way around her and just wasn't sure what he should do in this situation. "You sure?" he finally muttered.

"I'm sure," she replied without looking at him. She knew if she did that the tears would start all over again and she didn't want that.

"Okay," he said.

For the longest time the two of them sat in silence both lost in their own thoughts starring out across the practice track. Finally Jason reached out and took her hand in his squeezing it slightly. That simple gesture brought a lump to Elizabeth throat and tears to her eyes once more. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" he asked without turning to look at her. "You can tell me what happened back there with your dad if you want to."

Part of her wanted to. She wanted to spill every awful detail about her life but old habits for Elizabeth died hard. Even when it came to Melanie, a person she had known for the better part of her life, there was part of herself that Elizabeth kept closed off and her tumultuous relationship with her father happened to be one of those things. Who wanted to admit out loud that their own father wished that they had never been born or would have rather they had died instead of the woman he loved? Who wanted to relive every awful moment from childhood, adolescence and even adulthood when it came to their relationship with their dad? She certainly didn't.

"If anyone, I know a little something about difficult parents," he said softly. "Who knows I just might be able to help."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile for a second. Jason was certainly right when he said that. How had the both of them ended up with the lot of parents they had? Neither Pat Ryan nor Alison Morgan could have been called great parents. Both had run from their children, in very different ways, but run just the same. In some ways Elizabeth wondered if perhaps Jason wasn't better off with his mother half way across the country in Texas rather than starring him down the way her father always seemed to be doing with her. "Thanks, but I'm okay, really," she assured him.

Jason wasn't all that convinced. "Elizabeth," he said placing his free hand against her cheek and forcing her to look at him. The minute he did that he saw the unshed tears still hanging on the edge of her thick lashes. "Let me be there for you the way you were there for me."

"It's just Pat Ryan being Pat Ryan," she said finally. "I shouldn't be shocked. And I shouldn't have let him get to me."

"It's obvious he did," Jason agreed. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes honestly."

"I don't know. I really don't know anymore."

Easily Jason drew her body closer to his and draped his arm over her shoulder. "You can tell me if you want to but you don't have to. What happened back there?"

"Years of bottled up emotions happened. So many unsaid things happened. Not that it mattered really he never hears me. I could scream it from the roof tops and all my dad would care about is if his reputation had been sullied. My feelings wouldn't matter."

Jason's heart broke more and more as Elizabeth continued talking, spilling years of anguish she had bottled up inside of her. He listened in horror how as a child she was left with one person or another as Pat was off pursuing his dreams of racing. Elizabeth talked about how much she missed the mother she never knew and how Pat refused to even show her a picture of the woman who had given birth to her. Colleen Ryan was a taboo subject in the Ryan house. Jason couldn't imagine never knowing his father much less having his mother basically hide her memories of him under lock and key the way that Pay Ryan had done from Elizabeth.

She continued on with how she found the being part of the racing scene afforded a little time with her father. How her love of the track and the energy of it all was finally when she became more than just a burden to her father. She could turn a wrench with his best mechanics and was like a little sister to many drivers on his team. She loved it all and the fact that her father then acknowledged her was icing on the cake for Elizabeth.

"Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this than just childhood wounds?" Jason asked not wanting to push but something in Elizabeth's voice told him she was holding something back.

Elizabeth closed her eyes for a second trying to gather her thoughts. She couldn't believe all that she had told Jason about her life in such a short period of time. But the idea of discussing what started the argument with her father scared her to death. How was she supposed to tell him that her father wanted to know was happening between them? If she dared say it out loud that would force them to have to address it themselves and that was the last thing she wanted. "He's just worried about something stupid," she eventually said.

"Stupid?"

"He thinks that our friendship is going to hurt your racing," she blurted out.

"What? That's crazy! What's my friendship with you got to do with my ability to race?" Jason pulled back and gave her a quizzical look.

"You can thank Billy for that."

"Weston, what's Weston got to do with any of this?"

"I'm sure you've heard Billy and I used to date."

"Yeah," Jason agreed nonchalantly wondering if maybe now he just might get some answers to the questions that had been floating around in his head for some time now.

"My dad practically had us married at one point. Hell so did I," she added. "Unfortunately Billy had other ideas."

"What? He didn't want to get married?" Jason couldn't believe that anyone in their right mind wouldn't want to marry Elizabeth. She was a beautiful woman inside and out and he would have been lucky if she wanted to share her life with him.

"Let's just say that Billy isn't the most faithful of guys. He cheated on me Jason. I found him in bed with someone else. It was an out of state race. I wasn't able to go. I couldn't get out of a board meeting at the hospital but when I saw that he had won the feature I caught the red eye out and wanted to surprise him and join his celebration. It was me who got the surprise. I opened the door to his hotel room to find him shacked up with Theresa Kennedy."

The name Theresa Kennedy wasn't lost on Jason. She had done her best to slither her way around him from time to time. He knew now that he had been right on the mark when he pegged her as nothing more than a racewhore. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "But I still don't get what Billy's being an ass has to do with us being friends." It took all Jason had to say the word friends when he knew deep down he wanted so much more.

"It really doesn't but the way Billy spun our break up has my dad thinking I'm going do the same thing to you."

"Do what to me?"

"Tell you to choose between me and racing."

"What? You won't do something like that. Hell you love racing. Doesn't your dad know that by now?"

Elizabeth turned and gave Jason a soulful look. He hadn't known her for but a mere few months and he knew more about her than her own father did. "You would think," she agreed. "I guess it was just easier to believe Billy. Especially when I wasn't saying any different."

"What do you mean you weren't saying any different? Are you telling me you didn't tell your father what a prick Billy was or how you found him in bed with another woman?"

"No, I didn't."

"Why the hell not?" Jason didn't understand that in the least bit.

"Cause first off I was humiliated, Jason. I thought Billy loved me. I thought we would have a life together and then I find out it's all a cruel joke. And I couldn't take the chance that my dad would choose him over me. That he would find some way to rationalize Billy's infidelity away so that he wouldn't lose his star. So I kept my mouth shut."

"Oh Elizabeth," Jason wrapped his arms around her tightly. He couldn't even begin to fathom the hell she had been living through. "Honey, I'm so sorry. You deserve so much more than the likes of an ass like Weston."

"It's over. I can't change it now. My dad believes what he wants to and me well I've moved on."

Jason had to wonder if she really had moved on like she said. He couldn't imagine it being as easy as she claimed it to be. And deep down he had to wonder if that's not why she guarded herself and her heart so tightly.

Billy stood across the infield watching the interaction between Elizabeth and Jason the entire time it had been taking place. Each time Jason hugged her or wrapped his arms around her Billy's fury grew. It was bad enough that Morgan was trying to upstage him on the track but now he thought he could waltz in and take something that rightfully belonged to him.

Elizabeth Ryan had been his before Jason Morgan had even been a blip on the Ryan Racing radar screen and Billy wasn't about to sit by and allow him to think he had a snowball's chance in hell of replacing him in Elizabeth's heart. Billy knew that given enough finesse and the right words he could have Elizabeth once more. And that's exactly what he intended on doing.

Tom stormed away from the practice track his vision filled with the sight of Elizabeth cradled in Jason's arms. Every muscle in his body was rigid as his anger grew to fierce proportions. He had had enough. Had had enough of Jason always coming out on top. He didn't care anymore that they had been friends since high school. He didn't care what Jason had lost in his life. Tom had lost things too and most of them had been at the hands of his supposed friend. He wasn't about to lose Elizabeth. It was time that he fought for what he wanted instead of laying down and playing dead.

The quiet around him enveloped Pat. There he stood standing alone trying like hell to figure out what had just happened. How had a simple question on his part turned into a raging argument on subjects he had thought long closed? God would he ever understand his daughter? Pat had his doubts. If God had to have taken his wife why hadn't he at least given him a son? A son he would have been able to understand. A son he could have molded into his likeness. But a daughter, especially one as quick tempered as Elizabeth well that was a lost cause for Pat.

He walked into his office and closed the door softly behind him. He suddenly felt exhausted and very much alone. Tentatively he rested his hand on the bottom desk drawer. Wishing so much that his dear Colleen were alive so she could tell him what to do. Reaching inside the drawer Pat pulled out a picture of his late wife. He stared at it for a moment totally taken in by how beautiful she had been – how much Elizabeth looked just like her. Pat sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I miss you," he whispered. "And oh how I need you right now." He laid his hands against the glass and stroked her cheek as though she was sitting there next to him.

"I don't know what to do with Elizabeth. She's a grown woman now Colleen. She's a spitfire alright. She's beautiful – the spitting image of you. But I don't know where I went wrong with her. I didn't know what to do with a child. You were supposed to be here to help me. You were supposed to be here to clean her scraped knees, to talk to her about life – all I knew was racing. What the hell do I know about raising a child? God how I miss you!" Pat let a sob escape his lips. "I tried not to blame her. I tried to be logical – tried to listen to what the doctors said, that they did all they could to save you, but it didn't matter. None of that mattered you were gone." Pat laid his head on the desk Colleen's picture beneath his cheek and cried for the woman he loved and lost and the daughter he never really allowed himself to love.