Billy turned into the employee lot of the hospital instantly sad that he would be losing his close proximity to Elizabeth in a matter of minutes. It wasn't as though their time together had been anything but strained. Elizabeth hadn't spoken nor had she looked in his direction after agreeing to have him take her back to the hospital. Yet for Billy that didn't much matter. She was in his car and she was with him. In his mind that was a start, a start he had every intention of building on.
Easily he found her car at the back of the lot and pulled up alongside of it. Before Billy could say a word Elizabeth opened the door and jumped out of the car as quickly as she had jumped in.
"What no, thank you?" he asked. His question was met with a reverberating thud as she slammed the passenger side door shut. He was just about to dump the tranny in reverse when he heard Jason Morgan's voice calling Elizabeth's name from across the parking lot. Suddenly the idea of leaving was far less appealing.
Neither Melanie, Leo or Jason could believe their eyes as they looked across the parking lot at Elizabeth exiting Billy Weston's car. Leo and Melanie could have sworn they were having the same nightmare. What the hell was Elizabeth doing with Weston of all people?
For a moment Jason was stymied by the sight playing out in front of him. He had to look again to believe that Elizabeth had actually just gotten out of Billy's car. He felt every muscle in his body go rigid and heard his heart beat in his ears. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He never once expected that he would find her with Billy of all people. His thoughts wound their way to that night at the bar after the feature in Bristol when Billy had thought manhandling her was something he could get away with. Jason felt his body start to shake as he imagined what Billy had done to get her to go with him.
"Elizabeth!" Jason's piercing voice split the still night air. "Elizabeth! Elizabeth wait!" he yelled sprinting across the lot when he realized that she had no intention of turning and stopping. That only made him run faster fearing the worst when she wouldn't look at him. God help Weston if he had hurt in any way.
Leo and Melanie followed suit just as Billy exited the drivers' side of his car.
"Elizabeth, stop!" Jason said reaching for her hand as she tried in vain to turn the key in the car door. The instant he touched her she wanted to melt but she stopped herself bringing a collage of images of him with Theresa to the forefront of her mind. "Stop," he instructed once more. "Did he hurt you?" Jason shot daggers in Billy's direction.
"What?!" she finally turned and looked at him. "He's not the one who hurt me!" she announced incredulously.
"Please let me explain," Jason requested knowing full well she was talking about him. "It's not at all what you are thinking."
"There's nothing to explain and for the record it's exactly what I am thinking! If you'll excuse me I have somewhere I need to be," she said finally getting her hands and key to work in unison giving her access to her means of escape.
Jason wasn't about to let her leave that easily. He held the door open forcing her to look at him as she tried to pull the heavy door closed. "We need to talk," he said leaning in closer.
Elizabeth wasn't about to crack. She didn't want to talk anymore. History had a way of repeating itself and this go round she didn't want to make the pages of another history book. "Like I said I have somewhere I need to be. If you don't mind," she tugged at the door once more.
"I think the lady wants to leave," Billy's voice came out of nowhere as he approached the pair very much enjoying the show. The tension between those two was palpable and Billy was loving every minute of it. He still didn't know exactly what had happened to send Elizabeth from the bar and into the front seat of his car but he had a pretty good idea it had something to do with a fight between her and Morgan and he had every intention of lapping that up.
"Weston if you know what's good for you, you'll mind your own damn business," Jason barked.
"What if I am making this my business?" Billy countered cock sure of himself.
"Elizabeth stopped being your business when you let the likes of Theresa Kennedy crawl into your bed!" Leo shot back from the sidelines. He wanted to rip Billy's head off. "Get the fuck out of here already! No one needs or wants you here!"
"Is that true Elizabeth?" Billy asked ignoring the glaring eyes of all those around him staring intently into her clear azure eyes. Inching his way closer to her he continued speaking. "I don't have to leave if you don't want me to."
"Do you have a death wish?" Leo pronounced as he watched Jason clench his fists at his side the veins in his arms bulging the tighter his fist got.
"I'm pretty sure I was talking to Elizabeth," Billy smiled inwardly loving every minute of the doubt he saw passing over Morgan's features at the fact that Elizabeth hadn't immediately sent him away. Morgan might have beat him on the track that afternoon but Billy certainly felt he was winning right now and damn it felt good.
"Elizabeth, can we please go somewhere and talk?" Jason implored doing what he could to not let Billy goad him anymore than he already had but that was proving to be quite difficult.
"I'm not going anywhere with anyone!" Elizabeth shot back suddenly feeling like she couldn't breathe. "Now get the hell out of my way before I run you all over!" She yanked hard on the door slamming it leaving the pack of them standing in her dust as she whipped her souped up Chevelle out of its resting place high tailing it out of the parking lot as fast as the engine would take her.
Jason wasted no time heading back to his truck with Leo and Melanie at his heels. "Hey man wait a sec," Leo said placing hand on the truck door before Jason had been able to open it.
"Wait for what? I have to talk to her. I have to explain."
"Trust me, she's going to hear you right now." Leo knew his longtime friend all too well and there was no way in hell after the way she sped out of the parking lot she would be listening to anyone at that moment.
"I can't just do nothing," Jason offered letting his shoulders drop as he let out a heavy sigh.
"You're going to have to," Melanie declared. "Leo's right. Liz isn't going to listen to you, to any of us right now. She just needs some time." Melanie wasn't sure how much she believed that statement. Personally she had her own fears about leaving Elizabeth alone right now and the fact that Liz had shown up with Billy Weston of all people wasn't helping matters.
"And if I can't," Jason responded.
"Let's just say it's not going to end well," Leo announced. "In fact it will probably just do more harm than good. Just give her some space man."
The idea of giving Elizabeth space – Jason wasn't sure if he could actually do that. Every nerve in his body screamed to go after her, even when he knew that Leo and Melanie were probably right. He had firsthand knowledge of what happened when Elizabeth was pushed. She just ran faster and further away. That was the last thing Jason wanted.
"Go home. Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's another day."
"If you hadn't noticed it is tomorrow," Melanie said pointing to the watch on her wrist that read 2:15 in the morning.
"Shit, no wonder I'm tired. You should be too." Leo said to Jason. The feature that day while long forgotten had had both of them out at the track at the crack of dawn. It wouldn't be long before they would both be up for twenty-four hours.
Jason was anything but tired. In fact, he felt wired and knew sleep was the last thing on his mind. "I'm fine."
"Go home man. Everything is going to work out."
Jason climbed into his truck turning the key in the ignition his mind filled with doubt that what Leo said held any truth.
Melanie and Leo watched as the red tail lights of Jason's truck disappeared in the distance both hoping that he would take their advice and allow Elizabeth the space she needed. Neither was sure he would be able to do that though.
"You want to go grab some coffee?" Leo asked turning to look at Melanie.
"I thought you were beat?" she asked.
"I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to. What the hell was Elizabeth doing with Weston?"
"Beats the hell out of me. Honestly I thought she would have preferred to be burned at the stake than be within 100 feet of him."
"Theresa's really pulling out all the stops," Leo stated the obvious. "And damn it isn't Liz playing right into her hands?"
"What do you expect?" Melanie said felling the need to defend her friend. "We both know what an open wound the subject of Theresa is. No matter how much Liz wants to move past it all or how much we think she has, we both know she really hasn't."
"She can't spend the rest of her life letting Theresa Kennedy run the show!" Leo's frustration at his friend was getting the better of him.
"If roles were reversed and you walked in on the woman you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with in bed with another man, a man who had been gunning for you for years now would you have reacted any different?" Melanie asked quite pointedly.
Leo let out a little huff. "I hope I would," he answered but in all honesty he didn't really know what he would do or how he would be acting after the fact.
"We both know that Liz's life has been anything but simple. And we also know that she doesn't think she deserves happiness or to be loved for that matter. Her dad started that ball rolling years ago. And while I know Jason loves her." Leo was a bit surprised to hear Melanie admit that after how she had treated him that evening. "I'm not sure if that love will be enough to fix what's broken in her."
Melanie could have been talking about herself as much as she was Elizabeth. Both girls had lives filled with heartache and disappointments so much so that it tainted almost every area of their lives.
"Elizabeth deserves to be happy," Leo said and almost added so do you. He wasn't blind to the fact that Melanie had her fair share of heartache. He'd been around her enough thanks to Elizabeth to know that Melanie carried her own set of scars even if they were different from Elizabeth's they were scars just the same. "How about that coffee? And maybe some food? I'm starving." Leo took her small hand in his own shocked that she hadn't pulled away and led her to his car.