A/N – Thanks for the comments! Glad you like Epiphany/Jason - hmmm Japiph? Japhany? Piphson? Epison? Jasany? What shall we call them?

Okay, so I'll give you the bad news. Next week, I'm going on vacation from Wednesday through Friday. I'll be on vacay the next Monday too, but I'll be able to post that day. So, I'll post Monday and Tuesday next week and then you have to wait….pout. Sorry.

Chapter 3

Elizabeth scans the area as the hairs on the back of her neck stand. Unable to stop the feeling that someone is following her, she slips into her car and tries to start it. When it won't catch, she hits the steering wheel and then starts her usual routine and begs. "I just need you to hang on a little longer. Can you just do that? I need to get back to Jason."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning the key again. When it finally sputtered and then came to life, she patted the dashboard. "Good girl."

Luckily, Epiphany doesn't live too far. Nervously, she drove for about ten minutes, constantly looking in her rear view mirror, before pulling into a driveway.

Jason heard her and shoved his gun under the couch cushions and then went to the door, opening it before she stepped inside.

"Hey."

She moved past him and put down her purse on the table.

"Why do you look frazzled?"

"Why do you look pale?"

"I asked first."

Standing next to him, she really got a sense of how much bigger he is compared to her small stature. While he's lean, he still towers over her.

"Well, for the last few weeks, I've felt like someone was following me and to make it worse, I felt my ex, who is dead, is around and now my friends think I'm bananas and want me to see a therapist because they think that I'm losing my mind. And then there is my car which is on its last leg. If it were a horse, it would have been shot like ten years ago. I honestly thought that I'd have to walk here."

"Give me your phone."

She stared at him.

"Please…"

She dug it out of her purse and handed it to him and he programmed the number of his burn phone.

"This is not my regular phone, but for the time being, you can reach me on it. If I can't get to you, then call my friend, Johnny O'Brien, and he will. I'll put his number in here too."

"I know Johnny. He's always nice to me at the diner."

Once the task was done, he continued. "What are you feeling when you sense someone is around?"

Her arms are folded across her chest as she unconsciously rubs them. "I don't know. I feel like I catch a glimpse of someone or hear movement. It's subtle, but it's there."

"Elizabeth, if your instincts are telling you that someone is following you, maybe they are." This is putting his senses on alert. "Do you remember if you saw anyone following you in a car?"

"No one was behind me. I was so paranoid that I kept looking, and don't laugh, but I checked the backseat before I got in."

He wants to smile because she is very cute but maintains his composure. "I think that's smart."

"Enough about that, why are you pale? Do you feel okay?"

"I'm tired."

"Let me check your temp."

He is speechless as she climbs next to him and feels his forehead and then presses her face against his having no idea how sexy she is.

She frowns as she stares at him, wondering why his expression is tortured. "You feel a little warm. Did you take the antibiotic this morning?"

"Yeah, Epiphany made me."

Without pretense, she lifts his shirt.

"I think your infection might be a little worse. Did you do anything today?"

"I walked around a little bit and spoke to a friend."

"Maybe you should stay off your feet as much as possible."

He groaned. "I'm starting to hate this living room."

She smiled. "Sorry..." Noticing that his wound is slightly bleeding, she chews on her lip as he watches. "Let me go get the first aid stuff."

When she returned, he held up his shirt as she got to work.

As an artist, she can't help but admire his chest, and as a woman—well, he's not an option. There is no way that someone like Jason would ever want her. "What did it feel like when you were shot?"

"It burned pretty bad and I can stand a lot of pain."

"Because of the accident?" Emily had confided in her about what happened to Jason after the accident.

"Yes."

She carefully removed the gauze and grimaced.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just a little infected."

"Epiphany is going to kill me."

She fought a smirk because of the irony that the enforcer is afraid of her favorite head nurse. "Then we need to get you fixed up by the time she gets back."

"You'd be a good nurse," Jason said.

"You think so?"

He nodded.

"You're patient and nice." She's beautiful too, but way too good for him. There is no way someone like her would want to be with him. It would probably end badly like his relationship with Robin.

"Thank you, Jason."

She finished cleaning the wound and bandaged it. "This is taking a long time to heal."

"Epiphany thinks I should have seen a doctor."

"Why didn't you?"

"At the time, I was upset and just didn't care."

They stared for a long moment.

"You didn't care if you died?" Her voice is soft and her eyes—they conveyed that she knows what nothingness feels like and that made him angry that she had been in that space.

He shook his head.

"Why?"

"I was tired of people hurting me, of burying my feelings that I'm not even supposed to have. What did I have left?"

"You have Lila and Emily."

"They are there, but I really can't be a part of their lives without putting them in danger." He feels guilty for needing them and every time he visits, the pain of the situation eats him alive.

"What if they are willing to take the risk?"

He doesn't answer her, choosing instead to close his eyes, missing them more than he cares to admit.

"I'm sorry if I pried."

"I—I'm not always good with words." How does he even explain his feelings when he doesn't understand them himself?

She fiddled with the supplies. "I think you do just fine and I understand how it feels to not care."

His eyes shot open. "Who hurt you?"

There is an equal about of disgust and indignation in his voice, completely surprising her that he is being protective.

"He's in jail."

"You didn't answer me."

"His name is Tom Baker and he raped me when I was sixteen." She can't even believe she just blurted it out like that. It's something she doesn't normally bring up or talk about, especially with someone she barely knows, but for some reason, he puts her at ease which gives her pause.

He made a mental note to ask Stan to check on the guy and make sure he's still in jail. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it was one of the worst days of my life."

"You said one of."

"The other was when my boyfriend died in a fire."

His hand had made its way to her arm and he moved his finger back and forth to soothe her. "How did you meet?"

"I had a crush on Lucky and he asked me to the Valentine's Day dance and then reneged that night when my sister suddenly became available."

Jason tries to hide his anger but isn't successful.

"Yeah…I know. I went to the park, which was stupid because it was dark and I was alone, but I needed to think and someone attacked me and dragged me behind some bushes and Lucky found me. He took me home and I took a shower and then he stayed with me."

"You didn't go to the hospital?"

She shook her head. "That was my big mistake because Tom escaped prosecution. He stalked Emily later and they caught him and put him away."

Jason is livid. Sometimes, he had to leave town to handle business and clearly, that had gone down on one of his trips. Now, the talk he had overheard between her and Epiphany made more sense.

Realizing, he had worked himself up, she touches his face. "It's okay. I'm fine now."

"What you told me will never be okay."

Her eyes slightly fill with tears. "Thank you for caring."

"You didn't deserve that. No, means no..."

"I blamed myself for a long time because I shouldn't have gone out alone."

"He is sick and twisted. It wasn't your fault." He couldn't imagine doing that to anyone, let alone a teenager.

"I moved on the best I could. I know I'm only nineteen, but it seems like a long time ago. For the first year, he stuck by me and eventually, Lucky and I fell in love and then the next year he died. I finally found some happiness and it was taken away."

He ignored any discomfort from the wound and pulled her beside him.

"I'm fine, Jason."

"Humor me because I'm not."

She sighed and put her head on his arm. "I hate fire. It just—" Her body shudders. "I had nightmares about him burning alive, calling my name and I couldn't do a thing about it."

"And I thought my life sucked."

She grinned. "Oh, what happened to you sucked big time, but look at you. After not remembering your life, you fought and then made a new one for yourself. That has got to count for something."

"We're survivors." The shitty lot they had drawn thus far in life has already bonded them. He is determined to make sure that nobody hurts her again.

"Yes, we are."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask Johnny to keep an eye on you when you work the late shift."

"I'm fine, Jason. It's probably my mind playing tricks on me."

He doesn't necessarily agree. "You won't even know he's there."

She chuckled.

"What?"

"Have you seen him? I mean, he's so tall and muscular, I can't imagine not noticing him."

A flicker of jealousy caught him off guard. "Do you like him?"

She laughed at his tone which had risen a few decibels higher. "No, not in that way. Why did you and Carly really split up?" Since the fire, she had never thought about being with Johnny or anyone else for that matter.

"I was dating someone else. Robin taught me how to love and feel love again when all I had known was anger. It was back when I didn't know that it was bad to cheat and just did what I wanted. Once, I knew it was wrong, I stopped and then Carly ended up sleeping with my brother and got pregnant and when it was time to have the baby, she left him with me. AJ didn't know he was the father and I agreed to watch Michael and it ended up being a year. She had post-partum."

"That's horrible."

"It was bad. When she came back, she started manipulating things and took Michael away from me, saying I kidnapped him."

"That bitch!"

"Exactly… I loved him and it hurt me when she took him away. Anyway, I eventually forgave her and she made it known that she wanted me back. I thought that I loved her, but I really don't think that I did now. She was constantly telling me that I did and that we were good and I think I was just going through the motions." Epiphany had helped him see that. She also implied that maybe his love for Michael, which was pure, was why he had tried to overlook her transgressions. "When Sonny got wind of it, according to him, he wanted to prove to me that Carly was not good for me and slept with her. I had gone to a business meeting and was ambushed. I went to his place to let him know what happened and to get some help and caught them together, so I left without telling them I was hurt and collapsed in the snow. Epiphany found me and the rest is history."

"I'm so sorry."

"I don't like people making decisions for me or lying to me."

"I can understand that."

"I can't believe we've shared so much." The only other person he feels safe to vent like this with is Epiphany. He didn't talk about it with Lila or Emily because it kind of embarrassed him. While he does confide in Johnny sometimes, he is still a little guarded when he does.

Liz yawned and slightly smiled. "Maybe it was meant to be that we are friends."

"That would be nice. I don't have many."

"Neither do I."

She sighed contently, nodding off. Something had shifted between them and it was very nice.

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

Lucky stared at his grave. It's an odd thing to read your name etched in stone above a mound of dirt. Everyone thinks he's dead and because he doesn't have many memories of the night of the fire, he's not sure how Helena kidnapped him and whose body is lying in the ground beneath his feet.

He unconsciously sticks his hands in his pockets, but it does nothing to stave off the chill. His mind went to the last time he had seen Elizabeth. God, he had longed to see her every day that he had been held captive. She's still so beautiful. Every time he follows and then watches her, he finds something new to love and then a sharp pain pierces his skull, reminding him that his thoughts are not his own anymore. Soon, he'll reveal himself and will do his queen's bidding. She had made it quite clear that his mission comes first and that she'd harm Elizabeth if he didn't complete it. The only way for him to be able to reclaim his life is to follow through with it, even though he never thought he'd ever take someone's life.

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

Elizabeth woke up with start and realizes she is laying next to Jason on the couch. The heat from his body is warming hers and it's tempting to stay put, but she is worried that he won't be comfortable.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Sorry that I fell asleep on you." She moves to a sitting position. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

She stands and tries to tell herself that the gorgeous man on the couch has no effect on her, but it's so far from the truth. Quickly busying herself in the kitchen, she makes some sandwiches and grabs some fruit and puts them on the table. "Can you sit here?"

"I think so." He pushes himself up and after getting a little dizzy he pauses to give his body time to adjust and then slowly moves inside the other room.

"You're getting worse."

"I'll be okay." He sits heavily onto the chair and Elizabeth makes sure he is situated before sitting.

"I have a night shift tomorrow night. Maybe Johnny can check on you in the evening?"

"I'll make it happen." He doesn't want her to miss work for him. "Did Carly come in again?"

She averts her gaze. "Yes."

"What happened?" He's starting to learn when she's hiding something. It's just the way her energy shifts and how she won't look him in the eye. Sometimes, she even bites her lip.

"Nothing, Jason, it's not important."

"It is to me."

"She bumped me and some milk spilled on me, but I cleaned it up fast."

Jason rolled his eyes. "That wasn't an accident."

Her head tilted up. "Are you spying on me?"

He wiped his mouth. "No. Carly doesn't do stuff like that by accident. She's frustrated and took it out on you."

"Out of respect for you, I pretended it was even though I wanted to wipe the smug look off her face."

"Next time, don't respect me regarding Carly. Do what you need to do."

She slightly smiles. "Thanks!" Losing her job is not something she can afford right now, but that doesn't mean that she won't defend herself if necessary. "I applied to nursing school.

"That's great."

"If they accept me, it will take me a little over a year to be a nurse. Epiphany gave me a reference and thinks I should be able to get a scholarship based on my grades from high school and my family. I just have to take a test in a few days and if I ace it, I'm as good as in."

"I'm happy for you."

"I'll probably have to scale back my hours at the diner so I have time to study or switch my shifts to the evening."

"You'll make it work. Lila gives out scholarships as well. Will you let me ask her about it?"

Liz nodded. "Thank you, Jason. I'll take any help I can get." She doesn't want to be a burden to her Grams.

"I'll do it under one condition."

Surprised, she put her napkin down. "What?"

"You promise me you'll still paint and sketch from time to time."

She smiled. "I'll do you one better. I'm going to paint something just for you."

"I would be honored."

After noting how tired he looks, she puts everything away and then helps him get to his room and tucks him into bed. "I'm going to go grab my pad and I'll sit next to you and draw."

By the time she gets back, he's asleep. About two hours later, she comes out of her trance and glances at him and sees that he is sweating.

"Shit…"