Elizabeth practically ran across the room to the elevator, her heart thumping at the sight of him, rugged and unshaven - a sight she'd practically died the last two days without. When she reached him and went to throw her arms gleefully around him, she was shocked when he stepped back, grabbing hold and pushing them slowly down to her side again. Her eyes grew big with devastated wonder.
"Jason! You're alright…thank God…I've been so worried!"
Jason had finally torn his eyes from the corner that took the goddess in soft, buttery blue leather away from him to look down at the woman he'd once thought was his luckiest joy. Where had it all gone?
"Why? I remember calling you so you wouldn't have to."
Brushing off the sting from his hurtful indifference, Elizabeth played the cards still in her pocket, the ones he'd never been able to refuse. "The boys have been asking and asking for you and I had no idea what to tell them. They don't understand, Jason, and I can't explain it myself. They're waiting for you to come home."
Had she always used her children against him this way and he just never noticed it before? What he'd always associated as this huge love for them that she'd incorporated into almost everything with him, was starting to smell an awful lot like expert manipulation.
"If the boys are at home so worried, why aren't you there giving them your attention, instead of here, harassing Sam?"
"Harassing? Did you hear the nasty things she said to me?"
"What I heard was Sam tired of what sounded like you stalking her. I also heard you tell her to get used to raising my son alone…get this one thing straight right now…neither of my sons will ever not have me front and center in their lives ever again. Just because I've been living with Jake doesn't make him more my son than Danny, you got that?"
She couldn't believe he was talking to her this way. He'd been gone for days, and instead of coming home missing them and with a new appreciation of what they had together, he was here scolding her? Taking sides against her? What did that bitch tell him?
"We need to go home, Jason…we can't resolve anything here."
Jason nodded at the only thing she'd said that made any sense to him in a long time. "You're right. You go ahead, I'll meet you there." He moved to go in search of Carly but stopped when she clamped down on his arm.
"You're not coming? Jason, this is important!"
He looked down at the arm restraining him and remembered a time when her touch felt so gentle, so sweet…now it just felt restrictive and controlling. Ushering the calm he'd found alone at the cabin, he kept his voice soft, despite his irritation.
"I came here to see Carly. I'll see you in a few minutes."
He was about to move away from her hold when the need to finish it, washed over him. Turning towards the elevator, he pushed the button instead.
"On second thought, I'll catch up with Carly later. You're right - let's go."
Ignoring the triumphant gleam he caught before she looked away to Sam's table and brightened even more, Jason followed her gaze and his heart skipped a beat. The raven knockout was back and so was her beautiful, radiant smile. She was definitely celebrating - he watched her clink glasses with Maxie as the two beamed at each other, and he wished he was welcome at her table to join in whatever was making her so happy. But what really set his heart beating fast was the sight of the tall stranger who'd stopped at her table, he himself all smiles as he placed a bottle of Carly's topshelf French champagne on the table in front of her. Gritting his teeth in suddenly seething annoyance, Jason got on the elevator and harshly jabbed the ground floor button…before he could follow the instinct to storm over and stomp the fool to the floor. Who the hell was he to think he could liquor up another man's wife?
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"So, you have room for one more?"
Sam and Maxie looked up at the photographer, who just appeared at their table with champagne in hand, then back to each other, both their smiles knowing.
"Ian! What are you doing here?" Maxie looked at the new bottle in front of Sam and giggled at people bringing them liquor becoming a trend that afternoon.
"I dropped in for a bite and wouldn't you know - lady luck smiled on the two most beautiful creatures in the room with an empty bottle…can't have that." He looked pointedly at Sam and grinned wider. "How about it - may I?"
Clearing her throat so she wouldn't laugh out loud at the face Maxie was making behind the last sip that emptied her glass, Sam tucked her hair behind an ear.
"Actually, this is just a private, girls only soiree…but maybe some other time."
"Oh, come on!" He tapped the cork on the bottle in front of her. "I brought the good stuff…let's keep the party going!" He looked to Maxie for reinforcement, but got only a shake of her head.
"We had this talk already…no!"
Still smiling, Ian raised both palms in surrender. "Okay…I'll go…this time." He pointed playfully at Sam, "Definitely not taking no for an answer though. I'll wear you down yet, Samantha." When her eyebrows raised, he nodded his head and corrected himself, "Sam." Then tapping the table lightly, he smiled again and left them alone, passing Carly on her way back.
"Who was that?" Carly watched the stranger leave then looked back to Sam for an answer.
"The creative genius who's putting my life back together." When Carly's mouth fell open in consternation, the friends giggled, then Sam continued, "He's a photographer, Carly. He just took some great shots for my business that will send me soaring back on the map."
"Oh, that's what the celebration's about?" Her face actually fell in disappointment. "I thought you and Jason finally talked." She looked at the elevator and scanned the room when she told them, "Speaking of, security said he was on his way up to see me but that was ten minutes ago. I wonder where he is?"
"Came and left." Sam thought of how good he'd looked with the new stubble, then brushed the thought from her mind and answered Carly's puzzled expression. "He left with his…"
"Not for long - believe me when I tell you that." When Sam looked indifferent, Carly sat beside Maxie and shook her head. "You didn't see him, Sam…we talked and I told him stuff I've been dying to say for months. That bitch hasn't been catching him up on anything at all, just filling his mind with fairytale nonsense that never really happened."
"I don't care, Carly. Jason is a grown man. He was buying Elizabeth's koolaide because it tasted good to him…he wouldn't have stayed if it didn't. But like I told that tart - I don't want to talk about Jason. Today, I'm finally getting something back that means alot to me and I couldn't be happier!"
Carly pointed to the bottle of champagne. "You gonna open this one?"
Maxie pushed her glass forward but Sam looked at her sternly and shook her head. "No! Give it to one of your other patrons…with our compliments!"
Their food arrived and Carly excused herself, leaving the two friends to enjoy a quiet lunch and strategize Sam's next career move.
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Jake dropped the remote control and flew to the door the second it opened, throwing himself into the arms of his father to bury his face in his shirt.
"Dad. You're back!"
"Yah, Jake." Jason hugged his son and squeezed his shoulders, feeling a pang of guilt that he'd made them worry. "I'm always gonna come back, you know that right?"
When he eased his head up and looked at his mom without answering, Jason knew exactly what the look was. Gritting angering teeth, he moved them inside the living room and said hi to Cameron and Aiden, who were still engrossed in the video game until their mother stepped in front of the tv and pressed the button.
"Mom!"
"Boys, your dad's home. Remember how much you missed him the last couple days?"
Cameron knew the drill, having played the role several times before. He closed his eyes and allowed his head to fall back against the couch as Aiden ran to join Jake, still attached at Jason's hip. He listened to the chatter until Jason sent the boys back to pick up where they left the game, then headed up the stairs with his mother. He definitely knew this drill.
Elizabeth was nervous entering the bedroom, feeling what was coming in her bones but deciding they were in the right room to set it all right again. First signs of their talk going downhill and she would get them in that bed pronto! Turning to face him as he followed behind her and closed the door, her heart sank at what she saw in his eyes. Shaking her head and pulling the cued tears forward with a blink, she slowly approached him.
"No, Jason! No!"
He didn't want to hurt her, really hated to see her cry…but he didn't belong here.
"This isn't working." He looked down at his fingers where they toyed with the palm of one hand.
"We're going through a rough patch - that's all this is. We belong together and you know that." Her pleading voice sounded weak to her own ears but she didn't care. She couldn't and wouldn't lose him. Not again. Not now.
"Do we?" He looked up and shook his head at her. "Then why does it feel so strained? Why don't you think that you can tell me the truth about my life and I'll still stay?"
"Truth - what truth? What have those people been telling you?"
"A whole lot that you haven't, apparently. Why didn't you give me the full story when you told me about Jake and Sam?"
Anger flared in her at the mere mention of the woman who was always coming between them.
"I told you how she hated our son and wanted him to disappear - said nothing when he did, and later endangered him again, to suit her sick, selfish needs! What more was there to tell?"
Jason looked at his hands again, then at her eyes to find the truth. "I don't know - how I forgave her years ago when she saved his life by risking her own? How your actions have been just as questionable in regards to Danny's maternity as early back as the day I got shot? How you've tried more than once to get me to leave her…just things you might have mentioned when you instead tried to make me hate her?"
Elizabeth turned her back to him as her panicked mind processed his words. Those bitches got to him alright. She could just imagine the ugly spin they put on things she did for love, to save him from a woman who couldn't appreciate him the way she would. Spinning back to face him angrily, she spat accusations.
"Oh, I bet Sam couldn't wait to fill your ear with her noble deeds…she should've blown to bits in that explosion - it's what she deserves after the hell she put me and my children through!"
Jason stepped further into the room, the ugliness she was yelling drawing him in for a closer look at the woman she never showed him before.
"Sam hasn't said a single word to me in days. And you forget, Elizabeth, if she'd blown up in that building, so would have our son. Are you saying Jake should've died so that you could've been rid of the mother of my son?"
She shook her head in confusion at his words. "What…no - of course not…I didn't mean…" the rest of what he said screamed in her head. "I'm the mother of your son! For all you know, Sam's kid is really Franco's! She probably manufactured that DNA test and planted it to draw my poor brother into her sick games." She grabbed hold of his shirt desperately, "Don't you see? There's a reason I was the one to give you your firstborn, Jason! Me! I'm your destiny, can't you see that?"
Pushing her hands away from his shirt, Jason took a step to back from her. "Being the woman who gave me my firstborn doesn't make you the one for me. How many people do you know who's first child is with someone they're not spending their life with, or even wasn't anybody special at all? I've met plenty. Having my child at a time when the woman I loved was having fertility issues caused by a bullet she took because she loved me, doesn't make you special or destined, Elizabeth…it means a condom didn't work and my swimmers were stronger than Lucky's. From what I understand, we were competing in the same race?"
She welcomed the tears back as they streamed her face. "My marriage to Lucky was in shambles. You and I had always wanted to be together and you told me how beautiful I was…you held me close all night, made me breakfast the next morning. You wouldn't have done any of those things if you were pining for the slut who was screwing your enemy!"
Jason nodded and pursed his lips as he walked up to her, leaning to whisper softly in her ear, "You were screwing the same enemy until you found out he was the one who paid Hayden to pull me away from you. Were even married to him before, weren't you?" He moved around her to look at his reflection in the dresser. "So, I was a gentleman that night? Good - I'm glad to hear that I always treated you with respect and kindness - that when you came crying to me that night, I acted like a friend towards another in pain." His eyes sought her where she stood. "Did you, Elizabeth?"
"Did I what?"
"Did you treat me like a friend in pain?" He turned to face her directly. "When you found me heartbroken over the love of my life, were you my friend?"
"Where are these ridiculous questions coming from? Jason, all that happened eons ago - we're engaged to be married, we're raising a family together, planning a future with our boys. What does that ancient nonsense have to do with us now?"
"My thoughts exactly! Whatever slights Sam did you happened eons ago, and everybody else seems to have moved past it and gone on with their lives...not to mention, forgiven! Everybody but you. You still hate Sam so much that every chance you get, you try to undermine our relationship and destroy what we feel for each other - why? Why does she threaten you so much, even now?"
"What you feel? No, what you felt…and what you felt for that tramp was pity and responsibility! You took Sonny's responsibility and made it your own - you never really loved her - you just felt responsible for her and now her kid, because you felt responsible for the first one!"
Raising a stern finger to her in warning, Jason checked the anger that suddenly erupted in him. "I've told you before - Lila was my daughter. Do not speak about her again!" He took a menacing step forward that had Elizabeth backing up warily. "I can assure you that I loved Sam Morgan with everything in me!What I've felt in those memories of her was nothing short of eternal...donot presume to know how I feel…and you better stop undermining my son!"
"Let's talk about your son - the one downstairs - are you going to turn your back on Jakey now? For who, for Sam again? Are you going to walk way from raising that sweet little boy for a woman not fit to even look at him?"
"I will never walk away from my son!" He saw the relief wash over her and shook his head. "But I am done with this. This isn't working for me anymore."
When she stood there in shock, right before she started convulsing, her upper body jerking with the sobs she sputtered, Jason turned away from her and moved to the closet to grab a duffle. He'd stuffed some shirts in when she grabbed onto his arm.
"Jason, no! Please, no…you can't leave me! Please don't leave me!"
Freeing his arm so he could continue, he told her coldly. "This is the best thing for all of us right now. I can't live here anymore and I need to work on finding out about my life. This living in the dark was the worse thing I could've done, and I should've seen it a long time ago." Sam had tried to tell him. She told him that he wasn't much different from how he used to be and that when he found out about himself, he'd see she was right. If this is who he'd been, this man who allowed himself to be blindly led into causing his wife and son even more pain than when he'd died, he wasn't sad he couldn't remember that.
Jason stuffed a second duffle, ignoring the loud sobs and sniffles being blaringly manufactured for his benefit, as he went from the closet to the bathroom to gather essentials. When he moved for the door, she sprang on him again.
"Jason, please don't do this. I'll do anything you want!" She tried to grab his face to kiss him into submission, but he shook from her hands and stepped away from her.
"You really need to control yourself. What did you think was going to happen when I learned about my life…that it had been so much more than you ever told me about? I practically dismissed Sam and Danny like they don't matter and you let me, even though you knew that they matter more than anything. You were willing to let me go be with Hayden when I was just Jake Doe, but when you found out I was married to Sam and had a little boy with her, suddenly you weren't so very magnanimous anymore! Why…because of who I turned out to be? I was no longer Jake Doe…I was the man you could finally take from Sam, and I was too stupid to even see it!"
"She doesn't deserve you! Jake and I do!"
"Why? You're better than her and Danny? Why, Elizabeth? I know it's definitely not because I love you more, so why do you deserve to have me and the family that I chose, don't?"
"YouLovedMeFirrrst…"
She sounded like a wet, weepy petulant child, even to her own ears, but she didn't care. He was leaving and she would die without him. She would die if he left her again…for her!
Jason looked at her with pity for the adolescent mind she was obviously stuck in, disbelieving that he'd been so blind for so long.
"Goodbye, Elizabeth."
He bounced from the room and down the stairs, ignoring her anguished, fractious cries, preparing for what would be the only hard part of him leaving. He had to say goodbye to the boys.
