"Sammy!" Patrick Drake dropped himself uninvited to the empty chair at Sam's table outside Kelly's, grinning when she looked up from the laptop and placed the coffee down. "I hear the gangster you left me for isn't who you thought he was…now imagine that!"

Giving him a cool once over, Sam looked back to her screen with the casefile she'd been studying. "Hello, Patrick."

"Hello? That's it?"

She clicked to the next page and addressed him without looking over. "I'm really busy at the moment, so if you have something to say, do it and let's both get on with our day." Reaching to her left to pat Captain's head where he laid at her feet on the terrace of the diner, she softly calmed his rising growl. "Down, boy."

"Don't tell me you haven't seen him yet?" Patrick looked from her nonchalant stature to the dog, who's head stayed perked as he continued to eye him suspiciously. "And when did you get a dog?"

"I have many things these days that are none of your business. Are we done?"

"Sammy, you don't plan to stay hostile with me forever, do you? We used to be really great friends…and I'm guessing you'll need that again when you see who I just saw at the hospital."

"You're right - we were friends once, and the mistake we made was ever trying to take it beyond that."

"Oh, come on - you don't mean that?"

"Of course I mean it. We ruined a perfectly good friendship because we were lonely and tried to make it into something it wasn't." She leaned back in the chair, studying him thoughtfully, "But that's the past…we don't need to stir it up every time we see each other. We're both good now."

"Oh, I think you're going to need me again pretty darn soon, and you know something, despite how you walked out on us, Sammy, I'm going to be that bigger shoulder for you to cry on."

"Cry? Why on earth would I need to do that?"

Patrick sat up eagerly, clasping his hands on the table before him. "I just saw your husband at the hospital with Elizabeth in his arms! Not the phony you left me for - the real thing!" When she didn't look the least bit surprised he continued, "I'm serious, Sammy. Jason - the real Jason - is at the hospital right now! The guy you left me for is a fake!"

Smiling coyly, Sam reached down to pat Captain again, stroking between his ears and down his back until he put his head down in relaxation. "I hate to break it to you, but I already have the real Jason." She chuckled out loud. "Believe you me - he is the only Jason!" She chuckled again in remembrance of their earlier parting at the penthouse. "Everything about him!"

"Sammy, I'm serious. Jason's…" he trailed off and gestured behind her, "…see for yourself!"

Sam didn't turn around, instead clicked to the next page of her file and tried to get back to her research.

"Sam!"

Looking up at the sounding of her name, she met the blue gaze from their previous encounters, with his new shadow immediately behind, coming around to face her.

"You again!" She addressed him cooly then went back to her casefile. "I see you're slowly reeling them in…still trying to convince people you're Jason."

"Trying?" Elizabeth looked startlingly from Jason to the brunette acting nonchalant in face of the shock she'd just had. "What are you talking about - are you blind? He doesn't need to convince anybody of anything…this is Jason! I knew him the moment I saw him and if you loved him like you pretend to, you would too!"

Laughing out loud, Sam braced her hands on both arms of the chair and sat back in amusement. "I should've known! Of course you'd latch yourself onto him instantly…thinking you finally get a Jason of your very own?" Her laughter echoed to her head going back in mirth. "Oh, this is rich!"

"Go ahead - laugh! You bet on the wrong horse…all this time going on and on about how great your love for Jason is and you're the love of his life…when you can't even tell him from an imposter."

Still laughing, Sam gasped out, "And you're suddenly over your undying love for the guy you couldn't live without yesterday, just like that? One look alike popup and you're on to the next?" She couldn't stop the laughter from coming if she tried.

"Laugh all you want - if you knew Jason like I do…if you loved him half as much as me, you'd know him instantly, like I did!"

"Elizabeth…" he touched her arm, his eyes locked on Sam's, but she flashed him off.

"No, Jason…she needs to hear this!" She glared angrily at Sam, "You couldn't wait to take him from me, and I should've known when he could just up and leave like that, he wasn't Jason, because Jason would never hurt me that way. Never. But you thought you finally took him away from me, didn't you? Hahahaha…well the joke's on you, again!"

Rising to her feet as the laughter slowly ebbed, Sam closed the laptop and eased it inside its bag. "I can see I'm not going to get anything else done here this morning." She pulled the strap across her shoulder and tapped her leg for Captain, who was circling the suddenly busy table widely. "I'm glad you get what you want, princess…enjoy that!" When Captain joined her side she bustled past Patrick, who'd risen to his feet when she did. "See ya, Doc!"

Feeling all eyes marveled on her as she left with dog in line, Sam smiled then chuckled to herself. Who else could so easily be fooled by a face? Someone desperate to cling what she can't have any other way is who that bitch was always going to be. Shouting over her shoulder as she turned the corner, she left a parting, "Don't forget to tell him how he's not really Jake's fake dad!" The vibrating phone in her back pocket drew her attention as Captain dashed off in front of her to the SUV.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself, gorgeous! Where are you?"

"On my way to the office. What's up?"

"Well, I followed Maxwell to the airport - thought I'd need to jump on a flight to Cleveland like his wife thought he was headed."

"Yaw?"

"He didn't get on the plane. Checked into the airport Hilton, instead. He was alone, but I was stopped by security when I tried to follow him up the elevator so I don't know if he was meeting someone already there."

"No worries. Head to the back entrance and ask for Julio. He'll get you in. I'll text him when I get off with you." She climbed into the SUV and started the engine, cracking the windows so Captain could stick his head out.

"Sam Morgan, is there anybody you don't know?"

"Only your new twin. Guess who's his new champion?"

Jason's jaw tightened at the mention of the impersonator. "Did he show up at the penthouse again - I'm gonna fucking kill that guy!"

"No, he turned up at Kelly's and I hate to break it to you sweetheart, but your ex-babymama has moved on. She found herself her very own you!" She was laughing again, unable to stem the mirth the images stirred up.

"Sam…"

"What - it's a little bit funny, right?" She waned on a giggle as she pictured the woman's enamored face from moments before. "No? Too soon?"

"Stay away from that guy, Sam. We still don't know what he wants…well, he wants you - we know that - but we don't know how dangerous he is. Promise me you'll stay away from him until we sort this out."

"Hey, I'm not the one seeking him out, so don't blame me he keeps showing up. Besides…," she chuckled again, "…something tells me he's going to be pretty busy from now on, with his very own toxic nurse at the hip."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!"

"Listen to you! One would never know there was a time you were crazy about that!" The teasing was pouring from her in droves, amusement running high.

"I was never crazy about anybody but you! Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"What'd you know?"

The soft question made her warm and fuzzy all over. "You love me!"

"Damn right!"

She turned at the light as the phone went dead, the smile widening when she thought about seeing him later that day. Damn right, was right back at him!

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"She really doesn't know it's you?" Elizabeth was still standing in the spot, having watched the SUV pull away from the parking lot with the woman who'd gotten on her phone and left without so much as a backward glance in their direction, robbing her of the triumph she'd thought to revel in upon her finding out she'd stolen the wrong Jason Morgan. Stricken, she turned to the man who was still watching where the brunette was long gone, the look on his face a familiar one she'd seen plenty where the woman was concerned.

"She's having a hard time accepting that she's been lied to this past year." He moved to the edge of the terrace and stared off into nowhere, oblivious to the doctor waving to Elizabeth as he left them to enter the diner, and Elizabeth walking up behind him.

"Stop doing that, Jason…stop making excuses for her…you do it all the time."

"She's my wife."

"You were having problems when you disappeared…and you and I were growing close again. Don't you remember?"

He turned to face her, seeing for the first time the teenage wonder and the hunger in her eyes, and he remembered Sam's taunting words from earlier.

"Elizabeth, I don't want you to misunderstand…it's wonderful to see you and we will always be friends - always! But Sam is my wife! We have a son together and I want her back! I want them both back!"

She took an angry step away from him, her hands swinging to stab the hair back from her face. "Not this shit again!" Antsy, she stormed back angrily to where he watched her in surprise, "She doesn't love you! Didn't you hear her a minute ago - she chose a stranger over you! When are you going to see her for what she really is and allow us the chance to get back what we had?"

"What we had?" Surprise smacked him over the head at her behavior, "What we had is in the distant past - such as it even was. I'm married to Sam and you know how I feel about her, so what are you talking about?"

When the fever that shot to her brain sent her hand shooting to connect the side of his face, she recoiled in horror, but anger growing still.

"What is the matter with you? Day after day, I've been standing in front of you, begging you to see me, to love me, and you won't! Why can't you forget that tramp and get back to us? She's nobody!" She gestured jauntily between them, "You and I have been dancing around each other for eeeeighteen damn years, and you still won't give us a chance - what the hell else do you want me to do?"

Rubbing his jaw in surprise, he watched her come unhinged and allowed her words to sink in.

"You can calm down. I don't understand - where did I mislead you? You've known all along that I'm in love with my wife and I want her back…when did I ever lead you to believe anything else?"

"W-h-enn? "Are you serious?" The stupid, lost look on his face made her want to slap him again. "What the hell do you mean, when? How about when you slept with me when you were supposedly so in love with her…or when you proposed to me after you got back together? How about every longing look you send me when I'm with someone else…or the way you always make time for me or give me everything I need? When haven't you led me to believe you love me, Jason?" She knew she was shrieking but the increasingly ridiculous look on his face just sent her voice higher with each sentence. "WHEN?"

"When I told you repeatedly that you and I cannot be together!" He couldn't believe the state she'd worked herself into and despite not wanting to risk her getting crazier, he knew he needed to set the record straight, for all their sakes. "When I promised you I'd always be there and I was because we're friendswhen I married the love of my life and had a child with her…when you saw us leave the hospital together to take our son home - together!"

"After you'd forgiven me for lying about his maternity, just like that! I'd just confessed how I tried to keep you from them, and you didn't bat an eye to forgive me instantly…again! Like you always do!" She took a hurried step to close the space between them and grab his hand, "Do you know what you would've done if the roles were reversed and she'd been the one to keep my child from me, out of spite? You would have cut her off at the knees, Jason! You would've never forgiven her as easily as you did me - you never do! And she knows! Damn, everybody knows!"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you love me…so much that you will forgive me anything - and you have! You always have!" She pulled jerkily on the hand she grasped for dear life, "When I chose Zander and Lucky - when I turned my back and Jake got kidnapped - when Cameron set fire to the house with Jake locked in it - when he ran away from me at the carnival and got trapped under debris from Edward's accident - when I left the door unlocked and he wandered from the house into the street to get run over…all on my watch…you always, always forgive me and hold me blameless! You don't do that for her!"

His chin raised, watching her animated state and realizing that she really believed her own misconceptions. "Oh no?"

"NO! You call Sam out on every mistake, every evil shit she's ever done! Even Carly - your so called best friend - you will lay into her for the stupid crap she pulls constantly - but you love me too much to ever blame me when I make a mistake. You look out for me more than you do anyone else - you always have. How can you still not see how we belong together?"

"If that's how you see us, Elizabeth, you have blinders on…and that's obviously on me."

She stepped back, hurt and appalled. "You don't mean that!"

"I'm not in love with you. I've always looked out for you because you're my friend…you were my sister's best friend. You needed my help all the time so I gave it…I never knew it made you see yourself above Sam in my eyes?" He cold feel the incredulity transform his face as he'd watched her unravel, her unbelievable utterings, pointless and untrue in so many ways to Sunday. "I would take a bullet for anyone I care about…but I'm so in love with my wife I can't see straight! How can you possibly be blind to how she's everything to me?"

She was moving further back, her head shaking to rid it of the awful, awful things he was saying to hurt her. "No! You don't mean it!"

He neared, where she backed. "I do…and I need you to listen. All those things you're talking about - I would do for any one of my friends. Sam and Carly are strong and fearless and are excellent at taking care of themselves…you, on the other hand, always needed somebody to take care of you - that's why I've always treated you gently, and if I've been hard on them at times it's only because they can take it - you can't! It's definitely not how you think!"

Her lips trembled with the force of the tears that struck up. "No! You love me - I know you love me!"

"You're the mother of my son - of course I love you - but not like that. Not in the unbelievable way that I love…that I worship my wife! I'm not in love with you."

"Jake is not your son!" When the hurt of his cruel words stabbed at her already broken heart, she needed to return the favor twofold! "He's Lucky's…I just told you that to get you where I wanted you…and it worked! All these years, it's worked better than I could've imagined!"

"Elizabeth…"

"I'm serious! Jake isn't your son! That's what your tart meant by her 'fake daddy' comment earlier…you are not Jakey's father!"

Thinking at first she was just throwing words to hurt him like she perceived he just hurt her, he was about to brush it off when he recalled Sam's parting words. He'd wondered at the time what she meant by them, but then Elizabeth had startled him with her ridiculous revelations and they'd been forgotten.

"What are you talking about?"

Finally, she had him where she could twist the knife the way he'd twisted her insides. "Just what I said. Lucky is the only father Jake's ever had. When you gave him up so nobly, you had no idea you were just putting him back into the arms of his rightful father, and I needed you to think exactly what you did - that you were letting another man raise your son."

They weren't just words. He could tell from the cold glint in her eyes they were laced with angry truth, poisoned for his benefit, but truthful nonetheless, effectively ripping his heart from the center outward.

"Why? Why would you do something like that?"

"Why do you think? So that bitch couldn't have you - that's why! So you would forever feel beholden to me and my child, why else?"

He'd asked but he hadn't really believed she'd done something so vile, on purpose, until her words confirmed it. A long stride brought him instantly within an inch of her face, redhot heat burning his lungs and sending fire through his veins.

"You meant to do this? You lied just to destroy my life?" The sudden fear in her eyes didn't alarm him this time to how much he was scaring her. "You wanted to hurt Sam, is that it? You lied because you wanted to destroy the best thing I had in my life?"

Rethinking her earlier stance of goading a knowingly angry bull, Elizabeth took frightened steps away from the fury and reclaimed her damsel mask. "You had me! You had good things in your life that didn't include her, but you acted like she hung the moon. Why did she get to have you, to have your devotion and your love, when I'd been here waiting all that time? It wasn't fair!"

"Waiting? Why did she get to have me? I don't know, Elizabeth - because we loved each other? You have no idea how much Sam has done for me, how she fought for me, how hard she loved me? Your idea of waiting was to turn to any man who showed the slightest interest, who was next in line to take care of you. Don't talk about Sam like you know her…you don't know the first thing about her!"

"I know she's a lying whore who'll…" The words drowned in her throat when he closed the gap rapidly, the snort from his nostrils slapping her face this time when she was too frightened to move an inch or utter another word.

"Go ahead - call her one more name! Go ahead!" When the stench of fear whiffed his nostrils and his eyes caught the cowering he infused, he realized he was bullying a tiny, injured, fearful creature who continually bit off more than she could chew and would forever require somebody else's help. This hurt, forever wounded little animal warranted pity, not animosity, so when she could do nothing but widen big doe eyes and gape at him in terror, he reeled himself in and turned from her without another syllable, leaving her behind for good this time, bidding good riddance to bad rubbish!