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Chapter 12
At the two hour mark she called and asked him to return to the bungalow. The nap she was trying to take just wasn't happening. He was either standing right outside the front door, or he ran the short distance between the homes because it took him no time at all to walk into the house.
"You couldn't sleep?" Jason was guessing. When his phone rang he had just dropped his hand and pretty much bolted from the room. By the time he answered on the third ring, Jason had been halfway between the two buildings.
"No. I'm having trouble being alone." She told him unknowingly confirming Renaldo's suspicion. Liz was on the couch with her sketch pad and pencil on the table. She had gotten down a good number of rough sketches. The local flowers she saw today were her inspiration. Capturing their vivid colors was going to take some doing but she was up to the challenge. These images would be the central theme of her next spring/summer collection. Not this coming year, but the one after since this coming spring/summer collection was what she sent off to the seamstresses before Logan happened. She tried to always stay at least nine months ahead to allow time for her pieces to be assembled. When they came in she stored them until it was time to put them on the website. Her sketches for next year's fall/winter line were already completed.
"What can I do to help you?" Jason sat next to her on the sofa and took her hand in his.
"You already are helping. You have been with me almost constantly since bringing me home. You make me feel safe. That's always been part of our relationship, the ability we have to make each other feel secure. Right now it's a bigger part of our relationship than I want it to be." She said looking into his eyes. Liz paused for a moment before speaking again.
"From time to time on this trip I'll need you to not be around for a couple of hours, but I'm willing to have Max on standby. When we go home he'll be with me when you're not. Or whoever is standing guard back home will be around." Liz recognized from this point forward she wouldn't ever really be alone again. A guard would be around even if they weren't in her direct line of vision. So she needed to get to the point where being alone in the penthouse or her studio was okay. She could start working on that while they were down here. "Today was about seeing just how bad it is."
"What did you learn?" Jason moved so that he was closer.
"That it's not as bad as when I was a teenager." Liz took that to be good news. It showed how much stronger she was now. "I was really a mess then. My parents actually had to hire someone to be with me when they and my gram were working." That had only happened after her therapist insisted.
Jason didn't say anything about that. Elizabeth's parents didn't take any time off to help their daughter. They had worked the entire time she was recovering. They only took a few days off during the trial that followed, saying that since Audrey was there they weren't needed. His relationship with the Drs. Webber was not close and that wouldn't be changing.
"There weren't any tears. Just a whole lot of shaking." Liz said squeezing his hand. "I guess I'm saving my tears for when I have nightmares. I'd warn you that there is a good chance I'll have one tonight, but considering I've been having them since we arrived you already know." She was ready for them to go away.
He heard the sharpness of her voice. "Take it easy on yourself." That's what was at the root of the tone. "Healing takes time."
Liz just nodded. That was something she heard from her therapist often when she younger. Unfortunately it was in direct opposition to what she heard at home. Where her mother said that if Elizabeth wanted to get her life back then she needed to move past this and get on with things. That if she was stronger that wouldn't be a problem. Considering neither one of her parents had ever survived a violent act it took years to realize her mom had no clue what she was talking about. What hurt the most was that her parents extended more compassion to their patients then they did to their child. "I'm impatient."
"I know." Jason said laughing. "I've seen you when a design isn't coming together the way you want it to. You've also got a really dirty mouth."
"I have no clue what you are talking about." Liz said leaning into him and laughing. Having his support felt so incredibly good.
"If it makes you feel better, you are still a better patient than I am." Jason said with a boyish grin.
"No comment." Liz replied with a smirk. The last time he got hurt he went through five nurses in the same amount of days. Finally Lila sent Alice over, and the housekeeper managed to get Jason to stay in bed. Liz did her part by coming over as often as possible because she was the only other person who could get him to stay still. "So what should we do with the rest of the day?" It wasn't even three.
"How about the beach? We haven't gone down yet. The beaches here are beautiful, and I want to share that with you." Jason thought getting out to the house would be good for her. "Since the sun is past its apex you stand a good chance of not burning." There were also umbrellas down there to protect her from the harsh rays.
"Are the guys coming down with us?" Elizabeth wanted to know.
"No, why?" Jason would take his phone just in case. However they didn't need guards on the private stretch of beach.
"Whether or not we are alone will dictate which suit I wear." She said with a smile. She wore suits with more coverage in the hot tub in case one of the guys dropped by unannounced for some reason. If they were going to be alone on the beach she could wear something a little sexier and just bring her cover up.
"Is that right?" Jason asked with a half-smile. "So if I close the pool at the Towers for us then I get to see more skin?"
"That's not fair to the other tenants." Liz would never ask that of him. "Access to the pool is written into the lease."
"Let me rephrase that. If we use the pool after hours, I'll get to see more skin." Jason had twenty-four hour access to the heated pool, because unlike the gym it did close.
"Yes." Liz answered grinning. If they moved to their own home at some point he would see a lot of skin on a more regular basis.
"I will keep that in mind." Jason was wondering if she might want to move to a house with a pool. If she was open to the idea then he was going to look into possibly having the water enclosed like at the mansion. With their own private space he might be able to get her to ditch the swimwear altogether. "Come on. The ocean is waiting." He stood up and held out his hand.
Several things came to mind when his girlfriend said she wanted to show more skin. None of them came close to what actually happened. That turned out to be a good thing because if Jason had any clue what was under the white cover up Elizabeth had on when she stepped out of the bathroom they would still be in their tropical home. In bed.
"You're still staring." Liz was with a smile. The suit was designed for impact, and it delivered. This one wasn't one of hers. During a trip last fall to New York during fashion week, where yes she dreamed of having her own show, she had done some shopping. Since the beach season was over the suits were on sale and the bright yellow string bikini simply refused to stay in the store. So she bought it.
"I'm trying to figure out exactly how it is my eyes haven't popped out of my head yet." Jason said as those eyes moved down his girl's body again and over the bright triangles of fabric. "How long have you owned that suit?"
Liz just laughed. "That isn't what you really want to know." She said calling him out. "You want to know if I've worn it before because you want to know if anyone else has seen me in it." The bit of possessiveness he was showing had her ego patting itself on the back. He wouldn't never get out of hand with that emotion, but some was never a bad thing.
"Yes, I do." Jason loved that his girl had the confidence to call him out on that.
"I've never worn it before." She said smiling. "Never had a place to. I could have put it on to sit around the pool with Em, but somehow having the other members of your family see me in this didn't seem right." Her best friend swore that her cousin Dillon had a crush on Elizabeth. So no, she would not be wearing a small bikini at the mansion.
"You would kill Dillon. He would just fall over dead." Jason was aware of the crush. If the two of them were in the same room his cousin always wanted to hear about Elizabeth. Since Dillon was only sixteen, Jason didn't bother to try and warn him off. "Not that I blame him."
Liz laughed so hard that her elbow slipped and she fell back onto the blanket. "Every time I see him now I'm going to have that image in my head."
Jason took advantage of the fact that his girlfriend was stretched out to roll to his side so that he was half over her. He dropped his head and let his lips cover hers. "I really do like the suit." He also really liked that it was just for him. It couldn't even be seen through the cover up because that had a lining.
"I thought you might. I'll be leaving it down here." Liz had packed it just in case. "I really like your blue trunks." It was a color that suited him.
"I think these are the only thing in this shade of blue in my entire wardrobe." Jason would need to check. Blue was a color that he really liked wearing, but generally he stuck to the ends of the spectrum. Dark or light. Just like he did with most other colors. Jewel tones were not his first choice.
That didn't surprise her, this hue of blue would probably just be too bright for him. "So does that mean I'm the only one who will see you in them?" She let her hand drift down his back.
"That is exactly what it means." Jason leaned in for another kiss, because her lips were right there.
"Good." He wasn't the only one who could be possessive.
"Sonny has a yacht at the marina, would you like to go out and spend a day on the water?" Jason could drive the vessel. So could Johnny and Renaldo.
"Can you fish while we are out?" That would make the day out not just about her. Liz loved the water. It relaxed her just being around it. A water feature for the penthouse might be nice. She'd have to look into that when they got back home.
"Yes, we can." Jason liked fishing, which had come as a surprise to him. He learned from Francis who loved fishing.
"Then a day on the water sounds great. The guys will be with us?" Liz wouldn't mind.
"They will. It's just safer to have folks with us when we go out that far." Jason wouldn't ever do anything to risk her safety. "I'd also like to take you out to dinner. Somewhere nice."
"A fancy dress up date?" Liz was all for him in a suit.
"Yup. I have the names of a few restaurants we can decide together where to go, or I can just pick and surprise you." Jason gave her some options.
"Pick. One request. Let's go somewhere you've never been before." Liz wanted to experience something new together.
"That will not be a problem." Jason rolled to his back and urged her closer. He really was enjoying these wide loungers. They had been out on the sand for a couple of hours now. With the sun setting later they still had plenty of sunlight left. "Should we get in the water?" They hadn't done so yet. "Or can you not get the suit wet?"
Liz just snorted. "I am not one of those girls who buys a suit you can't swim in. That is pointless."
Jason just laughed at her outrage. He grabbed his phone and sent a message. "Let's go in before the temperature drops." The water wouldn't get really cold, but Liz tended to catch a chill fairly easily. Although warming her up wouldn't be a hardship at all.
"Is everything okay?" She pointed to the phone.
"I'm telling Johnny that we are getting in the water. If I don't text him back in the next forty-five minutes he will come look." Jason did the same thing if he came down to swim alone, which wasn't really safe to do. He would no longer be taking that risk.
"Smart." Liz stood up and thanks to the lounger she wasn't covered in sand. When their fingers were linked they headed down to the water.
"What time do the shops on the island close?" Liz wanted to know.
"Depends on the area. Around here probably close to ten. They will want to make themselves available to tourists who are taking an after dinner stroll." Jason had just finished a shower which meant he was standing in the bedroom in just his towel. His girl was back in his shirt having showered first. "What did you need? We have runners down here as well."
"I need to shop for this in person." Liz said realizing she sounded cryptic. "I want to make a dress for our date."
"Really?" Jason asked smiling.
"Really." Liz said smiling back at him. "It won't take me very long. I know what I want it to look like, I just need to find the right fabric. I will also need a sewing machine." She paused briefly. "Would it be okay if I took a corner of one of the other bedrooms?"
"You can have an entire room as work space if you want." Jason had no problem with making any changes necessary for her to be happy here.
"I don't plan to spend a lot of time working when we come down. I like relaxing and having down time with you. I also want to wear something specific for our date. I could waste a whole day going in and out of clothing stores looking for it, or I could spend a few hours on a couple of different nights making it."
He was guessing while she was sewing he would be out of the house. "We can do that tomorrow if you like. Or you can just shop with Max." Walking over he dropped a kiss on her lips before walking into the closet and grabbing sleep pants. Coming back he stretched out next to her. "How did you get started as a designer?" He knew a lot about her, but he didn't know this.
"My gram." Liz had taken her earrings off to go to the beach, but now they were back on. She wore them to feel close to her grandmother who had been her best friend for all the time she could remember. "She sewed, and in the summers she would make me rompers and dresses. I was always so excited to go over her house and get them. I could only wear them there so I never wanted to leave." She said smiling at the memory.
"Why couldn't you wear them anywhere else?" Jason asked confused.
"One of my mother's friends made a snarky remark about one of the dresses. They said I looked like a ragamuffin, and that Carolyn should dress me better. Never mind that I loved the dress I was wearing at the time. My gram made me clothes that I could roll around on the ground and get dirty in. Not the ruffled nightmares my mom liked to shove me in like I was a doll." Liz just rolled her eyes. At times when she was growing up Elizabeth felt more like a status symbol than anything else. Like her worth was based on how well she did compared to the children of her parents friends.
"I wonder why parents do that to their children." Jason replied with a smirk. "Lila told me a story once about how I ruined a three hundred dollar suit when I was five. Who puts a kid in something that expensive?" He didn't understand that line of thinking.
"Our parents." Liz said with a smirk of her own. "When I was nine my gram started teaching me how to sew. We made a quilt together for my room at her house. It was love at first stitch. By the time I was twelve I was making my own dresses, shirts, shorts, and skirts. By the time I was sixteen I was making prom dresses for my schoolmates and earning cash." She didn't go to the formals. "I made enough money that my senior year I was able to buy a car." She said grinning. "It was crap, but it had four wheels and an engine."
"Why are you not in New York working for a big name designer? Not that I'm complaining. With you in Port Charles we were able to get to this point." Jason covered her hand.
"I was set to take the Big Apple by storm. I didn't have a job but I was going to move down and try to get someone's attention." Liz told him. "Then my gram got sick and I didn't want to be too far away. So I decided to make my mark in Port Charles. I bought a web domain, made some clothes, and put them out there for purchase."
"How long until you got your first sale?" Jason was so proud of her.
"Two weeks. During which I swore I was going to be the biggest failure ever. Gram just kept saying to give it time." Liz missed the older woman so much. "I'm not sure which one of us cried harder at my first sale. After that I started selling more items, and now I have regular customers. I sell out of stock. I ship items to other countries. It's amazing." It still gave her pause.
"Do you ever think of going to New York now?" Jason didn't want to hold her back from her dreams.
"Not to live or set up shop." Liz shook her head no. "I don't need to. I'm a successful young entrepreneur who is harnessing the power of the internet to take over the world." She said being dramatic. "While places like New York, Milan, London, and Paris are still the center of the fashion world designers no longer need to live there to be a part of the industry. I may never be a name that everyone instantly recognizes, but that doesn't make the success I have achieved less valid."
Her confidence and strength left him in awe. Mainly because he knew that she had worked hard to heal after being hurt. She had survived two incidents that might have left others afraid to even leave the house, but she hadn't let that stop her. Yes she was struggling some now, however she was letting him see that. Which took its own measure of strength. "No it doesn't. I'm proud of you." Jason watched as she blushed.
"I'm not saving lives. I'm just keeping people from being naked." Liz said before laughing. Her ego was firmly in check.
"I'm still proud of you." Jason leaned forward and kissed her. "Have you considered making men's clothing?"
"Johnny asks me that all the time." Liz told her boyfriend. "I'd need to learn how. It's actually not as easy as just cutting out a different pattern and sewing the pieces together. Men's clothes hang differently and often use different types of fabric. So I'd need free time to teach myself about those things. Time I don't have right now, but at some point down the line I am considering it. If I do decide to dip my toes in those waters I know I have a lot of volunteers willing to test out what I design." The support made her feel great.
"I would wear anything you make." Jason would be first in line.
"Be careful about promising that." Liz said with a mischievous grin. "I like color." Although for him she would do subtle.
"You'll give those clothes to Johnny and some of the other guys." Jason knew she was just teasing him. "You'll save all the boring stuff for me and Sonny." His partner liked wearing grey when it came to his suits.
"I won't be able to find a better model for my future clothing line than you." Liz said leaning over and kissing him.
He dropped her a wink. "It's time to get some food into you." Jason rolled from the bed. "Come on, I'll cook and then we can watch some television."
"I could eat." Liz said following him out of the room.
The nightmare let her go and Elizabeth woke up covered in sweat. Jason was holding her tightly and instead of feeling trapped, that made her feel safe. Unfortunately her stomach was rolling rather violently. "Let go." She managed to get out. Instantly he complied and she sprinted for the bathroom.
Feeling helpless Jason did the only thing he could in this situation which was to hold her hair and rub her back so she knew he was with her. When she finished being sick he got her some water to rinse her mouth, then some mouthwash to get rid of the taste. When she leaned back he was right there to support her. "Do you need aspirin?"
"No." Liz just closed her eyes and waited to see if her stomach was going to protest some more. "I want to take a shower. Will you please sit in the bathroom while I do?" She didn't want company in the glass enclosure, but she wanted him close.
"I can do that." Jason helped her to her feet and when she was under the spray he quickly went to grab her a clean shirt before coming back and sitting on the vanity stool to wait for her to be done.
Liz let the water wash away the sweat from the bad dream and turned off the spray. She didn't feel dirty so soaping up wasn't necessary. When she opened the door Jason was right there with a towel. She let him help her into his shirt before brushing her teeth and then following him into the bedroom. "I'm tired." She didn't want to talk about the nightmare, they could do that tomorrow.
"Want me to turn on the television?" Maybe the sound would help her relax. It wouldn't bother him.
"No. Having you close is enough." Liz said moving closer.
"I'll be here when you wake up." Jason promised before kissing her forehead as her eyes drifted shut. Hoping she would pass the rest of the night peacefully he slept as well.
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