ABC/DISNEY owns GH. No copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 22

"I think this might be the first time that I've ever gone away and returned with less clothing than when I left." Liz remarked as they walked through the terminal at Port Charles International. She had ended up leaving most of the clothes she took down in the bungalow. Which meant she needed to restock her closet up here. A shopping trip with her friends would be fun.

"I like knowing you have things down there. That way I can whisk you away for spontaneous weekends if we both have time off." Jason had made the request last night when Elizabeth pulled out her suitcase to get ready for the trip home.

"Aren't you just the most romantic guy ever?" Liz said resisting the urge to kiss him. That would stop their forward momentum and she knew that the guys were not fans of the airport. It was just too busy and too crowded. Emily had shared the protocol for the terminal the night before Liz and Jason left. It was pretty simple. Just keep walking. No matter what else was going on, just keep heading for the door.

"I'm trying." Jason said with a chuckle. He was going to do his best to not take that she was by his side for granted. It would be easy to fall back into a work first mindset. Now that Elizabeth was wearing his ring, he really needed to make sure he didn't rest on his heels. Edward had once said getting the woman of your dreams was the easy part, keeping her was where the work came in. Jason now understood what that meant.

"I'm incredibly low maintenance." Liz let him know. "So you lucked out there." She dropped him a wink as they reached the cars. Marco was holding the door and she got in the front on the passenger side. "Thanks." She said as he shut the door. "I'm glad we came back in the morning. I can spend the rest of the day putting my things away and dealing with the furniture. I want to go ahead and get that done." A crew would come over to move anything heavy. "Also with you home you can tell me if you don't like where I place something."

"Before we go to the Towers I want to show you something." Jason said starting the car. Max was going to follow them. Marco had gotten in the car with his friend so he was going to be coming along as well. Johnny was heading to the warehouse to find Francis and Cody to get an update on Zander and anything else he should know. Jason wasn't expected back to work until tomorrow. He was taking Friday off though to celebrate Elizabeth buying her new shop.

"Here in the car?" She asked arching a brow. "How very kinky."

"Very funny Webber." Jason replied laughing.

"I thought so." Liz said with a wide smile.

"You enjoyed yourself when I showed it to you this morning in bed." Jason reminded her as he pulled from the space. They had gotten up earlier than necessary for the flight and put that time to good use.

"Immensely." She said keeping the joke going. "Three times." Her words were accompanied by her holding up the appropriate number of fingers.

"You are so bad." Jason loved that she had such a wicked sense of humor.

"And all yours." Liz said with a grin.

"Keep that in mind for later." Jason replied with a smirk. One of the great things about going to Puerto Rico was no jet lag. Which meant that his girlfriend should have plenty of energy to play later tonight if she wanted. "Now you need to take your mind out of the gutter." He didn't want to be walking around with a hard on.

"Are we leaving Port Charles?" Liz wanted to know when they got on the highway.

"We are." Jason confirmed as he merged. "It's a short trip. Just long enough to give you a history lesson." He was grinning.

"I love story time." Liz was curious where they were going and hoping to get clues. This road could take them to Crimson Pointe, or it could take them to the larger highway that lead to Buffalo and Rochester. Both cities were less than a two hour drive. For them that would be a short trip.

"Corinthos Morgan is a partnership which you know." Jason gave her a quick look and saw her nod. "What you might not know is while we share a good number of businesses Sonny and I own the two territories that make up our home base separately. He owns Port Charles, and I own Crimson Pointe."

"Is that why the coffee business is in Crimson Pointe now?" Liz remembered them moving from one end of the docks to the other. It had made the front page of the paper after Jason received the zoning permits for the new warehouses.

"Exactly. I own that independently, just as Sonny owns Deception independently." Jason was explaining. "Both companies provide a reason to dock boats." Those boat brought in merchandise for their illegal business. "Maximus can't look like he is playing favorites by putting all the docks in one person's hands. So he split them between us."

"But you're partners so it doesn't really make a difference." Liz pointed out the flaw in that planning.

"Yes we are." Jason nodded again. "But Crimson Pointe was given to me right after Sonny returned from mourning Lily. I turned everything in Port Charles back over to him, and for doing a good job in Sonny's absence Maximus rewarded me with my own territory."

"So you and Sonny weren't partners at the time. Which meant that he wasn't deliberately making you more powerful than anyone else up here." Liz started smiling. "But he had to know that you would become partners again. You're best friends and your territories are right next to one another. Port Charles is your home town and you already owned businesses there at the time."

"He did know. I had to get permission to give Port Charles back. Sonny mentioned then forming a partnership with me. Maximus told him to wait." Jason further explained. "There had been several wars fought between the organizations in Port Charles and Crimson Pointe before Sonny and I arrived. When Sonny first took over, before I worked for him, he almost got into a war with someone who wanted the water."

"By giving you Crimson Pointe, Maximus was pretty much ensuring the region remained stable." Liz put the final piece in the puzzle. "It would take something major to make you and Sonny get to a point where you started shooting at one another." She just couldn't see that happening. They were as tight as brothers.

The only dust ups she remembered were before Sonny was diagnosed as bi-polar. His behavior had been erratic and he had been extremely paranoid. The Cuban mob boss came close to killing Johnny, something Sonny was still deeply embarrassed about. The other time was when Lily was killed and they came close to going to war with her father. Sonny had accepted responsibility for his actions, but things had still been tense. Her friend was doing better on all fronts now. He took his meds regularly, and he had been faithful to his last girlfriend.

"Exactly." Jason liked having a smart girlfriend.

"So we are going to Crimson Pointe?" Elizabeth guessed looking over at him.

"We are." Jason confirmed taking the proper exit. You didn't need to take the highway to get from one territory to the other. If you stayed on Main Street you would leave one and enter the second. In fact the water front office building that the guys had their offices in was right over the shared border, making it so anyone could get to any point in both territories quickly. The only reason he took this route was because he wanted time to share the backstory. "On the way back we'll drive through downtown so you can get a feel for the route."

"Okay." Liz was back to being confused. That statement didn't make a whole lot of sense. She didn't really spend much time in Crimson Pointe.

He chuckled because he could feel her puzzlement. "It will make sense shortly." He looked at the dashboard clock. They were almost at their destination. Another perk of the highway was it let them off closer to their destination. It would be a twenty minute drive in traffic, maybe twenty-five if traffic was slow, which should be fine. They turned off onto a private road and drove down a tree lined street to a large iron fence.

She looked over at him wide eyed before facing front again. Fences like that generally enclosed a property. Elizabeth knew that because Sonny had one. So did Francis. For some reason her nerves picked up and when his hand covered hers she looked over again. "Are we." She paused. "Are we looking at a house?"

"We are." Jason confirmed with a half-smile. "I haven't bought it yet, so be honest with your opinions."

"If I like it are you going to buy it?" Elizabeth asked even though she knew the answer.

"If you like, and you want to live here I will buy it." Jason made one change to her statement. "If it's too much too soon that's fine. We can stay in the Towers." His living there wasn't an issue. Just like them moving to Crimson Pointe would be fine as well. He had already talked to Sonny about the fact that when he bought a house it would be over here. It was just smart to not have them living close together. Especially since Francis lived just down the road from the Corinthos estate. That would just be too much of their power structure in one location.

"Have you seen the house?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

"Not in person. I was browsing the listings in Crimson Pointe while we were in Puerto Rico one night while you were showering. Since I can't see the pictures I was reading the specs. This one stood out. I asked Emily to come out and have a look at it." He had a very specific question he wanted answer. His sister could do that for him. "A day later Diane arranged for Em to do a walk through. She made a video and I had a look. After that I asked Cody to send someone out to do an inspection. No point in coming to look if the foundation wasn't stable." Everything else was easily changed if necessary.

"We are keeping him busy." Liz said laughing.

"One difference. I'm going to pay him for the work his crew does at the house. If there is a job out here." Jason had insisted, and he would be paying the full price. Cody said fine. He had no problem charging his friends, he just wasn't going to make Liz or any of their ladies pay. AJ paid when Cody's guys worked on the hotel because like his brother he insisted. "Like your boutique the house has been empty for a while, so I'm guessing some repairs will need to take place. Security upgrades need to be installed as well. Plus you might want to make cosmetic changes."

"We won't know until we go look." Liz said with a smile. "Show me what you picked for us."

"Yes ma'am." Jason said with a wide smile.


The first thing she saw when they approached the bend that lead to the oval driveway where guests would park were a couple of black SUVs. That made sense. They were fairly isolated out here and Jason wouldn't take her somewhere that wasn't secure. Max and Marco would keep them safe but as Francis always said backup was never a bad thing.

Jason parked the car and Elizabeth allowed herself to look over at the house. "Holy smokes." The tone of her words was slightly awe struck. This wasn't just a house, it was the house. By that she meant it was her personal favorite style of house, done in a way to make the little girl inside her clap in delight.

"Want to get a closer look?" Jason wasn't worried by all the silence coming from his girlfriend. He had stunned her, in the best possible way.

"Yes." Liz didn't even wait for him to come around and open her door. She got out on her own and stood there looking at what was essentially her favorite dollhouse as a little girl made a reality. The one that her gram had given her when she was eight. It wasn't a perfect replica, but it was close enough to leave her tongue tied. "It's a Victorian."

"It is." Jason was standing next to her. He nodded to the crew that was waiting. "I remember you mentioning that the dollhouse your grandmother gave you was custom built. After reading the information on the house it made me think of how you described the dollhouse. So I asked Em to come out and see how similar it was since she has seen pictures. She said it was almost as exact copy. I can't say for certain, but this might be what the toy was based on." It made sense since Audrey had lived in the area a good portion of her life. The house they were standing in front of would have been built long before Elizabeth was born.

Liz nodded indicating that she had heard every word he said. She just couldn't seem to take her eyes off of the house. Finally she looked over at him and spoke. "I think you may be correct. Gram said that the dollhouse was inspired by a real house, but if she said where that house was I don't remember. At eight the details behind the gift wouldn't have been of much interest to me. My parents might know. Or Lila." Liz found herself curious.

The closing of a car door had Elizabeth looking to her right. "Hi!"

"Hello." Diane had been in the back of one of the cars finishing up some business. "I was on the phone when you arrived." The attorney looked her friends over, particularly Liz. Johnny had sent out a text telling everyone to pay close attention to the designer but he wouldn't say why. He did end the note with a smiley emoji so it was good a thing. Diane got a one armed hug from the younger woman. "How is your hand?"

Right now Liz was standing with her left hand in the pocket of her jeans. "Good. I had an exam before we left and I got a clean bill of health." She was smiling as she made the report. Her eyes moved back to the house.

"I have the keys if you are ready to do a walkthrough." Diane could feel the excitement coming from both of them. This wasn't the style of home that she thought Jason would pick, not for himself anyway. It was clear after a conversation with Emily that the house was about Liz.

"Yes please." Liz's smiled widened. She wasn't expecting the interior to match her dollhouse. It didn't need to.

"Jason I'll give these to you." Diane handed over the keys. "Would you mind if I tagged along?" She was curious about the interior.

Jason looked at his girlfriend leaving the decision up to her.

"Not at all." Liz didn't care if everyone who was here came.

"Thank you." Diane wasn't going to follow them through the structure. She would take her own tour, with Sal behind her.

"Cody wanted you to know that a porch could be added to the front if you wanted." Jason passed along as they walked up the front steps to the main entrance.

"I don't think that would fit here." Liz said taking in the exterior. "Some Victorians do have wide sweeping porches, here it would block the windows."

"There is a porch, or a veranda, out back." Jason explained as he opened the door. "We can check it out on the tour."

"It doesn't smell dusty." Liz was expecting that. Often when buildings sat empty your nose told you that was the case when you walked inside. They were standing in short hall that you could follow in three different directions depending on where you wanted to go in the house.

"When the home inspector was out he opened all the windows during the walk through and that aired the house out." Jason left the door open and watched as a couple of his guys took up post. Max, Marco, and Sal were all inside with them.

"What's to the left?" She asked Jason. If he looked at the website this was listed on he would have a general sense of the layout.

"Dining room, laundry room, half bath, kitchen, and breakfast area." Jason had actually requested a digital copy of the blueprints. "Also a mud room."

"That's common with this style of house." Liz's dollhouse didn't have that feature. "Straight ahead?"

"The foyer." Which they could all see. "Then the family room which has a walkout to the back porch. The outdoor space is not covered, so we might want to change that." Otherwise they might not get to use it much. "To the right is the living room and the study."

"I'm guessing that is meant to be a formal living room." Liz wasn't sure they needed that. "Maybe we could turn that into a library, or a home office." With it facing the front of the house she didn't think it would be a good work space for Jason, the study might be a better fit.

He smiled listening to her talk about what the various rooms in the house could be used for. "Upstairs there are three bedrooms, including the master suite. There is also a bonus room."

"I will want to know if that can be enclosed for a possible fourth bedroom if necessary." Liz said thinking out loud.

"It would be a fifth bedroom. There is a fourth bedroom on the third floor of the house. It has its own bathroom. In fact there are two bathrooms on the third floor because the last owner used the top of the rotunda as an exercise space complete with sauna." Jason let her know.

"Sauna?" Liz had to laugh at that. "I'm not a fan of those, but it can stay if you are planning to use it."

"Nope." Jason commented grinning. "It can come out."

"That exercise space might be a good home office for one of us." She was guessing the view was spectacular. "If there is a basement we can put the gym down there." Jason's nod let her know there was one and that it would work for what she was thinking. "Let's go see the third floor right now. We can start at the top and work our way down."

"Sounds like a good plan." Jason placed a hand on her lower back and they followed the guys up the stairs.


By the time they were standing in the kitchen Liz was head over heels in love with this house. She started making notes about the changes she wanted to make when they were looking at the sauna. Not much was going to be needed on her end. The two biggest jobs would the renovations she wanted in the kitchen and all the bathrooms. Followed by having the hard wood floors refinished. That first project probably shouldn't even take too long because a total overhaul wasn't wanted. Liz wanted to keep as many of the older touches that gave the house its character as possible. So they wouldn't be ripping much out.

Jason had also started making a list. His consisted solely of security upgrades. It was also going to require a lot more work than his girlfriend's. There wouldn't be much in the way of surprise when Cody reviewed the list Jason was compiling. If anything the enforcer might add items. If he didn't then Francis or Sonny might. Since they both owned homes they both would know what was needed.

The first thing that would happen would be the installation of the state of the art security system, which included replacing the wrought iron fence that encircled the property. It was original to the estate so that meant it was weather beaten by now. At the same time that was going on they would be replacing all the doors and windows. The doors would all have steel cores, while the front door would just be steel. The windows would be double paned, sound blocking, and bulletproof. Jason made a notation that panic rooms were needed. At least one per floor. He needed a gun safe installed, as well as an in ground personal safe. "Do you want a pool?" They didn't have one.

"That would be nice." Liz nodded as she walked to the window. The backyard was massive. "Patio space would be nice as well."

Jason nodded and made more notations. He was also going to see about have an outbuilding put behind the house as a workshop for himself. That way he could have meetings without bringing business into the house. So they would need a path to connect the two structures.

"Is there a garage?" Liz turned and asked him. From the front the house was wider than what she was feeling from the inside. "To our left?"

Jason nodded. "Four bays which gives us enough room for both your cars, the SUV, and my bike."

"I'm not sure I want to keep the Beetle, but it seems wrong to get rid of it after you've done all that work to it." Liz said biting her lower lip.

"You know Ned right?" Jason put his phone away. Dillon lived here but his big brother lived in California where his record label had its headquarters.

"Not well, but both he and Lois were nice on the occasions we've interacted." Liz wondered where her guy was going.

"They have a daughter. She's sixteen, we can send the car to her. Brook Lynn will love it." Jason knew that Ned would worry less about his daughter being on the road in such a secure vehicle. "We can get you something better suited to the snow now that you'll be commuting." Elizabeth hadn't said anything yet, but he knew they were getting the house.

"If they want it, then that would be perfect." Liz nodded her agreement.

"I'll call later tonight." Jason let her know. They could talk about what kind of car she wanted as a replacement later in the week. Tomorrow Johnny could take Elizabeth to get the Porsche and then show her how to drive it.

"Knock, knock." Diane said announcing her presence. "So what is the verdict?"

Jason looked at his girlfriend who was smiling, before turning to his attorney. "We'll take it. Closing as soon as possible please."

"The realtor is already standing by." Diane could have this property in Jason's name by tomorrow. "I can't wait to see how you are going to decorate." The lawyer said to Elizabeth.

"I have a lot of ideas about that." Liz reached up and pushed a stray curl back.

"Well, hello there." Diane walked over and took the designer's hand. "You got a souvenir from the island." This must be what Johnny was talking about.

"I did." Elizabeth wiggled her fingers. "Something small." She deadpanned.

Diane laughed at the joke. "I have no idea what stone I'm looking at, but it's stunning."

"It's a sapphire." Elizabeth figured she would be explaining that a lot.

"I've never seen an orange sapphire." Diane looked at her client. Leave it to Jason to get something so unique. "Congratulations. We will have a lot to celebrate at brunch on Sunday." Lila was hosting and she had invited everyone, including the mob folks. Because she was classy like that.

"That we will." Jason leaned against the island and smiled at his girlfriend. "That we will." He repeated thinking his life was pretty damned good.


Thanks for the reviews!