Chapter 3

Time seemed to stand still as both Jason and Elizabeth stared into each others eyes lost in their own worlds. For Elizabeth, it was just like old times. Looking into his open blue eyes, seeing exactly what he was feeling. In the past sometimes what she saw scared her, other times it made her feel special, but now it just seemed to confuse her all the more. At the beginning of their friendship she saw kindness and understanding behind those blue orbs. When he returned home the second time she saw longing and desire. When he returned home in the summer of 2002, she saw hesitancy, desire again, and what she thought was love, until their worlds blew apart, but that was a completely different story. Now she saw confusion, sadness, and was that…recognition?

For Jason it was a new experience. The only other time that he looked into her big doe eyes was when she was giving him his treatment earlier in the hospital. He felt something when they locked eyes earlier but couldn't really explain it. All he knew was he never felt that way when he looked into Sam's eyes. Maybe he wasn't being fair to her, but a man really could only take so much. Sure she lost the "love of her life" when he woke up with no memory, but maybe he would be more open to remembering their love if she just gave him time and space. The whole technique of shoving information down his throat, and being with him every second of every day was slowly driving him to insanity. But when he looked into Elizabeth's eyes at that moment on the docks, he felt something else. She was looking at him like she could tell exactly what he was feeling and that scared him. But instead of breaking eye contact he decided to do a little studying himself.

If she could trespass into his soul, then he should be aloud to do the same thing.

Finally realizing that she was still in his arms Elizabeth stepped back just as he dropped his arms. Neither one could tell how long they were holding onto the other, but it did seem like an inappropriate amount of time considering they were "strangers."

Elizabeth, always being the talker, was growing uncomfortable in the silence. She gave a nervous laugh while tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. She plastered her well practiced "everything is fine" smile on her face and was about to break the silence when Jason beat her to it.

Studying her for a while and sensing something was wrong he tilted his head to the side and jutted his chin in her direction, "You seem upset."

Well if it didn't seem like old times when they were staring into each other's eyes, it sure as hell felt like old times after that simple statement. Even with his memory gone he could still read her like a book. He could always tell when she was upset or faking, it seemed like some things never changed. Either that or she was just that transparent. Tucking that damn piece of hair behind her ear again she walked around him to stare out at the water, "What? No no no, I'm fine."

Turning around to face her profile he felt the need to continue. "No, no your not. You seem fine, but your eyes seem…sad." Why the hell he felt the need to find out what was dimming those beautiful eyes was lost on him. Yet, for some reason he needed to know, he needed to ease her pain.

Oh for the love of…, why on earth did he have to go and say that? It had been way too long since her and Jason opened up to each other. They both moved on with their lives, and they never seemed to register on each others radar anymore. Now he was just making it way to easy to fall back into their old pattern of just sitting for hours and talking. If she were honest with herself she would admit that she missed him terribly. But how could she dump her problems on him when he had a truck load of his own?

As if sensing her hesitancy he shrugged his shoulders, "You know, if you need someone to listen." Using her words from earlier that day seemed to work because she turned to face him with a beautiful smile that could probably bring any man to his knees.

"Thanks." He thought that she was going to walk away but instead she sat down on a bench by the stairs. Taking that as an invitation he followed her.

She really didn't want to dump this on him but she never could resist the invitation of opening up her mind and letting Jason listen to her thoughts.

She stared out into the water as she told her story. "I'm pregnant. I'm just being a surrogate to this couple that I know," she added quickly, too quickly. "They can't have children of their own so I offered to let them use my womb as a host. Only it turned out that the mother couldn't produce eggs, so I'm technically the biological mother. I agreed to this because I wanted to give this couple the miracle of a child, but also because my fiancé and I are financially in trouble." If she wouldn't have been lost in her own world she would have seen the slight dim in Jason's eyes at the mention of her having a fiancé.

Saying the situation out loud to a person who had no idea what was going on really made her situation sound even crazier than before, but she continued on. "Now this couple is getting a divorce because his wife, Courtney, cheated on him with one of my best friend's who is also married. I am not even four months pregnant, and already the child is supposed to go into a broken home. I agreed to this surrogacy under the impression that this child would have a two parent loving home, and would have the best life. But now everything is just so messed up." Rolling her eyes and giving a sigh of displeasure she continued on' "Now my fiancé thinks it would be better if we got married right away in order to make him the legal father. That way we could fight for custody, and the child would have two parents"

"What do you think?"

Turning her body to face him she answered "At first I thought Lucky, my fiancé, was right. I thought that I was right in trying to make sure the father, Jax, had no rights to this child if he and Courtney were going to split. But now I'm not so sure." Nibbling on her bottom lip and looking at him hesitantly she decided to emphasize her dilemma "How could I refuse to not let him be a single father, when I am a single mother? My son was born out of wedlock and his father was killed in a police shoot out. I raised my son by myself for the first eighteen months of his life. Just because it was only me there for him didn't mean that he wasn't as loved as a child with two parents. How could I take away this child when I never had any legal rights to her?"

Maybe his life wasn't as fucked up as Jason thought. Everyone seemed to have their problems, and just by listening to Elizabeth's he realized that the world really did suck.

"Jax and Lucky do not get along at all. They are always fighting about this child and mostly me, and now I am stuck in the middle. Am I betraying Lucky by thinking about not fighting Jax for this baby, or am I breaking a father's heart by taking his child away?"

Not knowing how to answer, or even knowing if she realized that he was still there, Jason just continued to listen to her battle between right and wrong. Or what was supposed to be right and wrong.

"How do I even have the right to decide?" She asked on a whisper with a hint of tears.

Feeling slightly confused but deciding to finally add his input Jason looked out into the water with a determined look on his face. "You can't fault this guy for being a single parent since you are one yourself, but you also don't want to make your fiancé mad. Maybe what is best in this situation is what is best for you."

Some how summing up her twenty minute declaration in two sentences didn't seem fair to Elizabeth, but that was Jason, simple. Old times were really starting to make their presence known.

"I think what is best for me is to come up with some type of compromise with Jax." And another five million dollars was completely out of the picture. "So what are you doing out here? You seemed to be concentrating really hard when I not so gracefully bumped into you." She was changing the subject, but at least now there was humor in her soulful eyes.

Simply shrugging his shoulders and squinting his eyes as he stared past her shoulder "I just needed air. I must have been out here for awhile though, it was still daylight when I walked by here. The water just seemed calming so I stopped."

"You know, you listened to me, I could do the same for you."

Taking her earlier approach and staring out into the water Jason began to recall his displeasure in his current condition. "Everyone expects me to be like I was before. It hasn't been that long since I lost my memory but everyday someone is trying to get me to remember." Turning his head to look at her with intensity behind his baby blues he studied her' "except you, I've only seen you twice, but you haven't told me endless times how I should be. Why is that? You said we know each other. Why aren't you like everyone else and trying to make me remember how I was before?"

Here came the inevitable. Defining what their relationship was to him, but also to her. Their past was easy to describe, it was the crap that followed that would be the real kicker to explain. Especially how two close friends, more than friends, turned into acquaintances, if they could even be called that.

Just as her mind was focusing on her response and her mouth was forming the words a deep voice that defiantly did not belong to her popped up.

"Jason, man, I've been looking for you. Sam called worried about you and wanted me to find you."

If Jason gave a damn about what this man thought, he would have kept his groan to himself. But since he really could give a shit about Sonny Corinthos he sighed loudly and looked away.

Having her back to Sonny, Elizabeth could really look at Jason and see his annoyance. She would have told Sonny where he could shove it, but for some reason she felt the need to ease the tension that seemed to follow Jason everywhere.

Turning and standing up Elizabeth greeted him. "Hey Sonny."

"Hello," he offered with a dimpled smile. Jason was now standing behind her facing Sonny with his all famous enforcer glare. Deciding to get down to business he continued "I really need to speak to you Jason, it's important and it can't wait."

"Yeah it can, I was in the middle of a conversation with Elizabeth." Not feeling that he owed him anymore of an explanation he left it at that. Maybe Sonny was this great man to him before and he owed him his life, but right now he could care less. Every time he saw Sonny he was just supposed to drop everything for the man that he didn't even know. Well that was bullshit and…

"No it's ok," turning to face him again she put her back towards Sonny "I should really get going, I was supposed to pick up Cameron about" looking down at her watch her eyes nearly popped out of her head. Were they really talking for that long? "Wow about an hour ago. I'm sorry to just leave but my Gram's is probably worried out of her mind. Thanks for everything, I'll see you later, maybe we can finish our talk." Giving him a tentative smile she turned towards the stairs after he gave a nod of his head and a smile of his own. She gave Sonny a less bright smile and continued on her way.

Both men watched as the woman went on her way. Once she was out of sight Sonny's curiosity got the best of him, "What was that about?"

Choosing to ignore the man's question he answered with one of his own "What do you want?"

If it was one thing that Alcazar hated the most, it was when someone waltzed into his home when he was in the middle of pleasuring a nameless beauty. But ever since he enlisted Manny Ruiz into his scheme to take Sonny down, the man turned into a permanent thorn in his side.

After receiving word from his faithful guard that Ruiz demanded Alcazars attention at that very moment, he rolled off of the leggy blonde without a second thought. No one could ever replace Carly, no matter how hard he tried. It was sick how even after all that she did to him he still couldn't get her out of his mind.

Tying the sash of his robe tight around himself he walked into the living room.

"Well it looks like I came at a bad time." Ruiz had a sick perverted smirk on his face that made Lorenzo want to end this meeting as soon as possible.

"What do you want? You come into my home, interrupt me, and make smart remarks, state your business and get the hell out of my face." Turning around and walking over to his wet bar, Lorenzo poured himself a drink. Ruiz had better hurry up because his patience was running very thin.

"Wow, asshole you came to me remember. Don't start acting all fucking superior to me now. We still have a deal. There was just a little set back in our plan." Choosing to ignore Alcazars snort of sarcasm Ruiz went on, "I want to make Spencer pay for his interference in this, and once he is taken care of we can continue on with our plan to take Corinthos down."

Turning to face Ruiz with a scowl on his face Lorenzo finished off his drink. "What the hell does Spencer have to do with Sonny? You just want to get revenge because he caught your screw-up brother."

Stalking towards Lorenzo with angry steps Ruiz was standing toe to toe with the other mobster, "He is the only one who is a witness to the ambush, everyone else that was there were either smart enough to keep their mouth's shut, or they didn't see anything. Either way that is only half the point. Tito is in custody awaiting trial for an attack on Sonny. If we take Sonny down during this trial then all fingers will point to us. If Spencer is taken care of first…." giving a wicked smile he continued and backed off the other man a bit "then Tito wont have to stand trial since there won't be any evidence and then the coast will be clear to kill Sonny."

Never being a man to turn down the invitation to screw with the authorities, Lorenzo smirked as he poured two glasses of bourbon. Handing Ruiz one he asked "What do you have in mind?"

Feeling victorious, Ruiz took a gulp of the burning liquid and asked, "What do you know about his little woman Elizabeth Webber?"

Feeling a little hurt by the anger in his best friend's eyes and voice Sonny decided that he needed to tread on thinner water when it came to Jason. "I need to talk to you about Ruiz,"

"Find someone else to do it." Starting to walk away already knowing that Sonny wanted him to take care of the man, he was stopped by the pleading in his "friends" voice.

"Please Jason, I need you man. This guy is trying to take me down. He may be involved with Alcazar who is another major threat, and my, OUR, family is in danger."

Turning to face Sonny again Jason looked at him, really looked at him and saw a lost man. For some reason he didn't think that this emptiness was new to Sonny. He knew that he should feel something for this man. He was told over and over again by Sam that Sonny was his Boss and best friend, but he really didn't know what to feel anymore. His defense was falling slightly so he decided to wait patiently as the man described his turmoil.

"He sent his men into my home and they shot the place up. He didn't care that Carly was there. She is already loosing her mind, she doesn't need this shit. My girlfriend Reese was there and so was my brother Ric." Getting angry at the situation Sonny turned to look out at the water. The waves seemed to be a very relaxing sound to anyone who needed to reach down into themselves and voice their feelings.

"Ruiz needs to be taken care of, his brother is already facing jail time because an officer was there and witnessed the whole incident, but Ruiz is ruthless. He has a reputation of letting nothing stand in his way. My children have been in danger before," growing angry with himself he faced Jason and sliced a hand through the air "I will not let that happen again!"

Nodding his head, Jason stuffed his hands in his pockets "What do you want me to do about it?"

Mistaking the question as instructions instead of curiosity he answered "You need to send a message to Ruiz that I will not tolerate any of his or Alcazar's bullshit."

This seemed like such a natural order from Sonny that it made Jason uneasy. Was it really that easy to give an order to kill someone? Better yet, was it that easy for Jason to accept the order? Sure he had all of his instincts. He killed two men at the clinic, and he knew enough about weaponry that it would make a solider jealous, but could he really go through with the order? Could he kill a man and be able to look at himself in the mirror after it was all over?

Picking up Cameron had been a nightmare. Her Gram's asked her a thousand and one questions that made her head start to spin. The motto for the day was "old times were surfacing again," and boy was it true. Her Gram's was scolding her like she was seventeen again, and she had been sitting on the docks having a conversation with Jason earlier that evening. Sometimes it felt good to go back in time.

Walking into her apartment she was startled to see Lucky sitting on the couch. "Oh hey, let me just put Cameron down and I'll be right back." After carrying the sleeping infant into his room she returned to see Lucky looking at her with disapproval written all over his face.

"Where have you been? I got off early tonight and thought we could make up for our lunch that was cut short but you weren't here. Instead I get to listen to three messages from Audrey about how she can't find you. I was about to go looking for you when I heard the fourth one letting me know not to worry because you finally showed up an hour late."

Not believing her ears as she heard him scold her like a two year old, Elizabeth brushed right passed him and into the kitchen to start the tea kettle. When she felt as if she wouldn't rip his head off she returned to the living room.

Placing her hands on her hips and jutting her chin out in defiance she asked, "Who the hell do you think you are?" there goes the whole idea of his head staying attached to his body. "I may be your fiancé Lucky, and I am sorry that I had you and Grams worrying, but you are not my father and you have NO right to attack me like that. If you must know I had a very interesting conversation with Jax and decided to take a detour to the docks on my way home." Deciding it best to keep the argument as civil as possible she decided to leave Jason out of it. There was no need to get into that past situation again.

He was angry that he didn't get to spend the night with her, but now his anger boiled into something more when she mentioned Jax. Standing up from the couch he towered over her, "What did Jax say? Is he bothering you?"

Deciding to ignore the whistle of the tea pot, Elizabeth thought it better to just get it out in the open now. "No, well yes, kind of. You know what it doesn't matter. What matters is that I think I have come up with a solution to this baby problem. All I have to do is get Jax to agree."

"What is the solution?"

"Joint custody."

All Lucky could do was stare at her with shock.