Chapter 6

There he was, standing in the middle of the stair case looking at her as if he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. When she had left that morning her intent was to find him and make everything right again. She left her Grams with a one tracked mind. Find Lucky, tell him that he was a schmuck the night before, but let him know that there was no way in hell she was going to let him leave her life, even if she was the one to tell him to go and never come back.

Yet, instead of going to Kelly's because she wanted to see Lucky, she was there to help another man who had one time been very important to her. She lost track of her early morning mission because she was distracted by a man who had not been in her life for months, maybe even a year. Jason had saved her from Manny that morning and with that he remembered a very similar encounter that happened years ago. Over five years ago to be exact. His condition was very abnormal to say the least. The man had taken an experimental drug in order to make him remember the time he woke up a different man over ten years ago. His headaches, according to him, were extremely painful and occurred when he remembered something.

It was the least that she could do as his nurse to make sure he was ok. Everything else, recalling their history and spending an afternoon having lunch with him, she was doing because she still considered him a friend.

But now, standing like a frozen block of concrete in the entrance of Kelly's diner looking into the guilty face of the man she loved, all of the hurt that had surfaced the night before came rushing back. It wasn't until Jason softly spoke her name that Elizabeth pried her eyes away from the man on the stairs and focused her attention on Jason.

Giving enough of a window for Lucky to turn to Sam and hopefully get her out before Elizabeth and Jason saw her, assuming that they hadn't already.

Turning his head just the slightest, Lucky regarded Sam on a harsh whisper, "Turn around and go out the back way."

Trying to peer over his shoulder to see what the problem was Sam asked "Why? Is someone down there?"

Attempting to push her back without catching too much attention form the occupants below, Lucky rolled his eyes as if he were dealing with a thirteen year old school girl "It's later than we thought and Elizabeth and Jason are down there."

"What? Jason's there? Is he with Elizabeth?"

Growing exasperated with the mouthy woman already, Lucky was ready to snap "I guess, they just walked in. Now would you go before someone sees you?"

Wanting to see Jason but knowing that it was not the right time Sam hesitantly backed away, disappointed that she didn't get a glimpse of the man she was head over heels in love with. It was just too bad he forgot about their love, but it would all be over soon. She would have Jason back in her life and she would make it her personal goal to keep Elizabeth Webber away from him. As she walked down the stairs to the back alley of Kelly's, she couldn't help but wonder what Jason was doing with Elizabeth in the first place.

"Elizabeth? Are you ok?" His forehead was creased in a frown, his eyes were trained on her ghostly white face, and his hand was resting high on her back. From the moment that they had walked into Kelly's she had stopped dead in her tracks and her gaze was fixated on the staircase. If it weren't for his position of being half way in and half way out the door, Jason might have been able to see what she was looking at. Not knowing what else to do, he just decided to ask.

Looking away from Lucky, Elizabeth then realized that she was blocking the entrance into Kelly's. Shaking herself out of her trance she turned to look at Jason and noticed his concerned features. "Yeah….no, yeah I'm fine. Sorry I just saw someone that I wasn't expecting to see, though I should have been expecting to see him. I'm still a little confused about that part." She rambled on with a confused laugh. What she was rambling about he didn't know, but it was something or someone that made her eyes slightly dim.

Nodding his head, he steered her towards the table by the counter while she continued on with her babbling. "I was coming here to see Lucky but then I forgot about all of that when the guy Manny approached me on the docks, and then you had your headache." Sighing and closing her eyes as they stopped in front of the table she continued, "I completely forgot about what I was supposed to do, and now he's here and I have to talk to him. But I told you that we would talk…"

Sensing her dilemma Jason cut her off "It's…it's ok, you were coming her to talk to…" trying to remember the name of the other man Jason paused only to recall his name "Lucky. I'll just grab some coffee and then maybe we can talk later."

Looking at him with regret behind her expressional blue eyes she returned, "I don't know how long this will take, but I do have the whole day off. So maybe later this afternoon we can talk, I'm still a little worried about your headaches."

His lips involuntarily turned into a small grin, "You don't have to worry, but yes later we can talk. I have to take care of a few things but I should be home early tonight."

"Ok, then I'll call you at your penthouse…"

"No, I don't…" turning his head to the right ever so slightly he looked down and then met her confused eyes head on again "I don't live there anymore, I'm renting a room above a bar named Jakes."

A hint of a smile played across Elizabeth's mouth. She didn't know what brought on this excitement that started to build up low in her stomach, but she couldn't help it from showing a little behind her smile. Before they could continue on with their conversation Lucky showed up. It was the second time that day that she had forgotten about her fiancé because of Jason. What confused her most was that she had just been talking about him seconds before. The anticipation and excitement of seeing Jason and Jakes again distracted her for a moment. She also couldn't help but wonder what took him so long to come downstairs.

"Elizabeth, I didn't expect to see you here." Lucky hesitantly approached the table where they were standing in front of. He still didn't know if she had seen him with Sam. When she turned to look at him, it was then that he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. She hadn't seen Sam standing behind him on the stairs, they were safe.

For now.

"Lucky, hey. I actually came to see you." It was an awkward situation that they were in, but for the sake of everyone she put on her fake-everything is fine- smile as Lucky approached. He didn't seem to notice the fake sincerity that was behind it, but Jason did.

"With Jason?" And the smile vanished.

What brought that on was lost on Lucky. He should have never said it and he should have never spoken it as harsh as he did. The whole surrogacy thing had already made him feel inferior, but bringing Jason into the mix just opened up old wounds. Old wounds that he knew shouldn't be a problem, but old habits die hard.

She caught the accusing tone behind Lucky's question but chose to ignore it. By the looks of him he had one hell of a night after he left and she just wanted it to be over.

"Jason, this is Lucky. You two sort of….. know each other."

He didn't like him already. Jason didn't know why, but the second he laid eyes on this Lucky, he knew he didn't like him. It was just something about him that made Jason want to hit him. His instincts were confirmed when the prick spoke and treated Elizabeth like a teenager late for curfew. There went his idea of trying to live a non-violent life. One look at the man, and Jason wished they weren't standing in the middle of a diner. He wished they were in the back alley.

Neither one of them made any move to greet the other; they just stared at the other waiting for one to back down. Elizabeth could feel the tension building and wanted nothing more than to break the ice. She was trying to come up with something quick but was relieved when Lucky finally looked away.

Once the other man looked away Jason used that as his opportunity to say goodbye to Elizabeth. "I'll see you later."

Being the only one in that conversation to realize the meaning behind those words she chose to not let on to the significance and returned his goodbye, "Yeah, I'll see you later."

Once Jason turned around and was out the door Elizabeth was stopped in the midst of sitting down when Lucky spoke. "What the hell was that about?"

She knew that she should have left the second that she exited the back way, but she couldn't help herself. Jason was inside. Not only was he inside, but he was there with another woman, a woman who had once been a very good friend to him. Sam wasn't around during the time that Elizabeth and Jason were "together," but she knew enough to know that the other woman was not a threat. She knew that they were friends and that they tried to be something more, but little Miss Elizabeth couldn't handle the life. Not like she could, no one could handle being with Jason Morgan like Sam McCall could.

That thought brought a smile to her face as she waited in the shadows in the courtyard of Kelly's. When Sam came outside she quickly ran to the front of the building to peer through the window and see what was going on. When she approached the window she could tell that Jason was about to leave Elizabeth and Lucky and come outside, the only thing that was left to do was for to wait and "accidentally" bump into him once he exited the building.

Waiting behind the bush that served as her hiding spot, Sam couldn't help but mull over the fact that she was perfect for Jason. No other woman had ever survived being with him as long as she had. Her relationship with Jason was like none other, they were meant for each other. Sam knew that for sure. The little fact that Jason couldn't remember anything about her just yet was an insignificant fact to Sam. It was a little crack in their perfect love that would just need some plaster to patch up. All Sam had to do was spend as much time with Jason and make him remember her and then everything would be perfect again.

She just had to make sure that she made Jason remember her and their relationship. She made a vow to herself that she would do anything to make that happen. Sam had worked to hard to get where she was already, and nothing would take that away from her.

Sam saw him walk out of the diner and turn in the opposite direction from where she was hiding. She had to think fast in order to gain his attention and so she did. Making a very loud yelping noise, Sam pushed herself from behind the bush and fell down to her hands and knees, acting as if she tripped.

Turning around at the noise Jason saw the woman on the floor and rushed over to help her. Once her neared, the combination of alcohol and body odor consumed him. Holding his breath and grabbing onto her arms to hoist her up he asked "Are you alright?"

Unmindful of the fact that she smelt like a dirty old bar and a sweaty hooker that had just finished with a client, Sam raised her head as Jason helped her to her feet. Standing now she grabbed onto his arm. Once he realized it was her he started to back away, in order to gain distance from her, but her grip on his arm stopped him.

Faking complete shock, Sam tried to make eye contact "Jason. Hi, how are you?" Her hand was slowly rising up from his forearm to his bicep to gain intimate access which broke once he decided to move away from her once again.

"Fine."

Her hand dropped to her side showing her disappointment, hoping to gain some sympathy from him, but he just stood there with his hands in his pockets looking at her with nothing on his face. No emotion, no recognition, just nothing, he looked as if he didn't even want to be there.

"Oh, well that's good. Where are you staying? I didn't get a chance to ask you last night. If you noticed, I left before you did. I just couldn't be there when you left, it would have been too hard-"

Cutting her off, Jason shook his head slightly and started to retreat, "I didn't notice. I have to go." And with that he continued on with his excursion in the same direction that he started moments before.

Leaving a shocked and pissed off Sam standing alone.

Plopping down hard in her seat, Elizabeth chose to show her frustration with the bull headed imbecile standing in front of her with what looked like anger mixed in with jealously written clear across his face. Choosing to ignore the little voice in her head that whispered in her ear that Lucky really needed to grow up, she motioned for him to sit down, there was no way she was going to get a stiff neck from having to look up at him during this conversation.

She hadn't answered his question yet and he could have stood there for several more minutes with his arms crossed over his chest trying to look intimidating, but he decided to sit down anyway. "Are you going to tell me why you showed up here with Jason?"

Elizabeth had to remind herself that this was Lucky, her fiancé, and that she loved him very deeply. The reminder made her stay calm and decide to move this subject along so that they could talk about the night before. She also had to add into her mental cool down that stress was not good for the baby she was carrying. "Lucky," sighing and closing her eyes for a moment Elizabeth had to regain herself yet again "I ran into Jason on the docks and we decided to come here for lunch. Actually I was on my way here to see you; we need to talk about last night." There was so much that needed to be discussed between the two that Elizabeth really didn't want to waste any of it fighting about her rebirth of a friendship with Jason, or the fact that she was threatened by a very lethal man. She would just have to calmly mention the not so verbal threat from the mobster to Lucky a little bit later. Now was the time to remove the temporary wedge that found itself stuck between the two.

"Yeah, we do need to talk about last night. Listen, I'm really sorry that I said those things to you. This whole surrogacy arrangement has just seemed to bring out the worst in me and I have been acting very possessive over you. You know that I love you more than anything and I wouldn't be able to live without you. You're my everything Elizabeth. I would never do anything to ruin what we have, not on purpose anyway." Like sleeping with Sam, it was completely unintentional and he wasn't in the right frame of mind. Lucky knew that Elizabeth could never find out. If she did, than there relationship would be over for good.

Touched by his words but a little thrown off by his last statement, Elizabeth moved her hand to rest on top of his tightly clasped ones that were resting on the table top. His hands felt cold and clammy underneath hers as she gently stoked them with her thumb. "I believe that you are sorry. You really hurt me last night with everything that you said. You took regrets from my past and used them against me-"

"I know and….. Sorry go on." One stern look from her and Lucky knew that he needed to let her finish.

"But I know all of that was said in the heat of the moment. If we are going to make this work, make a marriage work than we have to let go of our childish tendencies." Giving a little chuckle that held her embarrassment Elizabeth continued "and throwing Cameron's stuffed elephant at you was defiantly childish of me and I'm sorry. I love you too Lucky and I want you to come home to me and Cameron. My hormones get a little ahead of me sometimes and I tend to lash out." She was looking at him with complete love behind her eyes and a small smile making an appearance on her face and Lucky felt like a complete heel. Elizabeth never seized to amaze him with her ability to love him so deeply and Lucky realized that he really didn't deserve her love. Even with his knowledge of not being worthy he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest man in the world. Elizabeth was his forever and he wasn't about to let her go, even if he felt like slime for cheating on her.

Looking around to see if any of the waitresses were going to serve them Elizabeth broke contact with his hands. Looking back at him she asked "So what did you do last night after you left?"

"Oh… Nothing, I just came here and told Mike I was going to be renting my old room, but he told me someone else was already renting it so I had to take a room that was just recently vacated. Then I just stayed in my room missing you and I started to think."

"About?"

"The surrogacy." He could see her demeanor of being happy again start to fall so he had to quickly reassure her before she pulled away. "Even though I don't like Jax, I think that shared custody would be the best idea."

The smile that appeared on her face was enough to make Lucky pat himself on the back for his quick thinking. He wasn't about to tell her about going to the River Rat to get filthy drunk, and he was definitely not going to tell her about the events that followed. He hadn't really thought much about the custody arrangement but right now he just had to think about keeping Elizabeth happy. If he had to, Lucky would find another way later on to make sure Jax had no part of the child's life, but for now he would deal with shared custody.

"Really? You want to share custody with Jax?"

"Yeah, I mean I had a lot of time to think about it last night and I realized that nothing good could come out of fighting with Jax for custody once the child is born. It's going to take some getting used to, but we've been through worse right?" The lie was getting easier and easier for him to maintain control over. He didn't like lying to her, but right now it was necessary.

Elizabeth couldn't get over the fact that Lucky was truly an amazing man. He never wanted the surrogacy in the first place, but he was willing to compromise with Jax in order to make everyone's lives that much easier. She only hoped that Jax would be as willing to share custody as they were. "Do you have to work today or can you stay for lunch?"

"I actually have to leave. I have to go back to the apartment and shower and get ready to go down to the station. Jesse and I are going down to the campus to talk to some of the students about this stalker issue and then I have to talk to Mac about my testifying in Tito's trial."

The mention of Tito's name sparked Elizabeth's memory with the fact that Manny, his brother, had harassed her that morning. She was about to talk to Lucky about it but he was quickly getting up from the table and kissing her on the forehead before retreating from Kelly's on his way to their apartment. As he walked out the door she was struck with the fact that he smelled like alcohol and a fragrance that she was not accustomed to. As she reached into her purse to retrieve her cell phone she wondered why Lucky had smelt like a cheap perfume that she wouldn't be caught dead wearing. The best excuse she could come up with as she dialed the phone number she knew by heart was that the smell must have come from the person who stayed in that room before Lucky. Mike must not have gotten around to changing the sheets before Lucky took over the room.

The thought made her cringe with disgust but was forgotten once the man on the other end answered. "Jax, hi, it's Elizabeth."

He just couldn't get a fucking break from her. Every time he turned around there she was, looking at him, touching him, annoying the hell out of him. He couldn't go to his weekly treatments without her right there; he couldn't go to Kelly's to get some damn coffee without her somehow showing up. That wouldn't have annoyed him so much if she would have just left it at that, but she couldn't. He thought he made it clear the hundred times he told her he couldn't remember her, but she still nagged him. He thought that his many attempts to back away from her showing his discomfort in her touching him would give her a hint to stop touching him, but it hadn't. This final attempt to make her back off didn't seem to help at all either. He hoped by moving out she would have realized that he didn't want to be with her, that he just wanted to be left alone and start his life again, but again that was another failed attempt. The moment Sam saw him in the courtyard she began with her interrogation. Jason could only hope that Jake's was not a bar she went to.

As he walked to his desired location he couldn't help but walk with annoyed and angry steps. When he walked downstairs the night before with his duffel bag in his hands containing solid color shirts, jeans, bathroom essentials, and a leather jacket he couldn't help but feel relived. Once he reached the door to leave he had turned to look back at the place he called "home." It didn't feel right; he didn't feel right staying there. Jason couldn't help but feel like he didn't belong in a penthouse. He didn't like the penthouse, not to live in anyway. When he reached Jake's later that night, he felt right there. The room was small but it wasn't like he had a lot of stuff anyway. Jake's felt like a place he belonged at. All he really needed was a place to keep his stuff and a bed to sleep in; all the other stuff seemed to be useless to him. Although, he did have to admit, the pool table in the dining room seemed to call out to him, but Jakes had pool tables also, and Jason made a note to try it out sometime. He didn't know if he was any good, but playing pool did seem appealing to him.

Ever since he walked out the night before he seemed more at ease, more relaxed. But that all changed when Sam had to show up outside of Kelly's and inquire as to where he was staying. If he wanted her to know then he would tell her on his own. Blowing out an angry breath Jason neared his destination. He figured that unless he told her exactly how he felt, than she would continue to annoy the hell out of him. He tried to avoid it, not wanting to have to deal with her hurt feelings, but he was getting tired of her.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts of the woman who couldn't seem to understand his frustration he decided to focus on a woman who understood him fully. He didn't know how or why but Elizabeth seemed to know exactly what he needed and Jason was grateful for that. He couldn't hide his disappointment from himself when he realized that he would have to wait a little bit longer when it came to talking to Elizabeth about their past, but he also couldn't hide the happiness that overcame him with the knowledge that he would see her later.

It had only been twenty-four hours since he met his "friend" but he couldn't help but feel connected to her. There was no doubt to Jason that their friendship was a strong one. It had to be, what else could describe the reasoning behind him feeling close to her, trusting her, and wanting to spend time with her. He even remembered something about her and in that memory he felt the emotions that were present in him during that brief glimpse. His steps started to ease, not holding as much force behind them and his eyes weren't cloudy with annoyance anymore.

As he approached the gate that was opened for him without question, Jason was left to wonder about her fiancé, Lucky. He had met the man for a second and he had already known the guy was useless to him. There was no denying the fact that Lucky didn't like Jason, for what he didn't know, but what he did know was that he didn't like Lucky either. Just one second with the man and Jason was ready to throw him over the table. By the way that Elizabeth introduced him to Lucky he could tell that the feeling was not a new one.

He had to yet again shake the annoyance out of his mind as he entered the house. He came here to find a way to start his life over. He just moved out of the penthouse, refusing to live there anymore, and now he needed a job. Sam told him that he had plenty of money because of his previous job with Sonny, but Jason couldn't live off of that. Not just because it was considered "dirty money," but because if he was going to start over, than he wanted to start over completely.

He needed a job, and although coming here was against his better judgment, Jason thought it would be for the best. According to Sonny, he had a lot of enemies who could care less whether or not he could remember anything. They hated Jason and would most likely use his condition against him. So in order to keep safe, even though he was sure he could take care of himself, Jason came to the last place he thought he would return to since waking up.

The guard came back after announcing his presence and told him to enter. The formalities of the situation amused Jason, to have someone "announce" his presence seemed a bit ridiculous and over the top. As he entered the living room he was met with the hopeful face of his "friend" Sonny Corinthos.

"Jason. Hey man, how's it going?"

"I need a job."