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Sorry this is late,, my in laws arrived last night was expecting 2 got 6

Chapter 4

"Why do you think that?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

"By the time I left for the meeting my life was spinning out of control." Jason began telling her. "I was a mess after I walked away from you. I knew that our being together gave my rivals a way to bring me down. No matter how I spun it every scenario had you and the boys paying for my lifestyle. But I still was trying to find a way for us to be together. Then Kristina got taken by the Russians. It was my worst nightmare. I could see exactly how dangerous my life was. How could I ask you to be a part of that?"

"I trust you to protect us." Elizabeth said softly.

"But I didn't trust me to protect you. We got her back, and Alexis took her and left. Sonny said this was why I couldn't be with you, and I said he was right, that we didn't belong together." He saw a flash of pain in her eyes. "I couldn't handle having you looking at me with the same hate that Alexis looked at Sonny with."

Elizabeth just squeezed his hand in support. He needed to get this out. Something changed somewhere along the way because he wanted to be with them. There was a conviction in his words that she hadn't ever heard from him before.

"Then Sam started coming around again. I would go out, usually at Sonny's insistence, and she would show up. The first few times I didn't think anything of it, but a month or so before I left I saw the two of them talking. Heads bent and whispering. I still wasn't sure so I called Cody back." Jason told her. "He brought me proof that they were meeting regularly, and not for sex." Which was Jason's first thought, not that he cared. "They were plotting. Sonny wanted me back with Sam. Then Cody heard Sam say the name Karpov." Jason looked up and saw comprehension come into Elizabeth's eyes.

"He had his own daughter kidnapped so that it would scare you into staying away from me?" Elizabeth couldn't believe that Sonny would stoop so low.

"Yeah, I think he did but I can't prove that either." At least not yet. "That was when I began to suspect I was being played. But that meant my life was more dangerous than I first suspected. I had to figure out how to keep you safe from my enemies and my partner. I started making plans. When I returned from the meeting I was going to confront Sonny. I'm going to be honest, I still wasn't convinced we could be together at that point. But I had to make sure my partner wasn't going to become a problem." Jason was fully prepared to kill the other man to keep Elizabeth, Cameron, and the baby safe. "The timing is too close. What I can't figure out is how he knew what I was planning." Even now a salvage crew was looking for the plane. Jason wanted proof. "If I'm proven correct then I need to handle that."

"I know. There is something you should know." Elizabeth took a deep breath. "I didn't hide that this was your baby, but I didn't advertise it either." He nodded thinking back on the conversation they had where she said they could tell those closest to them when she hit month four. "I knew that I might need to get us guards. It was common knowledge that we were dating at the end of last year."

"I should have already had guards on you." Just another way he had screwed up.

"It's probably for the best that you didn't." She told him.

"What did Sonny do?" Jason could see the fear in her eyes.

"He came to the hospital to congratulate me on the baby." Elizabeth said swallowing before she continued. "To ask if I needed anything because he wanted to make sure your child was well cared for." Her eyes were looking into his.

"I never told him you were pregnant." Jason promised. "There is no way he should have known." She hadn't even been showing when he left.

"We talked about it at the penthouse." Elizabeth reminded him. They never talked about the baby anywhere public. Kelly scheduled all the appointments during days Liz worked so there was no questioning why she was at the hospital. Once she started showing she would have had to say something, but until that point Liz kept everything quiet, with Monica's help as well, to protect her children.

Understanding dawned in his brilliant blue eyes. "I only shared my suspicions with a few trusted men. We always met at the penthouse. I'll need to have it checked for bugs. If I put guards on you and Cameron it would have made it easier for Sonny to get to you." Jason paused. He also needed to see if the men he trusted were still alive. He would hate to think that he'd gotten them killed. "Is Spinelli still living there?"

"Yeah, with Sam." Elizabeth informed him. "They are roommates."

Jason rubbed the side of his face. "That's out. Sam would have removed any listening devices before moving in. If I was being monitored, that means Spinelli was involved as well." He crossed the hacker off the list of people he could trust. Spinelli never sat in on any of the meetings, but Jason was hoping that the computer whiz could help him now. "He would have also been able to access your medical records."

"Your name is in the chart." Elizabeth confirmed. "Sonny scared me. Something about the way he was looking at me, gave me the chills. With you dead he shouldn't have been interested in me."

"He wasn't interested in you, he was interested in the baby." Jason told her. "My child inherits all my holdings."

"I would have owned half of Corinthos Morgan?" Elizabeth hadn't really given that much thought when Diane said everything. "I just assumed I got all your legal holdings."

"It's not half the business, it's three quarters of it." Jason informed her. "I'm the majority partner." Jason explained.

"Why would you leave me your illegal holdings?" Elizabeth wanted to know. "Doesn't that make me a walking target?" Also she didn't know the first thing about running a mob empire.

"I didn't leave you my share of the business. I left it in a trust for the baby." Jason told her.

"How is that any better?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

"Let me explain. The holdings are in trust, but you aren't the trustee." Jason rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand trying to calm her. "Francis is."

"Corelli?" Elizabeth hadn't heard that name in a long time.

"Yeah. Which means you can't make any decisions regarding the business. Francis would have been running things until the baby turned eighteen. I'm going to guess that Francis wasn't going to show up until the will was out of probate." Which made sense, Sonny would not be expecting him. "I'm also guessing that Francis has someone here looking out for you." Jason would need to call his friend.

"Sonny doesn't know that?" Elizabeth asked him.

"Diane must not have told him at the will reading." Jason had not spoken to his lawyer about that when he called. She was the one to tell him where to find Elizabeth and Cameron.

"There wasn't a will reading. Diane called me after the memorial service and asked me to come by her office. I haven't told anyone what she said." Elizabeth explained. "Once I had the baby I was planning on leaving Port Charles. Monica was going to help me."

That was smart of Diane. "Why didn't you leave right away?" He wanted to know. She had the money he gave her.

"It's not safe for me to travel." Elizabeth had hoped to not have to tell him this.

"I thought you said everything is fine." Jason said as his hand went back to her belly.

"It is, my blood pressure has been on the high side so I've had to take it easy. Kelly said we are both doing good, but now isn't the time to be moving." It would be too stressful relocating. "We're fine. You can ask Monica." Elizabeth had been well cared for.

Jason would ask his mother later. Now he turned his attention back to their big problem. "Sonny probably assumed that everything is his." Jason figured his partner was waiting for the year to pass and the proper paperwork to be delivered.

"So why come talk to me?" Elizabeth was still confused.

"Because you are having my heir, and if you wanted to push the issue you could make a claim against my estate. The families would have made Sonny give you a share of the organization. He doesn't want that to happen." Jason was guessing. "The baby poses a threat to him financially. How did Carly react?"

"She came to the house to see me." Elizabeth told him. "I think Sonny was hoping that she would drive me away or something."

"How bad was it?" Jason was wondering how she was going to handle his return. She was another person who wanted him away from Elizabeth. However the blonde was not someone the first Jason would want be friends with so he'd have to give her place in his life some thought. These resurfaced emotions were changing almost everything.

"Well, she pretty much stalked me for the next month. Finally I sat down and asked her what she wanted." Elizabeth started smiling. "She said she wanted to know that your baby was okay. That it was all of you she had left. So I let her tag along to the next appointment."

"You took Carly with you to see Kelly Lee?" Jason said stunned.

"I did." Elizabeth giggled. "Carly is my birthing coach."

Jason's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"It's really strange. Over the course of my pregnancy we've become good friends." Elizabeth laughed harder at the expression on his face. "She kicked Sam's ass the last time your ex got in my face. Sam tried to say she was pregnant with your baby too."

"Sam's pregnant?" Jason said leaning back into the couch. "It's not mine."

"I know. So does all of Port Charles." Elizabeth said with an evil grin. "It seems that Sam tried to change a DNA test and got busted. When Sam announced the pregnancy Monica demanded the test. Carly paid Brad to record it when Sam approached him about changing the results. Somehow the tape got leaked and well no payday for her. She's been pretty much hiding in the penthouse ever since." Elizabeth figured once the baby was born Sam would either move in with Nikolas or leave Port Charles all together.

"So you and Carly are friends?" He was stuck on that. If the civility continued then he'd have no problem letting Carly stay, but she was about to be given some new rules to follow.

"Yes, and so you know Sam said the baby isn't Sonny's either." Elizabeth and Carly had both suspected that. They were surprised when both Sam and Sonny made that clear.

"Has Lucky been an issue?" Jason figured he may as well check on everyone.

"Not for me. He and Maxie became an item and moved to Texas. I haven't heard from him since the divorce." Elizabeth was hoping it stayed that way. "Emily is going to kick herself for going away this week."

"How is she?" He missed his little sister.

"Happy. She's still dating Matt Hunter. He's been really good to her." Elizabeth leaned back against the couch and tried to get comfortable. "The past six months have been hard on her. Emily hasn't really smiled much, your being alive will change that. For all of us. We all missed you so much." She said as the tears came again.

Jason scooted across the cushions until he was sitting next to her. Gently he wiped the tears from her face. "No one is happier than me that I'm home. I'm sorry I missed the pregnancy, but I'm thrilled to be here for the birth of our son." He said softly.

"What changed your mind?" Elizabeth asked looking up at him. "You said that you weren't convinced we could be together when you left, but now you are. Why did that change?" She needed to know that.

"Howie. He helped me to see some truths that I had been ignoring." Jason told her. He shifted so that Elizabeth could put her head on his shoulder. His whole body relaxed when she leaned her weight into him. He closed his eyes and thought back to the conversation that changed everything.

"What do you have waiting for you? Back home." Howie wanted to know.

Jason looked over at the man who saved his life. They'd been on the island for three months, and there was no way the enforcer would have lasted this long without the pilot. "There's a woman and her son."

"Not your son?" Howie asked his fellow wreck survivor. He found Jason to be an interesting guy. Still waters and all that. Back home he had a reputation for being quiet and stand offish. While Jason didn't talk that much, he'd been damn good company.

"He's the son of my heart." Jason said smiling thinking of Cameron. "The woman she's having my baby."

"You don't sound too happy about that." Howie wondered why.

"I'm thrilled, but I won't ever get to know the baby." Jason said looking out into the water. "It's too dangerous for us to be together."

"She live in Port Charles?" Howie wanted to know.

"Yeah, I'll get to see her, and our two children regularly around town. But I won't be a part of their lives." Jason said feeling a pain deep inside.

"Why not?" Howie could see the younger man was struggling. "Because of the danger?"

"How can I ask her to live that kind of life?" Jason questioned not for the first time.

"Do you love her, them?" Howie wanted to know.

"With everything in me. They're my whole world." Jason said honestly. He'd never admitted that out loud.

"Then fight for them. How are you going to look your children in the eyes years from now and explain that you loved them, but still chose to walk away?" Howie asked point blank. "How will you explain that you didn't want them?"

"I do want them!" Jason said fighting back anger and frustration.

"You can't, otherwise you'd find a way to be together. You're Jason Morgan. I've been doing this a long time, I hear things. I know that you are not a man people take lightly. You've kept Sonny alive for how long, are you seriously telling me that you can't keep your family safe? That you, of all people, can't make everyone understand the consequences of coming after yours?" Howie looked over the disgust clear on his face. "It sounds like you don't want them and are coming up with excuses."

"That's not true." Jason was shaking now. 'Had that been what Elizabeth heard?' he asked himself. "They are everything. I would die if I lost them."

"You already have lost them if you've walked away, and you look alive to me." Howie softened his tone. "In this life the greatest gift you will ever receive is love. Don't waste it if it's being given to you. It doesn't look like we are going anywhere, anytime soon. Use the time to figure out what kind of life you want. One where you are loved, or one where you might have been loved." Howie said before getting up and walking down the beach to leave Jason with his thoughts.

"I'm yours Elizabeth, if you'll have me." He said looking into her eyes. "I want to build a family with you and our boys. Let me show you that." He requested.

"That's all I want." Elizabeth closed her eyes and just enjoyed having the missing part of her heart returned to her.

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