Prompt: The heart may freeze, or it can burn. The pain will ease if I can learn. There is no future, there is no past. I live this moment as my last.
Part 16
The sound of the door slamming caused Jason to turn away from his pool game and look at Elizabeth with surprise.
"You have a son?"
Showing his confusion, Jason lean back against the pool table, crossing his arms over his chest as his forehead scrunched. "What?"
"You have a son?"
"Elizabeth, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh don't act dumb Jason." Moving further into the penthouse, Elizabeth stopped by the couch, leaving a great amount of distance between them. Even though her face was tight with anger, Jason could not stop the urge from building within him at the need to pull her close. Every time she was near—hell, even when she wasn't near, he wanted to feel her in his arms. Feel her soft skin against…
"I ran into someone very interesting today. We had a nice long talk. Why didn't you tell me you had a son?"
A sick feeling began to surface. Dropping his hands to his sides, Jason stood straight. "Who did you run into?"
"Oh, no one important," she said with a dainty shrug of her shoulders, her voice sounding nonchalant until she hardened her voice and stared daggers at him. "Just the love of your life."
Carly.
Damn it! It all made sense now. Elizabeth asking him about his son, meeting someone who claimed to be the love of his life. Only Carly could be that vindictive to say things to Elizabeth that would have her coming back to the penthouse looking like she wanted to throw something at him. How the hell did Carly even know about Elizabeth? What had she said?
The only way to find out was to ask Elizabeth.
"You met Carly." It wasn't a question but a known statement spoken on a sigh.
Her shoulders slumped as she looked away. "So it's true?" She didn't let him answer. "Why didn't you tell me you had a son?"
She sounded hurt. Jason took a step forward, stopping when he didn't know what to do. He let out a harsh, long breath as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "It's complicated."
"I see."
"No you don't." He spoke softly. So low that she looked up at him, saw the tenderness in his eyes. She was hurt. It might have been selfish, or even childish, but she couldn't help but feel that way. Elizabeth was growing so close to Jason, her feelings were only becoming stronger every moment she spent with him. She had opened up, told him just about everything from her past, and even asked him to share about his. At first he seemed hesitant, not telling her a lot. But when they were at the lake and he opened up, told her about his accident, she let her hope grow in thinking that his feelings might be as strong as hers.
She didn't expect to know every single thing about him. But having a son?—that was pretty damn important. Why hadn't he told her?
And just like that, her hope began to fade.
Jason took another step towards her, reaching out and taking hold of her arm. Her heart began to race at his closeness, his touch. Even with the hurt and anger that he kept something so important from her, she couldn't help but become breathless at his touch. He guided her to the couch where they both sat down.
When he let go of her arm, they both felt the loss. "It's," clearing his throat, Jason shook his head once and turned his body to face her on the couch. One leg was bent, his foot resting on the opposite knee as his arm stretched along the back of the couch. He could feel the heat of her body against his arm, but they still didn't touch. "It's a long story."
"I understand if you don't want to tell me. I'm sorry for—"
"I-I want to tell you."
He finally gave in and began to run his fingers through her hair at her temple. "When I had my accident, I didn't have anyone. Like I said before, my family tried to make me into someone that I wasn't. I was angry all of the time, and I just wanted to be left alone. But then I started to spend a lot of time with this girl. Her name was Robin and at the time, she was the only one I felt I could talk to and wouldn't judge me."
His hand glided from her hair and down to her neck where he began to rub his thumb back and forth over her pulse point. Her hand moved to settle on his thigh. "Because of my accident, I didn't know things, but Robin taught me a lot. We fell in love, but then I met Carly."
His hand moved from her neck and down her arm. "I would meet Carly at Jakes; we would…" looking away from her, Jason cleared his throat, growing uncomfortable about explaining his actions so long ago. "I cheated on Robin, but at the time, I didn't know that that was what I was doing." When he looked at Elizabeth, he smiled at her confused expression. "I told you it was complicated."
Elizabeth had so many questions, but she knew she should wait until he finished. If she still had questions, then she would ask.
His hand grasped her hand that was lying on his thigh. Threading their fingers, he continued. "Robin was HIV positive, she didn't want to risk sleeping with me and that's where Carly came in. I didn't know I was doing anything wrong, I didn't know that I was hurting Robin until later."
"I ended my relationship with Carly when I realized what I was doing to Robin." He looked down at their joined hands before locking his eyes with hers. "We all went on with our lives. Carly ended up pregnant with my brother AJ's child later on and Robin had left to study at Paris. Carly came to me and asked me to pretend to be the father of her child and I agreed as long as no one asked me if I was the father."
Elizabeth moved closer, cupping his hand between the two of hers. Jason continued. "Carly and I grew close during her pregnancy. When she had Michael, there were complications and when she woke up, she had to get away. I helped her leave and took care of Michael the first year of his life. At first, when she came to me, I was only the father in name, but when…when I held him for the first time, he became my son."
Jason looked away, and when he turned back to her, his eyes were moist with unshed tears. Her own grew watery at the emotion he was displaying. Questions still ran through her mind, but she still didn't speak.
"Robin came back and we raised Michael by ourselves. I even left the business for a while and tried to have a normal family life. Robin knew that Michael wasn't my biological son and wanted me to tell AJ the truth. Especially when Carly came back."
Elizabeth moved even closer. "Carly wanted things to go back to the way they were, but I was with Robin and didn't want to ruin it. Carly would cause trouble, Robin and her fought all the time, and I was always stuck in the middle. I couldn't turn Carly away because she was the mother of my son, and I couldn't turn Robin away because I was in love with her. Robin ended up telling AJ the truth about Michael, and I couldn't forgive her for that. I ended our relationship and she went back to Paris."
"What happened with Michael?" She tried so hard to not interrupt him. But she couldn't hold back any longer. Elizabeth didn't know about the entire situation, but she was sure that Jason didn't keep Michael from AJ to be vindictive. It didn't seem right to keep Michael away from his real father, but AJ had to have done something to make Jason agree to it. When Jason spoke of Robin telling AJ, she could see the hurt, the pain in his eyes. Jason didn't have Michael now, and that could only mean one thing.
"AJ fought me for custody. We both got joint custody of Michael, but it didn't work out. We both hated each other so much that we couldn't get along, not even for Michael. My relationship with Carly started to change and I thought that I might be in love with her."
Hearing about Jason loving and being with another woman was hard for Elizabeth. She wasn't stupid; she knew that he had to have had relationships before. But she still felt a tinge of jealously. It was stupid, she knew that, but she still felt it.
Jason sighed. "Carly came up with this stupid plan to marry AJ. She thought that she could get custody away from him and we could raise Michael together. I realized that it was not going to work. I gave up custody for Michael and left Port Charles. I took care of business when I traveled. The next time I came back was when I got here a few months ago."
He took his free hand and cupped her cheek, running his fingers through her hair that spilled forward. "I haven't seen Carly since I left years ago."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
Her lips formed a humorless smile. "For being such a jerk." When he shook his head she hurried on. "Carly just said some things that pissed me off and instead of coming to you willing to listen to you; I automatically jumped down your throat and thought the worst."
Jason's eyes narrowed. "What did Carly say to you?"
"Just stupid stuff," she rolled her eyes. When Jason squeezed her hand and raised his eyebrows, she continued. Reluctantly. "She told me that she was the love of your life and that no one could take her place. She told me that the two of you had a son together and just petty stuff. I think she even called me muffin face."
When Jason laughed, she slapped his arm. She kept her hand on his bicep. "Basically, she wanted to let me know that the two of you had an unbreakable bond and that what we had was only temporary."
Elizabeth blushed. What the two of them had was still a mystery to her. She knew her feelings for him were strong, knew that she looked forward to seeing him and spending time with him. They connected on a sexual level as well as an emotional one. She shared things with him she had never told anyone. Not even her Grams. And after listening to him talk about his past, she felt that much closer to him.
Elizabeth knew that Jason wasn't one to talk and share his feelings. When they were alone it was like the Jason who was with her was someone completely different than the Jason he was when other people were around. Elizabeth was used to the men in her life letting her know exactly what they were feeling. Joshua had no problem crying in front of her when his parents threatened to cut him off when he wanted to take a semester off of school. But Elizabeth could never imagine Jason crying. Yet, when he spoke about raising Michael and then having to give him away, her heart broke at the sight of his watery eyes.
Jason wasn't one to show emotion, but when he did, it was for heartbreaking reasons.
"Carly likes to run her mouth. She'll say anything to intimidate anyone she thinks is a threat." They both leaned back against the couch. Jason pulled her into his side as she tucked her legs underneath her. Elizabeth pulled back a bit to look up at him when he spoke. "Don't believe anything that she said."
A corner of her mouth lifted at his statement. He might have loved Carly, or thought he had in the past, but he didn't any longer. A weight lifted from her shoulders.
Jason bent his head and kissed her. Since the moment she walked into the penthouse he wanted to kiss her but held back because he knew he had to explain. Jason wasn't used to explaining anything to anyone. But for some reason, he knew that he should tell Elizabeth. He never thought about talking about that part of his past with her because it was just that—his past. It didn't matter what happened with Carly and Robin. All that mattered was him and Elizabeth now. Jason didn't even think about the future, all that mattered to him was the moment they were in now.
Even though he didn't think it was important to tell her, Jason knew that Elizabeth wanted to know about him. And though he wasn't used to that, Elizabeth was different and he had no problem with telling her about Michael, showing her his vulnerability. Unlike Carly, Jason knew Elizabeth wouldn't use that against him.
Elizabeth moaned against his mouth just as the door to his penthouse opened. Jason heard Max clear his throat and when Jason removed his mouth from Elizabeth's tempting lips, he realized that they had somehow ended up lying down on the couch with her thighs cradling him.
Both Jason and Elizabeth looked towards the door to see what Max wanted, neither moving.
"Sorry to interrupt." The smile on Max's face told the both of them that he wasn't sorry at all. "But you have a visitor." His smile vanished and they could tell he didn't want to introduce the visitor.
He didn't have to. Carly pushed past him and came to a dead stop when she spotted them on the couch. "Looks like I came just in time."