Epilogue
Johnny O'Brien looked up in the rear-view mirror and gave his boss a smile. "You don't need that make-up, you know."
Elizabeth arched a brow at him. "Keep your eyes on the road, O'Brien."
"Ouch, Lizbits." He looked straight ahead but kept the smile on his lips broad and happy. "Talk about multi-tasking, hm? How was the meeting with the other bosses?"
Twisting the top back on her mascara she dropped it in her purse. "OH, the usual. It's so much more fun when we skype, but some of the older bosses like the face to face meetings."
Johnny flicked on the turn signal. "And the cannoli."
She smiled at him and gave the box beside her a pat. "I made extra."
"For the women," he gave her a dramatic sigh, "what about us… you know.. the working stiffs."
Leaning back in her seat to adjust the seatbelt around her growing belly, Elizabeth returned his sigh with another one. "First, you know what Jason would say about any of the guards being 'stiff' around me and second, you know there are cannoli waiting for you back at the house, so stop whining about it. You're as bad as Cameron and Jake."
"Just want you to feel at home."
"Good grief, just cut it out, O'Brien."
As they turned into the school parking lot Elizabeth waved to Officer Cruz who was keeping tabs on the street traffic. He gave her a return wave with a smile.
"You know," Johnny continued, "I don't know if the PCPD has actually put it into words, but you've really turned Port Charles around."
A flutter of movement near her hip made Elizabeth smile. "You know me, Johnny… it's all about the kids."
He pulled into a spot near the front of the school marked "PTA PRES" and put the car in park. Francis opened the door for her and smiled as he gave her a hand down.
"You're looking ever so lovely today."
She gave him a kiss on his cheek and whispered, "Flattery will get you everywhere, Francis."
He gave the younger woman a wink. "Is that how Jason got you… ah-"
"Do I have to give 'you' the birds and bees talk, Francis?"
The guard shook his head. "The women are gathering inside, you made good time from the meeting."
Johnny took his place at her other side, the pink box of pastries under his arm. "She's got the best driver."
The three walked inside the building as the other members of the PTA were preparing their table of snacks.
A few of the women stepped up to say hello and inquire after her health.. the pregnancy… invite her family over for a dinner party. Francis and Johnny stepped discreetly back and watched their Lizbits work a roomful of women just as well as she did a meeting room full of mob bosses. Her confidence was catching and she quickly got the meeting started and the group working on the agenda.
"You know," Francis leaned back against the wall, folding his arms over his chest, "If you asked me if something like this was possible a few years ago I would have thought you were certifiable and thrown you in Shadybrook, and I don't want to give too much credit to that crazy old Zacchara, but I would never have thought-"
"That one woman who couldn't come up to our shoulders without the benefits of Manolo stilettos could organize the five families into not only working together-"
"But making them all legal enterprises and turning the PCPD into little more than glorified meter maids and crossing guards?" Jason stepped up beside them and watched with pride as Elizabeth organized a school carnival. "No one wants to anger the families by bringing crime into PC and the surrounding areas are falling in with us as well."
Francis looked around near Jason. "Where are the boys?"
Jason caught Elizabeth's smile across the room and the dark promise in his eyes made her blush. When he turned back to Francis his smile was a little more playful. "The boys are with Uncle Johnny tonight." Jason sighed. "He told Elizabeth that he didn't see what was so hard about being a single parent to two children."
Johnny O'brien paled beside him. "Should I even ask what part of his anatomy is now missing?"
"Nothing that bad," the two guards sighed in relief, "she just told him to prove it." The guards turned, waiting for the punchline. "So we let the boys have as many of her cannoli as they wanted and dropped them off with 'Uncle Johnny.'"
Almost on cue, Jason's cell phone buzzed in his jacket pocket. He took it out and looked at the text message on the screen.
From: Johnny Z
SOS! SOS! SOS! SOS!
O'brien saw the message and looked up at Jason. "Well?"
Jason dropped the phone in his pocket and turned to watch Elizabeth wrap up the meeting. When she finally extricated herself from the group she walked over to Jason and was eagerly wrapped up in his arms. She felt the hot brush of his breath against her cheek before she felt this lips nip playfully at her earlobe.
Her hand on his chest set him back a little, enough for her to look up at him.
Jason found that the simple touch of her hand or the look in her eyes could drive him mad and likely would never change. From the instant he'd touched her in Italy, felt the warm brush of her skin on his… he knew that he'd been missing something vital in his life… and now he had the answer… and he'd be damned if he'd ever let her go.