Chapter 14

She was cursing.

Marching and cursing.

The g.d. elevator was broken once again. Not that two flights of stairs were difficult, but after the day she'd had…it would figure.

Coming to the stairwell landing, Elizabeth balanced her small sack of groceries on her hip while she turned the knob to the metal door and kicked it open with her foot. Continuing to mumble to herself about the super and the idea of withholding rent, she came to a screeching halt as she rounded the corner to her apartment and eyed Jason Morgan standing by her door leaning against the brick wall.

He immediately straightened at the sight of her. "Hey," he offered, apparently eager to see her.

His presence threw her for a loop and she felt her cheeks redden in response. "Hey," she returned, her voice slightly wobbly.

Jason scratched his cheek and then shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "I need – want – I wanna talk to you about something," he stammered.

Elizabeth's brow furrowed, she wasn't sure this was something she wanted to agree to. "What?" she asked, her tone suspicious.

"Can we…," he trailed off as he flicked his head towards her apartment door.

She hesitated and began worrying her bottom lip.

"Please?" Jason questioned, apparently recognizing her resistance. He stepped towards her and reached for the bag of groceries.

Elizabeth sighed loudly and handed them over. She had a bad feeling about this. Digging through her purse, she hunted down her keys and unlocked the door to let them in.

He followed her into her apartment. She turned on the light and dropped her keys on the console table. Jason chuckled to himself at the memory of her doing that exact same thing with her keys when they lived together. Her keys never went back into her purse; they were always dropped onto his desk, which was exactly what he did with his set.

"Here, let me take those," Elizabeth said, rousing Jason from his thoughts by tugging at the bag in his arms.

He followed her to the entrance of her kitchen and leaned on the frame as he watched her put away her purchases.

"I bought some soup. Chicken noodle. Did you eat dinner? Because we can share. It's getting cooler out, don't ya think? I thought soup would be nice on a night like this. Do you want some? 'Cause I can get down two bowls and split it up. I have rolls too if you want one." Elizabeth took a quick breath and opened her refrigerator, grabbing her lone beer. "You still like imports, right? Of course you do. Your taste in beer has been the same for as long as I've known you. Did you eat? 'Cause I know how you can forget to eat when you're busy. Did you?"

It had been awhile since Jason witnessed a full blown Elizabeth Webber babblefest. Oddly enough, he found it comforting. It was familiar and because she was rambling away, he knew she was nervous and being nervous was better than being angry.

"Jason. Did you?" she asked sharply, thrusting a beer at him.

"Did I what?" he questioned, taking the bottle from her.

Elizabeth huffed and eyed him. "Did you eat?"

"I'm not hungry."

"That's not what I asked."

"No, I didn't eat."

"When did you last eat?"

"I had coffee this morning."

"Coffee isn't a meal."

"It can be."

"Not a sufficient one." Elizabeth grabbed the phone. "You need to eat. I'm ordering a pizza," she announced as she dialed the phone number from memory.

The corner of Jason's mouth hitched as he brought the cold beer to his lips and took a long pull from the bottle. He listened as Elizabeth ordered a large pie, half pepperoni and half pineapple, exactly how they did years ago. Although he still didn't understand how anyone could eat pineapple on their pizza. It just seemed wrong.

"They said thirty minutes," she informed him, returning the phone to its cradle.

Jason and Elizabeth stood in her small kitchen exchanging awkward glances. He took another gulp of his beer, which allowed her to scoot by him. He turned, beer in his mouth, and watched her head towards her bedroom.

"I'm gonna change. I'll be right back," she offered as she quickly went to her room.

Alone in her home, Jason took the opportunity to look around a bit since the last time he had been there he'd only seen this part of her apartment as she was kicking him out. Her living room and breakfast nook were lined with oversized windows. Though it was dark outside, he once again thought about how great the natural light must be for painting.

His eyes moved over the easel folded in the corner, with canvases leaning against the wall beside it. Looking around the room, Jason realized that Elizabeth didn't have any of her work on display. She had some colorful pottery and a small sculpture, but no original paintings. He walked over to the stacked canvases and fingered through them, finding them all blank.

The pitter patter of little feet on the hardwood floors drew Jason's attention away from his inspection of Elizabeth's lack of artwork. He chuckled as Jake came bounding down the hall from the bedroom. That cat had to be the fattest thing he had ever seen. The beast stopped and cocked his head to the side, sizing the enforcer up.

"It's me, Jake. The one who likes you," he said quietly to be certain Elizabeth couldn't hear him referencing the night he broke in.

"Jake," she called.

"He's in here."

Jason watched as Elizabeth came out of her bedroom.

"Huh…There you are. How did you sneak past me?" she asked, scooping up the cat, "Are you ready to eat?"

She had changed into well worn jeans and a light weight black v neck sweater. Her skin glowed like alabaster against the dark color of the sweater. Her chocolate tresses were loose, left long and wavy around her face and shoulders. He thought long hair suited her.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked.

"What?" she questioned in return as she walked away with the animal.

Jason moved closer to the kitchen. "Feeding that thing."

Elizabeth popped her head out of the kitchen entrance, her forehead was creased and her nose scrunched up. 'What are you talking about?"

He chuckled. "Jake is overweight," he said matter-of-factly.

She gasped and looked offended, "He is not."

The enforcer's chuckle continued, "Umm…yes he is. He needs a kitty diet. You know, Elizabeth, not everyone has your metabolism. How much people food do you give him?"

"I – I don't," she stammered. She was busted. "What are you…the cat whisperer?" Elizabeth flapped her hand at Jason and returned to the task at hand.

Shrugging out of his jacket, Jason tossed it over a chair as he continued to laugh at Elizabeth's response to his goading. As his laughter subsided, the smile on his face remained. He turned to face her when she exited the kitchen. The grin tugging her lips was wide and genuine.

"He gets ice cream. That's it. And ice cream is a milk based product so it is good for him," she teased, defending herself.

Jason merely nodded his head at her confession. As they stood there, the silence turned awkward once again, the reason for his visit hanging between them. Her smile faded and the look on Elizabeth's face shifted.

"So?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders and looking at him expectantly.

Jason shuffled his feet and swallowed hard. "Elizabeth," he started, "something you said the other night, it – it made me think. You said something about –,"

A loud knock on the door interrupted him.

Elizabeth startled. "Damn, that was fast. I mean they're only across the street, but it must be a slow night," she said as she grabbed her purse.

Irritated by the interruption, Jason reached into his back pocket, retrieved his wallet and pulled out cash. Crossing the living room in three long strides, he opened the door, took the pizza, handed the delivery man the money, offered a quick thanks and shut the door behind him. His actions were brisk and efficient. Elizabeth looked at him, just having found her wallet in her purse, and scowled.

"I was going to pay for that."

"I took care of it."

"Well, I didn't want you to."

Jason huffed; he was anxious to talk to her and really wanted to move things along. "Can we please just eat?"

She looked at him for a moment and put her wallet back into her purse. "Thanks," she said simply.

"You're welcome," he countered.

"Take it to the coffee table and I'll grab plates," Elizabeth said as she entered the kitchen.

Once again they sat in silence. Elizabeth picked off the pineapple wedges and popped them into her mouth, while Jason folded his first slice in half and practically finished it in two large bites. She glanced at him and offered him a small, nervous smile. He returned the smile with a slight crooked one of his own.

"You have sauce on your face," she informed him, pointing just outside the corner of her mouth as a guide to location.

Jason wiped his cheek with his napkin. "Did I get it?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Are you gonna eat?" he asked, feeling impatient. He was holding off on his line of questioning, waiting for the woman to get one slice of pizza in her stomach, and at this rate they would still be sitting there tomorrow.

"I am eating," she replied.

"You're picking," he paused. "That isn't eating."

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Elizabeth asked, likely sensing his restlessness.

"Finish your pizza first," he instructed.

"I can't."

Jason swore and finished his beer. Pausing, he looked at her. "At least take a bite."

Elizabeth picked up her slice and took a small bite. Chewing momentarily, she swallowed and opened her mouth for his inspection. "There. Are you happy?"

Stifling a chuckle, Jason ran a hand down his face. He looked at Elizabeth, swallowed and decided to cut the crap. "Tell me about the car accident you had after I left Port Charles."

Her lips parted slightly as her jaw went slack. Jason watched as the color drained from her face and her eyes widened. She sat in an apparent state of stunned silence for a moment before reanimating.

Elizabeth wiped her hands down the length of her jean clad thighs as she cleared her throat, looked Jason straight in the eyes and said, "Do you mean the fender bender?"