Here's living to my end of the deal. This chapter is dedicated to Amber (thewretchedchild). You delivered an awsome chapter of In Holy Matrimony so now it's my turn. I hope it lives to the expectations. To everyone that's still reading and leaving feedback. I'm eternaly greatful. This one isalmost over.Only two more chapters to go.Enjoy!


Chapter 23: It's Over

Francis walked inside the safe house to find Eva standing with her back to him. Tito was cleaning up around and Steven's face was unrecognizable. His eyes were black and blue, his lips and nose were broken. He had bruises all over his face.

He laughed. "What the hell happened here?"

Eva's back straighten in awareness. She didn't turn around. Francis frowned.

"Natbitjitme...liscrazymitch...lunatk." Steven tried to speak but the teeth missing, the blood and hematomas on his jaw made it hard.

Francis had to bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing again. He felt that something wasn't right. He turned to Tito, he looked at his hands. He didn't found any bruises.

"Eva?" She hadn't turned to greet him, until then.

Her face was red and her eyes never met his. He looked her up and down. She seemed okay. Then he saw her hands, bruised and swollen.

"I'm so sorry. I... I... I know I shouldn't have but this son of a bitch had a dirty mouth on him and I couldn't help myself. It was all his fault I told him to shut up and he didn't."

Francis walked up to her and hugged her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..."

"He didn't touch you?"

"I never gave him a chance."

He laughed. "Good girl."

"You are not mad?"

"Mad? Hell no. I'm proud of you. Look at the work you did on him. You should sign it."

"Juplercraz... amonacaldpolz... yulgotojal..."

"See what I tell you, he won't shut up." Eva said in a sigh.

"Oh but he will." Francis walked up to him but stopped. Steven was already flinching away. "But not now, I have to go."

"What happened? Is it Elizabeth?" Eva asked worriedly.

"Jason went after Tony. I don't know much. He didn't say, but my guess is that he has Elizabeth."

"Oh my God..."

"The guys are already on their way. Actually is not far from here. Tito you have to stay alert for anything. I placed Flores outside just in case. Honey, if this dimwit keeps giving you problems, feel free to finish with his last tooth."

>>>>

"Step away from her." Jason yelled, but still keeping his feelings under control.

The squirming stopped. Elizabeth stopped moving and so did Tony Morales. Jason moved closer, his gun drawn pointing at the back of the man.

"I said move it!" Jason repeated.

His voice brought her back to reality. She felt the limp body over her, her hand still clutching the blade inside him. Her hands covered in blood. She pushed him away from her. She needed to get away from him.

"Ja...Jason." Her voice was breaking.

He frowned. Tony Morales body rolled away from her and it was then that he saw the blood.

"Elizabeth?"

Jason's gun was still pointed at the younger man. But his eyes were focus on her. Elizabeth had bruises all over her face, her lips were bleeding and her wrists were carved were the rope had been tied. She was trembling and her eyes were filled with tears, but she wasn't crying. She was still wearing the black set she had earlier, her top half open leaving her black bra exposed and her pale skin stained with blood. Images of the night he found her on the Lighthouse filled his head.

"A- are you alright?"

She tried to speak but her voice didn't find a way out, so she shook her head. She didn't have a knife stuck in her, if that was what he meant by fine.

A small grunt broke the silent exchange, Jason looked at Tony. His eyes were open now and he still had the gut to smile. His hands were clutching the blade that was stuck in his chest. Elizabeth moved away from him and closer to Jason. She was still on the floor. Sitting at Jason's feet. She seemed so small, like a little scared kitten.

Tony gave another grunt and tried to pull the blade from his chest.

"H-how... to-touch-ing..."

"You still dare to speak? If I were you I'd shut my mouth and awaited death silently. Asking forgiveness for your sins."

"Yerba mala nunca muere." (Bad weed is hard to kill.)

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Three gunshots echoed through the barn. Elizabeth turned her head and held tight to Jason's legs. After he was sure that Tony was dead he dropped his gun and fell to the floor. He held Elizabeth tight. It was then that she cried.

>>>>

It was early morning when Francis got back to the safehouse. Both Tito and Flores waited outside when he entered the room were Steven was being held. Eva was sitting on the floor, at the sight of Francis she stood from her place and walked toward him.

"What happened? Where are they?"

Francis face was void of any emotion. He seemed tired. He looked at the figure of Steven, his head tilted to the side while he slept. He looked at Eva again. Her eyes were puffy from lack of sleep and too much worry. He stepped closer and placed one hand on her back and one on her cheek and vowed his head slowly until their lips met. The kiss was sweet and slow. It tasted like desperation and relief. Eva wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him until he stepped back.

"Are you okay?" She asked after a while.

"I'm tired."

"And besides that?" Eva asked carefully.

"Jason found Elizabeth... I can't figure out if it was on time or too late..."

Eva frowned at his words. "Where are they?"

"On their way home. Barbara and Marcos are waiting for them."

"Francis... Is Elizabeth okay?"

"He almost raped her again. But she put up a fight and stabbed him. Her nightmare it's over."

Eva gave a surprised sigh. "Dios mio, she killed him?"

He shook his head. "Jason finished the job. But she is in bad shape. Some kind of shock. Hasn't said a word since then. Jason is... he's..."

"Adamkilrabusivofkidz..."

At the muffled voice, Francis looked up to find Steven looking at them.

"Why the hell are you stinky shit still able to mumble?"

"Because Tito wasn't bribable. And Flores refused to give me his gun." Eva said in a huff.

"I wouldn't doubt a secound in cutting out his tongue. But Jason wants him alive."

Eva looked around and then met Francis eyes. "I want to see Elizabeth."

"I came to take you home. You need to take a hot bath and sleep for a while. Once you are well rested you can see her."

"I'm not tire. I just need to see if she's okay."

>>>>

Jason stood in the hallway, his eyes focused on the door in front of him. It was almost eight in the morning and he still didn't have news on Elizabeth. Barbara had taken her into her room and locked the door. Elizabeth was in some kind of shock and he was dying to see if she was okay. He rubbed his eyes harshly and started to pace. He took a few steps to the right and turned around to find Marcos walking toward him. His face was severe and he had two glasses in his hands.

"Here." The older man gave Jason one of the glasses.

"I'm okay. I don't need..." Jason looked at the golden liquid inside the glass. "What is that?"

A gilty smile appeared on Marcos' face, but it vanished quickly. "Don Q... it's Puerto Rican Rum. Golden. Straight. Strong. I thought you needed something to calm you down."

Jason shook his head, took the glass and downed it in one gulp. He gave the glass to the older man and looked back at the door. He rested his back on the wall and began to wait again.

"Feel better?"

Jason didn't answer his question. Didn't even looked at him. Marcos took a sip of his glass and stood mirroring Jason's stance.

"Maybe you should go take a shower. Maybe sleep a little. I don't think they will come out soon."

"I'm okay."

Marcos looked up at the younger man and studied him. His signature black shirt and jeans were covered in dirt and dried blood. His mud covered boots had left smudges on the hardwoodfloors. His face was covered in a two days old beard and his hair was tusseled. His eyes were still trained on the door that was yet to be opened.

"Jason, you've done your part. You found her and took her home safe. Let Barbara do her job. When they're done, I'm sure you are the first person Elizabeth is going to want to see."

"You are wrong I didn't do my job at all. I never should've taken her there. None of this would have happened if I'd said no. No, she couldn't come with us. No, it was too dangerous." His eyes wondered to the closed door again. "No, you are too important in my life to risk your safety."

Marcos looked at Jason's profile again and finished his drink. Silence over took them for a while. Both men thinking about the young girl that had grown up too fast. How much more could she take before she broke? Had this been the final blow?

Their thoughts were interrupted by the footsteps and murmurs of Francis and Eva as they made their way upstairs. Eva was barefoot, still wearing her thight dress. Her hai rwas now picked up in a tail, her makeup was gone and so was her spunk. Francis seemed equally tired.

"Where is she? I want to see her." Eva asked as soon as she saw them.

"Barbara is with her." Marcos supply when Jason didn't look up to the new arrivals.

"How is she?"

"We don't really know. But I guess she's okay or Barbara would've come out and said something already."

"No news is good news." Francis supplied wistful.

They all stood there for a while, not reall knowing what to say or do. Until the door of Elizabeth's room opened and Barbara came out. Her eyes were red and puffy. Jason was the first one to stand tall, but didn't speak a word. The older woman stood at the sight of the new arrivals and then started to walk toward the stairs. The four of them stared down at her in question. Jason took a step closer to the door. Without looking back, Barbara spoke.

"Don't you dare go inside that room, Morgan. She's asleep. And if you wake her up I'm going to kick your ass all the way to Timbuktu."

He stopped in his tracks, not for fear of the threat, but because deep down he knew that Elizabeth needed the rest.

"How is she?" Eva dared to speak.

"I'm not going to say a word until I have some coffee. Black. No sugar." Barbara said as she disappeared from view.

Marcos, Francis and Eva followed Barbara down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jason stayed behind for a moment. He looked back at the door and sighed. A couple of minutes later he joined the others in the kitchen.

Eva had finished brewing the coffee and was about to joined the others at the table. She stopped at the sight of Jason at the threshold. She pointed to his mug of coffee already served on the counter and sat down next to Francis.

"So... now can you tell us? Is Elizabeth alright?" Eva asked again after taking a few sips of her coffee.

Barbara looked at Jason and noticed his rigid back and shoulders. The tension in his neck and his back. He walked slowly toward the counter top and took his coffee. He stood away form them trying to act nonchalant but completly aware of her. Awaiting for an answer.

"You and Francis have to go get some sleep. You need to regain your bearings and recharge your batteries. I'm pretty sure your night was pretty long and eventful."

"That's not what I asked. Barbara come on... you have to tell us..."

"She's not badly hurt. A couple of bruices, one or two shallow scrapes. Only one cut was mildly deep and I already fixed it. She's going to be as good as new. In a couple of days there will be no visible marks on her skin." cThe older woman talked in one breath.

"Gracias a Dios." Eva said in a sigh. "I was so afraid he might have..." Eva caught Barbara holding Jason's gaze and realized that the information she had recieved wasn't everything there was to be said. "Honey, why don't we go upstairs and get cleaned up." She turned to Francis.

"Yeah, I think we should get some rest." Francis agreed and stood up to leave.

Eva took the empty coffee mugs and put them on the sink and looked back at Barbara. "Thank you for taking care of her. I'll be back in a while and we'll talk some more."

"It was nothing. Catch up on your rest."

Soon they were out of the room and Marcos recieved a kick on his shin under the table prompting him to stand up and excuse himself.

"Well excuse me. It seems that I have to go make some calls to the Casino. I'll be on your office Morgan."

Everything became quiet once everyone left them alone. Jason stood looking out of the kitchen door and Barbara sat drinking the last of her coffee.

"She's going to be alright."

Barbara's voice filled the silence in the kitchen and made Jason flinch, he had forgotten about her presence. He turned around slowly and faced the older woman. "How can you be sure?"

"Because Elizabeth Webber is the strongest woman I know."

"That's the problem. She's not a woman she's just a kid." Jason turned to look to the garden again, his voice barely a murmur. "She shouldn't have gone through what happened last night. I should have protected her better."

"Jason..." She waited until he turned around and faced her. "Come here, sit down."

Jason walked to the table, pulled a chair and sat down across from Barbara.

"I've known you for the better part of your life as Jason Morgan. I've seen you work your way up from valet parking all the way up to second in command. But more than that I've seen you mature into an adult in only six years. And that's something that to the rest of us has taken us all our lives and most of us don't really get there. Take O'Brien for example."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It has to do with everything. I'd like to believe I know you a little bit. And I know you'd chop your right arm before anything bad happens to the people you care about. And Elizabeth, for chance or destiny was brought to your life and has become one of those people. What happened last night wasn't your fault. And she knows that."

"I didn't protect her like I had to. She didn't have to be there and I put her in the middle of danger." His eyes were filled with regret.

"She had every reason to be there. Last night wasn't about the organization or your lifestyle. It was about her life and her past. She had to be there and deal with everything herself."

"She didn't have to get hurt again."

"Maybe she did. Maybe it was the only way she could actually be free from the ghosts that had been hunting her."

"She's so young..."

"My grandma would say she's an old soul. It's over Jason. Everything it's over and now she's finally free. She got a few scrapes and bruises. And she got to see the bad side of your job. But what happened last night was closure to a chapter of her life that came too soon and that took her innocence, and made her an adult way too early."

"Is she... you think she's going to be okay?" He asked his feelings swimming inside his blue orbs.

"She's going to be fine. And you? Are you going to be fine?"

Jason shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Elizabeth has to make some choices now. Her family has betrayed her in the most awful way possible. She has her whole life ahead of her and she has to decide what she wants to do with it. Are you going to be fine with whatever she decides?"

"Her decisions doesn't have to affect me."

"But they do, don't they?" Barbara asked him.

Jason looked at her and blinked, not really sure what to say. He was trying to deal with everything that had happened, but he never thought about what would happened once Elizabeth felt better.

>>>>

It was almost noon when he entered the room, but it seemed like midnight once he stepped inside. The curtains were completely closed. He had to blink and adjust himself to the dim light inside the once bright room. Soon he found her figure lying on the bed. She seemed like a mythological being, a goddess floating over a cloud of white. The duvet, sheets and pillows almost swallowing her lithe form. He walked closer to the bed, his eyes never leaving her face. She seemed so peaceful, no innocent...

He pulled the arm chair that was resting by the big glass window. He sat in the edge, quietly looking at her. Jason let out a sigh as he watched her and thanked God that her chest was rising with every breath she took. She was alive and that was what really mattered. His hand lingered over hers. He wanted to touch her, but was afraid to. So he just stared at her while she slept. The same way he had done one year ago when he had found her on the Lighthouse.

A year had gone by so quickly. A year in which the annoying little girl he had met briefly over three years earlier had become a woman... The woman he had fallen in love with. The woman he had to let go once everything got back to normal.

>>>>

Tito Gomez was a fairly patient man, but his patience had a breaking point and he was about to reach it. Junior Flores had stood watch quietly trying to keep his friend under control. But the toothless gringo was making it impossible. Flores was relief to see his boss emerge from the black car early that afternoon. He didn't know if he could control his partner much longer, but he also knew that Jason Morgan had given the orders very clearly, 'Do not kill the shit head, and leave his right hand intact.' It had been hard, but it seems as if the had done their job.

Francis walked over to both guards, he was wearing black jeans and a long sleeve shirt, his hair was licked back and his eyes were cover with his black sunglasses. His hands were covered by black gloves. Jason Morgan walked straight towards them right after Francis. His signature attire in place. All black and leather jacket and gloves. They were ready to finish the job and both Tito and Flores were only glad they had arrived.

"How much more damage did you guys had to do to keep him quiet?" Francis asked.

"Two broken ribs." Flores answered first.

"Finished with his teeth and busted his left kneecap." Tito added.

"Follow the orders?" Francis inquired.

"Didn't touch his right hand..." Flores was interrupted by his partner.

"And I in a very difficult exercise of self restraint... I can say the asshole is still alive." Tito finished.

It was then that Jason spoke. "You did a good job. Fix the last part of the operative, wait for my call. This is almost over."

Jason finished and entered the cabin. Francis followed his lead. A faint whimper was heard as they made their way inside the room. Steven heard the footsteps and tried to pull his head up but couldn't. A sharp pain ran through his neck. He tried to curse, but the lack of teeth, broken jaw and bruised lips made it difficult.

"Fk...mihed...mgondi..."

It was then that Jason saw Steven for the first time. He stood close and Steven saw his black boots. He threw his head back and found Jason staring down at him.

"Camtojilme?"

"I see you've pulled up a fight. Can't keep your mouth shut. But I'm not going to even try to make you shut that hole. I came to tell you how things are going to be done."

"Mnotscrdofyu."

"This guy is either the most stubborn or the most stupid guy on Earth. He has no freaking teeth left and his still trying to make his case." Francis said irritated.

"Don't mind him. He's going to have to listen and he's going to follow my orders."

Jason's voice was calm and deadly. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest. Steven flinched back with every word Jason uttered. Slowly Jason uncrossed his arms and reached for something on the inside of his jacket. Steven closed his eyes and a very distinct smell made Francis smile.

Jason took out a legal contract and showed it to Steven. "This is legal contract. I'm not going to spare you the long and boring task of reading it, you are going to have to take my word for it. This document states that the Webber herd is bound to stay at least a hundred feet away from Elizabeth Webber for the rest of her life. If you fail to do so you'll be charged with RICO violations, manslaughter and few other felonies that will automatically put you all behind bars without a right to bail or even a trail."

"Tatsntgonowok...wejavluyrs..."

Jason glared at Steven, who instantly became quiet. Francis looked at Jason in awe. "Man you definitely have to teach me that look."

Without answering to the older guard, Jason continued. "I'm not finished. You have to put the house in San Juan and the one on Colorado to her name. In addition to that you have to place one million dollars on an account so that she's taken care of for a while."

Jason gave Francis a signal with his hand and Francis moved closer to Steven and started to untie him. "Now you are going to sign this. Don't even think you can outsmart me, Steven. Don't try anything witty. I've took every precaution. This document will be legal an irrevocable."

Francis had to hold Steven up so he wouldn't fall off the chair while Jason gave Steven a black pen and he signed. Once Steven was finished, Jason took the papers and placed them back on the inside pocket of his jacket and Francis let go of Steven. The young doctor fell on his face and started to cry in agony.

Jason bent down and spoke slowly on Steven's ears. "It was a pleasure doing business with you. I know you are going to miss us, but don't worry I'm going to give you something to remember us by. Oh, and if you tell anybody that we even had this conversation tonight you won't live to see another brothel again."

The last thing Steven saw that day was Jason's fist coming straight to his face. He hardly felt the kicks and the blows that made him sleep for four days before he was found by the police.