Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital, ABC owns it and it's characters. This is purely for amusement, and to hone my writing skills. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you so much.

Summary: When Sam shows up to confront Elizabeth of knowing about Jason, a shocking truth comes out leaving both women blindsided and changes everything.

Pairings: Liason, with a side of Samtrick and past! Jasam

Situation: Nicolas told Jason the truth, but because he didn't like Jason Morgan and was in denial, he didn't believe him. Then he took Elizabeth home and started to remember, and realized that if he admitted he was Jason he couldn't be with Elizabeth who he was already half in love with. He remembered all that kept them apart, and saw this as a chance to finally get it right.

I want to thank the reviewers, fundays, Guest 3, lulubell76, ilovedana53, allyred123, bjq, Imccarthy, Guest 2, trini12180, kikimoo, arcoiris0502, leasmom, silverbellbaby, retiredlady, notenoughlove, Guest 1!

I want to thank, Of Elfin Blood, kikimoo, notenoughlove, E-Nizzy, NaxieFan48, bjq, fundays, lulubell76, mraymond73, trini12180, for the follows!

And I want to thank, kikimoo, notenoughlove, NaxieFan48, leezee, trini12180, for the favs! Thank you all so much!

Guest reviews:

Guest 1: Thank you! :D

Guest 2: Thanks!

leasmom: Why thank you. I agree, I never saw Liz lying about that. It was a line I felt she would never have crossed, but writers with agenda, what can you do?

Guest 3: Thank you. I'm glad that you like it. It's okay, I understand the Sam hatred. I have mixed feelings for her at best, and understand others not be able to write her likable at all.

CHAPTER TWO

"War of Change"

"There's a truth in love and war,

Worlds collide and hearts get broken.

I wanna live like I know I'm dying,

Take up my cross, not be afraid."

-War of Change, Thousand Foot Krutch

Telling the truth wasn't uplifting or freeing.

It felt damning. Like walls closing in, and it took everything in Jason to keep standing upright under the weight of the truth. He stood there, barely breathing and he could hear Sam's heart shatter. He did care about Sam, and he hadn't wanted to hurt her. But he couldn't lie to himself, and pretend he was in love with her when he just wasn't. He couldn't be Jason Morgan, the hitman. He didn't want that life. He wanted to one with Elizabeth, the one he always dreamt of, but couldn't have because of choices he had made long before she entered his life. If he had known that Elizabeth would come into his life, he would have never have sold his into Sonny's hands.

He had a choice when Nicolas told him the truth. He had a chance that would likely never present itself again, and he took it. Damn him, he had been selfish, but didn't he now have the right? After ever happiness he had ever sacrificed for those around him that claimed to know him best, after all the time he spent being a dog on a leash more than an actual human being, after all the times he took his love back and left Elizabeth to gather her broken heart...didn't he owe to himself and Elizabeth to finally try?

"You knew?" Elizabeth sounded dazed. Her eyes were unfocused, and stared past him at the distance wall. She sat slumped on the couch like all the energy had fled from her limbs, and her body shook like a leaf.

His first instinct was to gather her in his arms. To soothe away the shock and the pain, but he held himself back. He owed it to both of them to explain himself, no matter the fallout. "Yes, I knew," his voice was thick with emotion. He stared at Elizabeth, "Nicolas... stopped me when I tried to go after you when Carly exposed Ric's lie, and we fought. He tried to tell that you needed space, but I didn't care what he thought. I just wanted to get to you, to make sure you were alright, and...he then told me I couldn't be the one to be there for you."

Finally, Elizabeth raised her eyes and tears streaked down her cheeks. "Because you were Jason," she whispered, softly. "Because you are married to Sam."

"Yes."

Sam looked between them, and swallowed harshly. "No...no, you are just trying to protect her," she whispered out, her voice almost frantic. She couldn't believe Jason would do that to her. After all that they had been through to ignore the fact he was her husband, to move one with his life and prepare to marry Elizabeth was a like he spat upon their marriage vows, and all that they meant. "You would never do that. Jason, tell me you would never do this!"

"I can't," Jason said, with real grief. "I chose her, Sam. Even before I chose to keep my identity a secret, I chose her. She was my first memory, my first thought when I woke up in that hospital bed, and she hasn't been out of my mind or heart since."

Sam shook her head, wordlessly. Her masacara running down her face, and she struggled to breath. She stumbled back, and knocked over a picture on accident. Her eyes glanced down, and it was like a twist to the knife to see it was an old picture of Elizabeth and Jason together. Bitterness boiled up in her gut, and her hands curled into fists at her side. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be.

"Even before...before my supposed death, Elizabeth has always been a part of me," Jason continued onward, knowing it needed to be said. "I tried to bury it down. To shut down all my thoughts and feelings, and tell myself she was better off with Lucky or Nicolas...but in my heart...I didn't believe that. In my heart...I was hers and she was mine."

"So you are saying our whole marriage...where we were so in love was really you pining after her?" Sam's voice rose to new heights, and she latched onto the anger. Anger was something tangible. Anger was something she could do something with, and it was easier to bury the pain when she was angry. "That all of it was a lie?"

"Of course not," Jason said, quietly. "I did love you, Sam. But...we weren't good for each other. We didn't make each other better. We settled, and we were content. That's not a bad life, but it wasn't what either of us wanted deep down. We just...fell back into because it was familiar, and safe instead of fighting for the people that we really wanted."

Elizabeth sat there, her arms wrapped around herself. She was trying to tell with this truth, but was having trouble wrapping her mind around it. It left her both elated and twisted up in equal measure. The fact that Jason still loved her, even during the times they were apart just like she loved him validated the connection and love between them even more. But the twist in her heart came from him lying. For setting up this life, knowing that any moment it could crashing down and shatter before them. "I don't understand," Elizabeth breathed out. "W-why lie about who you were? Why even keep Nicolas's lie? After all he's done?"

Guilt crossed Jason's face, and he bowed his head. "I loved you, Elizabeth. We had gotten close during my time here as Jake Doe, before Ric came back. When Nicolas told me the truth, I didn't want to believe it. So I told myself that he wanted you for himself, and went to find you. Then when I took you home, and was helping you wipe your make up off...I remember the time when you were upset and came to after a Deception photoshoot. I remember gently wiping your make up off like I was doing right then, and I just thought you were so beautiful," Jason told her, wanting to reach out to her. To take her hands in his like he had done so many times, and reassure the doubt that she was feeling. "God, Elizabeth, I have loved you for years. I...I wanted that chance with you. It was selfish to keep the truth hidden, but I didn't see any other way."

"You didn't?" Elizabeth asked. "You didn't think that telling everyone that you were you meant you couldn't be with me? We would have suffer through it, Jason. We could have."

"Could we?" Jason questioned. "Every time we got close to happiness, Elizabeth. It was taken from us. From me not realizing that I made you feel abandoned, and you walked away. From me holding the night with Zander against you, when you were going through so much and was trying to keep it together. From you chosing Lucky out of obligation and to not hurt Sam and I when you thought we were growing close again. Time and time again, we have tried to take the high road. To do the right thing, and protect others. When was the last time you actually put yourself first, Elizabeth? Tell me?" He knelt down so he was on eye level with her, and gave into the impluse to hold her hands.

Elizabeth bit her lower lip, and staring down at their intertwined fingers. She mumbled something so softly that he told her, "Speak up, Elizabeth."

Her eyes lifted to meet his head on. Her expression was so heartbreaking, and her eyes were filled with a love and longing she couldn't hide. "When...when I chose to be with you," she whispered out, her voice filled with so much and so much love that it quaked.

"We've lost so much time," Jason croaked out. "We've spent so much time making others happy that we forgot ourselves, and when I started to remember...it just cemented my decision. Every time we try, something or someone tried to come between us for one reason or another. I didn't want that to happen again, Elizabeth. I wanted a chance, a real chance to be with you. Jake Doe was the clean slate that I needed. I'm sorry that I've hurt you. I'm sorry that I've hurt both of you."

"Well, if this isn't just freaking perfect," Sam snarled, bitterly. "You're sorry, and that's supposed to make everything better is it? The fact that you threw everything and everyone in your life away? And for what? A woman who is going to walk away from you the second things get too tough?"

Jason sighed, releasing Elizabeth's hands and rose to face Sam. "I'm not apologizing for choosing to be with Elizabeth, Sam. I was apologizing that I hurt you," Jason corrected, his voice not loud, but it held an edge of warning to it. "And Elizabeth didn't walk away from me, Sam. I pushed her away. She was ready and willing to be in my life. It was me who couldn't handle it, not her."

Sam blanched at him defending Elizabeth, and Jason took that time to press onward. "You were happy with Patrick, Sam. You were more alive and fierce like the woman that came to Port Charles, except instead of conning or swindling...you actually found the home that you were always searching for. You didn't twist yourself or bend yourself to fit Patrick's life. Being with him was natural as breathing for you, and that's something you never had with me," Jason stated, trying to get her to understand that she had something worth fighting for with Patrick. Trying to her to see past this hurt he had inflicted on her, and past what they had all those years ago to see that she had a great future ahead of her. It was just not with him.

Sam stood there, frozen. Her expression twisted, and her hands knotted into her jacket. She looked like a skittish animal prepared to bolt or attack.

"We fell apart, Sam. Time and time again, and no, it wasn't all Elizabeth's fault. There were cracks in our relationship even before Elizabeth and I spent the night together, and there were more even when she wasn't anywhere near our relationship. Remember Brenda? You were so insecure in our relationship that you thought I had feelings for her. No woman should have to feel like, but neither of us deal with being lonely well," Jason , being brutally honest. He looked down, and gave a loud sigh. "And then when I couldn't see past Franco to be there for you...it was just a smokescreen. I felt guilty for trying to make a family, when I abandoned the one I already had."

"Then why didn't you be with Elizabeth? Everyone knows she threw herself at you after changing Danny's DNA test," Sam spat out.

Elizabeth stiffened, her eyes darkened with thoughts of that. Where Jason had put her and Sam in a constant push and pull. Not ready walk away from Sam, but gave Elizabeth hope that it might be their time. In her desperation, she had made a mistake in changing Danny's DNA test. Part of it was because she knew Tea loved that little boy, and she would be causing a mother the same pain that she felt. The other part was selfish, and didn't want Sam to be happy because after all she did, why did she get to be happy and Elizabeth not? It took seeing Jason's pain over it to realize that she had been no better than Sam when Sam watched Jake get kidnapped. She had told the truth, and went to Sam to bury the hatchet because she had finally understood in part what motivated Sam all those years ago. She thought it would bring closure on her feelings for Jason, to help mend the rift between the two. It hadn't.

"One day, Sam. One day she lied about that. For a woman who never came clean about watching Jake get kidnapped, and someone else had to call her out on that, you don't get room to judge anyone," Jason told her, flatly. "We've all made mistakes, Sam. We've all done things because we couldn't live without someone, or we did it because it is what we thought was best. None of us sit on a high horse, and we shouldn't pretend to now.

"As for why I pushed Elizabeth away...I felt guilty," Jason admitted, giving Elizabeth a quick apologetic look. "I felt guilty that I had put you in the position to have your baby taken from you like that. I wanted to fix that mistake and find common ground with you again so we could get the closure we needed for both of us to move on."

Sam's face paled. "So...so you coming back to the penthouse...it wasn't us reconciling? It was...just to patch things up before moving on your merry way?" Her voice was faint, like she could believe all that he had just said. Yet somewhere inside of her, it had made a sickening sort of sense. Jason always had this unwavering sense of obligation and right and wrong. He wouldn't want to start anything with Elizabeth when things were still a mess in their marriage. He would want to mend fences, and make sure she was okay even if he was going to leave because that's the type of person he was. Sam's heart dug it's heels into denial because it was the only thing that was keeping her from breaking down right now, and she would be damned before she broke down into a sobbing mess in front the two of them. "No, Jason, you don't mean that. You don't mean...that..."

It was the look that Elizabeth sent her that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was the same look that Sam had on her face when Elizabeth came to Jason after having a breakdown about Jake. The sympathy and understand that she just couldn't handle, and just like Elizabeth, Sam fled the house. Except Sam couldn't trust herself to say anything kind, or manage to form words at all. All she wanted was to be out of that house, and as far as she could be away from them as physically possible.

Silence once agains descended upon the house hold as Jason and Elizabeth were left alone. Jason could hear his heartbeat pounding against his ear drum the longer that Elizabeth stayed there silent and immobile. He startled when she suddenly stood on her unsteady feet, and he reached out for her as she swayed like she was going to collapse.

Elizabeth pulled herself out of his reach, and then looked at him sadly. "Jason, I...no more tonight, please," she begged, tearfully. "This is...this is a lot that you've just dumped into my lap and into Sam's lap...it's late and I just...I just want to go to bed. Go to sleep, and face this all tomorrow. Please."

He wanted to press it. He wanted to know if he still had a place here in her life, or if he had lost her. But he looked into her eyes, and he could no deny her the plea for time. "Alright. Tomorrow," he whispered out.

Elizabeth stared at him, and hated that she was causing him to hurt. Her lips trembled, and she wanted nothing more than bridge this gap between him. To take his hand, and bring him up to their bed, and wake up to him tomorrow morning. But she needed time to digest this, to think over all that he had said, and be pretend to face it in the morning. She couldn't do that with him lying next to her, clouding her thoughts and her judgment. "You remember..."

"Where the linens are?" Jason smiled, ruefully. "Yeah. I remember. You go onto bed. I can get them."

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.

"I planned on sleeping on the couch, Elizabeth," he told her. It was a decision that he had already made up in his mind when the truth slipped out of his mouth. "I don't...don't want to go up there with you, and you think that I'm doing to try and manipulate you. I don't want to do that to you."

Her heart softened against her will. "Thank you," she whispered, softly. She gave him one last look before she turned, and made her way up the stairs.

Jason gaze lingered on the stairwell long after Elizabeth had disappeared up it, and he felt so tired. He felt the weight of his past catching up to him, and the noose grew tighter.

END OF CHATPER! Sorry, for any misspelling. My current computer only has Wordpad, so I have to try and read over myself and catch mistakes myself, and I'm horrible at that. I'll edit it if I see any.

Thank you all for the phenomenal response to this story. I'm glad that you all love it.

RRs are appreciated! :D