Chapter Six

"What? What could be so important that you are here raising hell?" Johnny demanded as he trotted down the stairs, glaring at his father, knowing that this was going to bad.

Anthony returned the stare unblinking. "Have you lost your mind, Johnny! I can't believe that you have the mother of Morgan's child upstairs in your room! You need to start thinking with the head on top of your shoulders. This will put us under the microscope of Corinthos-Morgan!" he thundered, not bothering to lower his voice as he screamed in rage.

"Shut up!" he snapped back. "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Really? You mean that Elizabeth Imogene Webber is not currently upstairs in your bed? That you haven't spent the previous two nights with her and it wasn't you at the bar on the docks with her? I'm not stupid, John! I have plans for that organization and they don't involve you taking up with her!"

Angry and worried that Elizabeth could overhear the ranting, Johnny scowled. "I am not going after Sonny or Jason. I made a deal that brings peace between the organizations a month ago and that won't change! As for Elizabeth, she is none of your concern. Stay away from her."

The old man cackled. "Of course she is my concern! She will ruin the peace that you so badly want. Maybe she will be useful after all."

Stepping closer to his crazy old man and grabbing his shirt, Johnny was breathing fire at the insinuations that Anthony was making. "I said to leave her out of it. Elizabeth is off limits! Do you hear me? I am not using her for anything!"

"Aww, how sweet. You really like that nurse. Interesting! Are planning on playing daddy to Morgan's son and her other one that was fathered by another man with connections to the Corinthos-Morgan Organization? Think Jason will like the idea of you nailing the mother of his child, the woman that he walked away from spouting the excuse of it being about the danger?"

"If you touch her, you will die, old man. Make no mistake in thinking that I am bluffing!" he exploded. "Get out and stay away from her and her boys unless you have a death wish!" Shoving Anthony toward a silent Jagger, Johnny growled. "Get him out and make sure that he goes home and stays there. I have to talk with Elizabeth." Without waiting for a response he turned and headed up the stairs.

Quickly returning to the bedroom from the landing where she had moved to listen to the conversation after hearing Anthony screaming about her, Elizabeth hurried into the attached bath room and shut the door. Taking deep breaths to calm her rapidly beating heart, she wiped the tears from her face. They knew about Jake kept repeating in her mind. While she was not scared or worried that Johnny would hurt him, Elizabeth was terrified that Anthony would use him to make a point.

"Elizabeth?" He knocked softly on the door. "Are you ok?"

"Uh, give me a minute please," she called out, wincing as her voice shook.

Hearing the tears in voice, Johnny cursed his father again. Going on instincts, he opened the door and looked at her small frame sitting on the edge of tub. Looking at her closely he saw the red rimmed eyes and fear that she was trying to hid from him. Pulling her up and into his arms, he breathed out in relief when she didn't push him away or tense. "You heard, I am so sorry."

"You can't let him hurt my boys," she pleaded, sobbing into his chest.

Silently tugging her into the bedroom, he gathered her into his arms as he sat on the bed. "I swear that he will not get close to you or your children! I will handle my father. There is no way that I am letting him hurt any of you."

Clutching his shirt tightly in her fingers, she looked up. "How long have you known about Jake? Is it why you are around?"

"No! I admit that I have known for a long time, since shortly after the Black and White Ball, but your son's paternity has NOTHING to do with what is going on between us." Sighing heavily, he eased his hands around her waist. "I have actually been watching you from afar for a long time. I never approached you before because I felt that you deserved better. I was also afraid of what just happened, bringing you to my father's attention. I want more than a friendship, Elizabeth. I want to see where the attraction between us is heading. I will understand if you can't take the chance. I know my father is evil and what he is capable of. Either way, I will protect you and your family, don't doubt that."

Resting her head against his chest and listening to his heartbeat, she thought over everything that he had just confessed. "You want a relationship, not a friendship?"

"I want both. I do consider you a friend, but I can't deny that I am attracted to you. You feel it too. You never hesitated to respond to me this morning." Rubbing her back to calm her and himself, he hoped that she was willing to take the chance. "My father will be contained. I will do everything in power to keep you, Cam, and Jake safe and out of danger from my business."

"I do like you, Johnny. I have feeling for you that I haven't felt in awhile. But your father frightens me," she confessed.

Lifting her head up, he met her eyes. "Walking away from me now won't stop my father, baby. If you really want to explore what is between us, don't let him influence your decision. Even if you walk away now, I will have to protect you. I don't trust him. He is unpredictable and ruthless."

"I refuse to let him determine my actions. I just want you to keep us safe. The danger exists if we are together or not." She offered a watery smile. "I want to explore what I feel for you. But what happens if it doesn't work out?"

"Elizabeth, I will never let anyone hurt you, whether we are together or not. I called Jagger back because of Tom Baker being on the loose. He is my second in command and very good, my most trusted. I want to put him on you and the boys, and they will need another guard when you are not with them. I will make sure that you are all safe."

Knowing that the risk was huge, she nodded. She wanted to see what could be growing between them and refused to use the danger as an excuse to walk away. She knew that Anthony Zacchara would not just lose interest if she ran away now.

"I am so sorry," he whispered.

"You did nothing wrong. You have already protected me from one nightmare, Johnny. And that was before you even approached the topic of anything else between us. I am more thankful for that than you will ever know."

His blood boiled at the thought of what she had lived through in her teenage years and what had almost happened again. Jagger was right. If Johnny had not stepped in, it was a real possibility that it would have happened again and Johnny wasn't sure if she could have survived it. "I did what I had to do to keep you safe. Just like I will concerning anything pertaining to my father or any other threat."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth entered Kelly's with Jagger. She had went home to shower and change while Johnny headed to Crimson Point to deal with his father. After cleaning up she had decided to escape the quietness of her empty home and also wanted some lunch. Having a guard again made her uneasy because she was not use to someone following her everywhere that she went, but at least it was someone that she knew and trusted.

Seeing Georgie alone at a table, she smiled at the younger girl and joined her when she motioned her over with a bright smile. "Hey, Georgie. What are you up to?"

"Just escaping the drama at the house. Maxie is driving me insane over some fight with Spinelli."

Shaking her head, she felt for the younger Jones sister. Georgie had always been the calmer of the two. They had developed a friendship when Georgie had started babysitting her two boys between school and her job at Kelly's after Elizabeth's grams had passed away last year. "How are the classes going?"

"I'm bored with them actually." Laughing, Georgie turned her attention to Jagger who was sitting across from her. "Hi, Jagger."

He smiled in return. "Hey, kiddo." He tensed when the door opened and Jason entered with Sonny. All traces of friendliness erased from his face, he scowled at the mob boss. He still held a lot of anger over the problems that Karen had experienced due to her association with the Cuban.

"Are yo still able to watch the boys tomorrow night? I have a late shift and daycare will be closed about four hours before I am off."

"Yeah. I am looking forward to it." Georgie smirked. "Cam is certainly entertaining. I never know what he is going to say or do."

Elizabeth snorted in agreement. "He is a handful."

"Do you care if Coop comes over? He will be getting back from his trip tomorrow."

"No, I know the boys enjoy playing with him. That is fine." Taking a sip of her cocoa, Elizabeth groaned as Sonny finally caught sight of Jagger and scowled. "Shit. He never comes here. I am sorry."

Jagger shrugged. "It is fine, Liz. I know that I will see him, working with Johnny and all, kind of guarantees that."

Georgie's eyes widened in surprise. "You are working for Johnny?"

Amused at her shock, he nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I have been for awhile now."

Putting two and two together, she looked at him. "Are you here with Elizabeth as a guard?"

"I am."

"Good, I am glad. She needs someone to help her out right now."

Eyes widened, Elizabeth stared at her. "What?"

Georgie only shrugged. "With everything going on, it is nice to know that someone is taking care of you. It is also why Cooper felt that he should be with me tomorrow. Otherwise I was going to ask Mac if I could take Cam and Jake over to our house."

"I understand." Feeling bad because she could not confide in Georgie that Tom was no longer a threat, she dropped her gaze to her hot chocolate as the waitress appeared with her soup and Jagger's chili cheese fries. "Um, I had an alarm system installed the other day. Could you stop over before I leave tomorrow and I will show you how to operate it."

"Sure. Mac will be happy to hear that."

Following Jagger's eyes, she saw when Sonny had stood to approach their table, followed by Jason. When he was close he smiled at Elizabeth and Georgie and then scowled at Jagger again. "Elizabeth, I heard about your problems. I am willing to assign someone to help you out until Baker is caught."

"No thank you, Sonny," she refused stiffly. "I am just fine."

Ignoring her tone, Sonny only shook his head. "You need someone to keep you safe. We are worried." Jason remained silent, knowing that he could not tell Sonny that Johnny had eliminated the threat.

"She has a guard, Sonny. I am perfectly capable of protecting Liz."

Both men turned to Jagger in surprise and he bit his lip to keep from laughing at their looks of shock. Watching them, especially Jason carefully, he added in sneer, "John Zacchara wanted to make sure that she and the boys were protected. He called me back from an assignment out of the country to do just that."

Jason stared at him, his eyes swirling with unreleased emotions. To say that he was unhappy was an understatement. "She doesn't need a guard assigned by him," he spat.

"You are working for Zacchara? What the hell!" Sonny exploded. "And I agree, Elizabeth will not have you or him anywhere near here. They are using you, Elizabeth."

"Get over yourself, Sonny. Not everything is about you," Elizabeth snapped. "I am perfectly able to make my own decisions and I trust them to protect me. You on the other hand, not so much. You have made it clear through your actions over the last several years that we are no longer friends. Remember telling me that you owed me nothing? Well I didn't forget it."

Taken back by the anger and words, Sonny stared at her. "You are aligning yourself with our enemies."

Jason shook his head. "You are making a mistake, Elizabeth. Johnny is dangerous. Having anything to do with him is not a good idea."

"Why? Because you don't like him?" Georgie demanded. She had seen Johnny watching Elizabeth for months and then them together the other day having lunch. She knew that their was a growing attraction between the two. She also knew that Johnny had been keeping her safe while the two men in front of them only came along when it was convenient for them. "And how is Johnny more dangerous than either one of you?"

"This is bullshit!" Sonny spat as Jason tried to catch Elizabeth's eye, but she refused to look at him as she studied Sonny's reddening face.

"I am perfectly fine with Jagger guarding me. I stopped caring what you thought when you informed that we were never friends, that I was an obligation, Sonny. I think you should go. You have no say in who I am involved with."

"Involved with? So now you are dating Johnny? What about the danger that he will bring into your lives, to the boys?" Jason demanded, upset at the idea but having knew that it was happening by what he had saw last night. He knew that he needed to stop Elizabeth from making a mistake. He had given up their future together to avoid her and the kids being involved in the life that she would not be able to avoid if she dated Johnny.

Jagger caught the enforcer's attention. "Do you honestly believe that Johnny is more of danger to Elizabeth and her boys than Sam McCall?" he scoffed. Watching as the stone facade exploded into surprise, he smirked. "Because I don't. And I think this conversations over."

Seeing that they were going to argue, Elizabeth nodded. "I agree. We are finished here. There is nothing that either of you can say that will change my mind. You have no right to try and control me. Go away and stay out of my life. You only care when it is convenient, well, it is no longer convenient for me. I am done with people trying to control me and I refuse to let your hatred taint my life anymore."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are being impossible, John. That woman is the key to taking Morgan down. Once I thought things through, I realized that this is a good thing. We can use her to unbalance him. He will never tolerate you being near his son." Anthony cackled with glee at the idea of getting rid of the enforcer. He knew that Jason Morgan was the only thing keeping Corinthos from sinking.

"No, you aren't listening! I am not using Elizabeth and neither are you! Get that idea out of your head now."

Anthony's cunning eyes darkened with rage. "Don't fall for her charms. All women do are betray men. She will be no different, John."

"You are insane! If you go after her in anyway, I will take you out. I already took out Baker. I will do the same to you if you come near her."

"So you killed the escaped rapist over the nurse. I must say that I am surprised. She must be one hell of a lay."

Shaking his head in disgust and aggravation, Johnny tossed his hands up in the air. "Pay attention and listen closely. I will not let you hurt her or those boys in any way. I will not tolerate your stupid plans or manipulations. Keep this up and I will bury you beneath your beloved roses."

Anthony watched as his son stormed out, contemplating all that that he knew and making plans. It was not everyday that he had a way to bring his enemies and his son to their knees. There was no way that he would not take full advantage of this situation. He only needed to figure out the best way to get what he wanted.

Johnny called the Alex as he sped down the road. "I want to know everything that the old man does. If he approaches Elizabeth, take him out by any means necessary. Her guards will be told the same thing."

"Yes, Sir. Also, Claudia is making plans to come home. She talked to your father after he returned from your place this afternoon. He seemed rather cheerful at the thought."

Groaning at the thought of dealing with his sister too, Johnny hung up. He did not need her added insanity right now. She was just as bad as their father. She believed in doing anything to get her way and could less about who she took down in the process.

Shifting his thoughts to Elizabeth, he couldn't believe that she was going to take the chance that came along with being involved him. It still surprised him that she had not ran after this morning. He knew that he had to deal with his family and quickly. They were a threat to her and he could not let anything happen to her because he had not been strong enough to resist the feelings that he felt for her. He knew if it came down to it, he would take his father out. There was no way that he was letting her go after having a small taste of what could be.

Pulling up in front of her house and seeing her on the porch swing, he relaxed. Jagger met him at the car as she watched them talk as she sketched. Hearing about the confrontation at Kelly's amused and worried him at the same time.

Jagger smirked. "I am heading back to the penthouse. Are you going to be here tonight or should I call Tony to take the night shift?"

"I will be here. Go and get some rest. And thanks, by the way."

"For?"

"Coming back and helping me protect her. I know that you hate it here."

"It's fine. I know what she means to you. And I have to add that I think you made a good choice. Elizabeth has the compassionate side that will balance you out and has always been extremely loyal to those that she cares about. She also can be a bit of fighter when pushed to her limit. Besides, the fun of pissing Sonny off might just be worth being back."

Heading up to the porch as he heard Jagger take off on his motorcycle, Johnny tipped his head at the sketch book. "I thought you gave it up. It's nice to see you doing art again."

"Well, I suddenly got some inspiration that I had been missing," she confessed.

Holding out his hand and taker her smaller one in his, he pulled her up and into the house. "Good, I am glad. Have you had dinner yet?"

"Yeah. I made a casserole. Do you want some?"

Ignoring the offer of food, Johnny gently shoved her backwards against the door after shutting it. Capturing her mouth with his, he nipped her bottom lip and deepened the kiss. Easing her head back and trailing kisses down her throat, he heard her soft moan. "This is what I want," he whispered against her ear, wrapping his hands around her waist and lifting her.

Elizabeth brought her legs around his waist and pulled his shirt off, letting it drop on the steps as he carried her to her room. Pulling him down with her as he laid her on the bed, she caught his eyes and looked into the liquid brown depths. "Me too," she breathed.

"Are you sure?"

Shivering as his fingertips brushed against her skin as he pulled her own shirt over her head, she caught her breath and nodded. Johnny immediately threw caution to the wind and focused completely on her.