Chapter Twenty-Eight
With a heavy sigh, his knuckles connected with the door before him.
As he expected, it flung open and he stared into his past.
Samantha McCall in all her misleading glory met his gaze as she always had, straight on with an air off of confidence. Years ago, the glinting whiskey brown eyes would have been enough to bend him to her will, but now they only sent rage coursing through him. Rage churned in his stomach for this woman who repaid his devotion with betrayal and abandonment. Self-loathing quickly followed for loving and trusting this woman. For failing to see the signs until she walked out on not only him, but their daughter.
"Hello Jason," she greeted him with a smile full of charm, but it had no effect on him.
"Sam," he replied tersely.
He walked into the bedroom with steady strides without any invitation. He knew the door would close behind just as it did with a slam. He assessed the second story bedroom as he would any other space. He took in the sleek, clean lined furniture of the room. It was meant for comfort, meant to be used for more than a few days if the situation required it. His eyes trailed over a dresser until they were staring out a set of bay windows. A clear view of the drive way in the daylight filled his gaze. The SUV he had arrived in, sitting idle in the circular driveway, Max casually leaning against it.
"Is there a reason you had your goons drag me to the middle of nowhere?" Sam interrupted his thoughts.
Jason could practically hear Adam snorting from the other side of the door at her outburst.
With a shake of his head, he turned on his heels and once again faced the woman from his past. She appeared no different than she had four years ago. Dressed in a pair of black slacks and green button up, she was as petite as he remembered. She held herself as proudly and haughtily as before. Slight changes in her face were visible if one looked close enough. There were frown lines engraved into her forehead and between her eyebrows. A thick layer of makeup failed to conceal the weathering of age she sought to hide. It was her eyes that he saw so vividly now. They were the same chocolate brown eyes that had locked with his for years, but he no longer felt the warmth or love settle over him.
Clearing his throat, Jason took a step back and flexed his hands. He was wound up tight, ready to snap at any moment. Inhaling deeply, he meet Sam's gaze and set out to accomplish his purpose for arranging the meeting at the safe house.
"I brought you here to give you what you want."
Her eyes widened in surprise before joy erupted across her face. "You'll let me see my daughter? I know she's here and she's absolutely beautiful." Her face practically melted in longing. "Jason, I can't wait to hold her in my arms."
He brought her to a halt with a simple hand in the air. "There are conditions."
"Conditions?" Confusion quickly replaced her happiness.
He nodded gravely. "I assume the only reason you're here is to see her," he said as calmly as possible. "And I will allow you to, once and only once," he looked at her pointedly, daring her to challenge him. "Then you will leave Port Charles, never to return. You will never seek out Lil again."
"What?" Sam snapped, outrage dripping from the single word. "She's my daughter."
"No," he hissed. "She's my daughter. You forfeited your claims to her the second you walked out."
Every muscle in his body convulsed with barely contained anger as he stared down the mother of his child. He had always believed a child belonged with its mother until the day his daughter was betrayed by hers. The night Samantha McCall walked out on her five month old infant was the day she signed away any right she had to his daughter. Lila Amanda Morgan became his and his alone that night. It would be no different if Sam was in Port Charles or on the other side of the world.
Sam shook her head fiercely. "You're being unreasonable right now. I said I would come back."
"You said 'I thought I could, but I can't live with the danger. Right now, I don't see a tomorrow with you and I'm not sure I ever will.' He recited the words that had been carved into his brain. Words he had spent endless nights tormenting himself with. After four years, he threw them back at her. "'You can give her a better life right now. I need to find myself before I can be the mother she deserves.' You don't deserve her." He swallowed past the ache in his throat. "You don't deserve that beautiful little girl downstairs."
"I'm her mother," Sam argued vehemently. "I gave birth to her. I nursed her. I deserve a place in her life just as much as you do."
He shook his head on a sigh. "You're not her mother. A mother knows what makes her child smile. A mother fights tooth and nail to be at her child's side through the good and the bad." He shook his head again. "You don't know that she loves whip cream on her pancakes, that she hates clowns, that she can watch Finding Nemo from sun up to sun down. You don't know who Mr. Floppy is."
Clasping his hands against his abdomen, he lost himself in the memories of raising his daughter. "You weren't the one who stayed up with her when she was teething or had an inner ear infection. You weren't there the first time she came across people who shunned her for being my child." A bitter smile pulled at his lips. "You're not her mother. You're a stranger."
"I told you I needed time to get over the danger. How was I supposed to raise a child when I wasn't happy?" she argued. "I needed to take care of myself before I could take care of Lila."
"The danger had nothing to do with it. You didn't want to be happy," Jason accused her. "You weren't happy with anything I did or said. You wanted things your way when you said you understood," he slammed his fist against his chest, "my life."
"Don't you dare blame me for leaving."
His eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at her. "Then, why else did you leave?" He never gave her the chance to answer. He plowed on, unleashing four years of resentment. "You left because you wanted to. You never gave anyone the chance to stop you." Jason paused to release a shaky breath. "You never came to me or gave us a chance to work things out. You left. You left Lil," he seethed. "You left Lil, something I will never let happen again."
"I will take you to court, Jason Morgan," Sam stated, cold and calculating. Her face was a conglomerate of emotions ranging from rage to disbelief. "I'll sue you for custody and no judge in his right mind would grant a criminal full custody of a child."
He chuckled darkly. "Then you never knew me. I will stop at nothing to protect my daughter and a judge is the last thing that would stand in my way."
"We'll see," Sam said. Her chin set with determination and eyes blazing with fury.
"You'll never get the chance," he promised her. His tone cold and steady. "You're leaving and if you speak a word of who you are to Lil, I will expose your dirty little secrets.
A corner of his lips lifted at the shock that flashed in Sam's eyes.
"Yes, I know exactly what you've been up to while you were finding yourself." Jason smirked. "I bet certain elderly men would love to hear how you conned them. A few of my contacts at the FBI might find it interesting as well."
Jason allowed himself the satisfaction of watching Sam's face fill with horror as it dawned on her that he knew everything. He had had Sonny run a full background check on Sam and a few interesting red flags had popped up. For the last three years, Sam had been busy running around the states with Heather Johnson, conning older men. It was a simple operation, Heather married a wealthy man and then it was arranged for the new groom to be discovered in a scandalous position with Sam by his blushing bride. Heather walked away with a divorce settlement evenly split with Sam.
With one last glance, he pivoted on his heels and walked around her frozen form to the door. "Come down when you're ready, but remember this is a one time courtesy visit."
"Who is she?"
His hand had just grasped the door knob when Sam's words reached him.
Clenching his jaw, Jason remained facing the door. "Who?"
"The brunette who got out of the car with Lil. I saw how you were with her. She can't just be the nanny," Sam speculated. "Who is she?"
"Leave Elizabeth alone," he growled.
"Elizabeth, huh?"
"Sam," he seethed, turning to face her.
She shrugged. "If she's just the nanny, then you won't mind me talking to her." The wheels were already turning in her head.
He glared, his fists balled, his body desperately sought release from his pent up frustration. "You will meet Lil and then watch her walk out the door. Do anything otherwise and you will live to regret it."
He let the threat hang in the air and swiftly walked out the door.
With the barest nod of acknowledgment to Adam, Jason walked down the hallway as calmly as possible. He made it down two steps on the staircase before he collapsed against the wall. His shoulders screamed in agony. Every possible muscle in his body was tied up in knots. With a weary breath, he lowered his aching body onto a step and struggled to steady his erratic breathing. He felt the weight of the world suffocate him. Elizabeth was leaving. Lil was upset with him. And Sam was back causing trouble he didn't need.
He was ready to snap. The showdown with Sam was only a fraction of what he was capable of unleashing. His world was falling apart around him. The last thing he had expected when he walked into his penthouse last night was to hurt not only Elizabeth, but also his daughter. Dealing with Sam's arrival was just the tipping point to an already bad night. What made matters worse was that it was all of his own doing. He needed an outlet. At nine in the morning, there weren't that many options to release all the anxiety running through his system.
Jason pulled himself together and moved down the remaining steps to the ground floor of the safe house. He cringed at the sight that greeted him. They were just as he had left them a few minutes ago. His daughter perfectly still on a wing chair with Mr. Floppy snuggled at her side while Elizabeth remained immobile on the couch.
Johnny met his gaze, sympathy in the guard's green eyes. Francis continued to glare at him.
Quietly, Jason made his way over to Lil. Squatting down to her eye level, he gently cupped her face until she looked him in the eyes. It took his breath away to find her usually vibrant eyes bleak. The knowledge he was responsible for her misery was like a dagger through his heart.
"Lil?" he said softly.
He waited patiently. He wasn't sure if she would speak to him. Last night, she had fled to the Corinthos penthouse in refuge and refused to speak to Jason or Elizabeth until Brenda had intervened on their behalf. Lil finally came out of David's room to make the trip to the safe house, but had remained uncharacteristically quiet the whole morning.
"Yes," she finally replied, the reluctance clear in her eyes.
"There's someone I would like you to meet and then we can get going," he promised her.
A quick jerk of the head was the only response he received.
With a tender kiss against her forehead, he reluctantly released his daughter. Her world had already been tilted off its axis and it was minutes away from another devastating blow. The last thing he wanted to do was cause his daughter more heartache, but Sam was a threat he couldn't leave unattended for long. The longer she remained in Port Charles, the more trouble she would cause, something his daughter couldn't afford.
Tearing his eyes away from his crestfallen child, Jason moved to her side. He heard the soft clicks of heels on wood. He wasn't the only one. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Johnny and Francis go rigid and face the stairs. Elizabeth moved to the other vacant area at Lil's side so they flanked her like guards. Lil noticed as well. Her head shot up and her dangling feet dropped to the floor, eyes also trained on the stairs.
Sam stepped off the stairs, Adam right behind her. A bright smile full of happiness on her lips. The sight had Jason clenching his fists and refraining from swooping up his daughter and walking straight out the door. Fastening his feet to the floor, he focused on the woman he unfortunately shared a bond with as she moved closer to his daughter.
Reaching Lil, Sam kneeled before the child. Fascination gleamed in her brown eyes as they ran over Lil's small frame.
"Hello Lila," Sam greeted her with barely restrained joy. She reached out for Lil, but the last moment thought better of it and let her hand drop to her lap. "I'm Sam. I'm your-a friend of your father's."
This time Johnny and Francis snorted along with Adam.
Jason cleared his throat and focused on schooling his expression.
"Hello," Lil replied, a frown forming between her eyes. She wasn't used to being called Lila. "Nice to meet you."
An awkward silence fell over them.
"Who's this?" Sam asked, reaching for Mr. Floppy.
Lil moved her beloved stuffed animal away. "Mr. Floppy."
"He's a cute little fella."
"Thank you."
Jason watched his daughter closely as she watched Sam with intent. There was caution laced with curiosity in her young eyes. He knew Sam would keep her true identity a secret in order to protect her schemes, but the sooner he got Lil out of there the better. Lil was a curious cat by nature who was too young to know that curiosity killed the cat.
"Do you have many friends?" Sam asked, trying to draw Lil into conversation.
"Yes," the child answered, a hint of irritation apparent in her tone.
"That's great…" Sam trailed off. She glanced away from Lil for a moment to observe Elizabeth.
Elizabeth stayed in place by Lil. Jason knew without a doubt she knew who Sam was. Her shoulders were set straight, prepared to come to Lil's aid if needed.
Shifting her attention back to Lil, Sam smiled nostalgically. "I remember when you were a baby." She ignored Jason's scorching glare and continued on. Once again, she raised a hand to touch Lil, but refrained. "You were so beautiful, like a little doll. You're-"
"You knew me when I was a baby?" Lil cut her off. Her curious nature getting the best of her. She leaned forward a scant inch. Her inquisitive eyes roaming over Sam's features. "I know you, don't I?"
A triumphant smile spread across Sam's face. "Yes, yes, you do." She reached forward to touch Lil's pale blonde locks.
The child automatically stepped out f her reach. "I've seen you before," Lil whispered. Her eyes continued to rack over Sam.
Helplessly, Jason watched as daughter mulled over things in her head, things he could only guess at. She was too smart for her age and that last thing she needed to deal with was her mother's reappearance when the woman who was a pillar in her life was walking out of it. He wasn't sure his daughter could handle the anguish.
Her hold on Mr. Floppy tightened as she stared at Sam with wide blue eyes. "I've seen you in my baby books."
Just as Sam reached out for her, Lil swung away. Mr. Floppy's feet cutting through the air to hit Sam's hands away. The child stared up at her father with pleading, confused eyes. Her bottom lip quivered as she stretched her arms out and flung herself at the man who had always been by her side.
Without a seconds hesitation, Jason caught his daughter in his arms and held her closely as the first tears fell from her eyes. He felt the moisture against his neck as he ran a comforting hand over her spine. His heart ached to hear her soft cries as she fell apart.
"Shh," he whispered. "It's going to be okay."
"Daddy," she gasped against his skin. "I want to go home, Daddy. Please, I want to go home now."
"We're leaving. I promise."
He turned to the silent woman who had moved to his side. He didn't have to say a word. Elizabeth opened her arms, prepared to take Lil. Her eyes were full of concern and sympathy for Lil. He squeezed Lil and Mr. Floppy one last time before pressing a kiss against her hair. Carefully, he handed over his daughter to her nanny.
He didn't completely release his hold on Lil. He lingered, leaning in to Elizabeth. "Thank you," he whispered for her ears only.
With a nod of understanding, the nanny cradled her charge in her arms and headed for the door. Johnny held the door open for her. The guard flashed a look of contempt at the intruder among them before walking out the door himself.
Drawing in a deep breath, Jason faced Samantha McCall for what he hoped was the last time.
Calmly, he reached into his leather jacket and pulled out the paperwork he had shoved into his pocket before walking out of his penthouse this morning. Slamming the ticket and envelope on the coffee table, he raised his eyes to meet Sam's.
"I held up my end of the bargain," he said in an emotionless tone. "Now, it's time for you to do the same."
"This isn't fair," Sam argued.
"You walking out on us wasn't fair either," he hurled back at her.
He didn't wait for a response. He smoothly turned on his heels and walked out of the safe house.
~*~
With a heavy heart, she leaned over the slumbering child to softly kiss a tear-stained cheek.
Reluctantly, Elizabeth pulled away from Lil's bedside and dragged her feet to the door. With one last glance, she quietly closed the door behind her and headed down the hallway to her nearly vacant room. Standing in the threshold of the room, she observed the wreckage. She had emptied out her dresser by dumping all the contents of the drawers on the bed. Her closet doors were flung open revealing many of the now empty hangers.
Biting her bottom lip, she dropped to the floor and resumed her packing from the night before. Adam had been nice enough to bring her the storage boxes she had asked for. Reaching for the closest thing, she got to work. She began folding the skirt to only realize a chunk of it was missing. A sad smile pulled at her lips.
It was the white skirt with blue polka dots. The one she had worn to the petting zoo with Lil and Jason. A corner had been snacked on by a goat.
"You were wearing a white skirt with blue polka dots. The goat wouldn't let go of it. He was really enjoying it..."
Closing her eyes, she held onto the sound of his rough voice recalling the moment at the petting zoo while he bandaged her up. She remembered pieces of what had happened at the park, but his voice had been vivid in her mind then and still was. It was his worried, yet steady voice that she had held onto to remain conscious that day in the park. He was a life vest she needed to let go of now.
Blinking away the tears that suddenly blurred her vision, Elizabeth folded the skirt and tucked it away in a storage box before reaching for something else. Her mind drifted to the events of the morning. It was hard for her to still grasp how Samantha McCall had been able to walk away from Jason and Lil. She shook her head at herself. She had no right to judge the woman. She was doing the same except she had no claims to them. Lil wasn't her daughter and Jason was…Jason was more than her employer, but at the same time nothing more.
"Elizabeth?"
The sound of Emily's voice interrupted Elizabeth's musings. Looking up, she found her best friend leaning against her doorframe.
"You're really leaving?"
She nodded her head, more to the scattered pieces of her life around her than Emily.
Just as she had always done, Emily offered support instead of judging her. "Need a hand?"
"I'd love one." She smiled gratefully. "Only four days left and I have my life to pack up."
The other brunette immediately got to work, reaching for an empty box and plopping down on the floor next to Elizabeth. Emily began packing the books that had been on Elizabeth's bookshelf.
"Where's Lil?" Emily asked out of curiosity.
"She's napping."
Emily turned to her in confusion. Lil had thrown napping out the window months ago. "Huh?"
"You don't know?"
"I don't know what?"
"No one told you?"
"No one told me what," Emily grumbled, exasperated.
Elizabeth let the cat out of the bag. "Sam's back."
She watched as Emily's eyes grew wide in surprise as she released her hold on a book, letting it drop into a box with a thump.
"Sam's back?" Emily repeated.
Elizabeth nodded her head. "From what I gathered, she's leaving soon though."
"Oh, thank God," Emily sighed. "See this is why I hate long shifts at the hospital, I miss out on things. What happened this morning?"
Inhaling deeply, Elizabeth summed up the morning with Samantha McCall. "Jason took Lil to meet her at one of the safe houses. She spoke to Lil for a few minutes before Lil remembered her from one of her baby books." The memory of the child's turning to her father with tear filled eyes tore at her heart. "After that, Lil didn't want to stay any longer and Jason had us leave before Sam could object. Lil cried herself to sleep in the car."
"Poor thing," Emily mumbled, a faraway look in her eyes.
Elizabeth waited for her best friend to continue, but Emily seemed to be lost in her own world. Gently, she grasped her arm and shook her. "Emily?"
"Sorry," Emily apologized. "I can't say I'm sad to hear she's leaving after her disappearing act. Jason and Lil deserve better than her." She went back to packing books.
Chewing on her bottom lip, Elizabeth mauled it over. It was now or never. "Em?"
"Yeah?"
In one whoosh, she let out the question she had held back since she began working for Jason. "What happened with Sam?"
She watched the youngest Quatermaine pause before she stiffened and sat down on her haunches. The faraway look returned to her brown eyes.
"You don't have to tell me," Elizabeth quickly added. "I really have no right to ask. I just wanted to know since—"
Clearing her throat, Emily inhaled deeply. "It's okay." She paused again, shuffling books around in a storage box. "I think it's safe to say you know how simple yet complicated Jason is." She looked to Elizabeth with knowing eyes.
Elizabeth nodded for her to continue.
"In some ways, Jason has always been reluctant to be in a relationship. After he woke up from his coma, he wanted nothing to do with the life Jason Quartermaine had and you can't blame him," she explained. "The family really didn't make things easy for him." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he didn't want to be with Keesha, who had been Jason's girlfriend before the accident."
Emily kept busy as she spoke, going through the stacks of books before her. "Jason and Robin happened mainly because it was easy in some sense. She didn't pressure him to be who he used to be or force her expectations on him, but in the end she thought she knew best for him. As much as Robin loved him, she didn't approve of his lifestyle," Emily shook her head. "Even though Jason loved her-you can even say she was really his first love, you knew he was going to be okay after they broke up. And he was," she murmured, her hands stilling for a moment.
"Jason met Sam and for the three years they were together, he seemed happy. They seemed happy, but things started to change, but you thought they would make it." She shrugged. "Then, I got a phone call in the middle of the night. I remember it clearly. I was studying for some anatomy test and Sonny called, asking me to come over. When I got to the penthouse, it was just Jason and Lil, who had just turned five months old." She smiled sadly.
"She just left?" Elizabeth croaked.
"She just left," Emily repeated. "Jason wasn't the same after that. Refused and I mean refused," Emily emphasized the word, "to date. I swear to God the man turned into a monk. I think he still is," she joked. "Sam walked out of his life and he avoided letting new people into his life." She turned to Elizabeth then and watched her with grateful eyes. "Until you," she grasped Elizabeth's hand. "I thought things would work out differently, but wishful thinking I guess," Emily murmured, releasing her friend.
It really was wishful thinking.