Chapter 8

"Audrey isn't back yet?" Jason asked while he waited for Elizabeth to gather her things.

She shook her head, "No, gotta love retirement, she decided to stay for another week. It's probably better off because I don't think I'm ready to explain everything to her quite yet."

He understood. He handed her a set of keys.

She looked at him slightly confused, "You want me to drive?"

"I brought the car for you… well Max dropped it off a little while ago." He pulled back the curtain and pointed to the curb.

Elizabeth's eyes widened, "No! No Jason!"

"What? I thought we talked about this?"

She took a few steps to the window and craned her neck in an attempt to look closer, "Jason, I can't accept that car." She mumbled as she looked at the jet black Mercedes.

He laughed, "Too late, I already had a DVD player installed for Cameron."

"He doesn't need a DVD player Jason. I need a functional, reasonable car like a Honda or something that doesn't cost more then I make in a year."

"Well I didn't have a Honda, I had this… so this is what you get. If you don't drive it, I wasn't kidding, I will take then engine apart in the heap you call a car sitting in the driveway." He said smugly. "Now, we'll take my SUV today but when we get back you should take it for a spin so you can get used to it." Jason nodded to the door for them to leave but she was not done talking.

"You don't like giving me the chance to argue with you do you? You are so frustrating. Jason, I'm not like Carly or Sam… I don't need fancy houses or fancy cars."

Jason shook his head, "I know that but I want to help and I can't help that I have money Elizabeth."

She rolled her eyes, "Well I cant help that I am independent and like to do things for myself."

"Get over it." He voiced with a smirk then opened the door for them to leave.

Two hours and three houses later they pulled up to a fourth house, "Jason, this house is bigger then the last one. I don't even want to go in… no." she said firmly.

"Oh, come on, just look at it." He said, reaching for the door handle to get out of the car.

Elizabeth kept her feet firmly planted on the floor in front of the passenger seat. "The next house better be smaller."

"Don't be ridiculous."

He eventually got her to go into the house. She stood in the entrance way and looked up, "Jason, I'm going to have two kids and don't have the time to keep up a house this big. How the hell do you clean the freaking windows all the way up there. That's like a twenty five foot window."

Jason followed her gaze and looked up at the window that ran from the floor to the cathedral ceiling, "Someone cleans it for you." He answered simply.

She shook her head and followed him from room to room, "Jason this house is too big, let's just go to the next one. The houses you have been showing me keep getting bigger, the next one better be smaller."

"This house is the best one yet. The rooms are big and so is the property. There is a fence and the setup makes security a bit stronger."

"No… I won't live here Jason." She whined then walked out of the house. As the day went on she was growing more and more frustrated. She was taking a big leap to let him buy her a house, it was completely out of her character. These houses were extremely large and even if she had enough money to buy them herself, she would not buy them because she did not need that much space. She turned around when she heard Jason closing the front door of the house. "Look Jason, I'm not trying to be ungrateful. I really appreciate your help but I AM independent and this is hard for me to accept." She waved her hand in the direction of the house, "This… this is not me. I like simple and this… is not simple."

Jason gave her a knowing nod, "I think you are going to like the next one."

Elizabeth sighed, he really wasn't listening to her. She drug her feet back to the truck and climbed in.

"This next one is the last one… I think you are going to like it the best which is why I saved it for last."

Elizabeth did not reply, he only heard the click of her seatbelt and a tired sigh.

"Do you want to wait till tomorrow to see it? Are you too tired or hungry?"

"No, lets just get it over with Jason."

Elizabeth watched in silence as Jason drove toward the outskirts of town. She recognized some of the roads as places he'd taken her riding years ago. "Do you still ride out here?"

"Huh?" Jason asked. He had been deep in thought and Elizabeth had brought him back to reality.

"I said, do you still come out here when you go riding."

His eyes left the road briefly to look over at her. He could see the nostalgia in her eyes, "Sometimes." He kept taking peeks over at her. She was looking out the window and he couldn't help but think that the silence was nice. It wasn't that he didn't like talking to her, it was that they didn't need to talk and were still comfortable together

Jason turned the car down a tree lined street. There were houses on the lots but they were hidden behind lines of mature trees. They pulled into a driveway but Elizabeth did not see the house until they cleared through the first line of trees. Her eyes went wide… it was perfect. This was not one of those McMansion, cookie cutter homes that was built in a month. It was much older, it had character and looked like it was about fifty years old. The siding was all white with black shutters. The front porch spanned the entire length of the front of the house.

He noticed the change in her reaction to this house from the others. She didn't fight him or roll her eyes when he urged her to follow him, instead she was out of the car before he had the chance to kill the engine.

Elizabeth walked up the steps to the porch and smiled when Jason quickly appeared behind her. "I told you that you'd like it." He smugly whispered in her ear as he passed her and unlocked the door.

She could not hide the chill that ran through her body from the feel of his breath on her ear. Luckily he was focusing on unlocking the door and did not notice it. As they walked from room to room on the hardwood floor she could see herself living in this house. It had four small bedrooms. The kitchen in the back of the house was completely remodeled although she was a simple cook, sticking to easy meals such as spaghetti from a box with sauce from a jar.

Stepping out the back door onto the small deck, she breathed in the scent. "Smell that?"

Jason sucked in a deep breath, "A fireplace?"

She nodded, "A real fireplace, a wood burning fireplace. I love that smell." She noticed the large back yard was also full of mature trees and a swing set, which Cameron would surely put to use.

Jason shrugged. He had never really thought about it but there was a rustic feel to the house and the area in general. "You know that this house is a security nightmare?" he voiced as he walked in front of her, leaned on the railing of the deck and turned to face her.

Elizabeth looked at him, nodded and smiled.

"But Stan can handle it if you like it."

She could only nod then closed the space between them. She couldn't help it, she wanted to feel him so she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Th-thank you Jason."

Jason looked down at her and found her looking up at him with a sparkle in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. "I'm glad you like it… thank you for letting me help you." He caught his gaze falling to her lips as the urge to kiss her flooded him. It had been months since they had been together yet he could still remember how soft her lips were.

In the end it was Elizabeth that took a step back. She felt the electricity between them and the urge was there to stay in his arms. But Jason was not hers, he was with Sam and even though she did not like her very much, she could not do that to her. She knew what it feel like to be cheated on and would never wish that on anyone else. "We should get back, I need to pick Cam up from daycare."

Jason swallowed, finding his mouth was suddenly dry. "I need to get the keys all returned anyway. I'll let Diane know to get things moving with this house." He said in a throaty voice before leading her back through the house.

He lifted his head as he walked through the door and instantly knew that something wasn't right. Sam sat on the chair across the Livingroom and was holding a glass of wine and a folder in her hand. She looked up at him with swollen, red eyes. He tossed his keys on the desk and she waved the folder in the air. "Diane dropped this off a little while ago."

Jason stopped. It was obvious that she had looked through the folder and if Diane dropped it off then it was likely a copy of the offer for the house. "I guess you looked at it?"

She slammed her wine glass on the coffee table. He was surprised the fragile glass did not shatter. "Jason… you bought her a fucking house!" Sam growled.

"Calm down." He said in a calm voice.

Her eyes almost popped out of her head, "Calm down! My boyfriend just bought his one night stand a house." She threw the folder at him, "A very expensive house!"

Jason leaned over and picked the folder up from the floor. What he hadn't told Elizabeth was that the last house was the most expensive one. The location and all the land that came with it made it very valuable and a good investment. "I can't talk to you like this." He shook his head and wiped his hand across his forehead. He turned and started up the stairs. 'I'm going to work out."

Sam yelled after him, "Jason!"

He stopped on the steps, "And before you find out some other way… I gave her the Benz too." Then he turned back and disappeared around the corner. A split second later the wine glass met its fate and was shattered.