A/N: Date number three! So in this chapter we'll learn more about Jason and Elizabeth's background as they get to know each other better. I also need to clarify that for the purpose of this story I chose to make Elizabeth the middle child. Ok, let me stop here before I spoil anything… thanks for reading!

As always, not my characters…

Chapter 7 – A family affair

-- Elizabeth's house --

"I'm impressed, you're on time." The brunette said with a sarcastic tone.

The blond man smiled at the dig then listened as she went on. "Come in! And thank you for accepting my invitation on such short notice; I know you're a really busy man and all." Elizabeth noticed a small plant in his hands. "Is that for me?"

Jason nodded. "Yes, a blue hyacinth. The petals will open up pretty soon and I was told it smells really good too; although I almost didn't get you any flowers." He examined the inquisitive look she had on her face. "I wasn't sure how you would react." He said sarcastically.

"Don't be silly, I overreacted a little bit last time but you should have seen my office… anyway this is very nice, I love it, thank you." She brought the plant to her nose smelling the scented flower.

"Please, sit down, make yourself comfortable." She disappeared for a few seconds and placed the plant in the dining room then joined him on the large sofa where he was now sitting. "I lost the bet so that's my date. I decided to cook dinner for you. I know it isn't as fancy as an oriental oasis under the stars at the very top of a hotel but hopefully you'll like my food."

"You cook?"

She answered with a nod. "Well, a little bit, actually not really; so be nice when you taste it ok? "

"Ok…" He said apprehensively.

"Don't tell me you're scared of trying my cooking."

"I'm not."

"Good, then why are you so quiet? Are you back to cold and arrogant Jason? Because you need to issue me some kind of warning before that happens."

A large smile appeared on Jason's lips. "I told you, I am not the cold, arrogant jerk I sometimes come off as."

"I know that now, but took me some time…. So actually, why the act?"

"I don't know; it works for business I guess, and most women respond well to it." The man said plainly while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I see. Well I wish you didn't have to be like that because I enjoy uncomplicated bike riding Jason way more." She said with a smirk.

The young woman saw Jason swing his head from side to side.

"What's wrong?" She asked him trying to follow his gaze."

"Is it me or it smells kind of funny?"

Elizabeth sniffed the air a few times trying to figure out where the uncanny smell was coming from. "Oh no!" She exclaimed, jumping up from the couch and running towards the kitchen.

Jason followed her in the cutely decorated kitchen that was now full of smoke.

"What happened here?" The young man asked hardly able to breathe.

"Our dinner just went in smoke, that's what happened!" Elizabeth said completely floored. She had spent two hours on this and had followed the recipe religiously, only for it to be carbonized. She was sure she had turned the oven off before slipping the dish back inside to keep it warm. Why on earth did she have to burn it and in front of Jason with that.

The blond man opened the kitchen window to let some of the smoke out while Elizabeth carefully removed the burnt chicken from the oven. "I knew I should have stuck to my guts and made pasta!" She exclaimed mad at herself. "At least pasta's easy!"

Jason took in her very disappointed face. "Hey, it's ok; I can call my assistant and get some food delivered from any restaurant of your choice." Jason took in the uncooperative gaze on his date's face. That idea obviously didn't sit well with her. "Or we can just figure out something else."

"I invited you for dinner, so I'll fix this." She decidedly said while frenetically going through her pantry and her fridge. "I only have salad and canned soup!"

"Then salad… and soup is fine with me." It really didn't matter what they ate as long as he was spending some time with the lively brunette who he was growing to like more every minute.

"No, it's not fine! It's a dinner; you need to eat real food. How do you feel about Chinese?"

*****

The pair was now sitting facing each other in Elizabeth's dining room. She had nicely set up the table and even lit up scented candles to create a romantic atmosphere, not knowing that they would end up eating takeout for the candle lit dinner. The blue hyacinth her date had brought with him was now garnishing the dining table; as well as a few paper boxes of Chinese food, a wooden salad bowl and a nearly finished bottle of red wine.

"Well thank you for dinner, it was delicious."

"Oh stop making fun of me! I am sure mon poulet et ratatouille would have been delicious if I didn't… overcook it." Elizabeth chuckled at her butchered French and obvious lack of cooking skills. "I still can't believe I burned that chicken!"

"Oh don't worry, it's not like I've never burnt anything."

"You cook? Jason Morgan cooks?" She exclaimed in utter shock. She could hardly imagine him stirring a pot with an apron on.

"Ok, don't tell anyone but yeah, I actually do. Not very often but I know how to make a bunch of stuff actually; maybe I could teach you someday."

"Yeah you can make fun of me right now but wait until you taste what I have in store for dessert." Jason swallowed hard anticipating a special kind of dessert that put the man uneasy on his chair. Her cherry lips seemed so soft that they would have been the perfect sweet touch to conclude that dinner.

As Jason saw Elizabeth hastily stand to her feet, he for a quick instant believed that she was about to treat him to the special dessert he was dying to have a taste of, but the woman kept walking towards the kitchen, followed by the young man's disenchanted eyes. Elizabeth came back with a plate of cut up brownies sprinkled with powdered sugar.

"Brownies! It's my specialty. I challenge you to find a better recipe than this one." She presented the plate to Jason urging him to taste one. She faced him; eyes opened wide waiting for a verdict.

"So? What do you think?"

Jason nonchalantly shrugged.

"What? You don't like it?" Elizabeth asked, visibly worried. Everyone loved her brownies.

The blond man chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. I'm not big on chocolate but this is really good."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes then sat down in front of him, not completely convinced of his sincerity then took a sip of red wine.

"What changed your mind?" Jason said looking at his date straight in the eyes.

Elizabeth was startled by the sudden change of subject and the seriousness in Jason's tone. "What do you mean?"

"Well I was a little surprised to hear from you today. I didn't think you would call anymore."

"Sorry I took that much time before getting back to you. I just needed to put everything back in perspective."

She continued avoiding his gaze. "Actually it's more complicated than that, I just didn't think I was ready to seriously date anyone yet, and I am still not convinced it is a good idea actually; that's why I didn't want to go out with you again at first. Maybe I was afraid I would end up… liking you."

Jason was confused, but glad to finally get some insight on what was on the brunette's mind. Elizabeth never meant to be that open about her feelings but it seemed almost easy to speak to him.

"I see." The man simply uttered.

"Well, my last relationship was pretty much a disaster and I am still recovering from it. I guess I was just trying to protect myself." She explained toying with the red liquid in her balloon glass.

"At the cost of being alone?"

"Being lonely doesn't scare me much you know, I feel like I've been alone since I was a kid. I have a brother and a sister but I grew up feeling like I never quite fitted." She straightened in her chair. " To summarize, my family is composed of two workaholic doctors who barely know they have a middle child, a big brother that I adore but who is hell bent on following on my parents footsteps, and a spoiled young brat who has made it her life goal to copy her big sister and one up her anytime she can."

The young woman paused for air.

"My parents almost had a heart attack when I told them I wanted to be a designer. They thought that it would be a real waste of time and energy because I wasn't any good at anything anyway and certainly wouldn't be able to run my own label. They thought I didn't have any future and they never missed an occasion to remind me I wasn't intelligent enough like Steven or pretty enough like Sarah. I constantly insisted I wanted to go into fashion and they had enough of my stubborn ideas and decided to unload me on my grandmother so they could focus on their two other children and their careers."

"Well, you proved them wrong." Jason interjected in her rant.

Elizabeth bit her lower lip lightly before continuing. "Can you believe that they thought I was crazy for wanting to design clothes but when my little sister decided she wanted to model, my mother flew her to New York, paid her rent so she didn't have to work and could focus on her career while I had to juggle school and a crappy job!"

She sighed, eyes on the dancing wine in her glass.

"But that's how it has always been anyway, my sister was always the baby of the family, she always gets whatever she asks for. I'm just glad I don't owe my parents anything, I can clearly say that I did it on my own."

Elizabeth made eye contact with Jason again. "My dysfunctional family stories are boring you already. Sorry, I sometimes ramble on and you've got to stop me when that happens."

"No, I like listening to you, and you are actually reminding me of my own family."

"Really?"

"I cut ties with them years ago. I had enough of the pressure to conform and to be what they wanted me to be. The Quartermaines are very powerful people and what you have to understand is that they look at everyone only in terms of what they can do for them. I don't think they ever really cared about me for me. I always was their heir, and nothing else."

Elizabeth was listening attentively as he went on talking.

"My parents wanted me to go to med school and become a great surgeon like them. And for a long time I did what they wanted and was the perfect son. But I was miserable. Until one day during my senior year of undergrad, I was in an accident. I was on my way home from a party with my best friend and another driver didn't stop at a red light. My friend didn't see the other car in time; our car skipped the road and ended up in a ditch."

Jason paused as even years after the tragic event, the memory remained sore in his mind.

"My best friend died and I survived. I don't know why but I did, and since that day I've decided that I would live for me because life is just too damn precious to throw away, especially doing something you hate. From that day I decided I would do whatever I wanted and take whatever I wanted when I wanted it. I told my parent I wasn't going to med school anymore. We argued of course and that's when I decided I had enough and left the family. They didn't take it very well, especially when I changed my name… so they disowned me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. All this must have been really hard on you Jason. So you mean you pretty much have no contact with the Quatermaines at all?"

"Well, Port Charles is not that big of a city so we occasionally bump into each other. My mother tries to keep some kind of a relationship with me and comes by to check on me from times to times. But my father never really got over me changing my name. To him it was the greatest disgrace."

"Do you miss them?"

"Yes and no, I'm just used to doing things on my own and being myself. I enjoy my freedom."

"I see. But I have to ask, how did you end up in control of your family business then? I heard Morgan Enterprises used to be ELQ."

"After I left the Quartermaines, I started working here and there. I opened my own bike shop. Oh I was so proud about that shop." Jason said smiling at the memory. "Then my business grew pretty quickly and I went into different directions, formed my holding company Morgan Enterprises. Then to everyone's surprise, when he retired, grandfather wanted me to run ELQ, saying it was rightfully mine and that he trusted only me to keep his vision alive. Of course I didn't want to have anything to do with them so I declined. He insisted, I saw an opportunity and we ended up working up a deal where ELQ was acquired by Morgan Enterprises."

"I see… And I thought I had a complicated life."

Jason smiled at her comment then reached over the table to put back behind Elizabeth's ear an intrepid chestnut curl that was flowing across her face. The young woman responded to his gesture by holding his larger hand and hugging it against her face. His palm was rough but warm and comfortable; she could have stayed in this comforting position for hours but the ringtone of Jason's cell phone interrupted the pair's tender moment.

"Are you going to get that?" Elizabeth said like she had just woken up from a deep coma.

Jason cleared his throat. "It's probably work… but I…"

"Don't worry, get it. I'll clear the table."

She got up and carried their dirty plates to the kitchen. On the phone with Jason was Spinelli, alerting his friend and employer that Carly was snooping around trying to find everything she could about the Fair Elizabeth.

"I hope you didn't tell her anything."

"Of course not! The Jackal couldn't forget that one of the directives of his mission was not to disclose any piece of information to the Valkyrie."

"I'll have to keep her at arms length before she creates chaos for no reason. Thanks for letting me know Spinelli."

"The assassin of the internet is more than welcome. And I hope I didn't interrupt any special interaction between you and the fair Queen Elizabeth, I would hate to disturb what would be a much critically needed…"

"Thank you Spinelli!" Jason interrupted the young man before he was able to embarrass himself then hung up as he noticed Elizabeth was back in the room.

"Is everything ok?" She asked.

"Yeah, nothing too dramatic." Jason said these words looking at her straight in the eyes. She was gorgeous; generous brown curls falling low on her back. She wore a silky coral blouse bejeweled by a long colorful necklace and a form fitting dark pair of skinny jeans; she was stunning. Prettier than she had been the day he had seen her for the first time, shyly walking down the runway.

Jason determinedly walked towards the petite woman, staring along the way and stopped right before her. He placed both hands on her shoulders then slowly slid them up to frame her porcelain face. He then slowly lowered his face and delicately brushed his lips over hers. At first, Elizabeth didn't know how to react to the sudden rush of emotions that took over her as his mouth lingered on hers. But after a second or two in this still position, the kiss deepened and their tongues playfully mingled sending sharp shivers through her body.

Elizabeth slid her agile fingers under the man's black ironed shirt, feeling under her palms his rock hard abdomen while his fingers delicately danced up and down her slim figure, skillfully hugging her every curve. The pair slowly waltzed to the couch where they continued making out, hardly breaking away for air. Without untangling their mouths, Jason started unbuttoning her blouse when as suddenly as it all started, Elizabeth pulled away and got up from the couch leaving Jason wanting more.

"I'm sorry, it's just… It's moving too fast." She ran a hand in her now messy hair and placed the other on her hip.

"I understand." Jason didn't completely get the abrupt change in pace but he said it anyway while sitting up on the couch. "I am sorry if I was too forward, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No please don't apologize. It's me; We just need to take things… slow."

"Ok." Jason also got up from her pastel colored sofa. "Ok… Um, I think I'd better go. It's getting late. Thanks for dinner."

"Sure." Elizabeth said in her breath, feeling like digging a hole in the ground and disappearing in it as she saw Jason walk away.

--

A/N: Alright, I know that was a little harsh but I had to add a little angst in all this, things were going way too smoothly don't you think? And at least they had their first kiss, yippee! By the way, anyone knows why Jason got her a blue hyacinth? This plant has a particular meaning and I will let you all know at the beginning of the next chapter!