Switching Places
Chapter 17
Sometimes waiting for something to happen is worse than it actually happening.
Waking up early, Elizabeth watched Jason open his eyes, saying "How long were you waiting?"
"Not very long, Sonny came home and made me eat dinner with him. He was asking about my relationship with Courtney and what I thought Lucky would do if the baby were his." She said. "I came home, planning on doing some drawing, when I fell asleep. I'm not sure what is going on with him, but I can see darkness, Jason."
"He is starting to spiral like Carly said he would. He turned over the business for when he fakes his death, but I'm not sure I want to return it to him, not if it endangers all of us, like Carly says it will. I might try to get him to move down to the Island."
"Jason, there is one thing you should know. This girl Sam, she might be Alexis' daughter, with the way Carly feels about her, I'm worried that even if she is her daughter, Carly will make sure that it stays hidden."
"That sounds like something she would do. All you can do is try and make her see reason, when the time comes; I will help if you want." Hearing a knock on the door, she went over the very short list of people that the guards would allow there, and suggested Jason answer it. "I'm going to take a shower."
Alexis listened to Jax talk about how much he cared for Skye and his hopes for the future and wanted to do nothing more than tell him that Brenda was alive. No one, deserved to have his or her wedding ruined the way Carly said it was about to be.
Feeling her daughter move she held his hand to her small belly and let him feel what she was feeling. "That is incredible." He said with an awestruck look on his face. "What does it feel like?"
"I can't really describe it, but knowing that it's my daughter and that she is healthy and alive, is wonderful."
"Do you have time for lunch this week, or am I going to have to track you down to force you to eat?"
"Carly will be doing that for you." Said Alexis.
"Be careful, she can turn on you in an instant, you have no idea what she is capable of. Who knows what she really wants?" Warned Jax.
"Jax, I know you don't understand why I'm suddenly on her side, but trust me, she has changed."
"I seem to recall saying that to you when I invested in Club 101."
Jason thanked Stan for the fast work and went back to the bedroom where Elizabeth was complaining about tangles in her hair. Watching as she almost pulled it out of her head, while running the comb through it.
"Here, let me help." He said as he took the comb and sat her down on the edge of the bed. As he ran the comb through her hair, he found himself not stopping even after untangling it. When it was finally almost dried, Jason realized that Elizabeth's eyes were closed and there was an expression of bliss on her face. Leaning to the side, he whispered in her ear, "I think you liked that."
Slipping her hand into his messy hair, Elizabeth turned around and knelt in front of Jason, drawing his head down and kissed the man of her dreams.
Jason groaned as he laid her down on the top of the coverlet and started to remove her robe, wanting nothing more than make love to his girlfriend.
Hearing a phone ring, she tensed and then saw that the id said Carly. "Let it ring, we can call her back later."
Not even stopping to look, Jason pulled her back into his arms and returned to kissing her.
Carly turned to Johnny, saying are you sure they are here. I just called the house phone.
"They could have gone for an early ride, but Jason usually lets Francis know."
"The deliverymen will be here in twenty minutes and I need to have some of the stuff they already own packed up."
"Carly they could be otherwise occupied." He said trying to make her realize there were plenty of reasons that they hadn't answered the phone.
"Great, well here goes nothing." Pulling out the key she had to the penthouse, she entered quietly. Hearing the sounds from upstairs she realized that Johnny was right. Entering the kitchen she went straight to the laundry room and grabbed the basket she knew would be there. Seeing the empty litter box, she smiled at the picture of Jason and the kittens she had hung above it.
The kittens had been taken in by Lila and Lesley for Lulu. Grabbing a box from the hall, she told Johnny to stay there and keep the men outside if they came. "Jason and Liz must be napping."
"Yes, that is what I frequently do with a beautiful young woman in bed with me." He said with a straight face.
"Johnny, when was the last time you had a girl in bed with you?" Asked Max as he walked off the elevator.
"What are you doing here?" Asked Sonny as he left his place.
"I'm here to wait for the delivery of the furniture and to return Jason's credit card."
Nodding at her, Sonny walked to the elevator and left with Max. He had a few things to do today, like try to locate Julia Barrett and find out what she knew. Then he wanted to visit with his son, who had soccer practice this afternoon, if he was going to be on the Island it would be better to spend as much time with Michael as possible.
Visiting Mike was his first priority though; he wanted to tell the man himself that his daughter was having a child.
The threesome still in the hall was tossing insults back and forth, until Elizabeth walked down the stairs to see the door open and Carly talking to the guard. "What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting later at the studio?"
"The furniture I bought will be arriving this morning. I wanted to be here for it. Besides we can talk about what we need to here."
Jason after kissing Elizabeth, told her to run while she could. That Carly took decorating seriously. "What did I do?" She whimpered as the still brunette woman dragged her back up the stairs with boxes and orders.
Roy knew that meeting with Jason was a mistake, but he had to protect Felicia and her daughters, he had no idea when this first started what he was getting into and knew that Morgan was his only hope. Corinthos wouldn't protect him or the kids. Seeing Jason entering the warehouse, he went back to his old place and slipped in through the underground tunnels that Corinthos and Morgan used to transfer their smuggled goods.
When he exited the underground passageway, he was soon surrounded by guards and Morgan joined them asking "What are you doing De Luca?"
"Alcazar wants me to kill Sonny; he is threatening Felicia and her kids."
"Get them out of town and we will deal with this."
"I tried, but Luis knows all about her family. Can your people take care of it?"
"I know someone who will do so, but they can't know before hand."
"Just do it, are you going to kill me?"
"No, in fact I just might let you shoot Sonny." He said staring at the man in front of him.
Elizabeth was upstairs supervising the moving of the furniture from Jason and her room, Carly having had the extra men she brought with her, moved the old stuff to the guest room. She had then tossed the bedding to Elizabeth along with several bags and suggested she get to work, so they were finished in time.
"In time for what?" She asked taken back by the grin on the woman's face.
"You will see. Let's just say I have a surprise or two of my own."
As she finished the bedroom Elizabeth realized that the familiar smell was oil paint. Walking out she saw one of the guards standing in her way saying "Miss Webber, could you please go back into the there, Mrs. Corinthos scares me and I was told if I let you out of there, she would make my life miserable."
Not even saying a word, Elizabeth walked back into the room, thinking she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Sitting on the bed, she grabbed the empty packaging and started to break down the boxes only to hear someone coughing in the doorway.
"Let the men take care of that, come see." Trying to put on a happy face, Elizabeth walked into her bedroom and froze. "Wow, Carly what did you use to dry the paint that quickly?"
Looking around she took in the soft green color and the dark wood of the bed, the really huge bed. "Do you like it? It's cherry with a mahogany veneer. Simple lines and solid. The bench at the end is a little darker but I figure that it will work well. Now don't get made, but I went to your studio and brought back some paintings."
Elizabeth was stunned; it was simple, understated, and perfect for Jason and her. "Carly, it's lovely. What paintings did you bring?"
"Two that look like trees in the woods and some pen and ink drawings. They look like shapes."
Elizabeth could not believe that Carly had framed several of her drawing exercises. "They are to be placed over the bed, once it is completely dry."
"What else have you done?" She asked as Carly said there was more to show her. "The bathroom, I left white, just added green and light beige accents. The other guestroom is empty for now."
As she followed the woman down the stairs Elizabeth was blindfolded as they reached the landing. "Carly what don't you want me to see?"
"I want to start with the room in back first, then we can show you the living room, it's not finished yet."
Elizabeth was amused by the changes to the room Jason used for his weights, Carly had added a few electronics and nothing else, the laundry room had been updated and now had shelving and baskets.
Entering the kitchen she saw the small table and chairs, once again in mahogany but with a butcher-block top. Carly opened the cabinet doors with a flourish, inside there were dishes, once again simple but expensive. Except for the coffee cups, Elizabeth reached up to grab one, then saw the footstool shaking her head she held the cup out. "Kelly's?" She asked.
"Kelly's. Why not, after all you don't work there anymore, so I thought you could think of them as souvenirs." She said with an impish grin.
"Carly, Jason's pool table better still be in the dining room, I have plans for it." She warned as they started out of the kitchen.
"There are some things I really don't want to know, Webber." She said as they walked into the other room.
"CARLY BENSON CORINTHOS, WHERE IS OUR SOFA?" She yelled when she saw the missing piece of furniture, not even seeing Jason's painting hanging over the mantle could calm her down.
"Relax, its just been moved. You still own it; I just thought that if you were going to sleep on the sofa, bare skin sticking to leather just has such an ugly sound to it."
"Get it back here now! Jason loves that thing." She ordered as she advanced on the laughing woman.
"Elizabeth, wait, I will show you what I did with it, after we meet Alexis." Carly was thinking, she was going to be even more upset when she found out that the sofa here had been meant for the studio. Alexis was still pouting about it being brought to the penthouse.
Jason saw the woman talking to Lucky; something had to be done about Sam. There was no doubt the woman was up to no good. Seeing her drive off in the Spencer kid's car he told the guard with him to follow her. "Let me know exactly where she goes and take pictures of what she does.
Joining Sonny at the warehouse, he wasted several minutes letting him vent before saying "We can use this to draw Alcazar out into the open. I had Stan run a background check; the man has a brother and a daughter.
He hasn't seen the girl since he connected with Brenda. I still have no idea the how or the when, just that they seem are living together."
"I just can't see Brenda living with a drug dealer." Sonny said.
"She might not know how deep he is into it. She also could know everything and truly not care. You might have to accept that. Did you reach Julia?"
"She hung up on me, I was going to call Robin and ask her to talk to the woman, but I think it might be better if you did it."
"Robin knows that I still blame her for what happened with Michael, I doubt she will want to hear from me. What about Jax?"
"I don't want Candy boy involved; he will make a mess of things." Said Sonny.
Sam saw her target, he was talking to someone but she couldn't tell who, not wanting to get caught, she left and went back to the diner to begin her shift. Seeing the older pregnant woman who was friends with Carly, she waited until she left before joining Summer.
"How are things?" She asked.
"Fine, look a word of advice. Lucky Spencer is trouble. We broke up recently because I found him in bed with Sonny Corinthos' sister. She is having a kid. Be careful there."
"He is merely a diversion." She said to the blond.
"That diversion comes with lots of baggage. Elizabeth is his ex-fiance and he wants her back. She is living with someone who works for Corinthos. In fact you meet the guy." She said not wanting to mention Jason's name since his mother was sitting at a table with Dr. Meadows.
"So, we are just casual, it wouldn't upset me if he found someone else." She said shrugging not getting what the big deal was.
"You really have no idea what you are dealing with. He is trouble, but go for it. Just don't say I didn't warn you."
Courtney listened as Zander tried to recall his missing night; she just wanted off this Island. She had intended on getting rid of the kid, but she was stuck here for the foreseeable future and would soon be running out of time.
Seeing the guards that went everywhere with her, she wanted to escape, and fast. Seeing the speedboat, she asked for one of them to take her out for a ride. "Let me check with Mr. Corinthos, Miss Matthews, it might not be good for the baby."
Getting permission as long as they kept it at a low speed, they were soon out to sea. Courtney was soon making plans as they went out by a smaller island and slowed down at her request. Telling the guard she wanted to learn to drive the boat, she soon had the steering wheel and moved in closer ignoring the guard's request to move back out.
Once they were less than a half mile away, she gunned the boat, laughing as the guard flew over the side and landed in the sea. Calling out to the man, she said "Have a nice swim." Heading back to the Island, she grabbed the mindless Zander and the money she had found in her brother's room. "Let's go."
"Why?"
"Do you want to live the rest of your life under someone else's control or to be free I have an idea."
Zander took control of the boat and headed straight for the large island that they could see. Once in Haiti, Courtney soon found a place to have her procedure done and after the pain had stopped they were soon on a plane home with phony id's and lots of cash stashed in a suitcase.
At the airport in Atlanta, they were asked if they had anything to declare. "We have some souvenirs from our vacation." Said Zander, wanting to keep the guards happy he quickly silenced the blond who protested.
"Here is the form; you will need any receipts for anything you purchased." Said the bored guard. While he filled out the form, Zander told Courtney to shut up until they were out of the airport. Once they were finished paying their tariffs, he quickly got the blond away. "Why did you do that?" She screeched.
"Courtney, they would have searched the luggage or are you that dumb that you don't recall those buildings in New York that fell down last year. It is illegal to bring in over 10,000 dollars."
"Oh, you're smarter than you look." She said with a smile. "Let's get back to Port Charles."
The guard trailing the twosome called Jason and said "They just left Atlanta in a rental car. Do you want me to follow them?"
"No, I have someone on them. Get back here with the pictures, I will tell Sonny."
Sam walked down by the docks; she had seen the hot looking guy enter one of the buildings and was hoping to run into him. Seeing Elizabeth enter the rundown building with a man in a suit, she thought that her boyfriend really didn't suit her.
He looked like a mob guy all right, but seemed a little old for the former waitress, though from what Penny and Summer had said, she was living in a fancy penthouse and was going to school. It sounded like she had it made. Seeing the bike, she was looking for its owner when she saw the blond entering the same building. Maybe Elizabeth knew this boyfriend of Carly's. She might tell her if she played her cards right.
Chapter 18
Covey: Strength lies in Differences not in Similarities.
Jason was standing in the shadows of the church waiting for Roy to arrive. The man was supposed to be taking the shot at Sonny tonight. According to what Carly had told them at the studio, Brenda was supposed to show up. Wishing he was home in his newly decorated penthouse with Elizabeth instead of standing there, he recalled how he had felt when he saw the new furniture and then seen his leather sofa at Elizabeth's studio.
She had been upset with Carly for a few hours, until Alexis admitted that she had also suggested getting rid of the concrete sofa in the studio. Elizabeth had explained why the sofa had meant so much to her, but it was too late. The men from Wyndham's had already delivered it to the trash.
Carly had then suggested Elizabeth paint a picture of the sofa along with her favorite memory of it, so his girlfriend had been spending all her spare time to finish it before starting her nursing program at GH. She had been rather distracted the previous evening, so he had picked up some food at Kelly's and talked to Penny about her opinion of the new girl.
She had just simply stated that they worked together but would never be friendly outside of work. That Sam wasn't her sort of friend. Once back at the studio, he had distracted a worried Elizabeth who was concerned about both Sonny getting shot for real and a stray bullet hitting him. Sometimes having Carly knowing what would happen was a pain in the rear.
When the police arrived, he refused to let them take Sonny's body and had it sent straight to the morgue, where the man he was paying off would sent it to the funeral home. By the time he was allowed to leave the station, he was tired but his evening wasn't over yet. He still had to deal with Sonny and the hysterical Brenda Barrett.
Three hours later, Jason had put Sonny and Brenda on a plane to the Island, and had someone watching over Jax to keep the man safe. Calling Francis to find out where Liz was, he amused to find out she was at home cooking. They had already established that she wasn't that good of a cook, but he knew it was more worry about him than wanting to fix them breakfast.
Walking in, he was greeted by a serene Elizabeth who just took his hand and let him into their kitchen, where she fed him and then went back upstairs after telling the guard outside to keep the world away.
Marco watched from the corner as Courtney and Zander checked into the motel outside of town. Sonny had disowned his sister when he found out about her little trip to Haiti and that she no longer was pregnant. Jason was still worried, he wanted to keep an eye on the two lose cannons until after Alcazar was taken care of.
Three and a half weeks later, when Luis tried to shot Jax, they stopped him just in the nick of time, but Sonny had given in to Brenda's hysteria and had them flown home. They had been staying at a safe house but the former model had escaped and shown up at the wedding.
He might not like Skye, but Jason had felt sorry for his sister when Jax had abandoned her right after leaving the chapel when Brenda had shown up. AJ was trying to keep their sister sober, but from the sounds of it she had already climbed into a bottle trying to drown her sorrows.
When Sonny had gotten into an argument with Jax over Brenda announcing that he had married the woman they both were still in love with, Carly had just smirked. At least it wasn't Jason. She thought amused by the turn of events.
Through it all, Jason had a calm port in the storm at home, in spite of Audrey and Lucky giving Elizabeth hell for being with him. Just when they thought things had calmed down; Luis was released from jail with Scott saying they had nothing to charge the man with.
Jason had finally had enough and was planning on discreetly taking the man out, when he learned that the man's former attorney was now sniffing around trying to get hired by Sonny. Sonny was biting but they were now worried about when Sam would make her play so they let things go for now.
Walking in the front door of his haven, Jason saw Elizabeth with her textbooks spread out and a highlighter in her hand. Looking up she asked "Do you have time for a bike ride?"
"Let's go." He said grabbing his keys as they walked out the door and around Jax who had shown up for his daily visit to beg Brenda to stop making a mistake and come home with him.
"What does Carly find appealing about a man who would do that?" Asked Elizabeth once they had arrived at the old bridge.
"She says things happen to make him realize that Brenda isn't the one for him." He said with a shrug.
"It can't happen soon enough for me." She said as she hooked her arms around his waist and leaned again him. "Did I tell you that I talked to Emily last night? She is coming home soon."
"Right into the middle of this mess." He sighed. "For once I wish she would stay away. Alan and Monica are arguing with Tracy, Skye is slowly drinking herself to death, Grandmother is trying to play peacemaker and all Edward is talking about is destroying Jax."
"At least AJ is staying sober." She said trying to find a bright side. "Carly said he was there when she brought Michael to see Lila as a surprise. He behaved himself."
"I can't help wondering how long that will last." He said "Courtney keeps trying to get back with him. I saw her yesterday at Kelly's talking to him. Or rather at him." AJ had completely ignored her except to ask if she was back stripping for money.
"I still can't believe that Bobbie hired her back, but with Sam quitting and Summer moving away it makes sense. I still can't believe that Sam hasn't come forward yet. What is she waiting for?"
"I have no idea; I have seen her down by your studio a few times. I made sure she didn't see me, but it was like she was waiting for someone. How is she paying for things if she isn't working?"
"She claims that she received some money from an old friend."
"I will have Stan look into it."
As they stood there listening to the water as it crashed into the rocks, Jason reached into his pocket, planning on asking her, when his phone rang. Cursing silently, he replaced the box, and answered. Hearing Marco, he said, "We have to go, Zander and Lucky are fighting it out over Courtney at Vista Point.
"What are they doing there?"
As the motorcycle came to a stop, Courtney smiled she knew the sound of that bike; she had followed Jason and knew that this was one of his favorite places to come. As the two men came to blows, she started to cry, making sure that she looked upset.
When Jason came around, he saw the melee and asked Elizabeth to get the blond out of here. "Can you please take her to Sonny? Marco will drive you."
Once the protesting blond had gone, he said to the two morons, "What is going on?"
When he got the full story, he said "Stay away from her; she is just trying to cause trouble, Lucky you might want to talk to Sonny about Luke. We heard he was working on a chain gang in Alabama, but refused to let us get him out of there."
Elizabeth had just told Sonny what was going on, then went back to her place. Hearing a familiar knock on the door, she saw Johnny standing there. "The Misses Jones are here to see you."
Maxie and Georgie rushed in and started speaking to her at the same time. "Whoa, why not try it slower. Maxie what is going on?"
"We are being sent to visit our grandmother in Texas but we can't take Mr. Whiskers. Can he stay here?"
"Let me talk to Jason, how long are you going to be gone?"
"Forever. Mom and Mac are fighting and she won't let us stay here without her." Said an upset Georgie.
Alexis was feeling the pains, but ignored them, after all she was only six months pregnant there was no way she could be in labor. Walking out of the station, she found herself leaning against the bench in front of the station. "Miss Davis are you okay?" Asked Taggert.
"I think I need to go to the hospital." She said grimacing. Mac was exiting the station, and seeing the situation, said for Taggert to drive, that it looked like Alexis might not make it to the hospital.
Sam waited for just the right moment, she had no intention of going this far with this pregnancy but as luck would have it, she had been forced to, first she had thought the father was dead, then he had come home married. Listening to the women at the diner, she had heard all about Brenda Barrett, former model, and now future member of the insane asylum.
Seeing her chance, she approached her new mark "Mr. Jacks, may I talk to you for a minute. My name is Samantha McCall, and we have something in common. We both want to end the Corinthos marriage."
"You would be wrong, Miss McCall, we don't have anything in common. I would guess you want to end the marriage for your own reason, more than likely selfish reasons. I want to save someone I care deeply about. Working with you would make her doubt that."
Turning he walked away, not knowing that Carly had heard it all. Walking up to the pregnant brunette, "It's not going to work, you would be better off leaving town, Angela."
Walking away, Carly knew she had to tell Jason that it was time to let Brenda know the truth, he had wanted to do so from the moment she had moved across the hall. Only the fear of leaving Sam a wide-open path to Sonny had stopped them.
Emily listened to what the doctor had to say, then sat down and cried. She had cancer. She was going to die.