Pulling himself out of bed, Jake stretches the fatigue out of his body. He checks the alarm clock to see what time it was, surprised to see that it was little after three in the morning. Knowing he wouldn't fall asleep again, he grabs himself a pair of pajama bottoms and slips them on. Jake had a lot planned for the day, more like Emma has a lot planned, but its the same thing.

Walking downstairs, he makes his way to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of hot cocoa. Thinking he's alone, Jake doesn't bother with the light. Instead, he opens the fridge to get the milk and marshmallows. He was about to close the icebox door when he saw something from the corner of his eye. Opening the fridge wider, he sees Johnny sitting at the table.

"Johnny?" Jake flips the light switch by the fridge. "Why're you sitting in the dark?"

"Thinking." Johnny concedes. "Why're you up so early?"

"A lot on my mind." Jake admits, putting his cup of cocoa in the microwave. "Want one?"

"No thanks." Johnny holds up his cup. "I prefer coffee."

"Right." Jake leans against the counter. "What's got you staying up?"

"Just business stuff." Johnny assures. "Its not your mom."

"Good to know." Jake lets out a breath of relief before taking his cocoa out and sitting across from Johnny. "How is she?"

"I just checked her vitals and its normal." Johnny concedes, taking another gulp of coffee. "Robin and Patrick are certain that she'll be able to have that surgery after Christmas."

"Then its a jump ball, right?"

"Pretty much." Johnny says with remorse. "She's a fighter, Jake. She'll make it."

"I keep telling myself that." Jake sighs, running one hand through his hair. "I can't let myself believe anything else. I just...I can't."

"I know." Johnny smiles slightly. "They saved you when there was no hope...they'll save your mom, too."

"Sure."

"So, tell me, what's on your mind?" Johnny questions with an arched eyebrow. "The girlfriend...or Morgan?"

"Both." Jake admits. "Emma's always on my mind...and so is he."

"Which do you need to talk about?"

"Him." Jake sighs, always having a hard time talking about his dad. "I have this tournament coming up and I'm thinking about inviting him."

"Really?" Johnny looks surprised. "What's stopping you?"

"Excuses." Jake shrugs. "I'm tired of hearing no."

"You really think he'll deny you anything now?" Johnny counters. "If you ask him, I'm sure he'll go."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Johnny says without hesitation. "Anything."

"Why aren't you threatened by him?" Jake questions curiously. "After everything you've done to be with my mom...don't you find him being around the least bit threatening?"

"Not at all." Johnny shakes his head. "I love your mom and she loves me. I trust in that...I have to."

"I'm really glad you're around. You've been more of a dad to me and Lil' than he has." Jake says after a long moment. "No matter what happens, I want you to know that you'll always be a big part of my life."

"Thanks." Johnny couldn't describe what that meant to him. "And just so you know...I'm not going anywhere. No matter what, you'll always have me to count on."

Hours later, Elizabeth wakes up and finds that something's off. She's not sure what it is, but she can feel it. Shaking it off, she gets out of bed and walks into the shower to get ready to face the day. She's starting to feel a little stronger than usual, which she was happy about because she had to get her house ready for the Christmas dinner she's hosting.

Walking downstairs, Elizabeth stands in the doorway of the dining room. The sight before her was just too perfect to not appreciate for a moment. Her family is sitting at the table, Emma included, and they're laughing and enjoying breakfast. She couldn't help but smile as she watched them together. Johnny seemed to be telling them a story and the kids are eager to hear it.

"Hey, you." Johnny stands up when he sees her, walking over to wrap his arms around her. "How're you feeling?"

"Happy." Elizabeth smiles, staring into his eyes. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"Sure." Johnny shrugs, kissing her softly. "You hungry?"

"I can eat." Elizabeth says before walking over to the table where Jake is waiting to push her chair in for her. "This is the perfect way to start my morning. With my family."

Jason is walking through the warehouse, wondering what will happen now that Johnny and Sonny have joined forces. Its always while they're in transition that something bad happens. When they switched their routing, a bomb blew up their biggest warehouse. When they were making a deal with the South American transports, Michael was taken and Sam was almost killed. He just wasn't sure what would happen now, but he had a bad feeling that it would be the worst of all.

"Yeah?" Jason answers his phone. "Jake?"

"I'm heading to your place." Jake says, getting into his car and starting it up. "We need to talk."

"I'm on my way." Jason says, ending the call and booking it out of the warehouse.

He's not sure what his son wants, but he speeds to his penthouse regardless. Getting to his place, Jason makes it with moments to spare. He makes sure that no one's home before opening the door to his son, who looks like he has his guard up, like always. Jake walks into the penthouse, not bothering to take off his jacket or gloves.

"Everything okay?" Jason questions, then a thought occurs to him. "How's your mom?"

"She's getting stronger." Jake concedes. "This isn't about my mom. This is about me."

"Oh." Jason looks at him intently. "Okay. Is everything okay with you?"

"I entered a skate tournament. Its on New Years." Jake says, clenching his fists to keep his cool. "If you want to come, I'll leave your name at the door."

"You want me to go to your tournament?" Jason couldn't believe this was really happening. "Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Jake says firmly. "Skating means a lot to me...you wanted a chance, here it is. You coming or not?"

"I'll be there." Jason assures. "Thank you."

"Sure." Jake takes a deep breath before speaking. "I have to go. Emma's waiting for me."

"Okay." Jason opens the door for him, watching Jake leave. "And Jake?"

"What?" Jake turns to look at him, standing by the elevator.

"I love you." Jason says carefully. "I just want you to know that."

Jake looks at him for a moment, not sure what to say to that.

"In case this is the last time I see you..." Jake takes a deep breath as the doors open. "I love you, too, dad."

With that, Jake walked onto the elevator and jabs at the button to close the doors before Jason say anything else. Jason stands in his doorway, unsure if this was just a dream or if he really just heard his son admit he loved him. In that moment, Jason was overcome with thoughts of his father. He wonders if this is how his father would have felt if he had opened up the door to him. Walking into his penthouse, Jason pulls out the black box in his closet.

"So much time wasted." Jason stares at the pictures of his kids. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I thought I had it figured out, but now...I just don't know."

"Maybe admitting that is the only way to figure it out." Sam says, walking into the penthouse. "I filed for divorce."

"Why?" Jason counters. "Why would you do it now?"

"Because I've realized something I never wanted to." Sam sits down beside him. "You were never mine...no matter what I did, she's still the one that has your heart."

"She's not mine for the taking." Jason mutters. "Maybe she never was."

"The Jason I know would never give up." Sam says firmly. "Don't start turning into the kind of man you hated."

"What kind of man is that?"

"Jason Quartermaine." Sam says simply. "He gave up and let you take his place. Don't do it, Jason. Don't give up the man you fought so hard to become."

Just as he's about to say something, Jason's cellphone rings, taking his attention away from Sam to answer it. Picking up the phone, he turns around to say something to Sam, but finds that she's not there anymore. With a shake of his head, he puts the phone to his ear to see what's going on.

"What?" Jason felt like his heart was going to explode. "I'm on my way."

He's almost in daze as he gets into his car and drives as fast as he can to Elizabeth's house. He's a mile out when the flames come into view, slamming his foot into the gas petal, Jason floors it to get there. Arriving on the scene, Jason makes his way through the crowd that has gathered, finding Cameron holding Lily just shy of the police border.

"What happened?" Jason asks, looking at Cameron.

"We're not sure." Cameron concedes. "One minute we're having lunch, the next thing we know the whole house is in flames."

"Jake is trapped inside." Emma says as she walks over to them, taking Lily into her arms. "He was in his room when the roof collapsed."

"The flames are too hot for the firefighters to breach." Lily says through her tears. "Until they can get the fire under control...mom and Johnny are on their own."

A/N: Thanks for reviews.

Let me know what you think.

-ROCkER