Waking up to the sound of her phone ringing in the early hours of the day, Elizabeth groans, knowing the person that was probably on the other end.
Even though she had a good feeling about who was on the other end, she still answers it with the same expression.
Anyone that calls that early in the morning can't expect a different greeting.
"Dead or dying?" she answers, laying on her stomach.
"Sweetie, its Ruby." the voice she expected spoke softly. "I know you've worked all week..."
"Don't sweat it Ruby." Elizabeth pulled herself out of bed. "I don't mind the hours. I'm on my way."
Ending the call, she shrugs out of her nightwear and makes her way into the shower.
It wasn't like Elizabeth didn't see this coming.
That little blonde wench calls in sick, goes to Lila's party, and then calls in sick again.
Sooner or later Ruby's going to fire that little tart and be done with it.
Until then, Elizabeth will just pick up as much shifts as she can.
The alarm, that his well-meaning best friend put on his night stand, rang through the silent bedroom, signalling the time for him to wake up.
Though he'd rather sleep in, Jason had work to do.
He wondered if the cops ever did real work or if they just shadowed him and Sonny to wait for a slip up.
It didn't seem like they really did their jobs and ironically, he and Sonny have helped put most of their felons behind bars.
If they didn't hate cops so much, they'd probably be the best detectives on the force.
Laughing away that thought, Jason stripped from his nightwear before trudging towards the shower.
Today was going to be a really long day.
"Ruby!" Elizabeth called out as she walked into the diner. "I'm here!"
"I'll be right out." Ruby called from the kitchen, finishing up with the dishes before walking out. "I'm glad you could come in."
"Its no problem." Elizabeth assured, shrugging out of her jacket. "I can handle it. I'm sure you have other things to do."
"Actually, I do. My niece just had her baby and I'd like to go down to the hospital." Ruby admitted, taking off her apron. "Are you sure you can handle it alone?"
"Sure." Elizabeth smiled slightly. "I've done it plenty times before."
"Right." Ruby shook her head, mentally kicking herself for not remembering that. "Great. Thanks again for coming in."
"Nothing else better to do." Elizabeth muttered as Ruby walked out of the diner.
Shaking off her irritation for the blonde, Elizabeth got to work.
People will be coming in soon enough and she needed to be in her best mood for them.
It wasn't the customers fault that Courtney didn't know how to stick to a schedule.
"I'll be right with you." Elizabeth called out, hearing the bell ring through the diner.
Grabbing the apron from the box, tying it around her as she was walking out.
"You sure you're not a workaholic?" his voice flowed through the empty air. "Because I think you're starting to be one."
"Jason." she looked up and smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"Coffee to go." he shrugged, walking over to her. "And I wanted to see you."
Its too early for her to be blushing, but yet there she was, cheeks looking like she applied blush.
"Then I'm glad you came." she walked over to the counter, pouring him a cup to go.
"Me too." Jason glanced around, making sure no one was around before leaning over the counter and placing a soft kiss on her lips. "See you when you get off."
Elizabeth couldn't put any words together coherently so she just shook her head.
Jason smirks before walking over to the door after paying for the coffee.
"Elizabeth?" he turns back to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"You're beautiful." Jason says loud enough for her to hear. "Don't work too hard."
And with that he was gone.
For most of the morning the smile never left her face.
She was on cloud nine as she anticipated seeing Jason after work.
"Hey beautiful." Zander plopped down on a chair. "You know you're the talk of the town, right?"
"Eh, let them talk." Elizabeth poured him a cup of coffee. "I don't care either way."
"I know." Zander smirked, drinking the much needed boost of caffeine. "Its good to see you like this. You deserve it."
"Thanks...I just hope Emily will be okay with it." Elizabeth sat down, taking a break while no one else was inside. "I wanted to talk to her last night, but Jason said it'll be better to let it sink in first."
"You just leave Emily to me." Zander shook his head. "If Jason can make you happy...I say go for it. Just make sure that you know what you're getting yourself into."
"I do." Elizabeth assured. "You're the best."
"Don't forget it." Zander teased suggestively.
It took a bit of elbow grease, but they were able to get all the merchandise off the ships and carted safely out of the warehouses way before noon.
He wasn't sure what has gotten into the men, but Jason really didn't care as long as they got the job done.
As he walked up to his head guards, Jason found that they both had smirks on their faces.
"Do I want to know?" Jason eyed them intently.
"Just curious...now that you're dating...you gonna ease up on being such a hard ass?" Johnny O'Brien joked, arching his eyebrow questioningly.
"This could very well be a miracle." Francis added, even though he was truly proud of Jason. "You taking a girl to the Quartermaines of all places...its nice."
"If I won't talk to Sonny about it." Jason crossed his arms over his chest. "What makes you think I'll talk about it with you boneheads?"
"I'll take that as a no." Johnny chuckled, raising his hands up in surrender. "I'll just get back to supervising the coffee unload."
Johnny walked off, shaking his head at the thought of Jason ever going easy on them.
Francis, on the other hand, gestured for Jason to grab some crate.
"This girl, you sure she can handle the life?" Francis was serious now and Jason knew it.
"Yeah." Jason's answer was simply, but held conviction. "She's not like the others."
"I hope so." Francis sighed, remembering what happened with Robin Scorpio. "We don't need another incident."
"It won't come to that." Jason assured, though he may not know everything about Elizabeth, he does know that she's not like Robin. "She's not like that."
"Good." Francis was satisfied with that answer. "You planning on putting a guard on her any time soon? There's no leeway with this kind of situation."
"I'll handle it." Jason hadn't really thought about it, but he knew that it was necessary. "Lets just get this place together for the raid."
Elizabeth is working as hard as she has ever worked in her life. Not only did Courtney call in sick, but so did Margaret and Kimberly.
What is up with people that work on the weekend?
And to add to her load, Emily walks in demanding to talk.
"Em, I would, but you seriously have bad timing." Elizabeth grabbed the coffee pot from behind the counter to refill cups. "Can I call you later?"
"No. We need to talk now." Emily shrugged out of her jacket.
"Take a look around Emily...I don't have time to talk right now." Elizabeth took the money from Mr. Stenson. "Thank you, have a nice day. I hope your interview goes great."
"Thanks." Mr. Stenson smiles before walking out of the diner.
With a sigh, Elizabeth walks back to put the money in the cash register.
"Then I'll wait." Emily plops down on the stool.
"I'm not trying to sound like a jerk Emily, but its the lunch rush." Elizabeth was on the verge of imploding. "Can you please just leave and we'll talk later."
"Your reinforcements have arrived." Zander exclaims as he walks through the door, Nikolas by his side. "Put us to work."
"Oh thank god." Elizabeth walked over to Zander, throwing her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. How did you know I needed help?"
"I came by earlier and noticed that the other waitresses haven't shown." Zander explained as they walked over to the counter. "I figured mister prince charming can use a few servant skills."
"Nikolas, thank you." Elizabeth hugged Nikolas. "You both are awesome."
"What're friends for right?" Nikolas smirked, taking the water pitcher from her. "We're all yours till the end of your shift."
"Can you handle it long enough for me to talk to Emily?" Elizabeth eyed her friend by the counter.
"Yeah." Nikolas shook his head. "Do whatcha gotta do."
"Cool." Elizabeth walked over to Emily, taking off her apron. "Let's talk."
Emily hopped off the stool and was about to follow Elizabeth out the back when Zander took hold of her arm.
"Watch what you say." Zander said carefully. "You don't want to lose a friend over this."
"She'll see it my way." Emily couldn't help but wish he'd see it her way too. "Trust me. She doesn't know what she's getting herself into."
"I wouldn't underestimate Liz if I were you." Zander released her arm. "But she's your friend to lose."
He didn't stay long enough to hear her reply.
He had to help the prince serve customers.
Emily took a deep breath before walking out of the back door to a waiting Elizabeth.
Here goes nothing.
Jason had everything set and, as expected, three of their warehouses were raided.
He, of course, was taken down to the PCPD. As if they really had anything to hold him on.
It was sort of natural by now.
They pull an expected unexpected raid and then they cart him away if he's there.
And, of course, he makes it a point to be there so none of the other men are taken in.
It took a little longer than he thought, but he was released soon enough.
It always happens the same way.
They're all smug at the start and pissed off by the end of it.
That alone had Jason itching to be arrested. Just to prove to those pompous asses that they suck at their jobs.
Cops all throughout Port Charles had to be taken down a peg.
One more than others.
Marcus Taggert. The man had a personal vendetta against him and Sonny.
It was pathetic to know that he looked up to a man like Deke Woods. Though it did explain a lot.
"Emily, you act like me and Jason are going to get married and have babies in the next breath." Elizabeth didn't understand what Emily was trying to say. "We're just hanging out. Seeing where it goes."
"You're the one that's not getting it." Emily sighed, trying to find the right way to say what she has to say. "What my brother does...its dangerous. People get hurt and some die. Do you get that?"
"I know what your brother does for a living." Elizabeth hopped up to sit on the brick fence. "All of Port Charles knows the dangers that go into that lifestyle."
"Then why are you doing this?" Emily countered. "Can you really say that you can take having a guard follow you everywhere? Or not knowing things about Jason's business? Or him getting arrested in a moment's notice and possibly dying from a job he pulls?"
"I've thought about nothing else since he dropped me off at home last night." Elizabeth wished that Emily would just say what she really means. "I know the risks of being with Jason and I truly believe I can handle it."
"That's just it! You can't!" Emily groaned, throwing her hands up. "You and Jason are so different. You're like day and night! It'll never work between the two of you."
"No offence Em...but isn't that something me and Jason should figure out for ourselves?" Elizabeth countered, seeing that it was all about to come out now. "Jason and I are both adults...I'm pretty sure we can take responsibility for the failure of our relationship if it ever comes to that."
"Elizabeth, as my friend, please don't do this." Emily pleaded, she could see that the danger didn't scare Elizabeth. "You're gonna regret getting with Jason. Trust me, you won't be able to handle his life."
Elizabeth stared at her for a moment.
"Maybe you're right." Elizabeth accepted, jumping off the fence and walking over to Emily. "Maybe I'm fooling myself to think that I can be the woman for Jason, but if I crash and burn...if my heart gets ripped out of my chest and put through the blender...its my risk to take."
"Elizabeth..." she tried one last time, but Elizabeth stopped her.
"No. I get that you don't like this, but its not your choice to make. I'm going to see where this thing goes with Jason because I know if I don't...that'll be my biggest regret." Elizabeth took a deep breath, needing to get through to Emily. "I hope you can be the friend I've always been to you and support us, but if not...I'll still be here for you."
Leaving it at that, Elizabeth walked back inside to get back to work.
She hopes that Emily can accept it, but even if she doesn't, there was no way that she was going to stop seeing Jason.
She just couldn't.
Author's Note: Probably should have said this at the start, but all characters are the original actors.
Emily: Amber Tamblyn
AJ: Sean Kanan
Lucky: Jonathan Jackson
Sarah: Jennifer Sky
So on and so forth. I'm only pointing that out because the Emily from before didn't want Jason and Elizabeth together.
In my opinion, she kind of went postal when she thought they were sleeping together. Don't worry she won't go too overboard, but she will object to their relationship because she believes it'll never work.
It'll be explained more as the story progresses, but I will say that the danger and the fact that they're complete opposites is not the only reason she objects to the relationship.
Hope you enjoyed the update.
Thanks for the reviews!