Once three o'clock hit, Elizabeth clocked out and grabbed her things. She debated whether or not she should go straight to Jason's penthouse or to her studio, looking down at herself, the latter won. Johnny simply followed her without question as she headed for her studio. He knew something was going on between her and Jason, but wouldn't question it. If she needed to talk, she'd have done so by now, which told him whatever was going on, it will be handled between the two.

Getting inside, Elizabeth walks towards her shower while Johnny closes her door, standing by outside.

Elizabeth took her time in the shower, allowing the warm water to ease her body out of the tension of a long shift at work. If she wasn't sure about quitting that job a week ago, she was damn sure now. That place just wasn't doing her body any good. Not to mention her head. She's had more headaches in the last three weeks than she has had her entire life. It was time to quit that job and she was glad to be jumping into another job once her two weeks were up at Kelly's. A better job and one that she was passionate about.

Walking out of the shower, her towel secured around her, Elizabeth wasn't sure what made her look out the window. She wanted to believe that she felt his presence and that was what drew her to look out the window, but she didn't really believe in that. Whatever had her looking out the window, she was even more confused by what she saw. Standing down by the warehouse was her boyfriend and the evil witch that is more commonly known as her sister.

"What would Sarah want with Jason?" Elizabeth wondered aloud, staring down at them. Whatever was being discussed, it obviously wasn't a good conversation.

Getting dressed quickly, Elizabeth grabbed her things and pulled Johnny out of the building to get to Jason as fast as her feet will take her. They were getting closer and their words were starting to become coherent. That's when she heard Sarah bring up Richard Lansing and if not for Johnny, she probably would have crashed to the ground. Not even Sarah could be that cruel, she thought to herself, standing upright again.

"I'm fine." Elizabeth answers Johnny's questioning gaze before walking over to stand by Jason. "You seriously never know when to shut up."

"What?" Sarah eyed Elizabeth distastefully. "Its not like he doesn't deserve to know all about Richa..."

"Shut up!" Elizabeth snapped. "I swear to god Sarah, if you don't shut up, I will shut you up!"

Jason had to act fast because Elizabeth was about to launch herself at Sarah. So doing the only thing he could think to do, Jason inserted himself between the two sisters. He has never seen her so angry before and he was sure that if Elizabeth were to unleash that anger on Sarah, the blonde didn't stand a chance in hell against her.

"She's not worth it." Jason's voice soft and loving. "Come on."

Elizabeth stared past Jason's arm to Sarah. She has never hated her sister more than she did in that moment. For her to bring up Richard Lansing to her face and her brother was one thing, but to bring him up to Jason...Elizabeth was ready to kill her. Jason told Johnny that he could take off for the rest of the day as he guided her away from the blonde, who had a satisfied smirk on her face, and took her to his bike. Elizabeth was still fuming, but accepted his helmet and strapped it on. Of all the low handed things for Sarah to do, Elizabeth will not let this go unnoticed.

Straddling the bike without a word, Elizabeth held tight to him as they drove back to the penthouse. She didn't even get to enjoy the ride because she was just that angry. Getting into the penthouse, Jason watched as she walked over to the couch, picked up the pillow and just screamed into it. All her anger, all her frustration, every emotion coursing through her went into her screams. He waited patiently for her to finish, getting her a bottle of water from the kitchen and sitting down on the club chair.

When she finally dropped the pillow, Jason stood up and handed her the bottle of water. Reaching up to gently tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear. The look in her eyes were a mixture of so many different emotions that Jason didn't know which to address first.

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth sighs, sitting down on his lap once he sat down on the couch. "I never wanted you to know about Richard."

"Who was he?" Jason asks, stroking her hair, trying to soothe her.

"My ex-boyfriend." Elizabeth shakes her head as the memories come back. "The biggest mistake of my entire life."

Jason could see that it was hurting her to talk about it. As he was about to stop her from telling him, she spoke and inadvertently cut him off.

"I was fourteen when I met him. It was the usual freshman falls for the senior kind of relationship." Elizabeth sighed, knowing just how stupid she was back then. "I really thought he loved me, but then...when I didn't listen to him or I did something he didn't like...he'd hit me."

Jason was unable to stop his body from tensing up. The thought of someone laying their hands on Elizabeth now made his blood boil, but to their hands on her when she was only fourteen...he was ready to kill the man with his bare hands.

"I didn't understand what was happening at first. He'd apologize and buy me a million kinds of gifts, being all sweet, making me feel like I imagined that side of him." Elizabeth couldn't help the tears that filled her eyes. "Then he'd hit me again and the cycle started all over again. Each time he'd hit me it got harder than the last...more hits than the last."

"Why didn't anyone stop him?" Jason managed to get out calmly. "Didn't anyone see what he was doing to you?"

"Some did, but they were too loyal to Richard to do anything." Elizabeth shook her head. "My friends didn't catch on until it was too late."

"Too late how?" Jason looked at her confused, watching as she stood up.

"He raped me." Elizabeth's tears fell hard and fast, but she wasn't sobbing or shaking like she usually was when she talked about it. "And then..."

Jason watched, hands gripping tight to the couch as she pulled down the neckline of her shirt to show him a circular scar over her heart. If he wasn't ready to kill Richard Lansing a moment ago, he was ready to kill him now. Jason knew better than anyone what kind of scar that was. It was the kind of scar only a bullet could create.

"And then he tried to kill me." Elizabeth let go her shirt, the material snapping back to cover her scar. "I was Emily's age when I almost died...by some twisted miracle, there had been a bus accident that night and one of the passenger's heart matched mine. If not for that person's family allowing me to have his heart, I would have died."

Unable to handle the distance between them, Jason stood up and wrapped his arms around her. Elizabeth let out a deep breath, squeezing Jason tightly as she laid her head against his chest. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat had her calming down soon enough. Jason didn't want to let her go. He wanted to wrap her in a bubble and never let the outside world touch her again. Knowing he couldn't do that, Jason sat down with her in his arms and just held her close.

"Why didn't you want me to know?" Jason found himself asking after a long silence fell over them.

Elizabeth pulled away, staring into his eyes before answering honestly.

"I didn't want you to look at me differently." Elizabeth admitted, taking a deep breath in to steady her nerves. "I wanted you to just see me and not see the freak with someone else's heart in her chest."

"Hey." Jason framed her face in his hands. "You are not a freak! You were given a second chance to live...there's no reason to be ashamed of that."

"Yeah, well...kids are cruel." Elizabeth stated, remembering every name she was called while she finished her junior and senior year. "I went through school as the girl with spare parts."

"Those kids were stupid." Jason snapped, hating that she had to suffer through all that because she opened her heart to someone who didn't deserve it. "You're beautiful. Always have been. Always will be."

"You don't have to say that." Elizabeth stood up, out of his embrace, wrapping her arms around herself. "I know what I am. I never stop wishing to have my own heart back...but it'll never happen."

"Elizabeth." Jason took her hands in his, making her face him. "I know it must have been hard, but I'd never say something just to make you feel better. You truly are beautiful in every way that counts."

"You really think so?" Elizabeth finally met his gaze. "Even knowing everything that happened...how stupid I was to be with Richard..."

"He was the stupid one to hurt you like that." Jason cut her off. "You're still who you've always been to me."

"Who's that exactly?" Elizabeth dared to ask.

"You're the one for me." Jason admits, not caring if she's shocked by the admission. He had to say it. "You're the only one for me and you'll always be the only one I want."

She stares into his eyes for a moment, finding what she was looking for, the truth. He really means it and she couldn't even begin to describe what that meant to her. To have him look at her, knowing everything that she wished he didn't, and still want her just as much, if not more, than he did before she told him...it was an indescribable feeling that started coursing through her.

"While we're admitting to past relationships, I need to tell you everything that happened between me and Robin." Jason said carefully, sitting her down with him on the couch. "I meant what I said when I told you I wanted you to know everything about me...so I want to tell you this."

"Okay." Elizabeth sat with him, knowing that whatever he said, she wouldn't be walking out that door.

"You know most of my history with Robin, but the part I left out was that she was pregnant." Jason forced the anger that threatened to bubble up to recede. "She didn't want me to know...and I probably wouldn't have known if it weren't for Brenda."

"Robin's best friend?" Elizabeth questioned, though she knew who he was talking about. "She told you?"

"She thought I should know since Robin was having an abortion." Jason took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "When I tracked her down, Robin told me that she couldn't have a child with me. It wasn't because she was too young or because she wasn't ready...reasons I would have understood...she just didn't want to have a child with me."

"Why?" she finds herself asking, Jason's grip on her waist tightening a little.

"She said that she didn't want to be stuck with me for the rest of her life." Jason stated through gritted teeth. "She said that she couldn't be with someone who was devoted to the mob...to a life of danger...and so she wouldn't have a child with Sonny's enforcer."

"But wasn't she the one that put you and Sonny together?" Elizabeth questioned in disbelief. "If not for her you probably would've never started working for Sonny."

"Maybe." Jason agreed, relaxing a little as she rubbed the back of his neck soothingly. "I was in love with her and I trusted her...her words...they tore through me because I knew she meant it. I could see it in her eyes."

"So you lost the prospect of a child and the woman you were in love with all at once." Elizabeth swore if she ever finds herself in the same vicinity as Robin Scorpio, someone better be there to hold her back because she wanted to strangle the woman with her bare hands. To hurt Jason that way...Elizabeth was ready to kill.

"When I walked away from her, everything I felt for her, everything I thought I knew of her turned to ashes." Jason shook his head, casting the memories away. "For a long time I felt like I'd never feel anything again...then I met Carly in all her craziness and she made me feel alive for moments. Just having fun. Something I never really did with Robin."

"But then Carly and Sonny found each other." Elizabeth remembered Jason telling her about that. "You said they were drawn to each other like magnets."

"Yeah." Jason smiled slightly at the memory. "I was happy for them. They made more sense than me and Carly ever could."

"So Carly brought you back to life." Elizabeth smiled at that. "I'm glad someone did."

"No." Jason shook his head. "Carly wasn't the one that brought me back to life. I said she made me feel alive for moments...she wasn't the one that brought me back from the edge of nothing."

"If not Carly, then who?" Elizabeth looked at him confusedly.

"You." Jason breathed, caressing her cheek softly. "I saw you one day during lunch and I was instantly drawn to you. I started looking forward to seeing you there every day and I hated when I had to miss lunch because it meant not seeing you for those brief moments."

"But then you missing lunch was a good thing." Elizabeth smiled softly, staring into his eyes. "It gave us the chance to be alone together for the first time."

"Yeah...that was good night." Jason smirked, stroking her cheeks. "It was the first time I ever made you blush."

"I was as red as a tomato." Elizabeth started to blush at the fact that he could make her blush so easily. "I felt so nervous."

"I love making you blush." Jason whispers, his lips mere inches from hers. "You're absolutely beautiful."

Elizabeth couldn't take it anymore and closed the distance between their lips by claiming his with hers. All the emotions that were coursing through her had her needing his lips against hers. Jason deepened the kiss further as Elizabeth moved to straddle him. They both knew that they found themselves in a new stage of their relationship. They both divulged their deepest darkest secrets and neither have made any attempt at running for the door. Jason knew in that moment that she was it. No one will ever compare to the beautiful woman that was kissing him with so much devotion and passion.

"Home sweet home." Robin comments, walking out of the airport with her best friend Brenda by her side. "You ready?"

"Oh yeah." Brenda smirked, glancing around at the town. "Definitely."

Author's Note: I was debating whether to post this now or not, but decided to just do it.

Thank you for those who reviewed the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one.

Till next time...