Chapter Thirteen

Elizabeth opened her door, her eyes went wide as she saw Ned and of all people Nadine and Jax along with the invited Emily. "What on earth?"

"I am throwing myself on your mercy." said the southern nurse as she handed over a hamper that the tall Aussie was holding in his hands. "The fire alarm is going off at his building and you did invite me, didn't you?"

Hearing her uncertainty, Elizabeth put a smile on her face in spite of not having actually invited the blond then looked at Emily who promptly said "Ned begged, offered up anything to not have to eat pizza."

"Okay but if anyone reacts to who else is a guest, they go home immediately." she warned as they came further into the house and the quartet saw Jason Morgan standing there holding Cam.

"OKKKaaayyy."said Ned stunned to see his cousin there, let alone wearing something other than black. Jason was wearing dress pants and a soft gray button down dress shirt. "Jason, happy thanksgiving."

"Same to you, Ned. Jax, nice to see you again and you too Ms. Crowell."He said while inwardly groaning because there was no way they were keeping this secret any longer. Guess it meant a whole hell of a lot more people were going to be told that evening because by tomorrow he wanted everyone to know about them.

"M-mr Morgan." she said stuttering then turning to Elizabeth asked "Where do you want this?"

"Lets take it to the kitchen and open it up and put it in serving dishes."she said gamely while Emily followed whispering that she was glad she had stolen two pumpkin pies as well as the chocolate one. Jax and Ned saw that Elizabeth's brother and Jason were setting up more chairs and began to help.

The men set up the table silently, none sure what to say to one another. Steven grabbed her plates and silverware and they were soon seated. "Thank you, Elizabeth."

"You are most welcome Jax." she said looking at the amount of food on her table with a laugh. "Though, I think between the various guests we have enough food for a week."

While there were some sideways glances at Jason then at Elizabeth none asked what they wanted to as discussion turned to the weather, the food, football on the part of Ned and Steven. Discussions of NFC and AFC versus college were going on at that end of the table when Nadine suddenly looked at Elizabeth with an uncertain expression on her face then seeming to pull up some courage asked what she had been dying to for a few days.

"Elizabeth, when do you finish your surgical training?" asked Nadine. "I am wondering because I am supposed to move into your floor nurse spot."

"I take my test in December, on the 6th." she said with a nervous grin. Emily just laughed at that then looked at Nadine and asked if she was excited to get out of the ER.

"You have no idea." she said with feeling. "There are a lot of crazy people in this town and sometimes you hate it when you can't help people who truly need it. I had a pregnant woman yesterday, a girl really. She is almost due to give birth. Her boyfriend kicked her out and she was afraid to contact her family. I asked Jax to help her, but before he could get there, she was gone."

"I can ask around." said Jason seeing Elizabeth looking towards him.

"I tracked her to the homeless shelter a few hours ago." Jax said flushing a bit as everyone looked his way. "I arranged for her to stay at Kelly's until we can get her to go home. From what the Nun said, the girl's family has been looking for her."

"How is the hotel going, Jax?" asked Emily who then winced as she recalled how the Aussie had gotten the deal for it right out from under Ned. But she need not worry, the two men were old pros at battling one another.

"It is being painted, then the Interior Designer starts arranging for the fixtures, then the furniture. Lastly is the art work and Elizabeth helped me with that." he said with a smile at the artist. Then reaching in his pocket, took out the check. "I was going to give this to you later, but since it came up."

Taking the check, choking when she saw it was for almost fifty thousand dollars, she asked "Are you sure?"

"It is what they were evaluated for." he told her then said "The gallery owner asked if you had any other work similar. I gave him your name and number so don't be surprised, if he calls you. He said you have natural talent with pen and ink. That he had seen some of your abstract stuff while you were in college, but that these show the talent and drive missing from your oils. He said they are usually more emotional, so worth a bit less monetarily."

As an owner of one of her oils, Jason was starting to glare at Jax when he felt Elizabeth's hand covering his. Letting it go for now, he was going to find out the name of that art dealer later.

Emily had seen the quick hand caress and how her brother had gone from tense to relaxed in mere seconds, she hid her grin. The idea that they had managed to get together without help made her happy for both of them. Now she only had to talk them into planning their wedding.

Ned turned to Steven and asked about his dating life only to be told that Steven was having no luck at all. "The nurses are still not speaking to me unless it involves medicine after I hit on the head nurse."

"Steven, you asked her to go to the supply closet with you. Then proceeded to brag about your prowess in bed." said Emily giggling then with a look at her brother "But the best was when you told Carly she needed to lose a little weight in the tushy. Her expression had to have been a thing of pure beauty. Its strange that that alone didn't get you a girl."

Wincing since he was well aware that had gotten him some kudos from the nurses who had dealt with the blond he was still persona non grata because of his grandmother, Steven said "I tried to run off with your grandmother."

"True, but let me tell you, grandfather was actually worried for a bit there that she might take you up on it." said Ned with a grin."Grandmother had so much attention from him without a single cross word in that house, it was blissful to live there for almost a whole two weeks."

As dinner came to a close, Elizabeth looked at Jason then at Emily before the rest of her guests. She hated to make them feel unwanted but she wasn't going to change how she did this.

"What is it?" Emily asked when she saw the look of worry on Elizabeth's face.

"We asked you over to give you some news, we wanted to take it slowly but.." Elizabeth wasn't sure how the others would take the news, she was almost certain that after she got over the shock, Emily would be happy for them.

"Do you want us to head out?" asked Ned politely even as he took another bite of food. Elizabeth didn't ask him to, she had never seen a man so happy to be eating turkey, stuffing, green beans and cranberry sauce in her life.

"NO!"she cried out. Then softer continued. "I am just trying to mentally alter how we do this so, forgive me but could all of you just let us speak then say what you need to afterwords. One at a time."

Jason glared and all got that they had better behave or else as Elizabeth said. "This first part is complicated and a bit too much too share under normal circumstances. Em, the night you almost died, Jason and I went back to my studio and talked."

"Okay."she said cautiously not getting what the big deal was. She knew something had happened, that they had managed to make some peace with one another at that time, even if it had evaporated soon afterwards thanks to Carly and Courtney she was quite sure.

"We almost did a whole heck of a lot more than talking." she said blushing a bit but continuing. "We stopped out of well..."

"For me because I had made a mistake and was still tied to someone I didn't care for the way she cared for me." Jason said diplomatically but Jax and his relatives got it. Nadine didn't but she wasn't sure she wanted to.

"Anyhow, that night, he stayed and well during the night... we uh, we... we..." Emily watched as her best friend stuttered and her brother blushed but was still confused even if the two men were able to figure it out.

"I think we get what happened." said Nadine dryly while the others nodded.

"The next morning, well it happened while we were asleep and with our bad habit of not speaking honestly and openly and thinking we knew what the other is thinking, well we sort of screwed things up worse."said Jason then admitted. "I thought she regretted the night before because I didn't remember what happened during the night... but in truth, I felt guilty because I had already decided to end things with Courtney but..."

"Like Jason said we didn't speak to one another." She said with a regretful glance at her husband.

"Sounds more like you tried to speak but the other wasn't listening."replied Nadine who blushed and then shut up.

Jason and Elizabeth looked at one another then said "Yes and no but a good way to describe it."

"Anyhow, I went home, thinking that I come to accept that Elizabeth wasn't going to love me that way." he said."You were well, Emily and I gave in to Carly and Courtney's pressure. I just was sure that what I had always thought was true was, that Elizabeth considered me a friend, nothing more. Next thing I knew, I agreed to elope. I saw what looked like everyone else being happy, being paired up, I was sick of being alone and at least with Courtney there, I wasn't physically even if I was emotionally. You all know what happened after that."

"At least on Jason's part." continued Elizabeth. "What you don't know is this."

With that, she told them about finding Ric drunk and giving him a taste of his own medicine. Stripping him and letting him think they had had sex, then about Zander and what she had thought happened at Jake's.

"He was so certain and after what had happened with Jason... I didn't feel like anything had happened but when I found out I was pregnant... the tests showed me to be only a few weeks and after the hit and run... I believed it."

"Wait, are you saying, Jason... Jason is Cam's father." said a shocked Emily. "Elizabeth, how could you know all this time and not..."

"Emily be quiet." snapped Jason. "She didn't know, not for sure. She will get to that."

"Anyhow, I had a test done here because of Ric, I knew what he would think. When it showed Zander was the father... I just accepted it. But when I gave birth, Cam was full term in spite of my going into labor six weeks early. They reran the test against Zander and said he wasn't the father."

"Since I knew it wasn't possible for Ric to be Cam's dad." she said with a huge inhale of breath, "I had to look at the truth regarding Jason. When I came back in August, I was planning on telling him, but..."

"I was lying to cover for Sonny." said Jason. "She didn't know that and thought I wouldn't want to know but still went ahead and did the tests."

"I found out just about when Kristina's true parentage came out." said Elizabeth. "Jason and I talked, long into the night..."

"I knew that this was someone's way of helping me fix things that got so turned around when Sonny ordered me to lie to Elizabeth about his faking his death." said Jason looking at the woman he loved."During our talk, we decided that we were going to just go for it, not let others keep us apart."

"So you two have been dating all this time?" asked Ned who couldn't help wondering if Sonny's order in '02 had been deliberate in order to keep the two in front of him apart. Corinthos was rather needy and possessive of what he considered his and most knew that to him, Jason was yet another possession.

Jax had been thinking the same thing, then winced as he recalled Brenda's part in that whole disaster. "Congratulations, Morgan. Cam is a wonderful little boy."

Emily was torn, she had long thought of Cam as one last bit of Zander left on this earth, yet here was her brother's son, a little boy she already loved whose mother was someone she couldn't imagine not having in her life. Quietly listening, she felt like she was betraying Zander yet again if she was happy for them.

There was silence then Nadine frowned and said "Wait, the tests showed this Zander to be the father, at least the ones you ran when you were pregnant, how is that possible?"

"Ironically, it wasn't maliciously." said Elizabeth while Emily thought about it then recalled the lab tech who had been fired earlier that year for falsifying results instead of admitting to falling asleep on the job. GH had been lucky that two days later he had confessed to her father.

"Wait, those weren't listed on the paperwork, Elizabeth." pointed out Emily who had been surprised to find out her own lab work had been while she had had cancer, as well as lab work when she had been declared free of cancer. Like the others she had had to have the tests redone.

"They weren't there but he was listed as the tech to do them, anyhow it was a moot points, since by then I was already in California."Elizabeth said quietly as she got that Emily was upset. "Like Jason said, we spent the night talking when I showed him the results... then just before dawn, in our great room, we got married. Father Coates took care of all the paperwork..."

"YOU DID WHAT?" snarled Emily now standing as she glared at the two of them with her arms crossed. "You two have been married all this time and you DIDN'T tell me about it. Why? Why wouldn't you at least tell me, did you think..?"

Em saw the glare in Jason's eyes and got quiet, sat down and wiped the tear as she looked at them. "How could you?"

"We didn't tell anyone, well except Steven." she confessed. "He had to know, especially with all the nonsense my grams has been pulling. Emily at first we just wanted time then when we were going to tell you. We were waiting for Sam to give birth, since we knew what would happen with Carly, but then Sonny happened and Nik had to leave... we felt bad about..."

"I get it." she snapped then said "I get it but I am still mad about it. I wasted the entire fall trying to find away to get you two together once Sam had finally given birth."

That was a surprise they all thought but then Emily said "I had it all planned, you two would get a note, then have a romantic dinner at your studio, then you would get engaged at Christmas time, then married right after because Jason, that was how I knew you didn't really love Courtney. That ridiculous wedding. We should be grateful to Ric for kidnapping Carly at it, otherwise, I was planning on ringing the fire alarm to stop it."

Amused at the confession, but truly wanting to laugh at the idea of what Emily had planned for them, Elizabeth decided to at least give her something else to plan to make up for it. Her friend liked to control things, well this was one she would be happy to let her take control of since Em would soon find that she wasn't a puppet master, they loved her but she was going to have to learn to butt out of their relationship before it affected the one she had with her.

"Since we ruined your plans for our wedding, how about we let you plan the baby shower." she offered.

"Isn't it a little greedy to have two baby showers for … OH MY GOD, I AM GOING TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN." she shrieked, waking up Cam who was startled by the loud noises.

While Emily just about tackled Jason as she threw herself at her brother, Nadine was trying to hand Cam to Elizabeth from his pram when Emily went to hug her best friend as she babbled on about stuff that made no sense to anyone but Elizabeth.

Holding up her hand, she said "Em, stop, stop. We have plenty of time. I am only two months alone."

Ned suddenly grinned as he watched his cousin looking at his wife and taking his son who calmed down immediately when he laid his head against his dad's chest. "You do realize she won't be able to keep a secret."

"I have guards on the house, Elizabeth will have them at work. I am ready for Carly." said Jason grimly while mentally adding Courtney and maybe Sam to the list along with anyone named Spencer.

"What about Grandfather?" he reminded Jason that Edward would be over the moon. Watching Jason's silly grin fade off, he said "Yup, add to that how my mother is going to react to finding out you have children... I want to be there when they are told."

"I was planning on speaking to Grandmother, but maybe I will let Em tell the rest." Jason said as Nadine and Emily were crowding around Elizabeth. When she reached inside her shirt and pulled out her chain, he did the same, then slipped on his wedding ring.

"Where it belongs." said Jax knowingly. "Morgan, you and I, well thanks to Sonny we will never be friends but... I wish you well. Elizabeth in one hell of a woman. And a classy one at that."

"I know." he said then looking at the three men decided he had to warn the blond at least about what Courtney was up to. Who knew who she would go to next in her plan. Handing Cam to Elizabeth, he said "The men will do the dishes."

"I will?" asked Ned startled. He hadn't done dishes since he was married to Lois.

"Follow me." Jason said then when the women were in the sitting room off the kitchen gave them the warning.

"Lorenzo?"asked Jax stunned. "You do know he is selling out all his Port Charles holdings, don't you?"

"I heard rumors." Jason replied. "The Zachara family got the Canneries. Sonny wanted the power than came with them, its why he was making the deal with Nik, he had heard Nik had bought them, but in truth, he had bought the factory which I now own."

That was bad news for ELQ and Jax Enterprises as both had been interested it its waterfront footage. Ned said "Jason, I know you aren't going to want to hear this, but if you want to deal with Courtney, you need to let Carly find out the truth from someone else."

"I already made plans for that to happen." he said reluctantly. "Carly will try to come to me, but I already told her our friendship is over. She isn't accepting it, but hopefully she will either leave with Lorenzo or get that I mean it."

"What about Michael?" he asked, knowing this was Jason's hot button when it came to Carly.

"I have been doing some fishing, I have located AJ but I had to Edward to back down on his need to press charges regarding the theft, especially since he already has the money back." Jason looked at the other three then said "I get that I let Carly control things. I just have always thought children belong with their mothers... now I am seeing that Carly isn't the mom I thought she was."

Not telling them what his spy had said about Lorenzo and Michael, he just continued speaking. "AJ is in Belize. I tracked him down there, sent him a message but who knows how he will react."

Across town as snow began falling suddenly and heavily, Georgie was getting out of her car when she saw Johnny pulling up. "Great, I thought I was late."

"Me too." he said then joining her as she walked along the wooden path, he asked "Why are we down here?"

"I noticed I had the key to the diner. I was going to leave it while no one is there." she admitted. "I uh, have been avoiding my Aunt Bobbie. And afterwords, I need you to bolster me emotionally. I am going to speak to Dillon and Brooklynn. Lucas will have to wait since he is at the Brownstone."

Arriving at the courtyard, she shivered when she saw Lorenzo Alcazar looking into the window of the diner. She didn't know how to take the man, he had been so angry right after Sage's death, but as the truth had come out, there had been regret and finally forgiveness for her part in his niece's death.

So when she saw him suddenly knocking on the window, trying to get someone's attention then picking up one of the outside chairs and smashing a window, she called out "What are you doing?"

"Call 911." he shouted at her. "Tell them..."

The young couple had rushed towards the now smashed door as Lorenzo slipped his hand in and turned the lock before pushing it in. Seeing the pregnant woman from the hospital ER the day before, Georgie dialed 911.

"911, what is your emergency."

"This is Georgie Jones, I am at Kelly's Diner down by the docks. There is a pregnant woman here, she is passed out and it looks like her water broke." she said. "We need a ambulance and now."

The operator ran the name, Mac Scorpio's connections came up so he said truthfully. "We will do what we can, but there was a seven car pile up on the Thruway. Can she be moved, do you have a way to drive her to the nearest hospital."

"The baby is coming now, there is no moving here." said Lorenzo grimly while Johnny was astonished at the man having so much knowledge. "Kid, find some table clothes, Georgie where would they be?"

"Here, take the phone, relay what he said." she told her friend/quasi boyfriend. Going to get what was needed, she also grabbed some hand sanitizer on her way back out. "Here, put this on your hands."

The young girl was coming to, they could hear her moans as Georgie moved up closer to her head. "Corinne, do you remember me? We met at GH yesterday."

The girl opened her eyes, tried to close her legs when she saw the strange man between them but felt an ache, then pain, very intense pain as she realized what was going on.

"Miss, I need you to push." said Lorenzo as he grabbed one of the table clothes, then bent back down before lifting his head. "Georgie, come here."

"I-I uh..." There was the sound of a gulp as she did what she was told then saw what had him so grim. It wasn't the head coming out, but a foot. Taking the phone from Johnny she rushed outside and said "I don't give a damn what you have to do, get help here now. The baby is breach. Did you hear that, the baby is breach."

"I have help on the way." said the man who heard the woman screaming in pain as Georgie went back inside. "Tell whoever is helping her that you are going to have to turn the baby inside of her."

"What?"she asked feeling faint than looking at the large hands of Alcazar then the similar hands of Johnny then said to Lorenzo, "I have to do this."

With that, she crossed herself then knelt down and looked at Johnny. "Down in the basement, there is alcohol, get the strongest you can find. NOW."

Within moments, he was back and she looked at Corinne and said "I need you to drink this and fight the urge to push. I have to turn the baby."

"Oh god." she said getting what was going on. She had been attending Lamaze classes and knew what that meant. Taking the bottle, hesitating she asked. "What about the alcohol affecting the baby, I don't want to harm my baby."

"I think it should be fine." she replied while Lorenzo took the phone and relayed what Georgie was doing. Seeing her arm with all the blood on it just as the baby started to come the right way, Georgie was feeling faint when she heard the ambulance.

"Oh thank god." she muttered as she saw the two medics rushing in just as the baby girl slipped out. "All that is left is the afterbirth."

With that, she sat down on a counter stool, looking in shock at the activities going on. "I just delivered a baby. I am so never having sex. I think I want to die a virgin."

Mac rushed into the diner, saw his daughter, then heard Johnny speaking softly to her. "What happened?

Lorenzo explained, his tone almost one of shock as he went through all that had happened from smashing the window, to the phone call, the baby being breach and Georgie turning it. "If she tests positive for liquor, we gave it to her."

"Okay, I will let the hospital know. This is turning into a regular thing for you, isn't it?" he asked with a bit of a frown.

"At least I didn't get shot for my efforts this time." Lorenzo said, straightening his suit, then noticing it was destroyed added "Your girl has a level head. Be proud of her."

Walking away, the arms dealer drove home, ignoring the snow as he went inside, showered and called his wife who had been rather eager when she answered her phone, thinking it was Jason. "OH, OKAY." she said then hung up once again trying to figure out where Jason was.

TBC