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Chapter 10

Elizabeth stood back and smiled at the decorated tree. "Now the only thing left is to put the Angel on top. Daddy will you do the honors?"

"I may need some help. Cameron do you think you could help me?" Jason asked his son.

"Okay." Cameron took the Angel from his mom and his dad put him on his shoulders. Carefully the curly haired little boy put the final ornament in place.

"It's all done!" Elizabeth exclaimed clapping, which made Jake clap too.

"Turn out the lights mommy." Cameron requested still on his dad's shoulders.

"Okay." Elizabeth put Jake on her hip and walked across the room and hit the switch. The tree glowed in the darkness as the family stood looking at it. "We did a good job." She declared.

"We did." Jason agreed putting his arm around her so that they were all touching.

"I like the doggie ornament." Cameron had picked this year's special Christmas ball. A glass Saint Bernard. He was hoping it would inspire Santa to bring him one. "When is Pop-pop coming over?"

"In two days." Jason said letting the joy of having this moment with his family fill him. "He's going to be staying in the room closest to yours."

"For seven days right?" Cameron wanted to check again. He thought it was awesome that Pop-pop was coming over. "Is he going to the hospital party with us too?" That was another highlight of the season.

"The Christmas party and Mass." Elizabeth assured her son. Edward was one of his best friends, she loved that Cameron had so much family. "Okay its bedtime." Both boys were already in their pajamas.

"Can we have two stories?" Cameron wanted to know.

"I think that can be arranged." Jason said as he took Jake from his mother. With a boy on each arm he took them to Cameron's room. They would lie in his bed to hear the stories, and after Jason would put a sleeping Jake in his crib. As he walked into his eldest son's room from the corner of his eye he saw his wife walk into theirs. Hopefully to put a blanket in front of the fireplace. Best decision ever to have a fireplace in the master suite. "Okay, what do you want to hear tonight?"

"Grinch!" Cameron said excitedly.

"Grrrr." Jake tried to copy his brother.

Jason reached for the orange book. They had read it every night this week. Because it was so long there wouldn't be a need for that second story Cameron had requested. By the time Jason closed the book both boys were snoozing. Carefully he carried Jake to his room before grabbing the monitor. Down the hall the fireplace was lit, but his lovely wife was nowhere in sight. Alone he showered and put on some sleep pants and when he walked out of the bathroom, Elizabeth was waiting.

"I made us a treat." She point to the oversized mugs.

Jason sat behind her and reached for his cup. "Hot cider." They had bought the tart drink earlier. "With a cinnamon stick for stirring." He was surprised that she had a cup too. While he and Cameron both loved cider she preferred hot chocolate with a peppermint stick.

"I was in the mood for something a bit tart." She said sipping the drink and leaning back against Jason's chest. "Tomorrow night we need to start wrapping the gifts. Do you know what Edward got the boys?"

"No clue." Jason said wrapping an arm around her waist. "Did you have a good day?"

"I did. That picture of Cameron and Jake on Santa's lap is adorable." Elizabeth said looking up at him. "Mom said it's going to be her desktop until we send her the Easter picture. Tracy sent it to Ned and Dillon."

"What are we doing for New Year's Eve?" Jason would take her wherever she wanted to go.

"I was thinking we would stay in." Elizabeth knew he would like that.

"Really?" Jason said smiling wide. Last year they had gotten dressed up and went to the Metro Court. At midnight he'd had to dodge several kisses, and almost killed another guest who planted a kiss on Elizabeth's lips when she turned to wave to Robin. Staying home would be great.

"We are hosting Christmas brunch, and I figure that's about all the crowd you can handle." Elizabeth wouldn't ask too much of him, even though she knew he would put on his tux for her.

"So no pretty party dress?" That had been the only reason he didn't grumble much. His wife had been stunning in a shimmery green gown and sky high heels.

"I think I have something you'll like just as much." She teased.

"You are gorgeous even in your scrubs." Jason said kissing her shoulder.

She sighed in contentment as her eyes drifted shut.

"Tired?" They had spent most of the day out.

"Yeah, sorry." She gave him a sleepy smile.

"Don't be. Finish your cider." They drank in comfortable silence enjoying the heat from the fire. Jason put their mugs aside and turned on the sound system to one of the seasonal stations. Three songs in he looked down to find Elizabeth sleeping. Making sure not to disturb her, he placed her under the heavy comforter. After checking on the boys he headed downstairs to get a start on wrapping Cameron's presents. They were in square boxes and he could handle them with minimal problems. Jake's gifts were all different shapes and those he would leave for the expert.

"Well if it isn't my favorite sister in-law." Matt said grinning at Elizabeth. "Nice hat." He pointed to her Santa hat.

"It makes the patients smile." Elizabeth was dancing to the music playing over the speakers. "What did you need?"

"You." Matt told her. "I have a procedure in an hour, and I'd like for you to scrub in."

"I'm supposed to scrub in with your brother in ninety minutes." Elizabeth knew that Matt was aware of that. He'd been trying to steal her from Patrick's service since he started working here.

"But we are family. And family sticks together." Matt tried smiling.

"He's your brother, which is a blood relation. We are family through marriage. So that means you're closer to him than me." Elizabeth really wished the brothers got along better. Although in the last year they had been doing better outside the hospital.

"But you're family I like." Matt said with total honesty. "He's a pompous ass most of the time."

"Language." Epiphany said coming up behind the neurosurgeon. "Why are you bothering my assistant head nurse?"

"I'm trying to get her to scrub in on my procedure." Matt said without the least amount of shame.

Epiphany just shook her head. Matt was a brilliant and gifted surgeon. At any other hospital he'd be the top in his department. However Patrick was even more brilliant and more gifted. He demanded the best surgical team, and Drake would not go into the OR without Elizabeth unless he had no choice. He once said he'd rather scrub in with Liz than Robin. His wife had not been pleased. "Not going to happen. I'm free if you need an extra hand."

"One hour." Matt had no problem working with Piph. She was also an outstanding surgical nurse. He just wanted to stick it to Patrick. Maybe Monica could use Liz on her service. Patrick wouldn't be able to counter that move. "OR four."

"I'll be there." Epiphany told the doctor. "So how does it feel to have every surgeon in the hospital wanting you on their service?"

"Powerful." Elizabeth grinned. "Maybe I should auction myself off. We could lock ourselves in the office and go through the loot I get. I'd be willing to cut the take with you."

Epiphany had to laugh at that. "What time do you want us over for brunch?"

"Any time after eleven. No need to dress up." Elizabeth told her friend. She debated for a minute and then spoke up. "I know who Stan's girlfriend is."

"You do?" Epiphany still couldn't get her son to give her any information on the woman.

"Yes, I do. I'm not going to tell you who she is." Elizabeth would not steal Stan's thunder. "I will tell you that she's a nice girl."

Epiphany looked at Elizabeth. "That's good enough. Thank you. I have been worried about who was going to show up on my doorstep."

"No need to worry." Elizabeth smiled at her boss. She hadn't actually met Zoe, but both Keesha and Maya assured Liz that Piph would be pleased. They both said the college student and part-time web designer was a mother's dream. Polite, smart, pretty, and she had good manners. Keesha respected Piph too much to lie. Maya offered to show Liz a picture on her phone, but Liz would meet her at the same time as Piph did.

"Should I bring anything?" Epiphany wanted to know.

"Nope, the brunch is being catered." Elizabeth had felt it was wrong to make someone work on Christmas day, but Bernie told her the caterer was Jewish and didn't celebrate the holiday anyway. So she wouldn't be taking anyone from their family to feed hers.

"Jason put his foot down?" Epiphany thought that was a good thing. Elizabeth deserved to be spoiled.

"He did. I was making a list of the dishes I wanted to prepare, and he said it was too much work. That he wanted to spend time with me during the days before Christmas and he couldn't if I spent that time working on one meal." Elizabeth smiled as she remembered the conversation. "It's going to be a small gathering. And please tell Stan that yes the game will be on."

"I will pass that message along." Epiphany looked up. "I need to go make sure my nurses aren't goofing off."

"I'll man the hub. I'll call Felix to watch things when I head to lunch before my surgery." Elizabeth knew that Piph was going to be gone for several hours like she would be. Matt and Patrick rarely performed short procedures.

"That's fine." Epiphany said heading out.

Elizabeth was working on the schedule when Emily walked up. "I hear you are scrubbing in with Patrick and me this afternoon."

"Matt must be thrilled." Elizabeth smiled at her sister.

"He didn't say a word, but he did pout through breakfast and give me the puppy dog eyes in the locker room." Emily laughed at her husband. "I would have scrubbed in with him, except Patrick's patient is in line with my specialty." Emily after her last year of residency she was going to take her boards to become a fellow in Pediatric Surgery.

"This time next year, people will be clamoring to scrub in with you." Elizabeth was proud of Em.

"They already do." As a fourth year resident she was already performing solo surgeries. "I don't suppose I can get you to drop Patrick and come over to my service?"

"Nope." Elizabeth avoided surgeries that involved children whenever possible. She only did them with Patrick or Monica. And that was rare, doing them day in and day out would depress her. "Thanks for the offer though."

"Did you get your tree? By the way that picture was too cute." Emily leaned against the hub.

"The boys did look adorable in their matching reindeer sweaters." Elizabeth responded. "Yes we got the tree, a White Pine, and I got an insincere apology from Gia."

"Where did you see her?" Emily wanted to know.

"She was with Johnny at the tree lot." Elizabeth recounted the conversation for Em.

"Wow, why even bother?" Emily said shaking her head.

"So that if we get into a fight she can tell Johnny she tried, and I was not being reasonable. Instead I accepted the apology and told her I was moving on. Now I just have to get through dinner next week. Then hopefully we won't have to socialize for a long while." Elizabeth said saving her work on the schedule. "Let me call Felix, and we'll grab lunch before it's time to work."

"Sounds good. You do realize Gia put you in a win-win situation for her." Emily pointed out.

"I know." Elizabeth hated it too. "She makes Johnny happy."

"If they break up I'm kicking her ass." Emily promised.

"Remember we talked about the murder charge. Besides if they break up I'm kicking her ass. What she did to me was way worse than sleeping with your boyfriend." The Zander issue was a draw as far as Liz was concerned. Both Gia and Emily had been wrong there, it was something Liz had already told her sister. Nicholas however Gia was dead wrong on. She had pursued the Prince when she knew Emily was in love with him.

Felix walked up and Elizabeth grabbed her purse. "Let's go, I'm starving. We have time to go to Kelly's." A number seven sounded perfect right now.

"Hey there." Carly looked up at the person knocking on her door. "What brings you by?"

"I wanted to talk to you if you have a minute." Jason waited for her nod before crossing to a chair and sitting down. Things had been awkward between him and his former best friend when she returned from Alaska last year after Jake was born. Neither one of them knew how they fit anymore. Over the last year they had settled into being good friends. Not best friends though, not anymore. They both were happy with how things stood.

"What did you need?" Carly leaned back in her chair.

"Gia and Elizabeth." Jason got right to it. "Why don't they like each other?"

"They were never friends, I should get that out first. Gia did not make a good impression by coming to town and blackmailing your sister." Carly told Jason. "Then the Face of Deception campaign began and things got really ugly. I didn't help." Carly admitted. Her past behavior shamed her and she had no idea how she would ever explain a lot of it to her children. Especially the parts that concerned Liz.

"I'm getting the impression it was Gia doing something to Liz." Jason told Carly.

"That's right, it was." Carly got up and poured them both some water. "I don't know all of it, but I know Lucky was involved in at least part of it. Gia wanted him photographing her because she knew it bothered Liz. I suspect Gia did more than model for Lucky."

Jason just shook his head. Lucky was an ass. "How much of a role did you play?"

"A big one. Liz and I have talked about this. I apologized. I encouraged Gia to do what she had to so that she won. I never told her to do specific things, but I never tried to reign her in either. The funny thing was as much as I disliked Liz back then, that wasn't why I wanted her out of the running. I wanted to stick it to Laura." Carly had been a piece of work. "Liz was a means to do that. She never backed down though. At one point she was really shaky, whatever Gia had done was bad. But Liz never backed down."

"From what I hear Laura's motives weren't exactly pure either. She knew you would hate seeing Elizabeth's face on the ads. She was hoping you quit. Laura hated that Sonny forced you on her." Jason was on the outside looking in, but he did know a bit about that time. He regretted not protecting Liz. Not asking her to stay the night she came to him in her black gown. Another wasted opportunity between them.

"I warned Jax that bringing Gia here might not be the best move." This visit let Carly know she was right.

"It's business. Gia being here would be fine if she wasn't dating Johnny." Jason didn't want Jax feeling guilty.

"Seriously?" Carly thought Monica and Howie was surprising. "Not a pairing I'd expect. I wouldn't put out any knives if you have them over."

"Thanks for the advice." Jason said laughing. "And the information." He said standing up. Carly hadn't told him much. But she did confirm that it was the modeling job that was at the root of this issue. "See you tomorrow." They were having dinner at the Jacks estate and exchanging gifts before the family left for Australia.

"Tomorrow night." Carly leaned back in her chair and thinking on how many people she'd hurt during her early years shook her head. Happily she was doing better, if she was doing any worse she might have killed someone by now.

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