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Chapter 41

Elizabeth helped her oldest son out of the minivan. They were having dinner at the mansion tonight. She had been standing at the hub smiling when Jason came to get her. They had gone home and proceeded to see it their theory was correct. After a very enjoyable time with her husband Elizabeth had nodded off to sleep and woke up feeling great. Not one bit of nausea, so for now it was looking good. Of course after dinner she might not be getting sex tomorrow.

"Hey there Cameron." Edward said greeting his great-grandson as he ran into the house. He had been the one to suggest that it might be best to tell AJ and Jason together, and the Quartermaine dining room was the perfect place for that. It seated a lot of people which meant that the Jacks family could be on hand as well. The older man might be wrong but he was very much enjoying this battles of the sexes. When Ned came to him he knew his grandson had no idea what his cousins were up to. Edward also knew that the ladies would come up with a countermove, still even he had been surprised at what they had planned.

"Hi." Cameron smiled up at his favorite relative, besides his parents. "Can we play trains later?"

"Absolutely. I got a new engine just yesterday. I've been waiting for you to come over so we can try it out." Edward beamed.

"Cool." Cameron couldn't wait.

"Your cousins are in the playroom." Edward said smiling as Elizabeth walked in. She got more beautiful each day. "You are glowing my dear." He said kissing her cheek as Jason glared. "You have something to tell me?"

"We are expecting again." Elizabeth knew he could see that for himself. Tonight she had gone with a dress that showed off her bump. The dark orange sleeveless dress had a pleated skirt that flared just a bit so that it was comfortable, while the belt was at just the right height to highlight the swell of her belly. Elizabeth paired it with a favorite pair of dark brown heels. She had seen the approval in her husband's eyes when she came downstairs.

"Wonderful." Edward said giving her another kiss. "I can't wait to meet our newest family member. My great-grandchildren keep me young. You will sit next to me at dinner so that I can make sure Jason is taking good care of you." His eyes twinkled as his looked at his grandson.

"Of course I will." Elizabeth took Edward's arm as he led her into the parlor where they would wait for everyone else to arrive.

"I'm standing right here." Jason muttered as he hung up their coats.

Tracy just smirked at him as she walked into the parlor as well.

Johnny was smiling when Maya opened the door to the house. Keesha and AJ had left already and Zoe was out on a date. She was glad they were alone because she had some questions for the man in front of her. She let him in and they stood in the foyer. "Did you know what AJ and Jason were planning when you gave them the money to build the new institute?" Emily had filled her in at work.

"I did." Johnny saw no reason to lie.

"I cannot believe you would help them hurt my aunt like that." Maya glared at the good looking man.

"They won't win." Johnny said shrugging.

"What do you mean?" Maya asked confused by his attitude.

"AJ and Jason are smart." Johnny would give them that. "But they are no match for the ladies." He thought that the group would make excellent mobsters. They'd have everyone else shaking in their boots. "Especially not Carly and Lizzie."

"Lizzie? You mean Elizabeth?" Maya had never heard her cousin in-law called that before.

"Yes." Johnny grinned because he knew his date wasn't angry at him anymore. "Elizabeth has a very wide fearless streak in her. It doesn't come out often these days because it doesn't have to. But when she goes to battle for someone she cares about watch out. Monica is very important to Liz, she isn't going to let Jason, or his brother, hurt her."

"And if you are wrong?" Maya wanted to know.

"I'm not." Johnny was confident about that. "But if I am I will apologize to Monica. I'm not wrong though."

"You are looking forward to Jason getting taken down." Maya clued into.

"Yup. Should be fun." Johnny said laughing.

"I thought he was your friend." Maya arched an eyebrow.

"He is. One of the best I have, doesn't mean I can't have fun at his expense. This is a win all the way around. The hospital gets an upgrade, Monica will not lose her boyfriend, and Jason gets egg on his face. I couldn't pay for this kind of entertainment. The only downside is I have to wait to find out what is happening." Johnny said trying not to pout.

"Actually you don't." Maya gave him a wide smile as she reached for her coat. "Cancel our reservations. I got an invitation to eat dinner at the mansion. The family is gathering."

It was the tone of her voice that alerted him to the fact that fireworks were going to happen. "I love dinners at the Q's." Johnny said reaching for a phone. Five minutes later the reservation was broken. "So do I get a hint?"

"Where is the fun in that?" Maya said smiling. "Let's go. The family should be sitting down just as we arrive, and we don't want to miss a minute of this."

Johnny opened the door. "After you."

AJ walked in and went to where Jason was standing with Jax. "Jasper. Jason can I speak with you?"

"Sure thing." Jason nodded to Jax and followed his brother across the room. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you were getting a weird vibe from Liz." AJ asked his brother.

"If you mean the fact that she isn't at all angry with me for what we did this afternoon, then yes." Jason looked over to where his wife was sitting with their grandfather. "I expected at least a 'Jason how could you', but she hasn't even mentioned it."

"That and the fact that we are all here for dinner makes me nervous." AJ had expected Keesha to not even speak to him, but she gave no indication she even knew about the project. There was no way Carly hadn't called her. Or Tracy.

"Mom said she wanted us all here for the official announcement about the baby." Jason figured that would happen tonight however like his brother he suspected something else was going to happen as well. "There is no way they came up with a countermove this fast."

"Our wives, our sister and aunt, as well as my ex-wife are all very smart women Jason." AJ looked at them around the room. "Not to mention mom, but I agree that it is unlikely they came up with something this fast. It's coming though."

"Yeah." Jason didn't underestimate the women in his life. "We just have to wait for now." His eyes narrowed when Johnny walked into the room with Maya. His friend got a drink and joined them. "Why are you here?"

"Maya said the family was gathering and she wanted to come." Johnny said sipping his beer. It was the truth. "I had reservations at that new French place downtown."

"It's good Keesha and I went last week." AJ said absently watching his wife and sister laugh at something.

"Dinner is ready." Alice announced before making herself scarce. Dr. Monica has said that things might get loud so the maid might want to go to a movie once everyone headed to the dining room. As entertaining as these dinners often were, Alice wasn't dumb enough to ignore a warning like that.

The family gathered around the table. Monica sat at the head and Edward sat at the foot. Making good on her promise Elizabeth sat to the older man's right. Normally the kids ate with the adults, they were family and there wasn't a need to separate them out. However with the fireworks that were expected all the moms agreed that the kids needed to be in another room. So the younger members of the family were down the hall eating pizza and watching a movie. The ladies were on one side of the table while the men sat on the other. It was classic standoff positions. Jax had been informed earlier about what was coming and so he positioned himself to Edward's left wanting to make sure he had a good view.

"Where are the boys?" Jason asked looking at the doorway.

"Watching a movie." Elizabeth answered smiling. She didn't normally allow Cameron to eat in front of the television so she knew that move tipped her husband off to something being up. Although knowing him he already suspected tonight's gathering was about more than the baby.

Before Jason could respond Monica stood. Howie was sitting to her left and Emily was to her right. "I just wanted to thank everyone for coming out this evening. It's always good to have us all together. We have several things to celebrate and I thought we'd start with Jason and Elizabeth's news." Monica looked at her son who was watching her with narrowed eyes.

"Elizabeth and I are expecting." Jason was still suspicious but he had to smile while making the official announcement.

"Congrats!" AJ said slapping his brother on the back as if he didn't already know.

"Babies are a blessing." Edward said covering Elizabeth's hand with his. "Do we know what the baby is yet?"

"No." Elizabeth answered. "It's too early, but Kelly said we might see at the next appointment."

"Make sure you let us know so we can come up with a theme for the shower." Emily said from down the table. "Me next!" She said standing up and looking at Matt. "I had my screening earlier in the week, and I'm still cancer free!" The test had come back this afternoon.

A round of applause went up because this was news everyone could be happy about. Matt dropped his wife a wink. Not only was she cancer free, but the tests on her eggs revealed they hadn't been damaged by her treatments so they could start trying for a baby whenever they wanted. That news had been celebrated by a throwing out of her birth control pills and his condoms.

"I have some news to share." Monica stood up again. "Howie and I have purchased two lofts and construction begins next week to combine them into one so in two months or so we will be moving in together."

"You bought the lofts already?" AJ asked confused. "I thought one was Em's."

"It was." Emily chimed in. "Matt and I are moving out tomorrow. Mom said we could use the cottage until you guys move into the mansion, and the changes I want to make to the farmhouse are done. She isn't even charging us rent."

"We won't either." Keesha said smiling at her sister in-law. "Right AJ?"

"Of course." AJ said looking at Jason, it was clear his brother didn't know about this.

"I'm excited about the move. Emily said we can get a puppy because of the access to the grounds." Matt missed Cameron's dog, and they decided this would be good practice for a baby.

"It's a good thing the cottage already needs the floors redone." Monica laughed. Emily's news was most welcome. Monica's clean bill of health had been celebrated at Thanksgiving.

"I do believe that is the cue for my announcement." Edward said smiling and standing. "Elizabeth my dear, would you join me."

"I would be happy too." Elizabeth said smiling wide as she got to her feet.

"Ladies first." Edward was almost giddy with excitement. This was as good as the last merger he handled before retiring. His poor grandsons had yet to learn the first rule of marriage, never plot against your wife because you never won.

"This afternoon I accepted the position of Project Manager for the Alan Quartermaine Sr. Neurological Institute at General Hospital." The shock on her husband's face made Elizabeth wish that someone had their phone handy.

"And I will be acting as her assistant." Edward beamed at the table. "I am very much looking forward to working with my granddaughter."

"I'm looking forward to working with you. I know you will teach me a lot over the course of this project. I'm so excited." Elizabeth told the room. "I know Alan is proud of his sons for this." She said pouring it on thick.

"I think he is certainly smiling down at all of us." Tracy added with a wide smile. "Well done boys." She saluted her nephews with her wine glass.

"Elizabeth, may I speak with you in the hall?" Jason asked getting up from the table.

"Sure." She said shooting a look at her co-conspirators.

AJ was glaring at the women sitting across from him. This move hadn't even been on his radar. He grudgingly had to admit that it was well played. He looked at his mother who actually stuck her tongue out at him which set all the women off. They all laughed. They had been beat, again.

"How could you do this without talking to me first!?" Jason asked his wife.

"I don't recall it saying in our wedding vows anything about me obeying." Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her husband.

"Don't even try that." Jason shot back. "This isn't about me trying to control you."

"No, it's about you trying to control your mother." Elizabeth told him. "You two are trying to come between her and her boyfriend. I would think that after all the years of people trying to come between us wouldn't do something so low."

"This is completely different. I'm not trying to keep them apart. Just slow them down, they've been dating for a few months. That's too soon to be living together." Jason told his stubborn wife.

"I fell in love with you that first night at Jake's." Elizabeth said by the way he went still she knew she had surprised him. "I didn't realize it at first because it was so different from the love I had for Lucky. Then when I did I fought it, when I finally was ready to explore it the whole damn town found ways to keep us apart." She was upset and because of the hormones the tears started. "There is no time frame that is standard for things like this. They get to decide how fast or slow they want to move. You and your brother are acting like asses."

"Elizabeth." Jason stepped toward his wife and she took a step back. That hurt him more than he thought possible.

She shook her head. "I accepted the position because your mother was going to give up her practice to make this center a reality. Maybe you haven't noticed, but she is a hell of a doctor, and I'm proud to work with her. Her patients don't deserve to be sacrificed to the whims of two spoiled brats." Elizabeth wasn't holding back.

"What about the babies?" Jason remembered Kelly saying Elizabeth needed to keep her stress down.

"Kelly said its fine." Elizabeth wiped her face. "I checked first. Edward made it sound like I'm doing all the work but that isn't true. He is the one meeting with the contractors and overseeing construction. I'll be in the meetings of course but that is his half. I'm in charge of design, exterior and interior, as well as equipment. I'm not going to be working hard. Carly and Tracy have also offered to help. As long as you and your brother don't do anything else it should be fine."

"We won't." Jason promised. AJ would agree. He noticed she was shaking a bit. "Take a deep breath."

"My blood pressure isn't up." Elizabeth knew what his worry was. "Your mother can check if it will make you feel better. I'm angry and disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry." Jason told her. He wanted to hold her but he was afraid she would back away from him again.

"You need to apologize to your mother and Howie. You also need to tell Howie whatever it was that the two of you cooked up for him." She had to laugh at his surprised look. "Keesha figured that out."

Jason stuck his hands in his pockets. "I will. We should go back in."

"Go ahead. I want to wash my face." Elizabeth turned and walked down the hall to the bathroom. When she came out Emily was waiting. Without a word she held out her arms and her sister took her pulse.

"Okay then." Emily said relaxing. "Jason looks like someone kicked his puppy."

"He's certainly in the doghouse. I'm guessing AJ will get his dressing down at home." Elizabeth leaned against the closed bathroom door. "Jason said they won't do anything else."

"Good, because our next recourse is to take them to the Pine Barrens." Emily said giggling.

Elizabeth joined her. "I think we would need Johnny or Francis to help us with that."

"I don't know, I think Tracy might have a clue." Emily looped her arm through Liz's. "Come on, I'm hungry."

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