Chapter Nine

Elizabeth sat at the kitchen table and watched as John sat across from. She could tell that he was nervous as he tugged on his ear. Looking at the father of her son, she knew that they needed to make peace for everyone involved. "Thank you for agreeing to talk."

"No, I owe you the thanks for giving me a chance to explain."

Brushing her hair from her face, she watched him carefully. "I will listen, John, but to honest, I don't think that we can go back. Too much damage has been done, by your lies and myself. I've changed over the years."

Clenching his jaw in frustration, he nodded. "Maybe," he conceded in a flat tone. "Let's start with Cameron. I am anxious to learn about him."

Her face immediately brightened. "He is absolutely wonderful! He is such a combination of both of us. He enjoys sports, especially football and baseball. He loves chocolate, that is from me I am sure. Cam is strong willed, stubborn, and caring as well. He was very protective of Jake." She paused and smiled. "When he was younger he loved trains and cars. Now he is fascinated with the water."

Listening to her ramble on about his son, John could not keep the smile off his face. The pride and love that she had for him was obvious. "Does he know about me?"

Pausing, she blinked at him. "I explained that you had to go to heaven and that you had loved him very much. I told him about your death the best way that I could explain it to him at the time." Rubbing her temples, Elizabeth blew out a breath. "This is going to confuse him so much. A seven year old has trouble comprehending the idea of death anyway, but he recently lost Jake and has just started to heal some. Now you return from the dead, but Jake is still gone."

John winced. He knew that Cam was going to be confused. "I am so sorry, Liz. I never dreamed that this would be the outcome all these years later."

"Did you think that everything would just be perfect?" she demanded. "Seriously, you had to know that I would move on and not stay unchanged. And how could you not think that this wouldn't throw your son for a loop?" Lowering her voice that had started to raise in frustration and anger, she wiped a tear that had escaped. "I loved you so much, John. I thought a part of my soul died the night that they told me you had been killed in that explosion."

Bowing his head, John was ashamed. "I heard that you were hospitalized afterward. I also know that Johnny took you to California to get away after he and Emily had brought Zander in to say he was the father to protect you from my father." He reached for hand and covered it with his. "It was so hard to walk away. I know that nothing can make it right, but I need you to believe that I did what I thought was best at the time. For you and Cam. Anthony and Claudia would have killed you. I was also afraid that Sonny would see you guys as a threat that needed to be eliminated."

She met his eyes and sadly nodded. "I know. Francis and I talked yesterday and I started to understand more of why you walked away. I hate that it happened and the pain that it causing now. You were my world. I would have just disappeared with you, but I know that they would have looked."

"Protecting you and our child was the only option, Liz."

She trembled as he wiped a tear of her face. "I thought my world had crumbled. Almost my entire pregnancy was spent in the hospital because of stress and high blood pressure." Seeing his expression, she shook her head. "It's not your fault. It was your families and Sonny's need for control and power. I know that I was really unreasonable the other day at the park. It wasn't fair to you. You are the one that lost all the time with Cam that can never be given back. And we both lost us."

"Are you sure that we are lost, Liz?" He slid over closer and took both of her hands in his larger ones. "I knows that I made huge mistakes. I regret it every minute of everyday. I know that there is a lot of hurt and trust issues, but we loved one another so much."

Tears coursed down her face. "Oh, God, John! I would have loved for everything to have worked out. I use to dream that you would walk back into my life and that we could recapture what we had." She sniffled as she took a deep breath. "But I moved on. I have feelings for Johnny. He makes me happy and I won't ruin that, John."

Torn from the pain that he could hear, John wrapped her into a tight embrace. "Please, just slow down and think. We had a wonderful relationship that I want back. I know that you have feelings for O'Brien, but I think that you still wonder about of us too. I'm not asking you to choose right this moment, just to not shut the door on us either."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lorenzo stood as Johnny and Francis entered the room. Watching both men, he could tell that they were tense. Motioning them to sit, he eased back into the recliner. "Sorry that I had to change the time of the meeting. I had a few things that need to be taken care of later this evening. How is everything?"

"Our main concern right now now is Alexis or Monica getting Sam released from jail. If she gets out, she will go after Elizabeth. Business wise we are slowly pushing Corinthos-Morgan out of Port Charles."

The older man eyed Johnny thoughtfully before nodding. "I want his business destroyed. Nothing is to be left standing. I also am worried. Jerry said that he is wanting to see Elizabeth."

"He is," Francis admitted. "We have been blocking all his attempts to contact her so far. I honestly don't think that he is a danger to your daughter physically, but emotionally is another story. She is walking a thin line right now with everything happening so quickly."

"I do not want him near her. He had his chance and he chose the hooker," Lorenzo snapped quickly. "I agree that he would never physically hurt her, but that is not her weakest point. He almost destroyed her already." He turned and saw Johnny watching him with a frown. "What?"

"I know that you think that you are doing the best thing, but we need to tell Elizabeth. She has the right to know that you are her father."

"Why? It will only cause her more pain. My family has hurt her repeatedly in the past."

"Maybe because she has the right to know," Johnny snapped. "How would having a father that loves and has tried to protect her be worse than the Webber's that abandoned her when she was fourteen? You are being selfish by denying her the truth."

Glaring at the young man that he knew was in love with Elizabeth, Lorenzo only shook his head sadly. "I am dying, O'Brien. The cancer spread to my brain. They are saying that I have less than a month, at best. I don't want her to know and lose me right after learning of it. Wait until I die, then tell her that I was her father if you want, but don't let her know that I was the one that set all this into motion. It might out that Jax was behind contacting me about the danger to her from Sonny and Sam. He has played his role of the unknowing friend well. Which is a good thing because he could get closer to her than Jerry. She has never trusted him even though she considers Jax a friend."

Disagreeing with Lorenzo, Johnny only nodded.

"What do you want done next?" Francis questioned after seeing that his friend was gritting his teeth out of anger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason stood on the other side of the jail bars and stared at his soon to be ex wife. The tears running down her face only pissed him off more. "How could you do this, Sam? You killed Jake! You then had an ongoing affair with Ric! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Jason, it is all lies. They are setting me up! Please, I swear," she sobbed. She reached through the bars in the jail cell and flinched as he backed away. "I love you! We are married! Don't just give up on me!"

"So the pictures of you and Ric together that Emily brought to me are fakes? And I guess the evidence of you hitting Jake was all fabricated also," he scoffed. "Do you think that I am stupid, Sam? You have taken everything away from me! My child with Elizabeth is dead because you hit him on purpose!"

Seeing the manipulations were not budging him, Sam dried her tears and laughed. "Damn straight I did. She never deserved you or your baby. I may have hit him, but Ms. Perfect was the one who was not watching your precious angel. I played you so good too, at least until all this shit happened. If you would have only loved me, none of this would have happened. If you look back, everything is all your fault, Jason!"

Wishing he could shoot her here and now, he pinched his nose. "No, you are the one responsible for this entire mess. Diane is getting the divorce papers ready. She is also not going to represent you at all in this mess that you created. Be happy that you are here. If you ever get out, I will kill you!" he snarled.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Geez, I have heard that before. From you, I do believe. You couldn't do then, Jason. What makes you think that you can now?"

"You ruined my life!"

Chuckling, she nodded with an sinister smile. "I did. I got you away from Elizabeth finally. It took a lot of manipulations on my part, but I pulled it off. You even forgave me for watching Jake getting kidnapped and then hiring men to threaten them. I systematically set out to destroy everything that you ever wanted after I realized that you would never be mine after that twit had your son. Seeing him on the side of the road that night, it was fate. I only took what was offered. So what if I was sleeping with Ric and this baby is his. You raised Michael and he wasn't yours. And I knew that you would not even question it." She sneered at his pain. "If your wonderfully alive sister had not brought you the pictures, you would still be backing me and professing your love. Let me ask, how does it feel to know that your saint is moving on with someone else? Someone that Alexis tells me that she has a past with," she taunted, hitting her mark and seeing him wince.

Clenching his hands into fist, Jason moved closer with his enforcer face in place. "I will say that you are a very good con. It is only too bad that accidents happen in prison while incarcerated. I'll just have to make sure that they know that I want it as slow as possible. You are over, Sam. You may think you have won, but I guarantee that you will suffer." He offered his own fierce scowl when she laughed. "Remember, I am not the only one that will be after revenge. Corelli and O'Brien will also be after your head. Enjoy your time alone."

Laughing, she blew him a kiss. "You should enjoy your time alone, too. St. Elizabeth won't forgive you this time. Bye bye, Jason!"