Thank you for all your comments and thoughts! Another chapter done. I swear, I didn't know, I really think my muse is liking making me pick my jaw up off the floor. Sneaky woman had me thinking something and it was totally erroneous. At least it is this chapter…you never know. Hope you guys enjoy and will continue to share your thoughts and comments!

Chapter Thirty-Three

It's weird, in that, when this had been but a possibility, it had terrified her and now, here she was, with one of her kidnappers and the only thing she could summon up, was frustration.

Sure, she was angry, furious more often than not but she couldn't summon an ounce of fear. She wasn't sure if she had that much faith in her possible rescuers or if she was really more broken than she thought…could this unknown have been hanging over her head for such a long time that when it finally became absolute that fear wasn't possible because she'd always assumed she'd die?

After watching her kidnapper bang his head against his own vehicle, she had felt…vindication she supposed but now, staring at the side of his face, she couldn't dredge up the right feelings. She didn't like him, wasn't suffering some affection for him, but really looking at the man…all she felt was a sadness.

"So what, you and your brother have been planning this my entire life and what, now that it is within your grasp, you're having doubts? What kind of bad guy are you?" Elizabeth asked conversationally.

"Surprisingly…" He laughed aloud, shaking his head before continuing, "I wouldn't classify myself as a bad guy. Sure, there are some morally questionable acts and motivations in my past but would you believe that I'm one of the good guys?"

Elizabeth laughed long and hard, five or six minutes in, she had to grab her stomach, her laughter was causing her stomach to hurt. "Yeah…no…want to try again? I may not remember much, but I remember you. I wasn't sure until your little love nest back there but I remember waking up in the middle of the night when I was younger and you were standing over my bed, adjusting your dick, which was hard. Let me guess, you never touched me, so you really aren't a bad guy, right?" Elizabeth's laugh turned derisive, bitter.

"I know what night you speak of, it was the same night that your 'father' had been in your room, doing something similar. Not for the first time either, right? What you didn't know, ugh…without making myself sound even more pedophilic, I was playing a part. As you discovered in my little love nest…" Jerry said with a roll of his eyes, "My brother and I weren't the ones to place you with the Webber's. We didn't learn about you until you were about four. Someone, who I am starting to think plays a much larger role in all of this than I first assumed, must have placed you there. Their reasoning…I have no clue."

"And what, I am just supposed to believe that you aren't holding me accountable for something my father did? Seriously? I may not know all the details but whatever it is he supposedly did, was awful enough for people to think I should pay for the sins of my dad, which might I say, is complete and utter bullshit. All these years of civilization and we are still at the point of an eye for an eye."

"Revenge and vengeance aren't always the same bedfellows, to some, nothing and no one can deter them…Okay…Jasper and Miranda fell in lust at first sight, they called it love but really, when you are that young, love is rarely a deciding factor. They had a whirlwind romance; I suppose you could say, action and adventure their drug of choice. You see, if it wasn't for all the high-octane adrenaline, they would have seen that they had nothing in common; they were just addicted to the thrill of it all. After they were married, Jasper felt that all that danger, danger, wasn't as acceptable but to Miranda, she needed that edge, whatever went on in her life, she needed to live as close to the edge of death that settling down, really didn't work for her. Enter the older brother, with a broken heart and this woman who seemed to see the shattered parts that were left, that he too need the danger and adventure to continue on. And then picture the man when he discovers that the dark corners of his life have lightened some, all due to the impending birth of his child, of course, the younger brother, believes it is his…" Jerry said before trailing off.

"Excuse me?" Elizabeth said with an edge to her voice.

Pulling over to the side of the road, Jerry scrubbed his hands down his face. "I am not a proud man Elizabeth and I'll admit, when I hired your father to blow up the mine, he didn't know who I was, at least, I don't believe he did, I didn't expect it to end the way it did. I could see the antsy-ness in Miranda and thought something big and shocking could jolt her out of her dance/obsession with adrenaline and death but nothing was going to do that, I realized too late, she was so hell bent on being there, to see it, after we 'accidentally' stumbled upon the explosives after a quickie…I'll admit, at the time, I blamed your father, I blamed everyone but it wasn't like I could tell my baby brother that his wife wasn't as altruistic as he believed, she wasn't as loyal…When he discovered your father's link to the explosives, I happily joined his vengeance kick, how could I not, the woman I had fallen in love with, the woman who was going to be the mother of my child, was killed."

"Wait a minute…Now you are playing the villain with a heart of gold, what, trying to be more like Corinthos?" Elizabeth asked. Unsure what the truth was in all the shit that was being shoveled her way.

Not liking it but understanding her scepticism, Jerry continued, "It took a few years for me to wrap my head around everything, I'll admit, those years were not pretty and is probably the reason my brother is crazier than a loon but it wasn't until I came after your dad that I finally screwed my head on straight. I saw him with Felicia, Maxie, his…daughter for all intent and purposes was in the hospital and they'd just discovered that she needed a heart…long story short, it was really the first time I saw altruism in its purest form. Bobbie Jones…her heart was breaking, she looked like her entire world was crumpling around her and yet, to save her niece, she stepped up and offered her own daughters heart. You'd be surprised that more often than not, we don't see what people do for others, more what they do for themselves. We are a screwed up breed, almost always looking out for ourselves. I grew up with a man who would step on anyone to get what he wanted, because he refused to change his way of life. My mother was a good woman but she knew or had learned her place most likely."

"Nurture versus nature and all that jazz?" Elizabeth asked bitingly. "If that were true, I'd be abusing little kids, taking my piss poor youth out on other people and trying to fuck as many people over as possible."

"OH, see, that is where you are wrong. You grew up with the bad but you also escaped that and discovered the good but I don't think that is what makes you who you are. I think there is something so intrinsically good within you, that you could never intentionally cause someone harm, maybe not even in your own self defense. Sure, you have no problem cutting people to the quick with your tongue, but you aren't intentionally malicious. You use your sarcasm and wit to guard against letting people in, you use it as an armor to protect your fleshy heart."

"You don't know me!" Elizabeth spat quickly turning away from his assessing eyes.

"I almost wish that were true but sadly, I've been following your life, until we thought you were dead and then learning everything there was to know when we discovered you were indeed alive." Jerry said quietly.

"Why though?"

Mumbling under his breath, Jerry said, "I thought you were mine for a while."

"Not a chance in fucking hell!" Elizabeth said with fire.

"Too true…" Jerry said sadly. "The mind and heart are a confusing thing; sometimes they work with such synchronicity that everything makes sense and follow a certain path but, when wishes and hopes begin to play a part, well, nothing can make sense, yet make the most perfect sense. When logic and common sense are defied by a desperate sense of hope, anything can make sense. As you well know, you are not my daughter, but my dark days didn't really lend itself to sanity."

Elizabeth wasn't a person who could turn off her compassionate side it seemed, not even when she was kidnapped or not kidnapped. It seemed like everything bad that could have gone wrong, had and for some reason the woman at the center of it all, was crazier than a… "So, where are you taking me if you aren't the bad guy?" That seemed pertinent; there were lots of pertinent things floating around her mind but…

"Well…" Jerry offered a slightly absurd laugh, "I was planning on taking you to your uncle, Robert Scorpio, he'd be able to get you back to your father but if Jasper is as nuts as the woman we just left, I don't know if it's safe to just turn you over. I had thought we were dealing with the Webber's but obviously that was completely erroneous. Without knowing who all the players are, I think sending you back would be a big mistake, especially since my brother doesn't just want to use you to get justice, he wants to actually kill you. And since you can't help me suss out who could also want you dead, we are at an impasse. I fear this is much more complicated than even I feared. Could you contact your man…see if he can help?"

"My man?" Elizabeth asked and it didn't take long before Jason's face was summoned to the forefront of her mind before she blushed. "Oh…you mean Jason? He really isn't my…well, he could but no he's not my, well…"

"Yeah, you suck at lying." Jerry said with a genuine laugh. "Aww, to be young and in love…" It was said without malice but she could detect different nuances, disbelief, doubt, anger… "Just…if I have learned anything, don't rush it, okay? And never let something be more important, because if love isn't the 'be all' then it really isn't love."

Shocked at herself, Elizabeth swallowed back her quick, sarcastic retort and simply grasped his hand for a moment. Acknowledging, sharing in his pain for that moment, because it was one thing to know love and have it taken, but to have known it acutely, more than once…she really couldn't fathom that and really how could she, she'd never been in love before. She felt something for Jason, perhaps more than she ever had for another living human being but it was still new and whatever it was, she was in no rush to define it. They either had time or didn't. That was life.

Holding the phone gently, Elizabeth only raised an eyebrow when she saw that Jerry had Jason's number in his contacts. There was a lot she didn't know or understand and she feared, this was just another thing she might never truly get a grasp on.

"What?!" Jason barked into the phone, his tone lethal.

"Jason?" Elizabeth said before bursting into tears.

XxXxXxX