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Chapter 20

Elizabeth leaned back against the rear wall of the elevator and gave a silent prayer of gratitude that the day was over. She was exhausted and hungry. The clinic had gone non-stop today. Not only had she not eaten since breakfast, but the shift had run long when an emergency came in and she had to take the patient to the ER. Thankfully Leyla was not around although Liz did hear one of the nurses muttering about prima donna attitudes. Apparently Leyla had left right at the end of her shift.

Dinner should be no fuss. They were having leftovers. The pot roast had been too big for them to eat in one sitting. This was intentional on her part. If you could get more than one meal from one cooking session it just saved time. Normally she and Cameron could eat a pot roast for a week, she did switch it up to keep it interesting. Tonight she was going to shred up what was left and they would have burritos. With spinach instead of lettuce and grilled zucchini inside the taco sauce. Tomorrow she'd need to cook something else, now that she was feeding Jason her recipes didn't last as long.

Of course her new hubby might not like leftovers, not everyone did. He grew up wealthy, even if he didn't remember it. Now he could eat out every night if he chose to, so the word leftovers might not be in his vocabulary. If that was the case she would freeze the remaining portion and pull it out on a night he wasn't home.

That would mean fixing something else for dinner and honestly she didn't know if she had the energy for that. The doors opened and she waved as they walked past Milo. Cameron didn't want to be held, but his grip on her hand tightened as they walked past the younger man and the guards on the doors came into view. Her little guy was doing well with the changes and Elizabeth suspected it was because of Jason. Even if that wasn't the case he was doing well and she was happy.

Walking in the aroma of food greeted them and Elizabeth wondered if she was drooling. Jason came out of the kitchen and smiled at them. "You're home." She said as it that wasn't already clear. Low blood sugar was making her loopy.

"Finished up early." Jason grinned. More like couldn't stay at the office any longer. He and Johnny didn't punch a clock and they set their own hours. All his pressing matters, including sending Cody to Rochester to deliver a message to Scully had been handled. "I made stroganoff out of the left over pot roast."

"Bless you." Elizabeth said helping Cameron out of his jacket. "I didn't get lunch and I'm really hungry." Her stomach rumbled to emphasize her point.

"Did you have a snack?" Jason looked at the clock. She had eaten breakfast almost ten hours ago.

"No time." Elizabeth said taking Cameron's hand and leading him into the kitchen. She noticed a large piece of industrial plastic covering the new doorway. The construction had begun. They washed up at the sink.

Jason frowned he didn't like that. "It's ready to eat." He followed them into the kitchen. "Sit down and I'll bring it over." He instructed. Once the food was on the table, they said grace and then dug in.

"Oh my god this is so good. Who taught you to cook?" Elizabeth asked between mouthfuls. She made herself eat slowly so she didn't get heartburn.

"Sonny. He was a great cook. In the beginning I was horrible, but he said he would sho-." Jason stopped himself. "Yell at me if I burned anymore of his pots. He was totally serious."

Elizabeth thought Sonny sounded horrible. She knew that Emily hadn't liked him. "This is amazing."

"You should keep protein bars in your locker. That way you won't get so run down if you are busy." He knew it happened. His parents and Emily had both stated on occasion that meals had to wait. "I don't want to get a call that you passed out." His job was to take care of her. He'd send a runner to get some tonight.

"We can't keep food in our lockers." Elizabeth told him. She wasn't going to start breaking rules now.

Or not. Jason mentally said. "If you can't get a lunch break, call me and I'll have someone bring you a sandwich." Or whatever she had time to eat.

"Okay." Elizabeth nodded. "I spoke to Georgie."

"Did you like her?" Jason found the younger of the Corelli girls easier to deal with.

"It was a quick meeting but she seemed genuinely kind and her resume is impressive." Elizabeth babysat growing up. She never had a resume. "I told her that I'd want to have her over to house while we are home so that Cameron can get used to her." Elizabeth was making an effort to include Jason in decisions.

"Thank you." He appreciated how inclusive she was being with Cameron's care. "Let me know when she is coming and I'll do my best to be here."

"Okay." Elizabeth watched Cameron slurp up a noodle. He was enjoying the dish one she never made before. "He's enjoying dinner."

"Good. I was nervous." Jason admitted. "Breakfast is easy. Dinner has more pitfalls. Mushrooms are not everyone's favorites."

"He's had them before, but not often. They aren't green so it's not an issue." Elizabeth told Jason. The little suckers could be expensive so she rarely bought them. "I should be home in time tomorrow to make dinner. This weekend I'll make some meals and freeze them for days like today."

"Order in if you need to. The guards know what restaurants to go to." Jason had accounts around the city. "Did you want to have a look next door?" He popped in before starting dinner.

"No, I will wait until it's done." Elizabeth said finishing off dinner.

"You were one of those kids who waited patiently for Christmas to come, weren't you?" Jason teased.

"Yeah, didn't even shake the boxes." Elizabeth laughed. "Cameron is like Sarah. If he sees a gift wrapped box he wants to know what's in it. I'll do clean up."

"Okay." Jason smiled. "I have a surprise for you." He turned to Cameron who looked at him cautiously. "Go upstairs and look on your desk."

Cameron wiggled out of his chair and ran from the room.

"What did you do?" Elizabeth asked smiling as she started the dishwasher.

"You'll see." Jason said getting up and walking to where she was standing. He stopped next to her and dipping his head kissed her softly. "I've been thinking about that all day." He told her in a husky whisper.

Elizabeth blushed a pretty pink. "I've been thinking about it since last night." Every night so far he'd walked her to her room and kissed her good night. Never anything aggressive, just a soft and sweet kiss. She appreciated that he wasn't rushing them even though by her actions she was letting him know she was interested too.

"Good." He grinned. This was the first time he'd kissed her just because. He wanted to make a habit of it. "Cameron's coming back." He said but didn't move, he liked that she made no move to put space between them either.

The little boy returned to the kitchen holding up a board game. They had this game at daycare and he really liked playing it. The fact that Jason had bought it for him was really cool. He brought it downstairs because he was hoping maybe Jason would like to play it with him sometime. Plus he wanted to show it to mommy.

"Don't Spill the Beans." Elizabeth said smiling. "We play that at daycare."

"Would you like to play it now?" Jason had read the rules and the game was simple.

Cameron nodded.

"Let's go in the living room." Jason suggested. They got everything set up and were soon engrossed in the game. They played twice before the guard knocked. Cameron immediately moved next to Elizabeth. Jason walked over and opened the door. "Ben's here." He said ushering in his nephew.

Cameron's breathing slowed as he made his way over to his cousin. Taking Ben's hand he pulled him upstairs to show him his room. Johnny and Emily came in with Jason. "Should we call first?" Johnny had said to but Em said not to.

"No, knocks on the door are a normal part of life. The more times someone knocks and nothing bad happens the sooner Cameron will calm down." She saw the question in Jason's eyes. They could talk about it later.

Emily came over and sat next to Liz. "So I heard you laid the smack down on Leyla today." The doctor said grinning.

"It wasn't that bad. She got mouthy and I put her in her place." Elizabeth said shrugging. "She was fine until she called me a bitch."

"She did what?" Jason asked sitting up straighter. He knew, and disliked Leyla Mir, the woman was constantly on the prowl. She screamed gold digger.

"Leyla wanted to cause trouble and decided to use our marriage to do it. She made it seem like Epiphany was going to be playing favorites because of my connections. I told her that if anyone is guilty of that it's her." Elizabeth kicked off her shoes and folded up her legs. "I expect my shifts for the next month to suck. I'm guessing overnight." That was when the wackos came in. Liz wondered if she would need to bring Cameron with her.

"Probably not." Emily had gotten wind of some gossip before leaving. It came courtesy of her mom so she knew it was true.

"Why?" Elizabeth just looked at her friend.

"Emily knows something." Johnny grinned at his wife. "Her inability to keep a secret outside of work is why she only plays poker at our casino."

"Spill it before you hurt yourself Em." Jason said poking fun at his sister.

"Dr. Ford has added you to the permanent ER rotation." Emily blabbed. "Act surprised when Epiphany tells you. Since two doctors and the residents work the overnight shift you'll be day, mid, or evening."

"How did he pull that off?" Elizabeth was thrilled. Not only did it mean no overnight shifts, but it meant Leyla would be working clinic shifts.

"He complained bitterly for about an hour to my dad. I mean it was scathing. He said he doesn't want Leyla in his ER ever again unless she's on a stretcher." The whole point of the nurse practitioner pilot program was to lighten the load in the busy areas of the hospital. The ER was one of the busiest. "He said he would walk before working with her again."

"Dr. Ford is the top trauma surgeon in the country, he'd be snapped up in a minute." Elizabeth was surprised that he would say that.

"Dad said for him to name his conditions and Dr. Ford said you." Emily was happy for her friend. "I got some other news too."

"What?" Elizabeth wasn't sure anything could top that.

"We are getting another nurse practitioner, Leyla is probably going to have a cow because this one has more experience than she does." Emily was happy the program was working out. "Her first fews days she'll be with Piph, so you will probably see a lot of her. Her name is Mercedes Juarez and she is supposed to be really good."

"Cool." Elizabeth hoped to be there when Leyla met the other woman.

"Oh it gets better." Emily had an evil grin. "With three of you there needs to be a structure in place so Alan is making Mercedes the assistant head nurse which means she oversees both of you."

"I need to have my camera ready. Leyla's head is going to explode." Elizabeth knew it wasn't nice but this made her night. "HR gave her a slap on the wrist."

"She's sleeping with the head of HR at the moment." Emily passed along. "I guess she needed a break from the doctors. I have one more thing to pass along and then we can eat any brownies you have on hand." She shot her husband and brother a dirty look. Both men just grinned at her. "You have to swear not to say I told you this."

"Okay." Elizabeth said slowly.

"My dad will kill me for telling you this." Emily started. "I took Ben's paperwork over to Port Charles Academy at lunch. Sue, the receptionist knows I'm a doctor and she asked me if I knew of any nurses at the hospital who were looking for a job. It seems their school nurse is retiring and they are having a hard time filling the slot. I know you like the hospital, but Cameron is probably going to go to PCA for kindergarten or Pre-K. If you worked there it might be easier for him. You'd start in August at the beginning of the school year, which would mean the summer off."

"My specialty is trauma." Elizabeth pointed out.

"I know." Emily responded.

"You have a specialty?" Johnny asked surprised.

"Most nurses do." Jason answered before the ladies could. "Surgical, trauma, pediatrics, psych. It's just like doctors."

"What about the nurses who bring you the pills?" Johnny asked his friend.

"Ward nurses." Jason had looked it up wanting to know what Elizabeth did. "I didn't know your specialty was trauma." He said to his wife.

"It presented the biggest challenge and keeps you on your toes." Elizabeth explained. The job at the school would make it easier to transition Cameron over. Once she married Jason she knew Cameron would be attending the school. She wasn't even going to fight Jason on it. "Let me think about it. Do you know when the deadline is?"

"As far as I know there isn't one." Emily would miss seeing her friend at work but she knew that this really was a good opportunity for Elizabeth. "You wouldn't get bored would you?" It would be a big shift.

"No." Honestly it might be nice to have a slower paced job. The last two years had been stressful. Nine to five, Monday through Friday would be nice and it would give Cameron even more stability.

"Okay enough chit chat take me to dessert." Emily stood up and pulled her friend with her. "You two stay here."

"She's still not over the brownies, huh?" Jason asked Johnny.

"Nope." The Irishman said laughing.

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