Chapter 12
Good Luck Charms
A/N: Well how did you like that last chapter? Alright on to Liason! Now for other purposes, forget that I mentioned the name Carter in the beginning of this story. I had another idea for the name of the therapist I want Jake to see:)
Elizabeth was lying on a blanket out in the park. Aiden was sitting happily next to her playing with his crayons while Cameron and Jake were playing in the sandbox. This was her life and despite everything that had happened in the last few weeks, she could at least be happy that she had her three boys. Being a mom was the bright spot in her life and she wouldn't change that.
Her phone buzzed one more time sighing she checked to see if it was Jason before she answered. She knew that it wasn't fair that she screened his calls right now, but she didn't know how to talk to him. Not yet anyway. Seeing that it was Carly, she chuckled as she answered.
"What do you want harpy?"
"Good morning to you too wench!" Carly laughed as she was grabbing her things to take Josslyn out to the park."
"What's up Carly, I am with the boys."
"Oh good, I was going to ask you if you and the boys want to join me and Joss in the park right now?"
Elizabeth laughed, "we are already here, see you soon!" Her and Carly had become friends, and it was weird but it was an interesting dynamic. The two actually got a long...surprisingly.
"Mommy, Jake is being mean to me!" Cameron came up behind her. Elizabeth looked up, her phone forgotten and all of her attention was on her eldest.
"What do you mean sweetheart? How is Jake being mean?"
"He threw sand on me, and told me that I don't deserve to play with him." Cam's voice was sad and confused, "Jake said he wanted to play alone."
Poor Cameron, he didn't understand why Jake was acting differently from the brother that he had gotten along with before. Jake wasn't the same and Elizabeth couldn't explain why. She understood to some degree that it probably had something to do with Helena having him in Greece but she couldn't understand the rest. So she tried to keep things as consistent and normal as they were before Jake was taken, but Jake's consistent behavioral changes were making things a little difficult.
"Sweetie, come sit down next to me." She moved over on the blanket and waited for Cameron to join her. Pulling him close to her as she stroked his hair, she tried to explain his little brother to him. "Do you remember when Jake came back, I told you that Jake is going to need some time to adjust to being home?"
"Right because the evil lady had him?" Cameron asked.
"That's right buddy, well now that Jakey is home he needs to get used to us. He also needs to feel safe and right now he doesn't. So we just have to be patient with him. Let him get used to us and get used to being home with us again." Elizabeth didn't want to tell him too much, she didn't want to scare him but she knew he was having a hard time with this.
"Hey Guys" Carly said as she came across the young family.
"Hi Mrs. Jax" Cameron smiled as he jumped up.
"Hey Cameron, mind if we join you your mom and your brothers?"
"Sure come on Joss" Cameron held out his hand and together the two ran over to the swing set.
"Well, at least we know they can get along" Elizabeth murmured.
"Cameron and Jake still not getting along?" Carly asked as she sat down on the blanket and looked over at Jake, who was still playing in the sandbox by himself. In the last week, Elizabeth and her had talked enough for her to know that Jake was having a hard time.
"Jake told Cameron that he couldn't play with him. Cameron doesn't understand why Jake is acting like this." Elizabeth ran her hand over her face as she pushed her hair back.
"You know it's nothing your doing right, its just going to take time." Carly patted her shoulder in comfort.
"I know, I just wish there was something I could do."
"Well, maybe it's not something you can do." Carly said as she watched the kids.
"What do you mean by that?" Elizabeth turned to where Carly was pointing and just watched as Josslyn got up off the swing and made her way to the sandbox where Jake was playing. The two women held their breath as Josslyn plopped down next to Jake. Jake turned and the two said something to each other before Jake handed her his shovel and Josslyn smiled and called over Cameron to join her, and Jake to their amazement smiled back and the three went to work on digging in the sand.
"Well, I'll be damned" Carly smirked as Elizabeth looked at her and smiled sheepishly.
"Are you going to take a picture or am I?" Carly asked and as she reached for her phone and saw that Jason had just texted her.
Hey, what's up-C
I went by your house to talk but you weren't there-J
Seeing an opportunity for Elizabeth and Jason to talk, she smirked and responded:
At the park with Joss, come on by-C
On my way-J
Satisfied, Carly turned to Elizabeth. "So have you talked to Jason?"
Elizabeth shook her head, "No I've been avoiding him."
"Why?"
"It's easier than talking to him."
"You two live in the same town, do you really think you can avoid him?"
"Yes" Elizabeth nodded but even the tone of her voice betrayed her by showing its uncertainty.
"Don't you think that if you talked, you two could move forward?"
"I think that its going to be harder to move forward than you think" Elizabeth said quietly but when Carly turned to look at the brunette, she could see it all over Elizabeth's face.
"Shit Liz, you're not sure if you want to move forward."
"It's not that simple Carly"
"Why not? Jason has his memories back and he remembers your past together. He chose you. He loves you. Why isn't that enough?"
"We don't trust each other any more Carly, how can we move forward if we don't have that trust." Elizabeth looked down as she fiddled with the blanket.
"Do you want to trust him again?" Carly asked as she looked up and saw Jason entering the park. He stopped as he saw the two of them sitting together. His eyes moved to Elizabeth and Carly saw the determination in his eyes as he headed in their direction never taking his eyes off Elizabeth. "Oh crap" Carly muttered, she knew that look in his eyes. That was his I am going to make you talk face even if you don't want too.
"What's wrong? Elizabeth looked up and saw Jason walking towards her. Her breath caught as she saw the look in his eyes.
"Hey Carly, Elizabeth" Jason greeted as he now stood in front of them.
"Hey Jase" Carly was firs to respond as she got up to give him a hug. "I'll let you two talk" She said as she patted him on the back and whispered go easy in his ear before she picked up Aiden and brought him over to the sandbox with the kids so Elizabeth and Jason could have some privacy.
Jason and Elizabeth stared at each other in silence. He knew that he had to make the first move so he settled himself down on the blanket right next to her.
"Hey, hows your day going?"
"Okay,"
"That's good, I've been trying to get a hold of you for a few days."
"Yeah, sorry I've just been busy"
"You mean busy avoiding me?" Jason's question was direct and he stared unabashedly at her.
"That's..." Elizabeth tried to speak, but she knew she would be lying so she stopped herself.
"That's true, isn't it?" He asked softly. She nodded and started to look away.
"Hey" he put his hand on top of hers, "I get it. You don't trust me, but one day you will."
"Jason, what are you doing here?"
"Well I came to talk to Carly but now that you're here, what I have to tell her can wait. You come first"
Elizabeth stared at him in shock, "Could you repeat that?" She thought she had heard wrong.
"I said you come first...you didn't hear wrong." He said as he chuckled at her face as he squeezed her hand.
Looking down at their intertwined hands she sighed, "Jason don't do this" She pleased with him as she kept her voice low so that they weren't heard by the kids or Carly as she turned to watch her kids.
Jason started moving his hand as his thumb started to stroke her soft skin. He felt the tremor that ran through her body to her hand at his touch. Smiling, he knew that she wasn't unaffected by him. That gave him hope. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. They had never had a problem in the physical department, but it was the emotional part that they had struggled with over the years and now that he remembered all of their past, he could see how his actions over the past few years had led to the mistrust between them but they had started as friends, and he knew they could get back to that if she just gave them a chance.
"Do you remember when we ran into each other on the docks and you said that maybe it was a sign that I was going to give you a sign?"
Elizabeth smiled softly as she remembered the night he was talking about, "that was the night I asked you to help me decide on a painting of Lucky."
"You wanted to know if there was only one portrait of Lucky in the world, would it be a picture of him on the docks or a picture of him playing the guitar? It was for your art mid term and you couldn't make up your mind so I helped you decide by pulling out a quarter and leaving it up to chance."
Elizabeth looked at him in shock as she realized he did actually remember. "Heads for the docks and tails for the guitar"
"I tossed it up and you grabbed it out of my hands saying guitar because you had already decided. You just thought you needed my help."
"I just needed you to help me make up my mind." She smiled affectionately.
"Then you stole my quarter, you said it was a good luck charm."
"You actually remember that?" Elizabeth asked. It was hard to believe but the way he was re telling the story, it had to be from his memories.
"That we used to be friends first? Yeah, I was kind of hoping we could go back to that."
"You want us to just start over? Jason, that's just not possible any more."
"Why don't we leave it chance." Jason said as he pulled a quarter out of his pocket.
"Are you serious?"
"If it's heads, you and I go back to just co-parenting Jake and that will be the only thing between us." Jason said as he let that sink in.
"If it's tails?"
"Then you and I agree to try and start over by being friends, anything else we can talk about later, agreed?" Jason looked into her ocean blue eyes and waited for her to respond. He waited with bated breath as he prayed that she would give him a chance.
Elizabeth took a moment to think before she said anything. Could she do it? Could she just try and be friends after everything that had happened? Then again, how could she just cut him out of her life? Making up her mind, she said "okay"
Jason threw the coin up in the air, never taking his eyes off Elizabeth's. This was it, the future of their friendship and their relationship was going to be determined by this quarter he thought as the quarter started to come back down.
"Tails" Both of their hands reached out to grasp the quarter before it hit the blanket in between them.
Time stood still as their eyes kept going back and forth between their hands and each other, waiting for the other one to speak. Jason looked at her face as he saw a smile tugging from the corner of her mouth just fighting to get out. He was trying to hide his own excitement.
"Finally, we agree on something" Jason said reminding her or the night in his penthouse where they agreed to try. She blushed as she ducked her head to hide her face. Only this time, he wasn't going to let her hide from him. He reached out and with his hand lifted her face to meet his and nearly groaned as she was biting her lip so he leaned closer. Elizabeth's eyes widened at the thought that he might kiss her but was surprised when his lips met her forehead. Her heart started hammering at their nearness. She could only sit still.
Jason pulled back and smiled at her shyness. "So friends?" Jason hated to break the moment, but he needed to go slowly so he could re-build their trust.
"Okay" Elizabeth agreed quietly.
"Good, now it's getting late, can I walk you somewhere?" Jason asked. Elizabeth took a deep breath, she could do this. "Actually yes, I have to bring Jake to his new patient appointment with his therapist, would you want to come with us?"
"Of course, is everything okay?" His concern for their son was brought to the forefront as he turned to see Jake laughing and playing with his brothers, Joss and Carly.
"I am not sure, he's been acting out a lot and with everything he has been through, I thought it might be a good idea for him to see someone."
"Acting out how?"
"So far as it's just been him not getting along with Cameron."
"Isn't that normal with siblings, especially brothers?"
"I thought so at first, but I think there is more under the surface. I can't put my finger on what, but there's something else going on." Elizabeth shrugged.
"Alright, I believe you, what are we going to do with Cameron and Aiden while we are in the appointment? I mean assuming that you think it should just be you and I and Jake? Jason didn't want to make any more decisions for her.
"Let me see if Carly could watch them for a little while?"
"Wait, did you just voluntarily suggest Carly as a babysitter for our kids?" Jason asked. He was astonished. He thought Carly and Elizabeth would never get along.
If Elizabeth heard him say "our" when it came to the kids, she didn't show it. "Yeah I did, her and I have actually started to become friends. I trust her."
Jason felt as if the world had turned upside down at her words. Carly and Elizabeth friends? When did that happen?
"Okay," He felt like his head was spinning as Elizabeth turned towards the sandbox where Carly was crouching next to it keeping an eye on the kids.
"Hey Carly," Elizabeth called out
"What's up?" Carly was pretending she hadn't been watching the two of them. The two idiots had been sharing quite a moment and were oblivious to everyone around them.
"I have to take Jake to his appointment and Jason is going to come with me, would you mind watching Cam and Aiden during it?"
"Sure, not a problem. I'll take them back to my house and feed them and you can pick them up there." Carly was grinning as she shared a look of approval with Elizabeth who rolled her eyes in response even though she too was trying to fight a smile.
Meanwhile Jason had been watching the exchange bewildered, Elizabeth chuckled as she motioned for him to stand up so she could fold the blanket that they had been sitting on.
"Jake honey, say goodbye. It's time to go." Elizabeth called out to him as her and Jason stood next to each other waiting for their son.
Jake got up and brushed the sand off his clothes before turning and walking away without saying a word. The three grown-up shared a look and Jake pretended he didn't see them. He wasn't stupid, he knew where his parents were taking him. They thought he was crazy, if only they knew. Jake thought to himself as he kept walking towards his "parents."
"Wait" Josslyn called out.
Jake turned back towards the little blonde girl as she came over and placed her tiny arms around him, giving him a hug. Jake was taken aback. He wasn't expecting this. This wasn't part of the plan. He didn't know what to do and he kept waiting for the voice to enter his thoughts and tell him what to do, just as it had done this entire past few weeks since he had been returned. So he did what felt natural, and placed his arms around the little girl for a moment before the two of them pulled back and Josslyn ran back to her mom's side, her cheeks warming up.
Carly, Jason and Elizabeth just stood there stunned as they watched a smile appear on Jake's face. An honest to goodness, genuine smile that reached his eyes. Just as quickly as had it appeared, it disappeared again, and Jake moved towards his dad's side. He held out his hand and Jason moved to take it and start walking but Jake held firm. "Mom," his other hand reached out to grab Elizabeth's. When he had his parent's hands, he said "now I'm ready"
Touched Jason and Elizabeth smiled at Carly and the kids as the three of them walked hand and hand out of the park. Jake had his parent's on either side of him and he smiled. Now if only this was how it was all the time. He thought with a grimace.
"Life would be so much easier if you were an only child. Right Jake? Repeat please." The cold voice was back and his throbbing head welcomed the relief.
"Life would be so much easier if I was an only child."
"You were supposed to be an only child."
"I was supposed to be an only child."
Jake gripped his parent's hands a little tighter as they entered the hospital. He wasn't looking forward to the doctor trying to get inside of his head He didn't want the doctor figuring out his plans. Otherwise everything would be ruined.
A/N: Well what did you think? More Liason chapters to come if you want more that is? LOL R&R Please!