Forgotten Apologies Part 3

A/N: I was going to put this story on hiatus because I had no inspiration. Its hard to find inspiration to write this story when they never go their fair shot and I only had old scenes to go off of. However, this scene was really hard for me to write. I won't go into details, but I have a personal connection to this scene, and I think that's why I couldn't write it for so long. I am sorry to all my readers that have waited so long for this story to be continued. I hope you like the chapter.

Two days after Elizabeth had told Sonny he was on notice, the mobster had yet to make any contact with her and she couldn't have been happier. That man had done enough damage to her, to Jason but specifically her kids. Elizabeth mused to herself as she made the boys sandwiches while they played outside. If it wasn't for him, Cam would have been Jason's and they would still be together.

"What about Jake and Aiden? They might not be here if history was re written." Her conscious interrupted her thoughts reminding her that she can't live in the past…Jason taught her that.

As if it was happening right before her eyes, Elizabeth flashed back to the night of the blackout right before her and Jason acted on their feelings for the first time since the early 2000's-

"You know I always liked how you do that, how you look back with no regrets."

"Well, when you first met me, all I did was look back and think of the what if's but then you taught me how to live in the present and that gave me hope for the future. It was an amazing gift Jason, I don't think you ever knew just how much I fell in love with you."

He didn't ever really know, Elizabeth thought bitterly as the doorbell rang.

Shaking her head away from the memories, she called out "Come In." Elizabeth heard the shuffling of boots and knew instantly that it was Jason that had come to visit. Eventually she was going to have to face him and they were going to have to deal with their issues. That day at the park where he flipped the quarter was supposed to be the start of their friendship but ever since then Elizabeth had been avoiding him, spending time with her boys and going to therapy. In her last therapy session, she was learning that she still had a lot of abandonment issues and that was contributing to her need to push Jason away. In fact, he was the cause of a lot of her abandonment issues, he kept leaving her. Elizabeth didn't know how they were supposed to get past all of this when she couldn't lower her damn walls.

"Hi" Jason greeted her softly. Just the sound of his voice a lone could make her melt. She turned around and tried not gasp at how handsome he looked in his light blue t-shirt and jeans with his signature leather jacket.

"Hi, what brings you by?" Good. Straight to the point and polite. Elizabeth applauded herself.

"Well, the other night I was talking with Jake and he said something about Cam understanding he has to be the man of the house now? I think he and I are overdue for a conversation and I'd like to talk to him if that's okay with you."

"I don't know if that's a good idea Jason. He is still a little kid and you've already let him down more than once, I don't think his heart can take it."

"His heart or your heart?" He asked calling her out. Jason knew that her momma bear instincts were in full force but so were her self-preservation instincts. He knew that this was going to be a fight but it mattered enough and he would make her see his side.

"They are one and the same." Elizabeth stood her ground.

"Cam's been hurt by me, don't you think I should apologize?" Jason asked.

"I think that you've hurt him enough and an apology isn't going to make it better. I know my son…you're going to get an earful and he's the one that will be shattered.

"I promise you, I have no intention of hurting him, but Elizabeth I care about Cam as if he was my own. Hell, he should have been mine and you know it." Jason's voice had a sharp edge to it.

Elizabeth felt a dull ache in her body at his words. Wasn't she just thinking along those same lines moments ago? Never mind, she wasn't going to go there. Not today at least.

"Fine you can talk to him but be careful Jason."

"I will be."

"I mean it, you break my sons heart over again, you will have me to deal with." Elizabeth warned.

Jason reached for her hands and held them close to his chest. "I promise I will not hurt him." He looked into her eyes and hoped she could see the sincerity behind his.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Jason. We've had enough of them for a lifetime." She responded equally as sincere which struck Jason to the core as she wrenched her hands away and turned to get Cameron.

"Cameron!" She yelled outside the kitchen window

"Yeah Mom?"

"Can you come inside for a few minutes? Jason would like to talk with you."

There was a long pause before they heard a long and almost resigned small voice say "okay."

Outside the two older boys looked at each other. "Why is your dad wanting to talk to me?" Cam asked Jake.

"I don't know." Jake responded as he too was confused as to why his father wanted to talk to Cam.
"But if you don't go in there right away, moms gonna be mad." He said.

"Alright, keep an eye on Aiden while I am gone" Cam waved to where Aiden was sitting in the sandbox playing in the sand only a few feet away.

"Yep."

Jake watched Cam walk inside with his shoulders and head hanging low. He could tell that his brother wanted nothing to do with his dad. Cam had been saying for the last few weeks that he didn't want Jason coming around any more yelling at mommy and making her cry. Jake hadn't seen mommy cry but he believed Cam because Cam was his older brother.

A haze filled Jake's eyes as a memory filled his head.

"Jake, what do you want?"

"I want to go home"

"Splash him again" Jake felt the cold all the way down his pants. "Wrong answer. Honestly how many times are we going to have to go through this Jacob. Answer the question as your queen has commanded you too."

"I want to be an only child."

"Correct, and soon my dear…you will be."

"Jakey" a small voice startled Jake out of his memory and Jake looked down to see Aiden staring up at him with a concerned expression.

Aiden reached out to touch Jake's face, "why sad?" He asked.

"I'm not sad Aiden, let's go inside and play with Charlie." Jake brushed off his question and grabbed Aiden's hand and led him inside.

~Meanwhile in the living room~

"Sweetie, Jason would like to talk to you for a little bit. Is that okay?" Elizabeth asked her oldest.

Cam looked to her to Jason and then back to her, "I guess." He sat down on the couch and looked down at his feet sullenly.

"I'll be in the kitchen if you need me Cam," Elizabeth squeezed his shoulder and glared at Jason as she walked away.

Jason watched her walk away, struggling with how to start talking to the boy he had always thought of as his son.

"Cameron, I think I owe you an apology." Jason plopped down on the couch next to him. He was expecting Cameron to say 'for what' or to say anything at all but Cam remained silent. This was going to be harder than he thought. He was going to have to open up to Cameron the same way he had opened up to Elizabeth in the past.

"Cam, I wanted to say I am sorry. "That got the little boy's attention.

"For what?"

"For not being here when you needed me." Jason started out. He could hear Cameron's sharp intake of breath and it pained him to know that his son was hurting, and he was the cause.

"Don't worry about it Jason" Cameron didn't want to have this conversation, any conversation really.

"I need to worry about it, because I hurt you by not being around lately and Jake pointed it out to me."

"What did Jake say?"

"He mentioned that you said you were used to being the man of the house. "Jason wasn't going to mention the other part of what Jake had said because he had every intention of changing that.

"Well yeah Jason, I am the oldest." Cameron said sarcastically.

"I know you are and you are turning into quite the young man."

"Jason you don't have to do this."

"Do what?"

"Act like you care about me because its pretty clear you don't." Cameron was done listening to Jason being patronizing. When mommy had told him that Jake was really Jason, Cameron silently stewed. Jake he liked, Jason had never been around and didn't care about him and his brothers.

Out of all the things Cameron could have said, nothing could have struck Jason to his core but that. To hear that Cameron thought he didn't care about him broke his heart.

"Cam, of course I care. I have always cared."

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Cameron exploded as he jumped up from the couch. "IF you did, you would have been here. You would have been here for all my birthdays, for Christmases and all the holidays. You would have stopped that woman from being mean to us. You would have gone through with marrying mom and you would be my dad…our dad. But you didn't do any of those things and you weren't here for any of those things, so you obviously don't care."

Cam was breathing hard by the time he finished as he stared into a pair of stunned eyes. His outburst shocked Jason and for a few minutes neither of them said anything. The yelling drew Elizabeth out of the kitchen, and she was going to intervene, but Jason just shook his head and Elizabeth retreated into the kitchen when she leaned against the wall and wondered how it was she didn't see how much pain her little boy was in.

"Cam," Jason got up off the couch and started walking towards him intent on wanting to give him a hug

"Don't" Cam put his hands up. If Jason tried to hug him right now, he might just burst into tears. He didn't want to cry, being angry was enough for him.

"Okay, I won't but Cam you need to listen, really listen to what I am about to say. Can you do that for me?"

Cameron nodded but remained silent.

"Cameron, I have always cared about you. I knew you before you were even born." Cam looked up in surprise. "I did, I got to touch your moms' belly when she was pregnant with you, I got to feel you kicking against her belly. I got to hold you for the first time when you were very little and I loved you even though I wasn't around. You have always held a special place in my heart. "

"Then why weren't you around?"

Jason just sighed; he didn't want to expose Cameron to that world but he thought if he could tailor down what he was going to say then Cam would understand. "At the time, I worked in a very dangerous job and it wasn't safe for me to be around you or your mother. It wasn't safe."

"I heard mom say that love wasn't supposed to be safe one time." Both Jason and Elizabeth winced at that. Elizabeth because she didn't realize her son had been listening to her as intently as he had been and Jason because he didn't really know what to say to that. He just looked at Cameron, whose eyes were shining with unshed tears. His son was trying to be brave. He looked so much like Elizabeth in that moment.

"Your right, love isn't supposed to be safe but sometimes when you love someone, you have to take their safety into consideration. That's what I did. I wanted to protect you and your mom and Jake."

"If you really wanted to protect us, you would have been with us and you would have been there to protect us. You would have been there to stop mommy from crying all the time."

That just tugged at Jason's heartstrings "Cameron, I wish I had been here."

"You know when I first thought you were Jake, I liked you. You made mommy happy, and you were around all the time, but now that I know you're Jason, I hate you. You were supposed to be my dad, I wanted you to be my dad more than Lucky but you didn't want that. You just wanted to be Jake's dad but you didn't' even really want that because you weren't around for him. You weren't there to stop him from getting hit by the car or by taken by that evil lady. Where were you Jason? Why haven't you been around? At this point Cameron was crying as he had advanced on Jason and started hitting him. "I hate you; I hate you; I hate you."

Jason was crying too, each hit hurt. Not physically but emotionally. He wrapped his arms around Cameron and together they sank to the ground as Cameron collapsed against Jason.

In the kitchen Elizabeth was crying into her hands silently as she listened to the two of them. Her heart was breaking because she was now realizing that her eldest held more inside than she ever knew and that made her hate herself for not noticing.

Jason waited until Cameron's sobs had subsided into quiet whimpers as he just held him and stroked his head. Oh, how he wished he could turn back time so that Cameron would know that he had always cared. That he had always loved him.

"Cameron, I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I love you so much. I love your brothers and I love your mother."

"Then where have you been these last few weeks, why did you just go away?"

"Your mom and I had some things we needed to work on, especially now that I have my memories back." Cameron didn't need to know the details of why he walked away. He just needed to know that he wasn't ever walking away again. "I promise I am not going anywhere."

"Mommy says you have to let your actions speak louder than your words."

Jason smirked, that was such an Elizabeth thing to say. "You're mom's right. And I promise that I will do better. Can you at least trust me on that?"

"I can try" Cameron said in a small voice as he got up off of Jason and stuck his hands in his pockets.

Jason too got up, "Thank you Cam."

"But you have to promise to not just be there for me, but to be there for Jake and Aiden too." Cameron wasn't leaving his brothers out of the equation.

"I promise." Jason stared into his son's eyes as he tried to convey his sincerity.

"And you have to promise to stop making mommy cry." Cameron wasn't backing down. His mom had been hurt enough.

"I promise that I will do everything in my power to make sure your mom doesn't cry again." Jason wasn't going to lie to him, but he would try to be as honest as he could be.

"Okay, I need to go up and check on my brothers. I will talk to you later." Cameron wiped his eyes before he started moving upstairs.

Jason just stood there and watched as his son went upstairs. Of all the things he thought could have happened with his talk with Cameron, what happened wasn't it. His chest hurt and his eyes had begun to shine again.

"I promise Cameron, I won't let you down again." He said quietly to himself before he remembered Elizabeth. Heading into the kitchen, he looked around and found her slumped against the wall looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Holding his hand out, she took it as he gracefully pulled her up and into his arms.

Elizabeth took comfort in his arms holding her tight as her head fell into the place between his shoulder and collarbone where she always felt like fit. "How did I not see it Jason? How did I not see how badly he was hurting?"

"I think we both could ask that question, but now we know, and we can only help him to get past it." Jason just caressed her back.

"How can we help him get past it when I can't even get past it?" Elizabeth cried. She was so tried of hbeign angry and having her walls up but she just couldn't allow herself to trust him.

Jason let the tears fall from his eyes as he just gripped her tighter. "Maybe we should see Dr. Monroe…. together. He had yet to see the doctor, but maybe that's how his first appointment should go. With Elizabeth by his side.

Shocked Elizabeth pulled away, "You are volunteering to go to therapy with me. Did you hit your head?"

Jason just smirked. "No, I am perfectly fine." He got serious again, "But I do think we need to see someone. We have issues. We have serious issues that we need to talk about."

"I'll make the appointment." Elizabeth said wiping her eyes. Elizabeth pulled out her phone and called the hospital. Jason stood by and watched as she made the appointment for the two of them the following Wednesday.

When Elizabeth hung up the phone, Jason took his hand and placed it over her shaking hand, "I should get going but can I see you again? You and the boys, before the appointment?"

"You can see them whenever you want Jason." She wanted to add, 'I've never stopped you from seeing them.' But she didn't want to start something she had no energy to finish.

"Okay, I will be by as often as I can before then."

'You don't need to…"

"I promise you."

Elizabeth just nodded. She didn't want to argue.

"I'll see you later." He said intentionally hoping to get her to smile.

When a small smile graced her face, he inwardly cheered as she led him to her front door.

"Elizabeth," Jason turned around to face her.

"Yes,"

"I love you." He said softly as he turned back around without waiting for a response and walked out the door. Too stunned, Elizabeth just closed the door behind her as she leaned against it. On the other side of the door, Jason was leaning against it as the tears started to fall again. He would do whatever it took to make sure his family knew he loved them, and he vowed he would never leave them again.

A/N: Please read and review. Again, my apologies for the delay in this chapter. Hope you liked it and if you are a fan of the liaison couple, don't give up on them or on me.