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12. Recognizing Suffering for What it Was

Elsewhere mere minutes after Elizabeth escaped…

"I can't believe you let her get away. You were supposed to close the door behind you," the man yelled through the long corridor.

"Like you're much better, you were planning on shooting her," the other man stated in return.

"Well we've got a bigger problem. Manny Ruiz bought Elizabeth. He's on his way to Port Charles, and he's not going to be happy until he gets what he wants. What's he going to do when we can't produce her?"

"I told you not to auction her off. I wanted time with her. If you had listened to me we wouldn't be in this predicament. She would've escaped but we wouldn't have the threat of Manny. "

"Maybe we can give him Mary Joe. She's sweet, and looks similar to Elizabeth. We could give him his money back, and offer her up and maybe he'll back off," the man said as paced around the room.

"You're kidding right? He's going to want the heir that we promised him. Elizabeth is valuable in the mob underworld, Lucky."

"Well I'm sorry, Nikolas. Given that she's so valuable, I thought it was better to unload her quickly. We don't need the heat from the Mob," Lucky replied.

"I didn't even get a her chance to show her how much I love her," Nikolas replied, "Now she'll never understand."

"What are going to do with the rest of them?" Lucky asked.

"Nothing at the moment. We'll use them to barter with Manny. You never know he may cut us some slack. Let's just see what happens," Nik replied, "What are you going to do?"

"I've got to go to work and deal with the fallout of the escape," Lucky replied.

"Well be careful. Hopefully, they won't be able to link us to her abduction at PCPD," Nik replied.

"I don't see how they could. There's no way she survived that fall," Lucky replied sure of himself.

"I don't know about that. Just be careful and stay in touch," Nikolas replied as he took the long tunnel back to Wyndemere. His prisoners were fed, and he would see them tomorrow.

Hours later and Back at General Hospital.

Carly rolled her eyes and sneered, "That doesn't answer my question. You've all left me, the victim here, for that thief."

Jason turned around and regarded the pregnant woman, "We're just doing what's right Carly, and she isn't a thief."

"But you said she stole the money, Jason," Carly answered.

"We were mistaken, Carly. Ric hired someone else to do it," Jason answered, "Now please keep your voice down and go back to your room, where you will be better protected.

"Mistaken? That's not possible. You did a background check. Jason don't be fooled by this thieving liar," Carly said.

"Watch your mouth," Sonny stated as he approached Carly, "Let's get you back to your room."

"Don't tell me you're buying into this crap too. Elizabeth is a Zacchara, and as we've learned Zacchara's are nothing but trouble.

Jason let out a growl, "Would you please go back to your room. We can't protect you when you're not where you're supposed to be.

"Come on Carly, I will explain things, but not here at the hospital. Too many ears around for my liking," Sonny said trying to distract his own hurricane from attacking what could very well be his daughter.

Jason paid no attention to Sonny or Carly as she was escorted away. He pushed out a tired breath.

Dr. Drake walked back up to the room, as Alec made his way out. "Well?" Dr. Drake asked.

"Do you happen to have a Physician's Desk Reference?" Alec asked.

"Follow me," Dr. Drake said as Alec followed him down the hall.

Jason took the opportunity to walk into Elizabeth's room and take a seat near her bed. The only light in the room was the one on all the wall that was more of an ambiance light that was mounted to the wall above Elizabeth's head. She was still shivering on the bed.

"You said I'd find out the truth someday and that I may regret what I said. You don't know how true that is. All the hurt I caused you," Jason shaking his head, "I'm so sorry. So very sorry."

Flashback

"What the hell happened here?" Jason asked taking in the broken frame.

"Nothing," Elizabeth replied in a whisper.

"It doesn't look like nothing to me. It looks like you broke my framed picture of Michael. You know that was a gift to me right?" Jason stated with a look of disgust on his face.

"It was an accident, I'll replace it," Elizabeth replied while she continued to sweep. Her hair was down and she was in long sleeves so none of her injuries that she sustained from Anthony were visible.

"Unlike you, that frame was irreplaceable to me," Jason said as he walked up to the pool table where the picture was laying, the frame and glass were being swept up.

"You know when I agreed to marry you as part of this business deal, Anthony said you were vindictive, greedy, and vengeful, but I never dreamed that you were sick enough to destroy my belongings all because I don't want you. You really thought you could tempt me?" Jason stated questioned with venom.

"I said it was an accident. I didn't mean for this to happen," Elizabeth replied in defense her voice shaking.

"Just get out of my sight for a while, and don't forget we have dinner with Sonny tonight. You've been invited despite how everyone feels about you, so you better plaster your best smile on and act appropriately," Jason said knowing that his words probably hurt her, but not realizing how deeply they cut.

"Will all of the family be in attendance?" Elizabeth asked dejectedly.

"Carly will be there. Courtney will be there sitting with me of course."

Elizabeth took a deep breath nearly in tears as Jason continued, "You thought you won didn't you? Demanding that we marry for this agreement with your grandfather to take effect. But you couldn't break us apart. Oh and Ric will be in attendance, with his girlfriend Alexis. You should really stop hitting on him too. It's embarrassing. Now go. I'll clean this up. I can't believe you would be so petty."

Jason bent down to pick up the glass never noticing her slow trudge to her quarters on the main floor.

Sometime later...

"Bang, bang, bang," the noise jarred her from her sleep. Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes. Forgetting her injuries she made to stand up, but it was nearly impossible. The door was unlocked from the other side as Jason emerged, he walked in and crossed his arms with a stern expression. "It's time for dinner. Time to get up. You are so lazy," Jason said clearly trying to get under her skin. He needled her the way he would Faith Roscoe.

"I'm really not hungry, Jason. I want to stay here tonight," Elizabeth said.

"That's too bad, we're going to dinner and you're going to be present," Jason as he made his way over to the bed.

"Fine, can I at least wear this? I don't want to dress up," Elizabeth asked.

"I don't care what you wear. Sonny wanted you there tonight, not me," Jason replied before leaving.

Elizabeth slowly got up, and made her way to the door.

"Could you move any slower?" Jason asked sarcastcally. Something was off with Elizabeth but he couldn't figure out what. He'd been surprised that she broke the frame, but a person could only take so much. He'd made it a point not to get her hopes up where a romantic relationship was concerned. He wasn't really serious about Courtney. They were keeping it casual, but it was fun getting under a person's skin like Elizabeth. Not that Elizabeth wasn't beautiful, but for purposes of self-preservation he couldn't afford to get attached to Elizabeth. He didn't mind messing with the gold digger's head though. The thing was that until today, he thought that maybe they'd been misled regarding Elizabeth's past. He was surprised to observe that she often kept to herself in quiet contemplation or reading. It was clear to him that their current relationship was eating at her, but he couldn't understand why. He married her just like she wanted, and she would have $10 million dollars to show for it when it was over. If she followed the rules. It was like she wanted more of a real relationship, but never went out of her way to ask for it knowing he would never give in. It was all so perplexing. She was moving slowly, and he couldn't figure out why. They made their way over to Sonny's. The dining room table was all setup. Sonny and Carly's places were at the head of the table at each end. Elizabeth was sitting one side of Sonny, Jason sat on the other. Courtney was already seated, as she was sitting next to Jason. No one sat next to Elizabeth. Next to Courtney sat Ric, Sonny's half-brother on his mother's side. Next to Ric sat Sonny's ex and Ric's current girlfriend Alexis Davis, and at the other end of table sat Carly.

Everyone was seated and ironically Ric said the grace. Elizabeth kept her head down and her eyes on her plate. She was extremely uncomfortable with Ric being there. Everyone at the table was under the sick assumption that Elizabeth had a thing for Ric but was rebuffed along the way; nothing could be further from the truth. Ric was a twisted individual.

Elizabeth, was not feeling well, and her injuries only compounded how sick she felt at the moment. She could hear the others talking, Ric thought he was telling a funny story. Alexis laughed. Elizabeth was resigned to pushing food around on her plate. She really wasn't up for this charade.

"Is something wrong with the meal, Elizabeth? You've hardly touched your food," Sonny asked the young woman sitting near him. He didn't like her, but she was under their protection so he would be as hospitable as he could manage.

"It's delicious Mr. Corinthos, I'm just not feeling great. I appreciate that you invited me to dinner, though. That was thoughtful of you."

"Damn straight it was after what you did today," Carly chimed in, asserting herself with no facts as usual.

"Did you do something you weren't supposed to?" Ric asked in a snarky tone before adding, "Say it isn't so."

"What did she do?" Sonny asked. His eyes never leaving Elizabeth's face as she kept her head down. Something was definitely wrong with this girl.

"You didn't hear?" Courtney asked her older half-brother.

"Hear what?" Sonny asked.

"She broke the frame over the mantle that had the picture of Michael in it."

"Why would you do that?" Sonny asked.

"It was an accident," Elizabeth maintained remembering Anthony's threat.

"Accident my foot," Jason said. "It was shattered in pieces."

Courtney took the opportunity to pretend like she was grabbing for the bowl of mashed potatoes and spilled the bottle of wine on the table that was near Elizabeth, instantly drenching her. "Whoops, my bad. See it was an accident," Courtney said in an attempt to be funny.

"Good one," Carly cheered immaturely.

"Was that really necessary?" Alexis asked, "It's obvious that she feels bad about breaking the frame."

"It's okay, Miss Davis. If you'll all excuse me, I will take my leave," Elizabeth said getting up slowly, "Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Mr. Corinthos, but I should go as I'm clearly ruining it."

Elizabeth had barely made it out the door, before she was followed out by Carly. "Just remember this situation is temporary, and if I hear that you've broken anything else of Jason's so help me," Carly stated as she slapped Elizabeth's face as hard as she could, causing her head to hit the wall near the elevator. Jason saw the tail end of it as he came up behind Carly.

"Carly," Jason scolded, "There was no reason to do that."

"She broke that frame on purpose, Jason," Carly said as if it was a defense.

"Still I-," Jason was cut off.

"Let it go, Jason. It's fine, I'm fine," was all Elizabeth said as she walked over to the their penthouse again, slowly.

Carly turned to Jason, "Come on, let her go. Let's finish our dinner in peace without the interloper."

"You didn't need to do that. I had it handled with her," Jason said as he watched Elizabeth walk away and through his door.

End Flashback

"My God, I'm so sorry. I swear on everything that no one will ever hurt you again," Jason said as he looked at his broken bride on the bed.

"I think I've got it. It's a drug called Disolusional. It's a type of Benzo that won't show up in tox screenings," Alec said.

"We'll administer something to flush it out of her system, and perhaps by tomorrow we'll see better results.

Elsewhere on televisions across town….

"Maria, can you tell us what's happened this evening?"

"Sure, Jenny. I'm standing here at the riverbank just outside of Port Charles where a woman was pulled out of the water by an older gentleman who was fishing nearby when a badly injured woman was barely swimming managed to capture his attention. He pulled her from the water and was able to actually get reception way out here. The woman who has now been identified as Elizabeth Morgan was taken to General Hospital and is listed in critical condition."

"Elizabeth Morgan? Is she related to Jason Morgan the Coffee Importer?" Jenny asked.

"That's where this gets stranger, she is in fact the estranged wife of Jason Morgan. No word yet from him or his attorney on his possible involvement," Maria stated.

"Thank you, Maria. If you have any tips please call 585-123-4567," Jenny stated to the at home viewing audience.

"Damn it. Why did you have to live, Elizabeth?" Lucky asked.

From another couch watching.

"I wonder if Jason knows about this?" Sam asked as she sat on the couch.

From another bed in General Hospital

"Why couldn't she have stayed gone?" Carly asked.

From an office in General Hospital

"Thank God she's alive," Alan said having just made it into work.

From the television on the plane

"They tried to double-cross me by offering up a married woman. I'll make them pay and take her anyway," Manny declared.

From a house in Rochester

"Thank God, she was found alive. Hold on, Elizabeth. Epiphany is on her way."

From an office at Crimson Pointe

"Well Trevor, I'm glad you're back. It looks like our little girl has finally come home. It's time we visit Elizabeth, and find out where the boy is," Anthony stated as he clutched his infamous cane.

From a living room at Wyndemere

"Nik, I can't believe it. Elizabeth is alive. She better not say a word about what she knows," Courtney said.