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Ch 10 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Prov. 13:12)
Warming sunlight crept through her shaded eyes. She made her next breath slow and deep. Hers arms drew up from under the coverings as she opened her eyes to reveal the wall of her teenage room. Her mind had not found its focus yet and in the childhood environment, she hovered between what was real and the nightmare existence that had presented itself to her. She stretched again rolling over to face into the room. Still In the hazy of sleep, her eyes had seen something, and she looked back to focus on it.
"What are you doing?" Elizabeth's voice was husky from the night.
"Watching you sleep. I haven't done it in a very long time."
She started to move the comforter off her and realized she was still dressed in the clothes she had put on to go to the hospital yesterday. The same clothes she had on when she learned the truth from her mother. After that she could not really remember much else. She glanced again at the man leaning forward in the wicker chair. "Have you been here all night?" He only nodded in response. "What time is it?" she yawned.
"A little after eight." Jason did not need to look at his watch. He had been awoken by the hall clock's chimes as he slept on the couch downstairs. He came up to check on her and had only been sitting a few moments before she stirred.
"You didn't need to stay and baby-sit me."
"I just didn't want to leave you alone last night." He paused. "In case you needed something." He got up and moved to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What I need is a shower." She looked around the room and found her robe. She got up from the bed, sliding his hand away, and went to retrieve it. "And some time alone." He followed her, stopping in front of her.
"I want to try and be there for you. This has to be hard for you."
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but I need to work though some things. And you have your own problems with Sonny to deal with."
"Elizabeth," he protested. She shook her head and moved past him and out the door. She walked into the bathroom but waited to turn the water on until she heard the front door open and shut. Then the starting of an engine.
Elizabeth let the water sear her skin. Images and words flashing through her mind. It was date rape. Her mother said no. That constitutes rape. She passed out. He took advantage of her, rape. She was drunk. He was drunk. Rape. No matter how she played it in her brain the conclusion was still the same. Mike Corbin raped her mother. So what did that make her? Mike Corbin's bastard daughter. Born of a tragic crime that left her family fighting to keep the secret that made her feel ashamed and outcast all her life. At least now she knew where those feelings came from and why.
Elizabeth's thoughts went again to Mike. She had known him for years, and he just did not seem the type. Sure he had problems with alcohol and gambling, but rape just did not seem to fit. Rape was about control. She knew this from her own experience recovering from her own ordeal. The only conclusion she could come up with was that he was so out of control in the other areas of his life, he did it to try and feel he had some power. She had heard about it happening with addicts. They would be so out of control that they would do other destructive things just to exert their own will over something or someone.
Turning off the water and dressing, Elizabeth headed to the hospital. She walked past the ICU ward and glanced in the window at Mike Corbin's lifeless body. She stopped and let out a deep sigh. Then she wandered down the familiar corridors until she came to a half-opened office door. She gave the wood a tiny tap. Not sure if this was what she wanted to do. It had been loud enough for the occupant to hear. "Come in," she called out. Elizabeth stepped timidly into the office. There was an older lady sitting behind the desk looking over some papers. She smiled when she saw Elizabeth and got up moving around the desk to greet her.
"Elizabeth, I'm so glad to see you." She motioned toward a chair and waited for her to sit.
"Is this a bad time?" Elizabeth offered a nervous smile.
"No, I have some time before a staff meeting. I know I did not get to speak to you for long at Audrey's service, but I'm glad you took me up on my offer to talk." The older, classically dressed hospital administrator took the seat by her.
"Dr. Baldwin, I did not come here to talk to you about my grandmother."
"Sweetheart, you can call me Gail, and whatever you want to talk about is just fine." She reach over and placed a hand over Elizabeth's and gave it a little squeeze. "I'm sure things have been hard on you these last few weeks."
"You would not believe the half of it," a slight laugh came out. Elizabeth took a long deep breath.
"What is it, Elizabeth? You look as if something is really troubling you." The doctor's voice was calm and soothing to her, and she wanted to tell her once-therapist everything but knew there was not enough time to cover her life since she found out her building was going to be torn down.
That is when it really hit her. It had all started with that stupid notice. 'I guess with bad news, comes bad luck,' she thought. Elizabeth took another breath. "Do you know a Mike Corbin?" she paused for only a moment. "He was brought in the other day with a gun-shot wound and is in a coma in ICU."
"I'm not familiar with his case, but I'm not that type of doctor." The woman looked at her trying to guess what this had to do with Elizabeth's visit to her today.
"He is Sonny Corinthos' father."
"Ok?" she prompted for further information.
"Well, he needs a kidney, and as it turns out I'm a perfect match." Dr. Baldwin studied her trying to get some kind of fix on the situation. "See, it turns out that Mike is also my father."
Gail studied her and could tell that this was the truth as she thought it. "Elizabeth, I'm confused. Can you please back up and explain this to me. How could this man, Mike Corbin, be your father, too?"
Elizabeth looked down and studied her hands as she began to explain the whole sorted story to her. When she finished she looked up into the woman's caring eyes as trails of water smeared her own cheeks. "So, as you see, that man lying there in a coma needs me to give him a kidney; so he can have a normal life someday; while my mother and father can't even stand to be around me because of something that man did to my mother."
"Elizabeth, none of this is your fault." The doctor was trying to absorb the whole tangled story.
"My mind knows it is not my fault, but I have to wonder about why it has all happened."
"Elizabeth, I know it must be very hard for you. After you were raped, you had so much to deal with."
"I have put that all behind me," Elizabeth cut her off.
"Yes, maybe you have, but this has to bring up all sorts of feelings for you. Just the fact that..."
Elizabeth cut her off again, "The fact that my mother was raped, and I am the product of that is that part that is impossible to understand. Children are suppose to be born out of love and bring happiness to their parents. What about me? I was born from a drunken stupor that ended in rape, and all I did was get pushed out by my parents and treated like the unwanted child I was." She had started to sob. The older lady reach for the box of tissues on her desk and handed one to her as she slipped her arm around her shoulder.
"Elizabeth, you must realize that you are a very loved individual, and this incident happened in the past. A past you can do nothing about."
The young lady looked up from behind the small white flimsy paper. "You don't get it. Not only am I the bastard, but my father is a rapist; and now I have a half brother who is a mobster. Great life, huh?" She got up from the chair and started to pace. "To top it all off, the man that raped my mother needs me to help save his life." She stopped and stared at the other woman.
"How do you feel about that?" It was a standard therapist question.
"How do you think I feel? I'm confused... hurt...angry. How can I even think of trying to help save his life? When right now, I just wish he was dead."
"You don't have to be the one to give him a kidney. He can live a long time on dialyses and stay on the list for another donor. Plus you need to think about yourself here." Elizabeth looked at her, studying her words. "Elizabeth, you are a young woman. One day you are going to get married and want to have children."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"If you give up one of your kidneys, it will be very hard on your body when you are pregnant. There are all kinds of complications that could arise from it. Putting your life and the life of a fetus at risk." Elizabeth stood still as the truth in counselor's words sank in. She had not once even thought about what the act of giving one of her organs could mean to her own health. "It is just something else to think about." Elizabeth nodded her head in response. Gail looked down at her watch. "I would like to talk to you some more, Elizabeth. Would you come back and see me again?"
"I...I don't know. I'm not real sure why I came here this time."
"I think it is because you have just had some very shocking news, and you are not sure how to handle it. I want to help you. If anything I owe it to your grandmother to be there for you." She stood and moved toward her. "You don't have to make an appointment; just stop by if you want. Or we could have lunch. I just want to make sure you are ok." Elizabeth attempted a smile and the doctor wrapped her arms around her small frame and gave her a sincere hug.
"Thank you," Elizabeth's voice cracked.
"You are welcome. You will come see me?"
"Ok," she acknowledged. Elizabeth followed the woman out of her office and turned down the hall back though the ICU.
Elizabeth came to the door to Mike's room. A nurse was coming out caring a tray. "Excuse me?" Elizabeth stopped the woman.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Um, can you tell me if thy has been any change in Mike's condition."
"No change. Are you family?" She looked at Elizabeth's unfamiliar face. She did not know how to answer the question. She did not know if she could even admit that the man who through just one violent act had set the course of her life to end up right here standing outside his hospital room wondering if she could live with the facts of history. Her body responded with out her consent and her head bobbed slightly up and down. "Well, have you talked to the doctor?"
"No."
"You should talk to his doctor. This afternoon they plan to take him off the ventilator and see if he will start to breath on his own. It will be a good sign if he does."
"And if he can't breath on his own?"
"They will put him back on and give him more time."
"Has he shown any signs of waking up?"
The nurse shook her head with a morose expression. "Why don't you sit with him for a while?" She gently smiled and left Elizabeth alone in the hall. Looking back though the glass the older man did not look real. Like some wax figure, all the details of a human with none of the life force. A cold curiosity lowered her body temperature as her feet carried her into the small room. Glancing over all the equipment in the room her mind flashed back to a Frankenstein movie where the monster was hooked up to the machines firing life into him.
She found herself reaching out to his hand. Suddenly she stopped, a flash of fear pulled her back. Followed by a paint brushes stroke of red rage. "You bastard," a steel laced whisper. Her heart froze, as the only sound in the room was the air-sucking breathing machine. She found herself taking a breath along with its methodical pace but it did not calm her. "Do you even know what you have done? Did you ever think about what my mother went through because of you?" Her voice was gaining volume and it spilled out of the room. "What you did to me? I can hardly look at you." Gripped by a splashing fury she lunged at the comatose man. Her hands found his stiff shoulders and she forcibly began shaking him. "Wake up and answer me." She screamed. "You don't just get to lie there while my mother suffers. While I..."
"Elizabeth," someone grabbed her and using great strength pulled her from her helpless victim. "What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself." The person had gained control of her and spun her around.
Shaken, the furry slipped away and she focused on the blackness of his eyes that seemed to be reading through to her soul. "Sonny," she pulled her body free from his grasp and regained her composure. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes darted toward the door where she spotted his wife.
"I called your Grandmother's, and when you did not answer I came looking for you."
"Why?"
"I wanted to make sure you were alright. Clearly, you're not."
"I talked to my mother. She confirmed what the DNA test revealed."
"That Mike could be your father," Carly piped up.
"Yeah, but it gets..." she stopped; trying to find a way to explain the story her mother had told her.
"What?" He moved her further from the ill man's bed while Carly made her way towards them.
"Well, the short story is that my mother was in Atlantic City with some girl friends when she met Mike. They got drunk."
"And slept together," Carly finished for her.
"Not exactly," Elizabeth annoyed with the skinny blond.
"What does that mean?" Sonny's tone a usual calm before the storm.
"She went to his room." She studied him not sure if he would believe the story. Her stature straitened, more ridged, "She said 'no'." Harsh conviction in her words.
"So, what are you saying?" Sonny was no big fan of his father's but he would defend the man out of family loyalty.
"He raped her." Sonny's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Come on, Elizabeth. She drank to much and did something she regrets now. So she says he raped her." The other woman crossed her arms as she huffed the words.
"No means no, Carly! It does not matter the circumstances. Just because you get drunk and sleep with strangers does not mean that everyone does." The red cape now waved in front of the bull. Carly jerked toward her only to be stopped by the gripping hand of her husband.
"Calm down," his wife furious with him as Elizabeth stood basking in the dig she had won. "Both of you. Now I'm sure there is more to this." He steadied the room.
"What more do you need to know. My mother was raped by that bastard. I was born, then cast away so they would not have to be reminded of it." Elizabeth felt as if she would boil over. Her iron stare darting from one Corinthos to the other. Too blind with her own anger to read their faces, she grabbed her purse and stormed out.
*
Elizabeth walked unconsciously through the city streets. The familiar roads a blur as each step carried her forward. She stopped to run her hand along the chain ling fence. She took about ten steps then stopped. Staring at the rubble of brick and concrete that had once stood as her home. Elizabeth in twinned the fingers of both her hands and listened to the drone of the bulldozer as it shuffled the remains about.
There was no way to return. Elizabeth tried to think back, trying to find the happiness she had once held in her hands. It had scattered as easily as the seeds of a dandelion blow by a child. A tear raised up and spilled out to glide down her cheek. She did not even bother to wipe it away.
Lost in her surroundings, she did not hear the approaching foot steps. A heavy hand came to rest on her shoulder. "Hey," his voice carried to her ear on the late winter breeze.
She took a long deep breath before turning over her shoulder to meet with his eyes. She only turned her head and her eyes glisten from the tears, "Hi."
He slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. If she had not felt that she really needed a friend right now she would have turned him away. "It's gone now, huh," his tone sympathetic. She only nodded in response. "I know things have been really rough for you lately. I know that I've been part of that, and I'm really sorry."
She kept her focus on the pile that had once been her building. "Jason, I don't know what you feel you have to apologize for. I walked out and told you I did not know you any more. I shut you out and never even thought about what impact it would have on you."
"You were hurt and upset."
She turned to look at him, "That still did not give me the right to treat a friend the way I did."
"Are we still friends, Elizabeth?" He slid his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
"I don't know anything anymore." She glanced back at the fenced off area.
"You have had a lot to digest over the past few weeks." She nodded. "I went to the hospital looking for you and I ran into Carly. She told me what you said."
"She doesn't believe me."
"I think it is what you believe that is important."
"I'm not sure what to think. I guess everything I once knew is a lie and that my true family is Mike and Sonny...God..." She took a few steps away form him. "I don't really want to think about that right now."
"Elizabeth it doesn't matter who you are related to by blood. Believe me, I know. It is the people who love you and care about you that are really your family." Elizabeth nodded and sniffled back the encroaching tears. He stepped in front of her and forced her gaze to his. "There are lots of people who care about you, Elizabeth." He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled into a gentle hug.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, breathing in the odder of leather and soap. It was a place she felt safe yet she knew she would not be able to stay there. She sighed heavily and began to pull away. Reluctantly he released her. "So, what are you planning to do now?"
"I don't know. I have to be out of the house in about a week. I'm still thinking of moving to New York to go to school there." Jason nodded. She thought she saw sadness in his eyes. "I just don't see what is here for me anymore."
The statement hung between them before he found the courage to reveal the truth to her, "I would miss you."
She offered him a tired smile. "I always missed you when you left. But you came back. Maybe I will too, someday."
"You sound like you have already made up your mind."
"I don't know. Maybe I have."
Jason felt something slide through him. A sadness like a part of him was dropping away forever. He knew he had no right to try and persuade her otherwise. For the first time he was uncertain that staying in Port Charles with out her would be right for him. When she had walked out on him he knew she was not out of his life. Even when she discovered the truth about him and Courtney he felt the pain he caused her but never once thought she was gone from his life forever.
"I have an idea." He smiled and stretched out his hand toward her.
"What?"
"You want to go for a ride?"
"A ride."
"Yeah, it will help you clear your head." He paused as she contemplated the proposal. "It's not too cold today, and we can take the cliff road."
She slid her small fingers into his, "I would like that. Can I drive?"
"Can you drive?" he chuckled.
"I have my license now."
"I don't know," he teased leading her to his bike.
When she went to get on, he motioned for her to move forward taking the driver's position. He shook his head as he climbed on behind her and turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life. He gave her a few reminding instructions as they pulled out of the alley.
Elizabeth felt the rush of air against her face as the trees whipped by. She could feel his body pressed against hers and it offered warmth and security. If there was one place in the world she wanted to stay, it was there on his bike testing fate. She screamed into the wind and did not need to think about the future any more.
Ch 10 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Prov. 13:12)
Warming sunlight crept through her shaded eyes. She made her next breath slow and deep. Hers arms drew up from under the coverings as she opened her eyes to reveal the wall of her teenage room. Her mind had not found its focus yet and in the childhood environment, she hovered between what was real and the nightmare existence that had presented itself to her. She stretched again rolling over to face into the room. Still In the hazy of sleep, her eyes had seen something, and she looked back to focus on it.
"What are you doing?" Elizabeth's voice was husky from the night.
"Watching you sleep. I haven't done it in a very long time."
She started to move the comforter off her and realized she was still dressed in the clothes she had put on to go to the hospital yesterday. The same clothes she had on when she learned the truth from her mother. After that she could not really remember much else. She glanced again at the man leaning forward in the wicker chair. "Have you been here all night?" He only nodded in response. "What time is it?" she yawned.
"A little after eight." Jason did not need to look at his watch. He had been awoken by the hall clock's chimes as he slept on the couch downstairs. He came up to check on her and had only been sitting a few moments before she stirred.
"You didn't need to stay and baby-sit me."
"I just didn't want to leave you alone last night." He paused. "In case you needed something." He got up and moved to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder.
"What I need is a shower." She looked around the room and found her robe. She got up from the bed, sliding his hand away, and went to retrieve it. "And some time alone." He followed her, stopping in front of her.
"I want to try and be there for you. This has to be hard for you."
"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but I need to work though some things. And you have your own problems with Sonny to deal with."
"Elizabeth," he protested. She shook her head and moved past him and out the door. She walked into the bathroom but waited to turn the water on until she heard the front door open and shut. Then the starting of an engine.
Elizabeth let the water sear her skin. Images and words flashing through her mind. It was date rape. Her mother said no. That constitutes rape. She passed out. He took advantage of her, rape. She was drunk. He was drunk. Rape. No matter how she played it in her brain the conclusion was still the same. Mike Corbin raped her mother. So what did that make her? Mike Corbin's bastard daughter. Born of a tragic crime that left her family fighting to keep the secret that made her feel ashamed and outcast all her life. At least now she knew where those feelings came from and why.
Elizabeth's thoughts went again to Mike. She had known him for years, and he just did not seem the type. Sure he had problems with alcohol and gambling, but rape just did not seem to fit. Rape was about control. She knew this from her own experience recovering from her own ordeal. The only conclusion she could come up with was that he was so out of control in the other areas of his life, he did it to try and feel he had some power. She had heard about it happening with addicts. They would be so out of control that they would do other destructive things just to exert their own will over something or someone.
Turning off the water and dressing, Elizabeth headed to the hospital. She walked past the ICU ward and glanced in the window at Mike Corbin's lifeless body. She stopped and let out a deep sigh. Then she wandered down the familiar corridors until she came to a half-opened office door. She gave the wood a tiny tap. Not sure if this was what she wanted to do. It had been loud enough for the occupant to hear. "Come in," she called out. Elizabeth stepped timidly into the office. There was an older lady sitting behind the desk looking over some papers. She smiled when she saw Elizabeth and got up moving around the desk to greet her.
"Elizabeth, I'm so glad to see you." She motioned toward a chair and waited for her to sit.
"Is this a bad time?" Elizabeth offered a nervous smile.
"No, I have some time before a staff meeting. I know I did not get to speak to you for long at Audrey's service, but I'm glad you took me up on my offer to talk." The older, classically dressed hospital administrator took the seat by her.
"Dr. Baldwin, I did not come here to talk to you about my grandmother."
"Sweetheart, you can call me Gail, and whatever you want to talk about is just fine." She reach over and placed a hand over Elizabeth's and gave it a little squeeze. "I'm sure things have been hard on you these last few weeks."
"You would not believe the half of it," a slight laugh came out. Elizabeth took a long deep breath.
"What is it, Elizabeth? You look as if something is really troubling you." The doctor's voice was calm and soothing to her, and she wanted to tell her once-therapist everything but knew there was not enough time to cover her life since she found out her building was going to be torn down.
That is when it really hit her. It had all started with that stupid notice. 'I guess with bad news, comes bad luck,' she thought. Elizabeth took another breath. "Do you know a Mike Corbin?" she paused for only a moment. "He was brought in the other day with a gun-shot wound and is in a coma in ICU."
"I'm not familiar with his case, but I'm not that type of doctor." The woman looked at her trying to guess what this had to do with Elizabeth's visit to her today.
"He is Sonny Corinthos' father."
"Ok?" she prompted for further information.
"Well, he needs a kidney, and as it turns out I'm a perfect match." Dr. Baldwin studied her trying to get some kind of fix on the situation. "See, it turns out that Mike is also my father."
Gail studied her and could tell that this was the truth as she thought it. "Elizabeth, I'm confused. Can you please back up and explain this to me. How could this man, Mike Corbin, be your father, too?"
Elizabeth looked down and studied her hands as she began to explain the whole sorted story to her. When she finished she looked up into the woman's caring eyes as trails of water smeared her own cheeks. "So, as you see, that man lying there in a coma needs me to give him a kidney; so he can have a normal life someday; while my mother and father can't even stand to be around me because of something that man did to my mother."
"Elizabeth, none of this is your fault." The doctor was trying to absorb the whole tangled story.
"My mind knows it is not my fault, but I have to wonder about why it has all happened."
"Elizabeth, I know it must be very hard for you. After you were raped, you had so much to deal with."
"I have put that all behind me," Elizabeth cut her off.
"Yes, maybe you have, but this has to bring up all sorts of feelings for you. Just the fact that..."
Elizabeth cut her off again, "The fact that my mother was raped, and I am the product of that is that part that is impossible to understand. Children are suppose to be born out of love and bring happiness to their parents. What about me? I was born from a drunken stupor that ended in rape, and all I did was get pushed out by my parents and treated like the unwanted child I was." She had started to sob. The older lady reach for the box of tissues on her desk and handed one to her as she slipped her arm around her shoulder.
"Elizabeth, you must realize that you are a very loved individual, and this incident happened in the past. A past you can do nothing about."
The young lady looked up from behind the small white flimsy paper. "You don't get it. Not only am I the bastard, but my father is a rapist; and now I have a half brother who is a mobster. Great life, huh?" She got up from the chair and started to pace. "To top it all off, the man that raped my mother needs me to help save his life." She stopped and stared at the other woman.
"How do you feel about that?" It was a standard therapist question.
"How do you think I feel? I'm confused... hurt...angry. How can I even think of trying to help save his life? When right now, I just wish he was dead."
"You don't have to be the one to give him a kidney. He can live a long time on dialyses and stay on the list for another donor. Plus you need to think about yourself here." Elizabeth looked at her, studying her words. "Elizabeth, you are a young woman. One day you are going to get married and want to have children."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"If you give up one of your kidneys, it will be very hard on your body when you are pregnant. There are all kinds of complications that could arise from it. Putting your life and the life of a fetus at risk." Elizabeth stood still as the truth in counselor's words sank in. She had not once even thought about what the act of giving one of her organs could mean to her own health. "It is just something else to think about." Elizabeth nodded her head in response. Gail looked down at her watch. "I would like to talk to you some more, Elizabeth. Would you come back and see me again?"
"I...I don't know. I'm not real sure why I came here this time."
"I think it is because you have just had some very shocking news, and you are not sure how to handle it. I want to help you. If anything I owe it to your grandmother to be there for you." She stood and moved toward her. "You don't have to make an appointment; just stop by if you want. Or we could have lunch. I just want to make sure you are ok." Elizabeth attempted a smile and the doctor wrapped her arms around her small frame and gave her a sincere hug.
"Thank you," Elizabeth's voice cracked.
"You are welcome. You will come see me?"
"Ok," she acknowledged. Elizabeth followed the woman out of her office and turned down the hall back though the ICU.
Elizabeth came to the door to Mike's room. A nurse was coming out caring a tray. "Excuse me?" Elizabeth stopped the woman.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Um, can you tell me if thy has been any change in Mike's condition."
"No change. Are you family?" She looked at Elizabeth's unfamiliar face. She did not know how to answer the question. She did not know if she could even admit that the man who through just one violent act had set the course of her life to end up right here standing outside his hospital room wondering if she could live with the facts of history. Her body responded with out her consent and her head bobbed slightly up and down. "Well, have you talked to the doctor?"
"No."
"You should talk to his doctor. This afternoon they plan to take him off the ventilator and see if he will start to breath on his own. It will be a good sign if he does."
"And if he can't breath on his own?"
"They will put him back on and give him more time."
"Has he shown any signs of waking up?"
The nurse shook her head with a morose expression. "Why don't you sit with him for a while?" She gently smiled and left Elizabeth alone in the hall. Looking back though the glass the older man did not look real. Like some wax figure, all the details of a human with none of the life force. A cold curiosity lowered her body temperature as her feet carried her into the small room. Glancing over all the equipment in the room her mind flashed back to a Frankenstein movie where the monster was hooked up to the machines firing life into him.
She found herself reaching out to his hand. Suddenly she stopped, a flash of fear pulled her back. Followed by a paint brushes stroke of red rage. "You bastard," a steel laced whisper. Her heart froze, as the only sound in the room was the air-sucking breathing machine. She found herself taking a breath along with its methodical pace but it did not calm her. "Do you even know what you have done? Did you ever think about what my mother went through because of you?" Her voice was gaining volume and it spilled out of the room. "What you did to me? I can hardly look at you." Gripped by a splashing fury she lunged at the comatose man. Her hands found his stiff shoulders and she forcibly began shaking him. "Wake up and answer me." She screamed. "You don't just get to lie there while my mother suffers. While I..."
"Elizabeth," someone grabbed her and using great strength pulled her from her helpless victim. "What are you doing? Get a hold of yourself." The person had gained control of her and spun her around.
Shaken, the furry slipped away and she focused on the blackness of his eyes that seemed to be reading through to her soul. "Sonny," she pulled her body free from his grasp and regained her composure. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes darted toward the door where she spotted his wife.
"I called your Grandmother's, and when you did not answer I came looking for you."
"Why?"
"I wanted to make sure you were alright. Clearly, you're not."
"I talked to my mother. She confirmed what the DNA test revealed."
"That Mike could be your father," Carly piped up.
"Yeah, but it gets..." she stopped; trying to find a way to explain the story her mother had told her.
"What?" He moved her further from the ill man's bed while Carly made her way towards them.
"Well, the short story is that my mother was in Atlantic City with some girl friends when she met Mike. They got drunk."
"And slept together," Carly finished for her.
"Not exactly," Elizabeth annoyed with the skinny blond.
"What does that mean?" Sonny's tone a usual calm before the storm.
"She went to his room." She studied him not sure if he would believe the story. Her stature straitened, more ridged, "She said 'no'." Harsh conviction in her words.
"So, what are you saying?" Sonny was no big fan of his father's but he would defend the man out of family loyalty.
"He raped her." Sonny's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Come on, Elizabeth. She drank to much and did something she regrets now. So she says he raped her." The other woman crossed her arms as she huffed the words.
"No means no, Carly! It does not matter the circumstances. Just because you get drunk and sleep with strangers does not mean that everyone does." The red cape now waved in front of the bull. Carly jerked toward her only to be stopped by the gripping hand of her husband.
"Calm down," his wife furious with him as Elizabeth stood basking in the dig she had won. "Both of you. Now I'm sure there is more to this." He steadied the room.
"What more do you need to know. My mother was raped by that bastard. I was born, then cast away so they would not have to be reminded of it." Elizabeth felt as if she would boil over. Her iron stare darting from one Corinthos to the other. Too blind with her own anger to read their faces, she grabbed her purse and stormed out.
*
Elizabeth walked unconsciously through the city streets. The familiar roads a blur as each step carried her forward. She stopped to run her hand along the chain ling fence. She took about ten steps then stopped. Staring at the rubble of brick and concrete that had once stood as her home. Elizabeth in twinned the fingers of both her hands and listened to the drone of the bulldozer as it shuffled the remains about.
There was no way to return. Elizabeth tried to think back, trying to find the happiness she had once held in her hands. It had scattered as easily as the seeds of a dandelion blow by a child. A tear raised up and spilled out to glide down her cheek. She did not even bother to wipe it away.
Lost in her surroundings, she did not hear the approaching foot steps. A heavy hand came to rest on her shoulder. "Hey," his voice carried to her ear on the late winter breeze.
She took a long deep breath before turning over her shoulder to meet with his eyes. She only turned her head and her eyes glisten from the tears, "Hi."
He slid his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. If she had not felt that she really needed a friend right now she would have turned him away. "It's gone now, huh," his tone sympathetic. She only nodded in response. "I know things have been really rough for you lately. I know that I've been part of that, and I'm really sorry."
She kept her focus on the pile that had once been her building. "Jason, I don't know what you feel you have to apologize for. I walked out and told you I did not know you any more. I shut you out and never even thought about what impact it would have on you."
"You were hurt and upset."
She turned to look at him, "That still did not give me the right to treat a friend the way I did."
"Are we still friends, Elizabeth?" He slid his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.
"I don't know anything anymore." She glanced back at the fenced off area.
"You have had a lot to digest over the past few weeks." She nodded. "I went to the hospital looking for you and I ran into Carly. She told me what you said."
"She doesn't believe me."
"I think it is what you believe that is important."
"I'm not sure what to think. I guess everything I once knew is a lie and that my true family is Mike and Sonny...God..." She took a few steps away form him. "I don't really want to think about that right now."
"Elizabeth it doesn't matter who you are related to by blood. Believe me, I know. It is the people who love you and care about you that are really your family." Elizabeth nodded and sniffled back the encroaching tears. He stepped in front of her and forced her gaze to his. "There are lots of people who care about you, Elizabeth." He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled into a gentle hug.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, breathing in the odder of leather and soap. It was a place she felt safe yet she knew she would not be able to stay there. She sighed heavily and began to pull away. Reluctantly he released her. "So, what are you planning to do now?"
"I don't know. I have to be out of the house in about a week. I'm still thinking of moving to New York to go to school there." Jason nodded. She thought she saw sadness in his eyes. "I just don't see what is here for me anymore."
The statement hung between them before he found the courage to reveal the truth to her, "I would miss you."
She offered him a tired smile. "I always missed you when you left. But you came back. Maybe I will too, someday."
"You sound like you have already made up your mind."
"I don't know. Maybe I have."
Jason felt something slide through him. A sadness like a part of him was dropping away forever. He knew he had no right to try and persuade her otherwise. For the first time he was uncertain that staying in Port Charles with out her would be right for him. When she had walked out on him he knew she was not out of his life. Even when she discovered the truth about him and Courtney he felt the pain he caused her but never once thought she was gone from his life forever.
"I have an idea." He smiled and stretched out his hand toward her.
"What?"
"You want to go for a ride?"
"A ride."
"Yeah, it will help you clear your head." He paused as she contemplated the proposal. "It's not too cold today, and we can take the cliff road."
She slid her small fingers into his, "I would like that. Can I drive?"
"Can you drive?" he chuckled.
"I have my license now."
"I don't know," he teased leading her to his bike.
When she went to get on, he motioned for her to move forward taking the driver's position. He shook his head as he climbed on behind her and turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life. He gave her a few reminding instructions as they pulled out of the alley.
Elizabeth felt the rush of air against her face as the trees whipped by. She could feel his body pressed against hers and it offered warmth and security. If there was one place in the world she wanted to stay, it was there on his bike testing fate. She screamed into the wind and did not need to think about the future any more.