Note: I love these banner challenges! Here's my take on Izzie's lovely banner. Enjoy!
Beautiful Mistake
Cameron was hard at work with his wooden spoon and her entire collection of pots, which was why Elizabeth didn't hear the loud knock on her door until it turned into an incessant rapping.
"Okay, baby, how 'bout we play with Bandit now?" she suggested, scooping her son up off the floor and cleverly replacing the spoon in his hand with a plush raccoon that had been a gift from his aunt Lulu. "Let's see who it is, huh? Who could it be?"
The baby babbled excitedly, wringing poor Bandit's neck as Elizabeth climbed over the rest of his toys and her medical books, letting out an exasperated huff when she finally reached the door.
Pulling it open, she was momentarily stunned to see Robin Scorpio standing in the threshold, but the young mother quickly got over it and flashed her good friend a bright smile. "Hey, Robin, what's-"
"Can I stay with you tonight?" the doctor blurted out, wringing her small hands together nervously. She seemed ashamed of her abrupt question almost as soon as the words left her mouth, and Elizabeth's brows furrowed with concern when she shifted her weight from foot to foot and looked down at her feet.
"I mean, I…I'm sorry to come over like this and I know you're busy but if I'm not putting anyone out…" Her quietly desperate chocolate eyes slowly lifted, catching Elizabeth's confused gaze. "…I really need someplace to stay tonight."
"I…O-Of course," the brunette replied, holding the door open wider and allowing her worried friend in. "What happened? Is it about Patrick?"
"No," Robin responded too quickly. "No, it's not about him. I mean, well, it is, but…nothing's wrong," she assured her friend. "We're fine. I just…I can't stay at his place tonight. He's…helping a friend at the hospital during the graveyard shift, and I…staying at his place alone at night freaks me out. You know, that psycho old man next door that walks around in his Hugh Hefner robe with the blow-up doll…"
"That'll do it every time," Elizabeth laughed, shifting Cameron in her arms as she tried to put her friend at ease. Clearly, there was something bothering Robin, but she wasn't about to pry into it. When the other woman wanted to talk about it, she would. That was how their friendship had always worked: one of them would freak out, hem and haw around a bit, and then finally blurt everything out. It was better that way.
"Dump your stuff," she urged her friend, motioning toward the couch. "Sit – don't worry about a thing."
"Are you sure it's okay?" Robin asked uneasily, nibbling her lip as she set her light duffel bag on the floor next to her feet. "I mean, Lucky-"
"Lucky won't be back until tomorrow morning," Elizabeth replied quickly, avoiding Robin's curious eyes. She cleared her throat and jiggled Cameron in her arms. "Let me just get him his bottle and then we can order some dinner and talk, okay?"
Robin nodded quietly, folding her hands tightly over her knees and watching as the young mother disappeared into the kitchen. As soon as Elizabeth was out of view, she let out a strangled sigh and buried her face in her arms. She had no plans of showing up unannounced on her friend's doorstep asking to be taken in like a stray dog, but after what had happened earlier, she knew she couldn't go back to Patrick's place. At least, not right away – not until she figured things out.
It was all Dr. Meadows' fault. It was all her fault for putting these thoughts into her head – thoughts she never should have had to deal with. The doctor shook her head ruefully, running her fingers through her limp chestnut hair. She should have known better than to mention a brief bout of early morning nausea in front of an obstetrician.
Robin's soft chocolate eyes lingered on Cameron as the boy finished off the last of his formula and held the bottle up to his mother, grinning proudly. A small, sad smile tugged on her lips as Elizabeth laughed and took it from him, giving her son a bunny kiss before sitting him in her lap and patting his back.
The baby squirmed, letting out a burp, and reached out for his raccoon. Robin picked up the small plush animal and shook it at him, chuckling when he cooed and gurgled and reached out some more. She handed the raccoon over and tweaked the baby's chubby cheek, letting her fingers linger and then stroked his soft, downy hair.
Elizabeth smiled proudly as Cameron snuggled with the raccoon, abruptly shoving it in her face for her to snuggle with, too. The toddler was apparently satisfied with the smacking kiss his mother placed on the raccoon's leather nose because he snatched the animal back and gave it a fierce hug before flinging it to the floor.
The same small, sad smile played upon Robin's lips as she hesitantly scooted off the couch, grabbing her duffel bag before standing up straight. "Do you – Is it okay if I use the bathroom?"
Elizabeth nodded, pointing her toward the master bedroom. "Sure, go right ahead. It's right through there. I might as well put him down for the night, and then I promise we'll get some food, okay?"
Robin smiled politely, switching the bag from one hand to another. "That's okay," she replied quietly, tucking her hair behind her ear as she squeezed past Elizabeth and her son. "I'm fine – I'm not really that hungry, so…whenever."
Elizabeth nodded absently, her brows furrowing slightly at Robin's odd behavior. She didn't seem like herself tonight. She was withdrawn and slightly on edge, and the younger brunette swore to herself that if it was Patrick's doing, the doctor would have hell to pay for it in the morning.
She heard Robin enter the master bedroom and then the bathroom. Cameron started nervously when they heard their guest kick the door shut, but his abused raccoon soon caught his attention again. Elizabeth picked her son up and grabbed the stuffed animal, walking them both toward the tiny nursery.
Cameron was still snuggling with the raccoon as Elizabeth turned on the lights in his nursery. She laid him down on the changing table and made quick work of disposing of his soiled diaper and changing him into his soft lavender pajamas. Cameron was beginning to show signs of weariness by the time she finally deposited him in his crib and turned on the music mobile. The rotating stars and planets caught his attention as they always did, and he stretched his little hands out toward the large blue star toward the center.
After what seemed like forever, Elizabeth finally managed to get her son to drift to sleep, Bandit cuddled close against his side. She stayed a moment longer, her hand resting lightly on his pudgy belly, and then reached for the baby monitor. Dimming the lights down, she gently closed the door of his nursery and stepped out into the hall.
Robin had yet to come out of the bathroom, so she busied herself in cleaning up the pots and pans Cameron was playing with in the kitchen. She had put them away but her friend had yet to appear, so she set out trying to clean up her son's toys the best she could. It took her a while to toss everything into the toy chest, and she had just closed the lid when she heard the bathroom door slowly creak open.
She looked up nonchalantly as Robin stood by the threshold of the master bedroom, and was momentarily stunned by what she saw. Her good friend looked as if she had aged a year in a day. Her straight chestnut hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she wore a pair of oversized flannel pajamas and a NASCAR t-shirt, no doubt belonging to Patrick. She held her duffel bag in her arms, which hung down limply at her sides, and it was clear that the older woman was furiously trying to hide the fact that there was something wrong.
"Is it-" She stopped and cleared her throat before being able to continue. "Is it okay if I leave my bag here?"
Elizabeth nodded emphatically, trying not to reveal that she had been staring and had noticed her friend's peculiar shift in demeanor. "Yeah, that's fine – just drop it over there and come sit down. I was just about to order. What are you in the mood for? Ribs? Chili? Pizza?"
"Anything's good," Robin answered quietly, leaving her duffel bag by the door of the master bedroom and slowly mincing over to the couch. She sat down carefully, as if she were afraid she'd break, and once seated pulled her legs up to her chest. "Whatever you want is fine – I'm not really that hungry."
"So you've said," Elizabeth murmured, fingering the speed dial options on her cordless phone. "Okay, let's go with some Chinese food. You like Chinese food, right?"
"Love it," Robin smiled gratefully. "And you know…some chicken corn soup is starting to sound pretty good right about now."
The brunette smiled warmly and nodded, trying to remember the number for the Mandarin Dragon. She had just found it in her little directory notebook when there was a knock on the door. Frowning, she set her phone down and noticed that Robin had suddenly looked pale.
"Who is it?" the doctor asked nervously, pulling a pillow into her lap. "I-I didn't know you were expecting someone."
"I'm not," Elizabeth replied, sliding off the couch. "Hold on – I'll be right back." She walked across the room barefoot and peeked through the viewer. Robin leaned over the side of the couch, trying to get a better look, when her friend let out a surprised exclamation and quickly unlocked the door.
"Hey," the doctor heard the younger brunette greet her mystery guest. "I, uh, wasn't expecting you tonight. Come on in."
"You okay?" The voice was extremely familiar, and suddenly Robin wanted to hide. Instead, she settled on trying to disappear behind the colorful pillow in her lap.
Jason Morgan stepped into the small apartment and handed Elizabeth a paper tray containing two sodas as he tried to manage a paper bag filled with food. But the enforcer stopped in his tracks the minute his cerulean orbs landed on his ex-girlfriend seated on Elizabeth's couch.
"…Robin."
"H-Hi, Jason," she managed, giving him a small smile as she looked at Elizabeth who stood close to his side. "I-Elizabeth, you should have told me that you were expecting company. I would have understood, really. You know what? I should probably be going – I'll just…yeah, I'll go find my father. He's probably up to no good, anyway – I swear, the man needs a permanent babysitter. Yeah, I'll do that-"
"Robin, please," Elizabeth tried as her friend put the oversized pillow back on the couch. "It's okay, you don't have to-"
"No, no," the brunette replied, getting ready to stand as Jason put the food down on the coffee table. "You guys should just eat and…whatever. I'm fine, really-"
But that clearly wasn't so, for as soon as Robin braced a hand on the arm of the couch to stand, she felt herself losing her balance as a wave of vertigo caught her unexpectedly. Elizabeth gasped and fortunately, Jason was quick enough to catch his ex-girlfriend before she fell to the floor.
"Are you okay?" the nurse murmured, quickly forcing her way to Jason's side as he gently laid Robin back on the couch. "You don't look okay, Robin. Can I-"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, really," the brunette chuckled, curling up on the couch. "A little embarrassed, but fine. I just got a little dizzy there. It's…been a long day at the hospital."
"I should have called first," Jason murmured to Elizabeth, standing back when he was sure Robin was okay. "Do you two need anything…?"
The young woman at his side was still looking down at her friend with concern. Robin rolled her eyes when she placed a hand on her forehead and then grabbed her wrist to check her pulse. "…No," Elizabeth replied hesitantly, still not convinced that everything was all right but having found no evidence to support the claim. "No, we're fine. You brought dinner?"
Jason nodded, absently gesturing to the bag on the table. "Yeah – yeah, just some take-out from Kelly's. I had a feeling you hadn't eaten yet so I thought I'd stop by…"
"Thank you, Jason." Robin watched as Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm and smiled up at him. "Sit down – I'll get you a beer."
But the enforcer shook his head, glancing over at Robin. "No, no. Why don't…I should probably go. There's enough food for the two of you – I brought some chili and a number seven on-"
"-rye without onions," Elizabeth finished with a smirk. "But, really, Jason, it's no problem. Stay."
He shook his head reluctantly. "I didn't know you had…that you had company. There's no need for Robin to leave." Again, his concerned eyes landed on the doctor and she looked away, fiddling with the edge of a throw blanket. "There's enough food for both of you – stay, Robin. It's fine. I should probably be heading back to the penthouse anyway."
Elizabeth let out a sigh but nodded, squeezing his shoulder. "Thanks for bringing it by, Jason," she smiled, folding her arms over her chest as he backed up a step. "I'll see you later."
The enforcer shot her a small smile and held up his hand awkwardly at Robin before turning on his heel and quietly letting himself out of the small apartment. Elizabeth sighed and rubbed her temples before kicking herself into motion and working on getting the food out.
Robin watched as she pulled out the container of chili and disposable utensils. "So…what was that about?"
The brunette attempted to shrug nonchalantly. "Exactly what you saw – Jason just stopped by with some dinner."
"Dinner for two," Robin pointed out, hugging her knees to her chest as she tossed her bangs out of her eyes. "Does he…do that often?"
Elizabeth sighed heavily and turned, handing her friend a napkin and a bowl of steaming hot chili along with some hot sauce. "More so recently, yeah. Things have been hard for him since the whole Sam thing."
Robin nodded, not needing the details of that fleshed out. Jason had tried to push Sam away for her own safety, and the woman had begged him nonstop to take her back. Personally, she found that totally embarrassing, but then again, she didn't think she had the right to judge anyone like that. When Jason kept pushing her away, Sam had discovered Alexis' involvement in the whole ordeal and had lashed out at both her fiancé and her mother by…sleeping with her stepfather. Jason had cut all ties with her completely after that and refused to even look at her. He had been in a pretty bad funk recently, but had apparently found a way to deal with it.
"Sometimes he just likes to come over and hang out, you know?" Elizabeth was squeezing a packet of mustard onto the sandwich that Jason had brought over for himself. "He knows that I'm up pretty late at night studying and that Lucky's working long hours at his desk, so he comes over with some food from Kelly's and we just sit and eat and talk."
"Sounds nice," Robin replied quietly, stirring her chili but having yet to eat a bite. Reluctantly, she brought a forkful to her mouth and chewed carefully. "…Does Lucky know about this?"
"Lucky doesn't need to," Elizabeth responded after a moment, turning to her friend with a new resolution in her eyes. "He just got his job back and is pushing paper at the PCPD. He hasn't been around much and we're both just so busy…he's not home at this hour, and having Jason over is better than eating alone, you know?"
Robin nodded, understanding completely. "I'm glad that you're able to get through to him," she said honestly as Elizabeth joined her on the couch. "It's hard when he shuts down. The fact that he seeks you out and talks to you definitely means something – you're definitely helping him."
"…But?" Elizabeth prompted when her friend trailed off.
"But…" Robin sighed heavily, lifting another forkful to her lips. "Lucky hasn't been himself for a while, Elizabeth. I mean, he only just stopped accusing you of sleeping with Patrick – not that there was ever any truth to that, but still. I'm just…what if he finds out that Jason's been over and that you two talk, and he starts to think the same thing, only about you and Jason?"
The brunette let out a strangled laugh around a mouthful of rye bread. "Wouldn't be the first time people thought that."
That threw Robin for a loop and she simply gaped at her good friend. "What?"
Elizabeth shook her head, wondering in the back of her mind if she had said too much. "Well…it wouldn't be the first time that people thought I was Jason Morgan's whore."
The doctor gasped, setting her fork back in the Styrofoam container. "Elizabeth, that's a horrible thing to say! I didn't mean anything like-"
"I know you didn't," the brunette assured her with a smile. "I just…it happened a few years ago, back in 1999. You had just left not too long ago and Michael was gone and…Jason and I were friends. We used to talk and just hang out and it was nice. I was out for a walk one morning when I saw someone on the ground, and when I turned him over, I saw that it was Jason."
She stopped picking at her sandwich, her sapphire eyes slowly growing distant as she was transported back to that crisp December morning. "He'd been shot in the side – right here. I brought him back to my studio and basically took care of him for as long as he needed me to."
Robin was biting her lip as she watched Elizabeth tell the story of how she and Jason first became so close. There was a softness that took over the brunette's features when she spoke about the mobster, and for a moment Robin wondered if Elizabeth was even aware of the fact.
"He was getting better; the wound was healing. He could walk around and exercise a bit, but he was still pretty weak. And…I remember, one morning, Nikolas barged into my studio right when I was changing Jason's bandage and caught us."
The brunette shook her head with a rueful smile. "He went ballistic – jumped on Jason and started attacking him until I broke them apart. I didn't want him to know that Jason was temporarily out of commission as an enforcer, so I pretended that were making out. I told Nikolas that Jason and I were sleeping together and that we were just about to make love when he had interrupted."
She looked up to find that Robin had covered her mouth with her sleeve and was doing her best not to laugh out loud. Unable to suppress her own giggles, she forged ahead anyway. "Nikolas bought it – lucky for me. But at the Christmas party at the hospital, he freaked out again when he saw me and Jason talking and fooling around, so he yelled at Jason in front of everyone that he didn't own me just because he was sleeping with me."
Robin's mouth fell open on a gasp. "Oh, no! That's horrible! What did you do?"
Elizabeth shrugged. "What could I do? I told Nikolas where to stick it and then I left with Sonny and Jason."
The doctor nodded approvingly. "Good girl. I mean, I love Nikolas, but even the Prince has his not-so-Charming moments."
"Yeah," she agreed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "So, see, that's what I meant – it wouldn't be the first time that people thought I was sleeping around with Jason Morgan. Only this time…there's no rude guest that's going to go announcing it all over the place."
Robin smirked at her friend. "No, there's not. Just…just be careful, okay?"
"Story of my life," Elizabeth chuckled, handing her another napkin. "Go ahead – dig in. You've barely eaten anything."
The older brunette shrugged listlessly and resumed picking at her lukewarm chili. "Yeah…I guess I just lost my appetite today, that's all."
She had never been what she'd call a nosey person, but by midnight, Elizabeth Webber just couldn't take it anymore. She had figured that if she played it cool, Robin would eventually open up about what was bothering her and they'd settle into a nice long session of girl talk. They'd talk, they'd cry, they'd console each other, and they'd feel much better for it at the end.
But Robin kept her mouth shut. She spoke little after the conversation about Jason, and didn't respond to any veiled remarks Elizabeth made about Patrick. She ate very little of her chili – only a few forkfuls – and had helplessly handed it back to Elizabeth to store in the refrigerator for her to take home in the morning.
When Robin had started to yawn, Elizabeth had suggested that they both turn in for the night. Together, they had turned down the sofa bed and gotten Robin settled in her temporary bed for the night. When her guest had everything she needed and was tucked safely under the covers in the pitch-black family room, Elizabeth finally turned away and headed to bed herself.
Cameron was fast asleep in his nursery and after quickly checking up on him, she retired to the master bedroom. It took her two minutes to discard her comfortable tracksuit and change into her soft pajamas, and then Elizabeth headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Finishing up, she took another look at her bristly toothbrush and decided it was time for a new one.
She stepped over to the small wastebasket they kept in the bathroom and was about to toss her brush away when she noticed several bright pieces of paper from a small, ripped up container. A closer look revealed white letters that stood out in stark contrast from the magenta background, and it didn't take her long to see what the container had once contained. The letters P-R-E-G and C-Y stared back at her as the toothbrush slipped from her listless fingers into the basket.
Elizabeth straightened and stared into the mirror, her state of shock preventing her from doing anything else at the moment. She gripped the edge of the counter and stared down at the basin, the letters branded in front of her eyes. Pregnancy. It was the ripped up container of a home pregnancy kit.
It must have been Robin's.
She looked over at the trashcan again, almost certain that she had hallucinated the whole bit and that if she checked again, the small bits of paper wouldn't be there. But they were. Robin had done a good job ripping them up into small inconspicuous fragments – probably more of a nervous tick as she waited for the result than a pragmatic measure to be discreet – but they were there nonetheless.
A pregnancy test.
In her bathroom wastebasket.
Elizabeth let out a slow breath, running her fingers through her chestnut mane. Robin had shown up with little warning on her doorstep, asking to be taken in. She had looked weak and scared, and had little appetite for conversation or actual food throughout the night.
Suddenly, she had to know the results of the test. The urge was overpowering, and she almost considered walking into the next room and waking Robin up to tell her that she had found the box. Because if Robin was pregnant…she wanted to know for sure so that she could help in any way possible.
Elizabeth walked out of the bathroom, zombie-like, and stood staring at her bed. Pregnancy. It would be Patrick's, no doubt. Robin wasn't the type for casual sex with multiple partners – the girl was a serial monogamist.
The brunette let out a slow breath, her thoughts racing at a mile a minute. There was no way she'd be getting any sleep tonight – not with this Sword of Damocles that had just been revealed. Damn it – why the hell did she have to look in that trashcan, anyway? From now on, she'd just chuck her toothbrushes into the can and avoid messy situations like this altogether.
Nodding absently, Elizabeth shuffled toward her bed. And that was when she saw it – Robin's duffel bag. It was sitting innocuously by her dresser, right where Robin had left it after changing into her pajamas. And after taking the pregnancy test, apparently.
Her palms itched, but her feet remained glued to the floor. After what seemed like hours, Elizabeth finally swallowed roughly and minced over to the bag. Heavily, she dropped to her knees and grasped the small black zipper of the front compartment. She pulled it open slowly, making as little noise as possible, as if she feared that the slightest rumble would send her good friend running into the room screaming.
The compartment contained only her slim leather wallet, a receipt from the pharmacy, and a few individually wrapped breath mints. Letting out a soft breath, Elizabeth zipped it shut and reached for the side pocket. She knew before even opening it fully that it contained what she was looking for. Cursing herself for being so meddlesome, she nevertheless grasped the slender apparatus with the fabric of the bag and pulled it into view, mumbling a prayer under her breath without even fully knowing what she was praying for.
Lucky Spencer sat cross-legged on the floor in the bathroom, the contents of a small wastebasket spread out around him. The cardboard tube of a depleted roll of toilet paper. A used stick of Powder Fresh deodorant. An empty carton from a bar of soap. A discarded and bristly toothbrush.
And three small squares of bright purple paper, ripped from a carton, spelling out plain as day: PREG-NAN-CY.
Even with his slightly blurred vision, he could still make out the white letters clearly. It was a pregnancy test. A torn up carton of a home pregnancy test that his wife had ripped into dozens of small pieces and stuffed into the wastebasket under a few crumpled tissues so that he wouldn't find it.
Elizabeth was pregnant, and she didn't want him to know.
Absently, he reached to his pocket for the small bottle he always kept tucked there. Pregnancy – even for young, struggling married couples – was a beautiful thing. The creation of life was a miracle. So if his wife was in fact pregnant…why wouldn't she want him to know?
She wouldn't want him to know of her condition if the child wasn't his.
Lucky clenched his jaw, his hands trembling with rage as he struggled to see straight. There was a very little chance that this child was his. After his accident a few months ago and the lengthy physical therapy that followed, he hadn't been in the best shape to perform his marital obligations. He could move around and sit just fine now, but strenuous activity in his lower back was excruciatingly painful, and he and his wife hadn't had sex for quite some time.
He blinked, trying to clear his hazy vision. Elizabeth had left her hairbrush out on the counter and it teetered precariously close to the edge, mocking him from its lofty perch. Cameron's baby wipes sat on the counter as well, a neat little carton with a smiling bear on the front. Both mother and son had long since cleared out for a busy day at the hospital, leaving him to come home to an empty house as he always did after working a graveyard shift at the PCPD.
She must have forgotten to take the trash out with her in the morning.
Lucky leaned back against the wall, resting his head against the cool surface. His unsteady fingers finally managed to pop open the cap of the small bottle and he felt better almost as soon as the white pills hit his palm. Eagerly, he tipped his head back and swallowed, waiting for the morphine to take affect.
He'd confront Elizabeth about this tonight.
"Was Robin okay?"
Elizabeth nodded, stacking up her medical books and setting them on the floor by the side of the couch so that Jason would have room to sit down next to her. The enforcer reached for his beer, handing her a small bag of potato wedges, and leaned back on the sofa.
"She…just had a difficult day," was all the brunette said as she avoided his gaze.
Jason quirked a brow at her but before he could open his mouth to say anything, Elizabeth held up her hand.
"Look, I know you can always tell when I'm lying," she said, finally looking him square in the eye. "But just let it go, okay? Robin's…fine. She's going to be fine. We went to work together today and she seemed to be doing okay…all things considered." The last part was mumbled under her breath as Elizabeth tossed her bangs out of her face. "And she went back to Patrick's place with him tonight – so everything's going to be fine."
He didn't respond, instead taking another pull from his bottle. She had been repeating that a lot – everything's going to be fine – and he knew she only did that when she was nervous. This time, she was nervous for a friend. There was clearly something going on with Robin, but he wasn't about to pry into her business. Robin had enough people in her life that loved her and wanted the best for her; it wasn't his place to attempt to save the day yet again.
"So how've you been? Feeling any better?"
She nodded emphatically. "Yeah, much. It was just this horrible bug going around the hospital. Everyone was sick – me, Kelly, Epiphany, Lainey. It was horrible, because there was nothing we could do about it, either. We just felt so tired and achey all the time."
"You're not getting enough sleep, anyway," he muttered, playing with his bottle as she smirked at him. "With all the studying and the-"
"I'll keep that in mind," she assured him playfully, extending the bag of potato wedges. "But I'm fine now, really. I had a good friend who always made sure I remembered to eat and take a break now and then."
"Yeah?" Jason couldn't help smirking at her as he expected one of the greasy wedges. "Anyone I know?"
The unmistakable click of a loaded gun prevented her from answering, and both Elizabeth and Jason turned around to see Lucky appear from the master bedroom, his gun drawn and trained on the enforcer.
The brunette paled instantly, her mouth falling open. "Lucky…"
"Shut up," he growled, caressing the trigger as he eased his way toward Jason, motioning for him to stand. "Just don't talk for once, Elizabeth."
"But-" she swallowed roughly, her eyes trained on the barrel of the gun that was pointed at Jason's heart. "Lucky, what are you doing?"
"Something I should have done a long time ago," he murmured, his eyes narrowing into lethal slits when Jason immediately moved to shield Elizabeth's body with his own. "Turns out, I've been after the wrong guy this whole time. It was never Patrick…it was you."
The enforcer remained quiet, vying for the first opportune moment to strike, as Elizabeth gaped at her husband. "What are you talking about! Lucky, baby, put down the gun and-"
"No!" he barked, waving the weapon erratically but bringing it right back to rest on Jason's heart. "This has gone on long enough! For months, Elizabeth, I watched you pull away – fall all over a man like Patrick Drake. I was so sure it was him…it was pretty smart of you, actually. You made me think you were doing Patrick just so I would be too distracted to see who you were really with."
"Lucky, stop it!" Elizabeth exclaimed fiercely, struggling against Jason when he kept trying to shield her from her husband. "You're being crazy! You're-"
"And you're pregnant!" Lucky shouted, the roar turning into a bark of laughter as he steadied the gun in his trembling hands, now standing a mere few feet away from Jason. "And it's not mine. It's Jason's. You're pregnant with Jason Morgan's child."
The mobster glanced at Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye and knew instantly that this was as big a shock to her as it was to him. The brunette simply gaped at her husband as she tried to form the words to answer him with, looking every bit a fish out of water.
"Go ahead!" Lucky shouted, his eyes wild and starry as he tried to keep a firm hold on the revolver. "Deny it! Tell me I'm wrong! Tell me that you aren't his whore! Tell me that you're not the mother of two bastard children-"
It was his moment and Jason took it. While Lucky raged at his shell-shocked wife, the enforcer stepped forward and to the side, insinuating himself right between Elizabeth and the gun that was pointed at him. He locked a hand under the barrel, making sure to keep it averted, and elbowed Lucky square in the face.
The young man yowled from the intensity of the blow but Jason wasn't finished. He lifted his knee, jerking it up hard into the oldest Spencer's stomach and then wrenched the gun free, using his other hand to crack Lucky solidly on the back and send him sprawling to the floor, unconscious.
Elizabeth had done her best to muffle a scream, and now held both hands clamped tightly over her mouth. But the commotion had woken a sleeping Cameron, and the baby was beginning to cry in the nursery.
Her wide, scared blue eyes met his, and Jason calmly set the officer's gun down on the coffee table next to a stuffed raccoon. "Elizabeth-"
She jumped back when he reached for her, her eyes now on her husband's prone form. Slowly, she brought her hands down from her face and let them hang limply at her sides as she relived what had almost happened. Lucky had pulled a gun on her and Jason with the full intention to shoot the enforcer while her son slept a few feet away. What would he have done after that?
"Oh, my God," she murmured, slowly skirting the coffee table and making her way to her unconscious husband's side. Jason lunged for her when he saw what she was doing, but the brunette ducked and dropped to her knees, crouching next to Lucky's form.
"Elizabeth-"
She ignored him, her eyes now on his jacket pocket where something shiny was catching the light from the table lamp. She heard Jason sigh as he circled them, just in case Lucky should stir. Carefully, she grasped the cap of a small bottle in his pocket, easing it out and slowly turning it over so she could read the label.
Jason also skimmed the white letters on the dark bottle, but he wasn't quite sure what the compound was. But when Elizabeth looked up at him, her wild liquid eyes meeting his hard cerulean ones, he knew it was bad.
She held the bottle up between her index finger and her thumb, shaking it lightly so he could hear the wealth of pills inside. "Morphine."
Jason let out a harsh breath and finally stooped, reaching out to her. She remained sitting as she was, limp, and he had to wrap an arm around her waist and hoist her up. Tucking his own drawn weapon back into the waistband of his jeans, he gently pried the bottle from her hands and set it down on the coffee table.
"Elizabeth. Elizabeth, listen to me." This time, her frantic eyes actually met his and held. "You and your son – you're not safe here. I want you to go to his nursery and pack up whatever things you need, and then I'm taking you back to the penthouse." She opened her mouth but he silenced her immediately. "No – you're coming home with me tonight. You can work all this out on your own time, but tonight, you're coming back with me."
"But – Lucky…"
"I'll call the guards," he assured her, tucking her hair behind her ears and gently guiding her toward the nursery where her son's quiet cries slipped out underneath the flimsy door. "I'll have them stay here to make sure he's all right. Just go, Elizabeth."
She nodded absently, scurrying to the nursery, and Jason whipped out his cell phone as soon as she was out of view. Ten minutes later, Max and Milo were barging through the front door. Jason ushered Elizabeth out, motioning for the guards to grab the suitcase she had haphazardly packed. Milo quickly hefted it and began to lead the way down to the car and Max stood by Lucky's side, inspecting the damage.
Jason's hand spanned the small of Elizabeth's back as she numbly followed Milo down, and his intense eyes caught Max's hard obsidian ones as he turned over his shoulder. The guard nodded once, catching the weight of his meaning, and Jason let the door swing shut.
Patrick Drake was a world-renowned neurosurgeon. He'd been in dire straits before; he knew what it felt like to literally race against the clock, scrambling to complete delicate surgery that would mean the difference between full recovery and full paralysis as his unconscious patient threatened to hemorrhage. He knew what it felt like to study an aneurysm and have less than ten seconds to figure out the best way to remove it before the victim died on the operating table. He had faced situations like that and ten times worse…and yet none of it even compared to what he had planned tonight.
Because when it was all cut and dried, Patrick Drake was nervous. And when he was nervous, he would sweat and ramble and make crude jokes about various anatomical structures found on the male and female body.
He wiped his brow with the back of his hand before attacking the long white candles he had purchased just for this evening. He knew they were supposed to fit in the ornate crystal candle-holding-things, but he just didn't know how. And apparently, the candles didn't know how either, because they kept falling over and almost taking a nosedive into the butter dish.
The doctor wiped his clammy hands on the front of his pressed slacks before giving it one last try. Finally, he managed to disobey the laws of physics and enable the candles to actually stand up, despite the fact that one good wobble would send them right back into the melting butter again.
It took him a few tries to strike a match, but he managed and soon stood back, admiring his handiwork. A beautifully set table stood before him, boasting his best china and his best candle-holding-things. He had arranged a small cart nearby with the wine and the main course, which he had made himself after getting Carly to steal one of her husband's many cookbooks for him. The dessert – flambéed peaches and tiramisu – was in the kitchen, waiting for him to bring it out with a flourish in front of his amazed companion for the evening.
Rubbing his hands together, Patrick turned away from the romantic scene and grabbed his jacket, quickly pulling it on as he glanced at his watch. Robin was running a little late, but he didn't mind because she was a very punctual person in general and if she was tardy, he knew it had to be for a good reason. Ten minutes didn't really matter to him – not in the grand scheme of the evening, if everything went down according to plan.
Tonight, he was going to tell Dr. Robin Scorpio that he was completely, hopelessly, and insanely in love with her.
His hands were beginning to get clammy again, but he resisted the urge to rub them on his pants. Instead, he grabbed a paper napkin and was just crumpling it into a damp wad when there was a small knock on the door.
He panicked for a minute and pitched the wad of paper into a potted plant before dashing for the door. Wrenching it open, he was relieved to see his girlfriend standing on the other side.
"Hey," he greeted her, bending to kiss her cheek. "You're late, Dr. Sourpuss, but I'm not going to razz you for it. The pain of knowing that you kept a perfect specimen such as myself waiting must be great enough."
She was nibbling her lip and didn't respond to his inflated comments as she normally did. Dismissing his brief concern, Patrick ushered him into their place, watching proudly when her eyes widened as soon as she saw what he had been up to.
"I thought we could have a nice dinner together," he explained in a soft, serious voice as he affectionately tucked her wild hair behind her ears. "I even got all dolled up for you." Her serious eyes followed him as he twirled, showing off his favorite suit. "But you, Doctor Scorpio, don't look anywhere near as pretty as I do. Fortunately, I put your dress out on our bed with your shoes and jewelry – don't keep me waiting too long, okay? Bad things happen when Patrick Drake is made to wait."
His teasing didn't seem to get through to her, and as the young doctor ushered the petite brunette toward their bedroom, she dug her heels into the ground and placed a hand on his arm, forcing him to stop and look at her.
"Patrick…" She tilted her chin up, letting him see the dark circles under her eyes for the first time that evening. "…I'm pregnant."
The End.
(Why? Because I am Teh SUCK, that's why. Ha!)