This is my contribution to HH`s 5th Anniversary Challenge. Huge thanks to Deb for the idea and a huge thanks to my Beta James. Hope you all enjoy and will share your thoughts with me. Warning for language.

Favorable Favor

"A punishment to some, to some a gift, and to many a favor."

Chapter One

Nursing wasn't her big dream but it made the most sense. She wasn't a little girl anymore, she couldn't pin her hopes and dreams on something that didn't have any guarantees.

Painting would always be her first love but it would have to settle for being her passion now.

After everything Lucky put her through, there was no way she was going to rely on a man, at least not financially. She'd foolishly given him chance after chance and look where that had landed her, her supposed great love, shoving his brother down her throat.

It was his controlling nature that led her to start nursing school. Of course, everyone in her life believed she was doing it to follow, somewhat in her family's shoes, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

She was a compassionate being and helping others appealed to her. Tending to Jason all those years ago, told her she had the ability to do a good job. Now she'd be able to do a much better job of taking care of him…if only he stopped spouting danger.

Ever since her marriage to Ric fell apart, he cried danger at every turn. It was 'his' fault she even met Ric, it was 'his' fault that Ric tried to hurt her. It was 'his' fault that an enemy of his and Sonny's tried to hurt her and cost her, her baby…it was the same old tune, just different players setting it off this time.

Ric had been very unhappy with her going to school, but he learned he couldn't have his way in all things, when she made sure to sign up and get accepted before ever broaching the subject with him. She was even proactive enough to have purchased everything she'd need for her course.

Although, had he spoke of his displeasure, she probably would have found herself divorced sooner rather than later. His controlling nature jumped to epic proportions after she told him, there was no way she wasn't going to school. Everything else in her life was micromanaged.

That old adage, 'If I had known then what I know now…' Well, that would have saved her a lot of grief and her baby might not have died.

She wondered often if she wasn't doomed to be with a controlling, sometimes slightly, sometimes more than slightly, insane man. Lucky, even in the beginning had been a little controlling, wanting things done his way or else.

It wasn't the first time she questioned her dating smarts and wondered briefly if it would be the last. It was these thoughts that led to her ultimate plan and to the man she hoped would agree to her favor.

XxXxX

Jason was happy to be back home. Columbia was a beautiful country in its own right, but the drugs that seemed to practically flow in the water, making even the most honest of people paranoid and suspicious.

Thankfully, Jorge Lopez seemed trustworthy enough and was granted a time trial of seeing over their operations there.

He had his own enforcer, but Jason felt it prudent to send Johnny down until they could be absolutely sure of Jorge's loyalty.

Two weeks of paperwork and schmoozing finally tied everything up nicely, at least for the time being. The only real problem he encountered was Jorge's step-daughter, Amelia Collins. That woman was like a praying mantis slash hyena.

It was the first time he ever thought of seriously striking a woman. The first night there, she'd entered his bedroom and looked like she wanted to fuck and then behead him. Then there was the fact that every time he told her no or let her down nicely, she was back, hungrier than before for a different outcome.

Yes, he was very happy to be home. His last instructions to Jorge had been simple. "Amelia is never allowed to enter Port Charles city limits, EVER!"

Things at home were calm, no big bad waiting to reign down holy hell, yet. Francis kept him up to date on Elizabeth. That woman could find danger by just tripping over it. He may not be able to be in her life anymore, but she would always have a guard, even if she didn't know about it.

Another thing to be thankful for, he and Courtney were on the outs again, so his home was once again his. One of these day's he'd wake up and learn that it was never going to work. For now, she was a good hump and dump, he'd just never let Sonny hear him say that.

XxXxX

For over a month she'd been trying to work up the courage to ask Jason for a favor. Not just any favor, one that had far reaching consequences.

Every time she was in his presence, she would fumble over her words, ramble on and on and not once get to the point of her visit, yet.

Considering she'd been asked to not seek him out, she was doing the exact opposite of his request.

At first, she'd fought him tooth and nail about his choice. Tried to quote back to him, his reasoning that everyone could make up their own minds but, he found a flaw in his own reasoning and stuck to it like glue.

"Elizabeth, I value your opinion and decision making abilities, but in this instance, I chose to use my own opinion and follow it. You'll always be my friend, but it is no longer safe for us to remain so."

"Why can't we sneak around? Jason, I saved your life, I've seen the darker side of your business, and I know nothing is as it seems in your world but I'm not a scared little girl anymore. I've grown up faster than even I had hoped to, please don't do this. Don't tell me we can't be friends anymore."

"Sneaking around just begs for us to be caught and by the wrong people. Elizabeth, you'll always be my more than friend, but I won't risk you for that comfort. My decision is final."

He'd made that 'decision' more than six months ago and for most of it, she'd stuck to the rules but ever since this idea popped into her head, she was unable to banish it.

Most people would choose someone they could actually spend time with, choose someone without this type of baggage. He may have only been 'born' a few years ago but his life was a never-ending cycle of bad decisions, bad romantic choices, work and personal related baggage.

She still hadn't figured out why he just 'had' to be the one and if she were honest with herself, she had no desire to dig deeper to discover the reason. On the surface, it would seem like she was trying to get around Jason's decision of not seeing one another but she believed there was something more to it, she just refused to unearth that truth.

If she was meant to know, then her subconscious would drudge up the information when it was needed or ready to face the proverbial writing on the wall.

XxXxX

Grabbing her candy apple red cell phone for the fifth time, she actually managed to get all but two numbers dialed before she disconnected and resumed her pacing.

'One of these days you'll finally find the courage, hopefully before we are old and grey and the favor becomes moot!'

Realizing that phoning him and giving him a heads up of her arrival, was probably not her brightest idea, she tossed her phone into her purse and set it by the door.

With a plan fully set in her mind, Elizabeth dashed into her room and started tossing clothes every which way.

'What exactly are you dressing for? This isn't a date and more likely than not, he'll not be overly happy to see you. You know how he gets…'

Pretending ignorance, Elizabeth continued her perusal. The perfect outfit had to be here somewhere.

Finally she settled on a black wrap front skirt, a blue off the shoulder top that hugged her curves nicely and then paired it with blue ankle boots that matched her top almost perfectly.

She grabbed her Gucci watch, checked her hair and barely there makeup and quickly left the room, grabbing her purse on her way out of the apartment. If given the chance to procrastinate, she would likely spend all day and night reworking her clothes and anything else to postpose the talk.

'If you want to have this talk so bad and get him to agree to the favor so much, why are you procrastinating so much?'

It would be nice if she actually had an answer but she chose not to think about it too much or too deeply. Fearing overthinking would cause her to chicken out even more or back out entirely.

True to her new form, she sat in the parking space for her apartment for twenty minutes, practicing the conversation in her head, over and over again. Changing it up at almost every turn and then going back to her original planned conversation.

She almost jumped out of her skin and almost had to arrange a search party to find her heart, when a knock sounded on her driver side window.

Her girly shriek caused the knocker to shriek slightly himself.

Finding her heart was still in her chest and grateful for that small favor, Elizabeth rolled her window down.

"Francis!?"

"Elizabeth? Are you alright? You've been sitting here for an awful long time." Francis asked.

"Talk about scaring the…crap out of me! What are you doing here, are you spying on me?"

"I'm not spying, this is a shortcut to Kelly's, I just happened to see you leave your apartment and I was going to come over and say hi, but you've been sitting here for…a time and it looked like you were having an interesting conversation. Far be it from me to interrupt."

"Why do you think I doubt the veracity of your statement Francis?"

"I wouldn't know, it was the truth, maybe you're paranoid."

"Me? Nope, I'm not paranoid, where did you get an idea like that?"

"Oh…just a hunch, perhaps…"

"Did…did someone say I was acting paranoid, because I'm not you know. Francis I am the very opposite of paranoid…what is the opposite of paranoid? What would I have to be paranoid about, I've done nothing wrong, I'm not hiding anything…I am the picture of innocence. If people are talking, I need to know who they are, because I need to put a stop to this ridiculous idea that I'm paranoid. I'm not! Stop smirking Francis, it is unbecoming!"

"Says the paranoid rambler at rapid-fire speed…Elizabeth, how many coffees did you consume today?"

"You know damn well that I don't drink that black sludge. Could you imagine me hyped up on that crap…to say the least that would be SCARY? Although, there is this lovely drink, it's called an Iced Capp…I may or may not have had one or two large ones today."

"So, what was your poison today or was the Iced Capp the only thing?"

"I may or may not have imbibed in four…maybe five hot chocolates and had a handful or two of chocolate covered coffee beans…I did have two Mango Hurricane smoothies too, of course, I probably should have left off the extra shots of energy…"

"No wonder you are vibrating out of your skin. Do you really think it wise to be driving in your condition?"

"…I'm fine…and…I have to go…"

She didn't give him a chance to say anything, just rolled the window up, started the car and backed up. He was a smart man; he'd move out of the way or suffer the consequences of his stupidity.

Nevertheless, he was probably right. She was a jumbled mess of jittery nerves and suffering from a slight form of a panic attack. This had to go right; otherwise, all her plans would go up in smoke.

As she pulled up to the Towers and then into a parking space, Elizabeth was overcome with a loss of nerves, everything was riding on her making the perfect pitch, if she screwed up, she could be denied and then what would she do?

Unsure how long she sat there, Elizabeth began to once again go over her speech that Francis had so rudely interrupted.

'You do realize you were only speaking to yourself and not getting very far at that, right?'

Realizing that the first signs of madness was responding to one's own thoughts, she kept her lips zipped and finally forced herself from the vehicle.

She didn't need anyone else seeing her carrying on a single sided conversation, for that too would probably hinder her ability to convince Jason.

Not wanting to risk another false start and then a mad dash out of the penthouse, Elizabeth straightened the steel – maybe it was an alloy or a metal like substance - which she knew resided in her spine and punched the elevator button for the penthouse.

Arriving on the penthouse floor caused a few heart palpitations but regulating her breathing seemed to work to control them.

She knocked once and then again and then again. It had definitely been a bad idea to consume that much caffeine before endeavoring on something so sensitive.

About to knock for a fourth time, her fist was raised when the door suddenly jerked open and an unhappy Jason stared down at her. His jaw clenched tightly, his lips almost an invisible slash of white.

"Elizabeth…we've talked about this. You promised to stay away, what are you doing here, again?"

"Jeepers, you sure know how to make a girl feel welcome. I have a reason for being here you know. It's a good reason too, one I had to come see you about and it couldn't wait. I suppose I could have called but then you would have said no in that brisk manner of yours and then your forehead would have had a ton of frown lines and those 'I'm Jason Morgan and I'm mad as hell you aren't listening to me' lines…so here I am. Don't look at me like that, I told you, I have a great reason for being here and if you would just stop looking at me like that and stop interrupting, I'd be able to get to my point and tell you what was so important…When did you get back from Columbia? If you'd stop the slight cave man routine and let me into your home, we'd be able to get down to the heart of the matter and I wouldn't have to stand out here feeling like an interloper. Are you going to continue to stare at me like that or are we going to get to why I'm here?"

"Did you receive a knock to the head or something? I don't think you breathed through that whole thing and…you are rambling more than usual. I got back late last night…Also to point out; this is only the second time I've had the chance to speak since you arrived."

"I…no, my head is fine, why do you ask?"

"You look a little unwell…"

"I look…bad?" Elizabeth asked, her feelings stinging at such insensitive words coming from Jason.

"I didn't say that, you just don't seem yourself."

"Could be the half a dozen hot chocolates I drank, or it could be all the chocolate covered coffee beans I ate…, there were the Iced Cappuccino's and the Mango Hurricane smoothies…I needed something to calm me down and you know chocolate does that."

"Why did you need to be calmed down? Did something happen?"

"Oh…umm…well…you see, I have…a…I wanted to ask…well…maybe…perhaps I should…I need to leave…Umm…sorry to have bothered you…"

She had managed to turn her back to him but her first step away from his door and he had his hand on her arm and dragging her into the penthouse.

"Nope, not happening again, like you said, you had a reason to come here. You've had a reason to come the last fifteen times and yet, I still don't know what it is. You are going to spill it all or you will not be leaving."

"No, really, it's…nothing. I shouldn't be bothering you. Like you said, it isn't safe. I should go, really…"

"Elizabeth Imogene Webber, sit your ass down and don't move until you tell me what the hell is going on. Do you understand me?"

"Umm…Yes Sir?!"

Elizabeth saw the gleam in his eyes but couldn't fathom what it meant.

"Good, now, let's start from the beginning."

"Pushy damn men who think their word is law…"Elizabeth whispered.

"That wasn't whispered quiet enough darlin', you'll have to try better next time. Now spill!"

"Yes…Sir…" Elizabeth said and then said nothing else.

XxXxX