Disclaimer: I own nothing from General Hospital. This is for amusement purposes only.

Summary: What if Elizabeth hadn't know Jason's identity? What if Sam still had accused her? What if Jason would have believed it for a split second? A split second is too long, and so much can change in a split second. Here is the fallout.

Inspiration: Basically, I felt that GH used the lie as a cop out. Instead of giving Rebecca Herbst, Billie Miller, Kelly Monaco the chance to shine in a heart griping drama where Jason had to figure out his feelings for both women, they used the lie to kick Liz to the curb. I felt that it could have been such a better to storyline to have no lie, and have the three of them have to deal with all of the past that was swept under the rug. Elizabeth would have deal with how she asked Jason to stay out of Jake's life, and Jason would have to deal with the fact that he walked away. Jason would also have to deal with the idea that he was such an ass to both women when everyone though Danny was Franco's. He strung Elizabeth along, never saying, "Hey, I care about, but don't love you", never truly cut the cord and making it seem they were starcrossed lovers who couldn't be together. He kept telling Liz, "Oh, Sam and I are over. We are really over" even though Liz for months kept telling him to mend things way before she made a move on him. Also Sam was devastated that he couldn't see past Franco (much like they are doing right now) to be there for her. I hate how they just gloss that shit over. I also feel that someone who was so guilty over keeping a lie for one day over Danny's DNA test wouldn't keep Jason's identity for several months. I know Liz isn't perfect, and she has lied, but most of her lies have selfless motivations. (Keyword most) I just felt it was an easy cop out so GH didn't have to dive into the past because if they did, the line of what's wrong and what's right would be blurred and the writers had an agenda of what they wanted "right" to be.

FALLOUT'S AREN'T PRETTY

By ThroughtheMirrorDarkly

"Excuse me?" It felt like a slap to the face when Sam made that accusation against her. It felt like broken nails had been raked across her skin. It felt like her blood boiled, and then the next second went cold. Elizabeth Webber knew she wasn't perfect. She hadn't claimed to be. She admitted her mistakes, but moved on with her life. Apparently, people thought that meant she thought she walked on water. It didn't. She just knew she couldn't let the shadow of her mistakes color whatever future she had before her. She couldn't let herself be pulled down into a deep, dark place of self-pity because she had her children who depended on her to be there for them, and no matter what wrongs she had ever committed. She had to stay strong them.

And most importantly for herself.

"You heard me," Sam said, coldly. Her dark eyes stared unflinching, and her arms were crossed over her chest. She almost looked triumphant standing there, and Elizabeth's anger raged anew.

Jason stood there, his heart twisted in his chest. "Maybe we should all calm down here," he said, trying to placate both women before things escalated.

"No, we are hashing this out right now because I'm pretty sure that Sam just accused me of keeping your identity a secret to entrap you. I was hoping I was mistaken, because I could have swore you had the gall to come into my home and accuse me of keeping Jason's identity a secret to keep my claws in him," Elizabeth said, her voice strained. Aiden was upset today because he was home sick, and she was desperately trying not to scream. She didn't want to scare him, but it was a hard fought because she really wanted nothing more than to tear into Sam.

"Jake said you had a secret. A secret about his father," Sam stated, a sardonic smile upon her lips. "I talked to Laura about Jason's identity. It was obvious Nicolas had told her about it months ago with the way she was acting."

"Jake said Elizabeth had a secret about me?" Jason frowned.

"Yep," Sam said, smugly. "While Elizabeth was parading you around in front everyone at Thanksgiving, I overheard Jake say that to Danny."

Jason's brows furrowed, and he looked to Elizabeth. "What was Jake talking about, Elizabeth?" He asked, carefully. He didn't want to believe what Sam was saying. He could feel the apprehension clench in his heart, and he could feel himself waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I don't know. Well, no, I suppose he could have been talking about the surprise the boys were making for you, but that's all that's coming to mind," Elizabeth said, confused. She brushed her bangs out of her face, and shifted to face him. "We can talk to him later, when he gets home. Try to clear this up."

"Yeah, I think we need to," Jason agreed, faintly.

"I think we need to clear this up now," Sam disagreed, sharply. "The boys planning a surprise for Jason is your excuse, Elizabeth? It's weak. Jason, please, don't be fool by her act. Nicolas knew about you, and Laura knew his secret. There was no way they didn't let Elizabeth know. She is trying to trap you!"

Jason stood there, as still as a statue. His blue eyes narrowed, his entire being torn between denying Sam's claim and allowing himself to even consider it. There was something familiar about loving Elizabeth, and he knew now it was because a part of him had always loved her. He just hadn't known it as Jake Doe. He looked towards Elizabeth, and he didn't want to believe it was true because even knowing who he was, he wanted to be with her.

"So what? Laura supposedly knew, too?" Elizabeth said, her voice hard. It hurt to think that not only would Nicolas keep this a secret, but Laura had, too. They had let her build her dreams so high, and now her and Jason were stumbling unsure of what the right thing to do was. They knew they still loved each other, and wanted to be together, but it wasn't easy. Sam's feeling had to be taken into account, as well as the fact that he was still married to the brunette. His past with the mob couldn't be ignored because it was front page news he was alive. This accusation was just another thing that Elizabeth really didn't want to deal with. "I'm what? Guilty by association? Sam, if I had known it was Jason I would have told all of you that very night. I may have kept secrets before, and done horrible things, but I would never do that to Jason. He means to much to me. He always has."

Sam scoffed, not believing it. "You know, Elizabeth…I really began to respect you. I really thought you had changed, but I see that I was wrong. You are still the same self bitch you were back then."

"Hey," Jason snapped. Even if his doubts about Elizabeth knowing were growing, he wouldn't have Sam call her that.

"No, Jason," Elizabeth placed her hand on his arm. "Since Sam seems to think her own shit doesn't stink perhaps she needs a reminder."

Sam blanched, all her bravo and bitterness falling flat. "You wouldn't," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her heart clenched in her chest, and her brown eyes darted to Jason.

Elizabeth's hand curled into fists. "Then I suggest you stop before I remind you of some ugly truths, or have you forgotten your own past here? I'll admit what I did with Danny's DNA test was wrong, but I only kept that secret for one day because I felt so horribly guilty for making it in the first place. If you are talking about the clusterfuck that happened ten years ago, I am not solely to blame for that. You had a hand in that mess, and I will not be some martyr to absolve you, Lucky or Jason of your parts in it."

Sam's lips twisted, because that was the truth no matter how much she'd like it to be others. "So what? So you just happen to get engaged to Jason? I'm supposed to believe that? Jason is supposed to believe that?"

Jason sighed, turning away from both of them. He placed his head in his hands, his temples throbbing with pain. The stress was creating a migraine, and he was about at his limit.

"It didn't just happen, Sam. Jake Doe and I became friends after he woke up. We grew to like each other, and we on the verge of something even before Hayden blew into town," Elizabeth defended, evenly. "I didn't know his identity, and after months we both decided his past didn't matter. If I had known he was Jason then it would have been different because Jason was important to a lot of people, Sam. I can admit that, but you can't seem to bring yourself to."

"Oh, don't make it out like I ever trapped Jason," Sam snapped.

"So guilty him, watching Jake get kidnapped, and hiring gunmen to keep me and Jason apart wasn't trying to trap him?" Elizabeth cocked her head to the side. There was only so long she could sit there, and take being insulted in her own home.

Sam paled when Jason's head whipped around so fast. She could feel him slipping out of her life again, and there was an unsettled feeling in her stomach. What if her assumption had been wrong? What if coming here and accusing Elizabeth in front of Jason was stupid? What if her assumption had just set her up to have Jason gone out of her life for good? And this time it would be worse because he would choose to leave.

"You know, Sam, you are a real piece of work. Jake Doe felt nothing for you. You felt nothing for him. You even said he was nothing like Jason, but now that we know his past…you change your tune. Is it because you think you can actually love Jason for who he is now? Or just because you know he used to be Jason?" Elizabeth threw the accusation back in Sam's face. It had stung when Sam had said it to her, and she was betting that Sam wouldn't care for the role reversal.

Sam snarled. "How dare you?"

"No, how dare you," Elizabeth said. "I haven't kept Jason from seeing Danny, or seeing you. I know that we all have to find a way to work through this, and I know it's going to be hard. I know there is a chance that I could end up hurt, or you end up hurt. And Jason is hurting just thinking about what to do. I understand that, Sam, but you can't seem to get through your thick head. No, you'd rather try to point the finger at me, and blame for something I didn't do so it'll be easier, right? Because if I lied then Jason would leave me in a heartbeat and where would you be? Waiting to console him."

"How dare you belittle my feelings for Jason?" Sam said, tears burning in her eyes.

"I have never belittled your feelings for Jason," Elizabeth said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Even when you were hurt and did horrible things, I knew that you loved him beneath it all. You just can't admit the same about me."

"Oh, please," Sam rolled her eyes. "The only reason you are tied to Jason is because you climb up fifteen flights of stairs to get pregnant."

Jason's face twisted. His eyes pinging back and forth between the two women, and he began to realize that the old Jason had both of them so twisted up with their feelings for him. Maybe he couldn't bring himself to live without either one, and Jason knew that he couldn't repeat that pattern. He had to figure out if Elizabeth knew his identity, and go from there.

"Oh, hell no," Elizabeth snapped, viciously. "That is not what happened, no matter how you and Carly like to rewrite history." She turned to face Jason, and raised her eyes to meet his gaze. "I had just found Lucky cheating with Maxie, again, and you had just caught Sam with her step father." She watched the shock fly across Jason face, and she figured that Sam had left that little detail out. "That's right. It wasn't just me walking up fifteen flights of stairs to purposely seduce you. I climbed up those stairs because I was angry and I was hurt, and the only one who wouldn't push me back towards Lucky and actually listen to me was you, Jason. We didn't plan what happened, and we both never regretted it.

"Now, I'll admit that the aftermath was mostly my fault. I asked you not to tell Lucky about our night together because he was in rehab for his drug problem," Elizabeth breathed out, with a heavy sigh. "And I allowed doubts to keep me from telling you the truth about Jake's paternity. I will claim the fault on those, but I will no claim fault for the rest of you."

Elizabeth took a deep breath, and pinned Sam with a quelling look. She needed to calm down. Bringing up the past would only make everything worse, and what right did she have to judge Sam when she had made horrible mistakes, too? "We all made mistakes all those years ago, and it just…created this storm of pain and hurt. In the aftermath of it all, we managed to all be civil," Elizabeth stated, trying to keep her voice calm,"but I think…I think we never got a chance to bury the hatchet. I bottled a lot of pain up from that time, and it led me to making horrible mistakes."

"Like Danny's DNA test?" Jason asked.

Elizabeth paused. It was one thing to have Sam bring that up, but to have Jason say it made her heart plummet into the pit of her stomach. She couldn't believe it. A part of him was actually buying into Sam's accusation, and something in her heart cracked painfully. "That would be one, yes," Elizabeth nodded, quietly.

"Why tell me about that? What was it telling me what you were capable of? Danny's DNA test? What was that if you weren't trying to manipulate me?" Jason demanded, waving his hand angrily.

"I wanted you to know my past. My complete past. I wanted you to know the rights and the wrongs I did. I wanted you to know the good, and the ugly. I wanted you to see all of me, so somewhere down the line you didn't hear something that changed how you looked at me," Elizabeth said, her voice raw with all her emotions. She ran her trembling hands down her face, and she shook her head. "I can't believe this. I can't believe that you would believe Sam without a shred of proof."

"Elizabeth, I'm not…" Jason started.

"No, you are," Elizabeth said, with a slightly hysterical laugh. "There is a part of you actually doubting me. I can't believe this." She wrapped her arms around her midsection tightly, as she tried to gather up the pieces of her broken heart. "You know I thought you knew better than this. Hell, I even thought Sam knew me better than this. I'm not the only one who has done questionable things for the sake of love. Sam has done horrible things to me like I have done to her, no matter how much she likes to dance around admitting them. Carly has done things, Sonny has done things, and yet I'm the only one who keeps getting raked over the coals for them. Damned if I do, and damned if I don't."

She looked around the house with a cold feeling settling in her stomach as hard as stone. Her heart felt shattered in her chest. Even when she did something wrong, the Jason she knew would never had thought ill of her. He knew that she wasn't her mistakes, just like she knew he wasn't what he did. But this wasn't Jason, was he? Elizabeth gave a great sigh, and her shoulders slumped. Ever since his identity, Jake Doe had ceased to exist. Jason had been tireless finding a way to pick the pieces up, and he found himself in a role that he didn't quite fit the same way before. She loved Jake Doe and she loved Jason, but she wasn't sure she could figure out how to love both of them. Especially if she was going to be questioned and accused at every turn.

"Well, I've had enough," Elizabeth said, quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, his heart stopping inside of his chest.

"It means that Sam needs to get the hell out of my house, and never set foot in again," Elizabeth said, slowly turning back to the face them. Her face was blank, and her eyes flat. "It means you need to get out of my house, too. Whether you get to come back is entirely up to you."

Jason gaped. "Elizabeth."

"No. If there is a part of you that doubts me, then you need to get out and go confront Nicolas, go confront Laura, do whatever you need to get rid of that shred of doubt because as long as it's there…it stands between whatever relationship we will have," she said, brutally honest. She was done dancing around words to spare people's feelings, and she wasn't about to put through hell for a man who wasn't willing to go through it with her. "If by the end of interrogating them, there is still that doubt…don't come back. I have been through hell because the person I was with constantly questioned me at every turn, and accusing me." She recalled the dark days where Lucky was addicted, and accused her of having an affair with Patrick. The horrible names, and abuse she endured to keep him in her life. She couldn't go through something like that again. "I won't put me or my boys through it again."

"Elizabeth," Jason started.

"Jason," Sam interrupted. "Come on, I'll let you stay at the penthouse. We can figure this all out without her trying to guilt you or make you feel obligated…"

"Sam," Jason's voice came out harsh. "You need to go. Now."

Sam stood there, a shocked expression on her face. "You can't be serious," she said, shaking her head. She stubbornly clung to the belief that Elizabeth was lying, because if not then she screwed up horribly. "She is just trying to guilt you, Jason."

"No…she's not." The epiphany edged away the doubt that had bubbled up within him. Elizabeth had given him the ring back. Told him that he shouldn't feel obligated to them, and he knew from the heartbreaking look in her eyes that one second of doubt he had shown had done something irreparable. Had the Jason before done something similar? He wished he knew because he would give anything to erase that moment. Wished he could take it back. "Sam. Just go."

Sam looked angered. "Once you see her for what she really is, I'll be waiting Jason," she promised, through clenched teeth and walked out the house. The door slammed behind, and Elizabeth clenched her eyes in frustration because she knew that would have woken up Aiden.

Silence descended upon the house, and Elizabeth had never felt so far away from him as she did in this moment. Every time she walked around this house, the one that her and Jason were meant to be a family together in…it brought it all back. All the dreams they had, and all they wanted for their family. The walls and windows a constant reminder that wouldn't let her completely give up on that. The walls haunted her even more when Jason died. It's why she had found that picture of them and put in on the mantle. She drew a deep breath, and marched to the front door.

When she stepped out on the porch, the warm air wrapped around her like an old friend, but she couldn't find solace in the sunshine. Everything looked dull to her eyes. She watched Sam drive off. A grim satisfaction curled through her, but it was gone in the next second when Jason followed her out on to the porch.

"Elizabeth, we need to talk about this," Jason said, his voice quiet. It was almost if he was afraid to break the fragile silence, even though he knew he had to.

"We just did. I told you to go find whatever answers you need to confirm or get rid of your doubts. Whatever that leads to is entirely up to you," she said, tonelessly.

"You can't just put that in my hands, Elizabeth," Jason shook his head. He stepped forward, but she took a step away from him. A hurt expression flashed across his face, and he swallowed thickly.

"Why not? When Jake was born, you did that to me. You told me to do what was best for that child. You put it all my hands. Now…I'm putting it all in your hands. I'm giving what you never gave me, Jason," Elizabeth said, her hands on her hips. There was a hollow look in her eyes, and her lips trembled. "A clean break. You have no obligation to me or the boys."

"Elizabeth, I told you," Jason began, but Elizabeth stopped him.

"That was before Sam accused me of knowing who you were, and a part of you actually believed her," Elizabeth stated, sharply. "That was before you thought it was alright to let Sam throw my entire past in my face because of her wrong suspicion about me. It might have been a moment, a split second where you doubted…" She closed her eyes, and drew in a deep breath. "But in that second, you turned every moment of our relationship into something ugly when I didn't see it that way. I don't want…to be with someone who is going to do that. Until you," she sighed, brushing her hair out of her face. "Until you know for sure that being here with me is what you want regardless of everything else, you need to find somewhere else to go. I want it all or nothing, Jason. I've been done the road of being stuck on the outside, and it sucks. I won't do it again. Not even for you."

And with that Elizabeth shut the door on Jason's heartbroken expression. Tears burned in her eyes, and a knot clogged in throat. She loved him with all her heart, but she would do at the expense of her soul. If Jason could really believe that she would do something that horrible, maybe he never really knew her this time at all. She sank against the door, and cried while Jason leaned his forehead against the door from the other side. It stayed that way for several moments, until Elizabeth was cried out and she gathered the pieces of her broken heart.

And looked forward. If Jason really wanted to be with her, they'd work things out. If he found that it was too much, then he needed to walk away. A clean break this time because Elizabeth done drowning in the past. She had a future she looked forward to, and the constraints of the past would have no place in if she had anything to say about it.

END OF STORY!

Basically this was me venting, and showing how it could have been more heartbreaking without the lie than with the lie. No plans to write more on this, but I might write a following story called "Fallout Shelter". No promises though if this inspires you, PM me about it and I'll give you permission to use it as a bases for a fic.

RRs are appreciated.