Prompt: Cardboard Juice Boxes

Part One

All she had to do was go inside, get her breakfast, pay, go back outside, and make it to her interview in time. It was easy enough. Anyone could do it. So why, just like everything in her life, did Elizabeth find a way to screw that up? How hard was it to get a cup of hot chocolate and a muffin to-go?

Sitting in one of the most expensive penthouse living rooms she had ever entered, Elizabeth realized that it was damn near impossible.

The morning had started out like every other morning since she had arrived at Port Charles. The only difference was that she had an interview to go to. She had been in Port Charles for three weeks and after many hours of calling, she finally found a place that would grant her an interview. Not many places were willing to hire a person with an art major having little to no previous experiences in the work industry.

After rummaging through her refrigerator and finding nothing to calm her rumbling stomach, Elizabeth decided she had enough time to stop by Kelly's diner and grab something really quick to eat in her car on the way to the art gallery. She calculated it perfectly in her mind. Five minute drive to Kelly's, ten minutes to order, wait, and receive her order, than another fifteen minutes to drive to the gallery, giving her ten minutes to spare.

After she ordered her muffin, she realized that she was actually ahead of schedule, a few extra minutes to compose herself before she met with the director of the gallery. She just didn't know at the time that those few extra minutes would cause her so much trouble.

One second she was sitting at the counter waiting for her order, and the next she was fighting off men twice her size. She didn't know why she did it, couldn't fathom what went through her mind to cause such craziness, but she did do it, and it was crazy.

She was sitting at the counter, minding her own business when she glanced up and saw a little girl standing outside by herself. She continued to watch the girl for several minutes before she decided to go outside and see why she was by herself. Elizabeth signaled to her waitress that she would be right back and walked outside to the courtyard, approaching the little girl with caution.

She looked lost and scared clutching her juice box in her tiny hands. Elizabeth did all that she could to reassure the little girl, but before she knew it, her reassurances that everything would be fine meant nothing. In a flash, men in expensive suits bombarded the two. They grabbed the little girl first, and when Elizabeth tried to fight the men off, stop them from taking the little girl, they grabbed her also. She shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have been that crazy to think she could fight off two men. But she still did it, and it resulted with her ending up in a mess of trouble.

She didn't know what was happening, couldn't see much as one of the men threw her over his shoulder and raced to his awaiting car. Just as they were about to enter the car with her kicking and screaming the entire way, a shot rang through the air and Elizabeth found herself on the ground next to the car with a nasty bump on her head and the man on top of her.

It took all but one second for her to scramble off of the ground, out from under the man who was probably bleeding to death, and away from the car. She was about to run back inside of Kelly's when she thought about the little girl who was also grabbed by the men. She hesitated long enough to look back at the car, see a different man grab the girl from the car, and make his way to a different car. Before she could make any attempt to save herself or the girl, Elizabeth was being grabbed again. A leather encased hand covered her mouth just as a strong arm wrapped itself around her waist.

She didn't have a chance to scream, never even had a chance to fight off the man. All she knew was that instead of heading back to the car that she was first headed to, the man hauled her to a different car. She was thrown into the backseat with the little girl and before the door even closed behind her, the car began to move. In the ride in the car, Elizabeth did everything she could to keep herself calm. She had no idea what was going on, all she knew was that she had been kidnapped along with the little girl who sat next to her. She tried to clear her mind, and when she did, she jumped into action.

Elizabeth looked out the window to see any passing landmarks that would be helpful to her in the future, but instead of seeing anything outside the car, she only saw her reflection. The windows were tinted so black that she couldn't see anything outside. Even though the car was moving, she tried to open both doors, both ending in the same result, locked with no way to open from the inside.

Not knowing what else to do, Elizabeth decided to talk to the little girl. She found out that her name was Kristina and that she was four years old. Elizabeth was about to try and get more information out of the girl, but before she could, the car stopped and the door was thrown open. Elizabeth's first reaction was to scramble away from the man, but when she tried to shield Kristina, the little girl surprised her by jumping over her and into the man's arms yelling "Uncle Jason!"

Elizabeth watched as the man closed his eyes and squeezed Kristina before he handed her to the man behind him and reached inside the car. He held his hand out to her and looked at her with the most capturing blue eyes that Elizabeth had ever seen. He didn't grab her, didn't force her out of the car. He just held his hand out and waited for her to take it. She was too mesmerized by his blue depths at the time to realize that when she placed her hand in his, it was the same man that grabbed her after she fell down. But once he helped her out of the car, something clicked in her mind and she began to struggle against him.

She kicked him, tried to pull from his stern grasp, even made it two feet away from him when he grabbed her from behind again, only this time he didn't cover her mouth. Both of his strong arms were wrapped around her and when she began to squirm against him again, he spoke for the first time.

"Whoa, whoa, just… would you… Ow! Calm down!" He removed one arm from around her waist and began to rub his jaw, easing the pain her head caused when she smacked the back of it against him. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need you to calm down."

When he felt her calm down, he began to slowly remove both of his arms from around her. But before he had his arms away from her completely, he felt her tighten up again, preparing to make a run for it.

For the second time that day, Elizabeth found herself thrown over someone's shoulder. She yelled at him to put her down, demanded that he let her go. But once they entered the elevator and he still refused to put her down, Elizabeth stopped her fight and enjoyed the view. For a few seconds she allowed herself to forget that the man who held her kidnapped her, and she found herself staring at his well defined butt.

He wore dark blue jeans, and he wore them well.

She clenched her fingers into his black t-shirt as she continued her observation of his backside. When he hoisted her higher on his shoulder, she felt the muscles in his back and shoulder roll with his movements.

She was snapped out of her memories when a glass of water was placed in front of her face. She looked up at Jason, back towards the glass, then at Jason again, not once attempting to grab the glass.

"It's just water." She still made no move to take it. "Fine, I'll just leave it here in case you want it."

After he placed the drink on the coffee table in front of the couch she sat on, Elizabeth eyed the glass with trepidation. It had been about half an hour since Jason had dropped her off of his shoulder and on the couch she now sat on. He asked her if she needed anything, and when she just stared at him with angry eyes, he shrugged his shoulders and walked away telling her that once Sonny made it home, everything would be explained to her.

She didn't know who the hell this Sonny was, but she already hated him. What the hell did he want with her? All she wanted to do was get breakfast and make it to her interview. But no, Jason and this… this Sonny guy had to ruin her day, ruin all of her plans.

Her stomach growled, letting her know that not only did these men make her miss her interview, but they also made her miss breakfast. Eyeing the water again, she glanced up to see Jason sitting at the desk with his back to her going over something. She looked at the water again, once more at Jason, and then quickly reached for the glass taking long, greedy gulps of the water.

She tried to set the water down without making a sound, but when she looked up at Jason, she saw him staring at her with an amused sparkle in his eyes. "I could get you something to eat."

"No."

"I can tell that you're hungry, I'm sure Sonny-"

"I don't want anything from you or from Sonny." Sitting straighter on the couch, her eyes turned to slits. "What I want is for you to give me some damn answers. I want to go home."

He released a sigh that sounded like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and it made Elizabeth's anger grow. How dare he act like he was being put out because of her? He took her from Kelly's. Threw her in a car, kidnapped her, threw her over his shoulder, and he had the nerve to act like she was bothering him.

Just when she was about to snap his head off, he surprised her.

"I'm sorry you are in this situation." He stood from the desk chair and walked towards her. Hesitating before he sat down on the couch, he let out a sigh of relief when she didn't back away from him. "Things just got really complicated, and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Yeah, that much I got."

He studied her for a long time. She could see the battle in his eyes. He was deciding whether or not he should explain the situation to her, and how much he should tell her. His eyes softened after a moment, and he stretched his arm along the back of the couch. His hand brushed her shoulder and he admittedly placed his hand behind the couch. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead of words, another sigh escaped him as he tried to figure out a way to explain it to her.

She was staring at him, not with the anger from before, but with curiosity. Her wide dark blue eyes stared into his light blue ones. For a long moment neither talked as they continued to stare at each other. Finally reaching a decision, Jason spoke. "Those men that grabbed you, they were after Kristina. I think they grabbed you because you were there, or they confused you for her nanny."

When Elizabeth did nothing but scrunch her forehead in confusion, Jason continued. "Kristina is the daughter of a very powerful man. Her father Sonny has enemies and they were trying to take her as a way to get to him."

Tipping her head to the side, Elizabeth looked down at her water. "But they didn't have a chance to take her because you showed up and saved her." Turning her gaze back towards Jason, Elizabeth's curious gaze bore into his. "I don't get it. Why did you take me? I mean, you saved me and Kristina from those men, why did you take me here? Why not call the cops? I don't-"

"We couldn't call the cops."

"What? Why? Kristina was almost kidnapped," placing her palm flat against her chest, Elizabeth continued, "I was almost kidnapped. Well, actually, I was kidnapped by you, but that's beside the point. Your… friends daughter?" When Jason nodded his head, she went on. "Your friend's daughter was almost kidnapped, why wouldn't you call the cops?"

Sighing yet again, Jason stood up from the couch and walked towards the desk. He turned around, leaned against the side of it, and crossed his arms over his chest. Tipping his head to the side, Jason shook his head once before he turned his gaze back to her. "Sonny and I, we're not…" Dropping his hands down to his sides, Jason dropped his head to his chest and let out a curse. "We don't like the cops."

Staring at him like he had just lost his mind, Elizabeth blinked a couple of times before she stood from the couch placing her hands on her hips. "You don't like the cops? That's why you grabbed me from Kelly's after you shot…" Her mouth snapped shut and her teeth clicked. Looking at Jason with wide eyes, Elizabeth dropped back down on the couch with a plop.

When she looked away from Jason, something in Elizabeth's memory surged. She hadn't been in Port Charles for that long, but she did read the paper every morning. Looking back at Jason, Elizabeth's eyes-if at all possible-grew bigger. "Oh my… your…your… your Jason Morgan? And Sonny is… oh my god."

"Yeah, listen it's not… ah damn it." Stepping towards her, Jason decided against it and stopped. "Elizabeth, nothing is going to happen to you. We're not going to hurt you; we just need to make sure that-"

"You're not going to hurt me! You're… you're in the…" Lowering her voice, Elizabeth whispered to Jason as if she were telling a dirty secret, "the mob."

"Yeah well…" When she began to breathe funny, Jason took a step towards her again, "Are you ok?" Her hand was on her chest, her eyes were wild, and her breaths were coming out quick and short. "Just calm down, you need to breathe."

"You're… you're going to kill me aren't you. I saw something that I wasn't supposed to see and you're going to kill me. Oh my god, I should have listened to my mother. She told me not to come here. She told me that I wouldn't be able to make it out on my own. You'll never succeed on your own Lizzie; you're just going to screw up like you always do. Oh boy was she right. I should have just stayed back home and never tried to prove myself. Why oh-"

"Would you shut up!"

Snapping her mouth closed again, Elizabeth stared up at Jason with bright wide eyes. "I'm not going to kill you." Softening his voice and his face, Jason sat on the coffee table in front of her. "No one is going to hurt you."

His hands were on her knees when the door opened and another man entered. "He's right."

Looking away from Jason, Elizabeth stared wide eyed at the man who just entered. She felt when Jason removed his hands from her knees and stood up. She glanced up at Jason and then back towards the man who just entered.

"Hello." When he flashed his dimples, something in Elizabeth began to calm. "I'm sorry about all of this Elizabeth, but Jason is right, no one is going to hurt you."

"Sonny, I-"

Jason was cut off when Sonny waved his hand towards him, dismissing his warning. Jason watched with detached amusement as Sonny talked to the scared woman. He stared at Sonny as he sat on the couch next to Elizabeth and began to explain the situation to her. Telling her about the men who tried to grab her and Kristina, about why Jason had to take her to his penthouse with out explanation. Jason continued to look on as Sonny eased her fears and even made her laugh.

He couldn't believe it.

He had been with this woman all morning, trying to explain the situation to her only causing to scare her more, and within minutes, Sonny eased her fears and had her laughing. Jason had to admit that it was a nice laugh, but it annoyed him. She seemed so at ease with Sonny, and all he caused her to do was clam up and think that he was going to kill her. Jason was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Sonny's voice turn serious again.

"So you see Elizabeth, we are not going to hurt you and we are not going to let anyone else hurt you. We just need you to work with us on this. The cops can't know about what happened." Jason watched as Sonny placed a reassuring hand over Elizabeth's and his own hands clenched into fists. "Like I said, we won't let anything happen to you."

Clearing her throat, Elizabeth looked up at Sonny with scared eyes. "How?"

Patting her hand, Sonny offered her another killer smile "I'm going to put a guard on you." When her eyes opened even wider, Sonny reassured her, "You already know him, so it should make you more comfortable. Jason is going to guard you."