Sorry for the delay on this update. You get a small amount of history in this chap but there is much more to be told as we move along, so much is different since this fic is a little AU & AH. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

It had been a week, the clerk at the sporting goods store told her she could come back on Friday and if all the paperwork came back clear then she'd be able to walk out that day with the gun. He'd offered her lessons and suggested a good range to practice at but Elizabeth just smiled and ignored everything he said. She wasn't buying a gun to leisurely shoot it at a paper target hanging from a hook, she needed it for protection. It's hard to miss a target when he is on top of you trying to attack you. Besides she'd shot guns before. Over the years Jason had shown her multiple times how to handle a gun and he let her shoot it into the woods a few times when they were in Europe.

Jason had offered to buy her a gun before, or in his words, give her a gun. It wasn't like Jason was the type of person to walk into a sporting goods store and buy a girly 9 mm handgun. His guns were more… manly and probably not legal. The small gun was enough for her, it fit nicely in her large purse and on top of it all she did not want him to know she needed a gun or why she needed it.

Walking out of the sporting goods store she felt empowered. She felt her security was back and she would protect herself and her boys. A weight was lifted and she no longer had to look behind her as she walked back to the hospital. She skipped her normal route along the busy street and opted for a walk through the park, a place she'd avoided in recent months. The park had too many trees and too many places that were private where someone could grab her or hurt her.

The threats had not stopped. They had continued every day even when she changed her phone number. Somehow this person had gotten her new number after only two days of a break from the text messages. It was when she had a note inside her car that she finally took the big step to apply for a handgun permit. That day she called a taxi to take her home. It was difficult to explain to her Grams why she had left her car at work but she claimed her car wouldn't start which gave her the perfect excuse to take it in for service. The next day she drove to the nearest mechanic and had the scruffy old man do a full inspection of every mechanical part of the car. She was afraid to drive it even after the man assured her it was working properly. She was worried a line had been cut or maybe just slit so it would take a few days for the car to die, brakes to fail or it even blow up as she was driving down the road. The paranoia was driving her to the brink.

That was what sent her to the sporting goods store. She had worried most that something would happen to the boys. Arriving back at work from her break she placed her handbag under the desk. She did not feel comfortable leaving it sitting in a locker and at the same time she certainly was not going to leave it in her car. Both placed had been compromised by her stalker. The thought that she had a stalker made her cringe. The word brought back bad memories from when she was a teenager and a man took something that is very special to every young woman. Jason found her that day, it marked the beginning of a very bumpy relationship but she would always remember how he helped her get over her rape. Then, some time later, he was the first man she gave herself to.

After their first summer together where he taught her the true meaning of intimacy and love, Elizabeth had gone to Switzerland for a year. She returned when her grandfather fell ill and her Grams needed help tending to him. Being home felt wrong, things with Jason had changed dramatically in that year and as much as they wanted to be together they just couldn't get it together as a couple. His life had changed, it had grown dangerous. A job that had started as a guard for Sonny had taken on a new role. Jason was a feared mob hitman in the area and although she was not scared of him, the danger around him scared her. Port Charles was her home but Switzerland had so much more. She was so grateful to Ella and Harry and the home they built as well as the home they opened up to her in her time of need. Every chance she got, she returned to Switzerland for a visit.

Thinking about that time of her life saddened her. She'd made so many choices that she questioned every day if they were the right ones. Her biggest struggle was staying away from Jason, the father of her boys. There was a constant draw between them, a fire that could ignite spontaneously like the strike of a match. They had tried to make it work a few times over the years, every time something, someone or some threat always came between them.

"A few of us are heading over to Boomers after work if you'd like to join us." Robin said pulling Elizabeth from her thoughts.

"Boomers?" Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "Aren't we a little old to be dancing on top of a bar with frat boys?"

"That would make us cougars." Robin replied and arched her eyebrows.

"Only if you sleep with them." Dr. Kelly Lee added as she approached the desk where Robin and Elizabeth were talking.

Robin nodded, "And that would make you a cougar then."

"Rawrrr." Kelly said and the three women laughed.

When it grew silent Elizabeth finally nodded, "Fine I will come but just for one drink. My Grams can only take so much of a five year old and a one year old before she passes out exhausted… especially with Jake walking better and better every day. Pretty soon he will be faster then she is."


After being pulled into two surgeries in a row, Elizabeth was finally finished her shift. Boomers was only five blocks from the hospital and parking was always hard to come buy in that area. The block it was on had a few bars and restaurants and the only parking available was on the street and down a few alleys. Not wanting to deal with parking even further away then she already was, she decided to walk. It wouldn't take her more then ten minutes and after all, she had her protection in her purse.

The first two blocks were bright and fairly busy. She thought about how Kelly was probably already up on the bar allowing some twenty-two year old to take shots out of her belly button. Turning the corner, the next street wasn't as lit as the first. There also were no street lights and most of the businesses were closed so there was no extra lights from the stores lining the sidewalk. She found herself increasing her pace and cursing herself for walking. Sure, the gun made her feel safe but that wasn't an excuse to walk down a darkened street alone at night.

The next street over was much busier with some restaurants so she decided to cut down an alley. The moment she turned off the street her feeling worsened. Someone was behind her, she was sure of it. She could hear the sound of boots on the pavement, or maybe they were men's dress shoes, either way whoever it was seemed to be getting closer. She went from walking fast to running and she looked over her shoulder to see if she could see who was behind her. All she saw was the shadow of a man rushing to catch up with her. He was tall and had dark hair but his face was completely dark, too dark to see especially when she was running so fast.

Immediately she regreted cutting down the alley. It was even darker then the street and she was afraid she was running herself into a corner. The alley split in two directions and she chose the left way hoping it would not come to a dead end. It was then that she realized she'd been screaming but the man following her did not slow, instead he was catching up to her. Without a doubt, this was the person, or man, who had been sending her the messages and gifts.

Elizabeth stumbled on an empty bottle that had been left in the alley and fell into the wall of the building she was running beside. Her forehead crashed into the brick side and a sharp pain shot down the side of her face. She reached into her handbag but it fell from her hands before she could pull out her handgun. With shaking hands she reached around in the dark for the bag she heard fall on the ground.

"I have a gun!" she yelled, hoping it would deter her follower but the footsteps persisted. She felt dizzy as she crawled around in the dark feeling the pavement for the handbag. Her hand slipped past the strap and she hooked the strap under her arm. Standing back up she started jogging as her hand reached into the bag at the same time.

Her hand finally found the gun and she pulled it out. It was dark but she managed to locate the safety. She screamed for help a few more times hoping someone would come and scare away the dark man following her but she heard nobody answer her call for help. Even if someone was there she would not have heard them, the sound of her heart racing and her ears ringing had her distracted.

Her hands were shaking. She lifted the gun when she heard a whisper, "It's just me, we're going to be together." The voice was nobody she knew, at least not that she recognized. His deep voice echoed though the alley even though it was a whisper. He kept repeating the words as he grew closer and with each step she took she felt the voice was coming from another direction.

Cocking the gun she raised it in the air and fired three times straight into the sky.

"I'm not scared." The ghost-like voice taunted. "You wont shoot me."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and turned. She was disoriented. She had turned in so many directions she lost her bearing on where he was. Squeezing the trigger with her eyes closed, she fired one shot directly in front of her.

A split second later there was a loud scream but it was not the scream of a man, it was a female's voice. "No!"

Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked around. A faint light ahead of her cast a shadow on two people, one was on the ground and the other beside them. "Jason!" the woman yelled.

Her stomach dropped and she rushed to them. As she got closer she saw Sam cradling Jason's head in her arms, blood all over one of her hands.

"You shot him! He heard you yelling, he was trying to help!" Sam screamed when Elizabeth came into view.

Elizabeth kneeled beside them and looked at him. The blood was gushing from the side of his head, she had shot Jason instead. "I... I thought he was-."

"How could you!" Sam cried. "You aren't going to get away with this!" Sam scowled. "They are going to come after you, I'll make sure of it."

"It was an accident." Elizabeth quickly replied.

"No it wasn't, Claudia and Sonny won't believe you. We all saw you two arguing about something the other day on the docks." Sam yelled as her bloody hand reached for her cell phone.

Bile rose in her throat and Elizabeth started running. She didn't stop despite Sams screaming after her, the image of Jason haunting her mind. He was going to be ok, the bullet grazed him-she hoped.

Elizabeth didn't stop running until she got to her car. She had to get her boys and get out of town.

At the other end of the alley the man continued hiding in the shadows watching the scene play out. He waited until Elizabeth left to slowly escape unseen. It was his lucky day, not only had he driven Elizabeth Webber to the edge of her sanity but he'd managed to get her to accidentally shoot Jason Morgan. Things were certainly looking up for him.


Edited 3 times by RTNAdmin1 05/15/10 11:53 AM.