So, I guess you could say I'm on a roll! Once I started letting these stories flow through my fingers on the laptop, I haven't been able to stop.
But, it has been well worth the sleep deprivation, LOL!
I have to thank Kayla (kmheflin) who came to me with a suggestion for a fic with Elizabeth, Jason, Emily, and Johnny (I have sooo wanted to
write a fic with Johnny in it!) many months ago. Bless her heart, I got the ideas flowing for it, e-mailed them to her, told her I was going to start it and
then left her hanging when I was forced to go MIA for a while. Kayla, thank you so much for the wonderful idea for me to run with and your
extreme patience in waiting for the fic to fruition. I hope you will feel it was worth the wait! I am having so much fun with this one! Not sure how many
chapters yet. I am waiting to see how it plays out in the first few chapters.
I hope you all enjoy! As always, your feedback and comments inspire me so much! For all the administrative professionals out there, Happy
Administrative Professionals Day!! 
Tammy
P.S. I am also going to try and get a banner made for this one. I just haven't been able to make the request yet.
All Fics/Back Chapters Can Be Found At: http://tammysfanfic.proboards.com/index.cgi?
Masked Desires
Chapter 1: Secrets and Lies
Emily Quartermaine sat on top of the roof of the hospital staring into the starry sky. The last year had been a blur in both despair and happiness. Despair in that she lost her Prince. Happiness in that on the very same day, her best friend had given birth to the most beautiful baby boy she had ever seen, even if she wouldn't tell her who the father was. The only thing Elizabeth had told her was that it was a one night stand right after her breakup with Lucky and it had obviously not meant anything to her secret lover.
"Oh, Nicholas," Emily peered up into the sky, "I wish you were here to see little Jake! He is so perfect! It's strange, you know? I don't know why, but I had this connection with him the instant I held him in my arms. We just had his first birthday party yesterday. It was so perfect! He has the most beautiful blue eyes that I've ever seen!"
Tear formed in her eyes as she floated back to the part of her heart that was still confused and in despair, "I hope you are listening…that you don't hate me for what I'm doing. I never-," her ashamed voice broke off mid-sentence, "I never intended for this to happen, but I'm in love with him."
As if she was trying to reason with Nicholas, Emily continued, "When you died from the poison Jerry Jax injected into you, I never thought I would feel alive again! I thought that I would spend the rest of my life alone and miserable."
The tears began flowing freely as she professed, "A part of me will always love you, Nicholas, always! I hope that you don't hate me for finding a way to love again. He cares about me, Nicholas, and over the last year, he has become my best friend…well, except for Elizabeth, of course. I just hope that Jason-" The sound of someone opening the door to the rooftop startled Emily catching the rest of her sentence in her throat, but the object of her affection had heard Emily and finished the sentence for her.
"Doesn't kill me when he finds out I've fallen in love with his sister?" The handsome dark haired bodyguard laughed out.
"Johnny! That isn't funny!" Emily exclaimed as she ran into his arms.
Johnny lifted Emily off the ground to capture her lips in a long sweltering kiss. "Sorry I'm late. We had a problem on Pier 12. Jason was pretty steamed that I rushed off, but I told him I needed to run the parameter of the hospital since you were working tonight and Anthony Zacchara is still on the loose."
"At least he still wants you to watch me," Emily grinned, leaning her head back in to meet his lips once more, "It's been getting harder to pretend to fight him on that, by the way."
Johnny's leaned his head away from her with a wide smile as he huskily asked, "How much longer is your break?"
Emily looked down at her watch, "Thirty seven minutes."
Johnny dipped his head to lay small tender kisses down Emily's neck, "Any empty rooms close?"
"I believe there is one down the stairs and right around the corner," Emily softly squealed as he nipped at his favorite tickle spot behind her ear.
"Mmmm…" Johnny murmured in her ear, "Maybe I should check that room out extensively to make sure Anthony isn't hiding in there."
"Maybe I should join you so you can make sure he hasn't planted some kind of device on me! That may require a full body check, though," Emily teased, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Johnny growled in desire carrying Emily back inside to the place of their secret rendezvous.
******************************************************************************
Elizabeth stood in the elevator waiting impatiently for it to take her to the ground floor after a very long 12 hour shift. She was anxious to get home to her boys, even if they were fast asleep in their beds.
"I wish they would finally invest in new elevators," she mumbled to herself, growing more and more impatient, "I knew I should have taken the stairs."
Finally the doors opened and Elizabeth darted out as she fumbled through her purse in search for her keys. Looking down in frustration, she didn't see Jason Morgan standing awestruck in front of her and ran directly into his broad muscular chest.
"Oh!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "I'm so-." Her words cut off as her eyes became locked in Jason's longing gaze.
Quickly, she took two steps back to put space between them. Her words came out breathlessly, "Jason! I'm-I'm so sorry. I didn't see you."
Jason seemed to be having the same difficulty as Elizabeth as he hesitated a moment before shrugging, "It's okay. Are you alright?"
Elizabeth did her best to fake a smile, "Fine! I just can't seem to find my keys." Wanting to break away from Jason's gaze, she looked back down into her purse.
"How are you?" Jason cautiously asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably.
"Fine," Elizabeth replied, giving up on her search and bringing her eyes back to his, "and you?"
"Fine," Jason hesitantly sighed, "How is…."
Jason found it hard to say Jake's name without choking up. Letting Elizabeth, Jake, and Cameron go by making Elizabeth believe that their night together meant nothing was one of the hardest things Jason ever had to do.
When Elizabeth came to him that fateful night, he thought his dreams were becoming a beautiful reality. She had finally realized Lucky was a dumbass who never deserved her after she found him drugged out and sleeping with Maxie Jones in their own apartment. Jason couldn't believe that he was still the person she counted on the most to comfort her in her times of need. When they made love that night, his life suddenly made sense again. He had decided to take things slow and let Elizabeth work out the divorce with Lucky before telling her she was the one person he had always loved.
Jason never expected Elizabeth's visit the night before her divorce was finalized. He definitely didn't expect the news of their pregnancy. When Elizabeth first told him that she was pregnant, he was thrilled beyond words. He had even asked her to marry him, scheduled a plane to take them to Italy, and bought her a 6 carat diamond ring that he was going to give her when he told her his true feelings that he had been holding back for so many years. Elizabeth was stunned at his sudden proposal, but agreed to marry him and meet him at the airport right after she left the courthouse. Sonny was just as shocked when Jason informed him of the news of his impending fatherhood and upcoming marriage to Elizabeth. Sonny told him that he was happy that Jason was finally getting the family he had always wanted and deserved.
Then, as he was on his way to meet her at the airport, he got the inevitable call that brought him back to the real world that was his life. Michael had been shot at Sonny's coffee warehouse and was now a vegetable. As he looked at the young boy laying lifeless in the hospital bed, Jason realized that he would never want to take the chance of his child being in that same bed….or even worse…dead. At that very moment, he made the decision to walk away from Elizabeth, Cameron, and their unborn child.
It killed Jason to see the obvious devastation in Elizabeth's face at the airport as he made her believe that he had acted hastily and after thinking about it, knew that marrying her would be the worst thing that he could do for either of them. He openly lied to her when he told Elizabeth that their night together was just that-one night. Then, Jason made the most painful request he would ever have to make. He asked Elizabeth to keep their liaison a secret, never telling a soul who the father of her baby was. It felt like a knife digging in his chest when Elizabeth quietly agreed without any further questions or objections.
Totally devastated, Jason went back to the hospital and found Carly with Michael. Needing someone to confide his heartache in, he told Carly about his night with Elizabeth and their baby. Carly was there for him when he needed her the most, giving him both a sympathetic ear and shoulder to bear his greatest sacrifice. Sonny arrived soon after and heard Jason's story which ended with him making them both swear to keep his secret and never tell anyone about his child with Elizabeth. They both solemnly promised him with guilty expressions as they finally realized that their decisions had caused their best friend more pain that he had ever felt in his life.
Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, Jason had placed two bodyguards to watch over her and Cameron. He had to know they were safe. He also couldn't bring himself to let her go completely this time. It kept him sane when they called to tell him about Elizabeth's and Cam's daily activities.
Jason had even gone as far as to bribe the owner of a small cottage house on the outskirts of town to make Elizabeth believe that the house Jason purchased from him was given to her by his mother that had passed away after years of being in and out of the hospital. Elizabeth had told Jason about visiting the elderly woman several times at the cottage to check on her during her illness and how much she loved the little house. When he saw the house go on the market, he contacted the son and easily made the deal. Jason wanted to see her face when Elizabeth got the news, so he had the gentleman go to see Elizabeth at the hospital and hid behind the huge columns down the hall from the nurses' station to watch her.
At first, she stared at the man in disbelief. Then, being Elizabeth, she proceeded to tell the man how she couldn't accept the gift. But, when it was obvious that he wasn't going to take "no" for an answer, her face widened in excitement and she threw her arms around the stunned man's neck. Jason had never seen a more beautiful smile than the one on Elizabeth's face at that moment. He made sure to cement her expression in his mind so he could see it every night when he tried, usually unsuccessfully, to sleep.
After that day, Jason found himself regularly behind those same columns, watching Elizabeth while she worked and interacted with everyone. He watched their baby growing inside her belly, wishing desperately to feel it kick and move under his hand. The only time he came close to revealing himself from his hiding place was when Lucky showed up one day when Elizabeth was about six months along in her pregnancy. Just as he had so many times before, Lucky showed up to beg for Elizabeth to take him back. Elizabeth refused, just as she did every other time, so Lucky loudly told everyone around the nurses' station that Elizabeth was a whore and probably didn't even know who the father of her baby was. If Epiphany hadn't stormed around the desk and tossed Lucky hard into the open elevator to get rid of him, it was very likely that Jason would have killed him that day.
Then, there was the birth of their son. One of Jason's guards called him in a panic when he saw Elizabeth collapse outside the door of her home. Luckily, Jason was out riding his motorcycle to clear his head and wasn't far from Elizabeth's house when he got the call. Within minutes, he arrived and found her purse contents strewn across the porch, grabbed her keys, and scooped her up to take her to the hospital. That situation was not as easy to explain to Elizabeth as she opened her eyes to find Jason holding their baby. When Jason looked around to find her awake and watching him with their son, the joy and pride he felt almost overflowed into a confession of his true feelings of love. Logic quickly overshadowed those thoughts and he was able to explain that he was just stopping by to give her the paperwork for the trust fund he had set up for the boys.
At first, Elizabeth refused his money, but Jason convinced her that this was the one and only thing he was able to do for their son…and for Cameron as well. Eventually Elizabeth relented and agreed to accept his gift. It was then that she gave Jason his gift. Elizabeth decided to name their son Jacob Martin Webber, giving him Jason's initials as a way of allowing them each to have a connection as father and son. Jason had never been so touched. He wished more than anything that he could have his family and most of all, Elizabeth's love.
Jason cringed as he remembered almost losing both Elizabeth and Jake during the C-Section that day, not to mention the sadness and devastation in Elizabeth's eyes as he kissed Jake one last time on the forehead while the baby boy lay in Elizabeth's arms and walked out of her room and out of their lives-forever.
When his eyes came back into focus, Jason jumped slightly at the hands being waved in front of his face. "Jason?" Elizabeth's voice called out, her voice full of concern.
"What?" Jason weakly replied, "I'm-I'm sorry! I guess I was just thinking about…" his voice trailed off once more.
"Jake?" Elizabeth finished for him.
Jason's eyes darted to the floor, "Yeah. How-how is he?"
Elizabeth's eyes softened slightly at Jason's obvious love for his son, "He's good. Really good, in fact. He had such a good time at his birthday party yesterday. In fact, if you want, you can have these." Elizabeth reached down into her purse and pulled out a small envelope, which she extended out towards him. "Here, I can have more copies made."
Jason was surprised at Elizabeth's kind gesture, "Are-Are you sure?"
"Yes," Elizabeth weakly smiled, "He looks so much like you, Jason! He has your eyes, your hair…even your face! I'm really surprised no one has figured out that he is yours. He even has the same crease in the center of his nose!" Elizabeth placed the packet of pictures into Jason's hand, as she happily urged, "See for yourself!"
Both Elizabeth and Jason froze as their hands touched under the envelope of pictures, neither of them able to deny the electricity that flowed through their skin. As his senses came back to him, Jason slowly pulled the envelope from Elizabeth's hand and took out the small stack of images. He smiled as he looked through the pictures of a very happy Jake smearing cake all over himself and Elizabeth. There were two pictures in particular that Jason knew would end up in his special place at home. One was of Elizabeth smiling with the boys on either side of her hugging her neck. The other was the one he was holding in his hand right now with Jake holding the toy motorcycle that Jason had sent with Emily.
Elizabeth's voice broke slightly as she said, "That was his favorite present. He even slept with it last night and wouldn't let go of it this morning when I took him to Grams."
"Thank you for the pictures," Jason choked out, "I'm-I'm glad he liked his present."
"You're welcome," Elizabeth said, knowing he was probably wanting her to leave, but she couldn't make her feet move. "So, are you here to see Em?"
Jason shifted slightly as he told her a small white lie, "Umm…yeah." Actually, he was there to find out why Johnny was taking so long when they had issues on the Pier.
"I think she is on break. I can help you find her, if you want." Elizabeth didn't want to give up her unexpected time with Jason so quickly and thought this would be the perfect way to be able to talk with him some more, but she didn't want to seem too obvious. "It's not like I can find my keys right now anyway."
"Any time I can steal with you, I will," Jason thought to himself before nodding, "Yeah, that would be great."
They both stepped into the elevator and Jason carefully tucked his treasured pictures inside his leather jacket in the pocket next to his heart. "He's gotten so big," he said hesitantly, trying to spur on more conversation.
"I know," Elizabeth grinned, "I can't believe it has been a year already."
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as they both wished things had been so different. Jason needed to ease the heaviness of his heart, so he changed the subject, "I'm really glad Emily has you. It's helped her so much since Nicholas died. I know she has really enjoyed being around the boys too. She talks about Jake and Cam all the time."
"Yeah," Elizabeth sighed, "She's been through quite a bit in the last year. I'm glad you have Johnny checking in on her too. He seems to be the only one at times that can make her laugh."
"Yeah," Jason agreed, grateful that his bodyguard and friend had reluctantly agreed to help him with his sister, "She's not real thrilled with me keeping a guard on her though. You should hear the grief I get on a daily basis!"
"Em has always been fiercely independent, especially when it comes to leading her own life," Elizabeth agreed as the doors opened to the 8th Floor Surgical wing.
Elizabeth and Jason walked down the hallways of the 8th floor searching for Emily, each of them trying hard not to let the other catch them in their longing glances. As Jason turned to take in the vanilla scent of Elizabeth's hair, he heard her exclaim, "Em! There you are!"
Jason looked over to see Emily smoothing down her hair while Johnny was cracking some kind of joke that Jason couldn't hear. When they looked up at Jason, both of them stopped in their tracks and smiled uncomfortably at their visitors.
Emily ran up to give Jason a hug, exclaiming, "Hey Jase! Thanks so much for sending Johnny over. He just saved me from one of Old Man Patterson's kissing attacks!"
Jason hugged his sister back and closed his eyes as the sound of Elizabeth's laughter made his heart skip a beat.
"I was on the receiving end of one of those attacks earlier," Elizabeth giggled, "I wish Johnny had been here then!"
"Yeah," Johnny chimed in, "He is one feisty old man! If I had arrived any later, I think your sister may have gotten lucky, Jason!"
Emily released her embrace and turned to shoot Johnny a wide-eyed expression, which did not escape Elizabeth's attention.
"Well," Jason smiled weakly, "I guess it's a good thing you were here then."
Johnny's smile widened, "Definitely!"
"So," Emily interrupted, "Did you come to see me or to retrieve your right hand man?"
"Both," Jason softly replied to his little sister, "How are you?"
"Good," Emily reassured him, "Although, I'm still not overly thrilled at my big brother's protective streak, but I guess I can humor him."
Jason chuckled under his breath, "Thank you."
Emily leaned up to kiss Jason on the cheek, "You're welcome!"
Jason took one more glance at Elizabeth's smile before turning his attention to Johnny and motioning him forward with his hand, "Well, I hate to leave so quickly, but Johnny and I have some business we have to attend to."
Elizabeth noticed Emily's shoulders relax as she replied, "Okay. So, I'll talk to you tomorrow then?"
"Yeah," Jason nodded, "I'll give you a call in the morning."
"Great!" Emily exclaimed before turning to Johnny, "Thanks again, Johnny…for everything."
Johnny winked as he walked by Emily and inconspicuously reached down to squeeze her fingers, "Anytime, Em."
The normally observant Jason may have noticed this little exchange had he not been so engrossed in saying his goodbye to Elizabeth, "Thanks for helping me find Emily. Good luck in finding your keys."
"Thanks," Elizabeth said shyly.
Jason walked a few steps further before turning back around, "And be careful going to your car. It's not very safe for you to walk alone at this time of night."
Elizabeth smiled and nodded, "I will." She was touched by Jason's obvious concern, but knew it was wise not to look too much into it. Jason had made it very clear that he did not share her feelings about their relationship.
Johnny waved as he followed Jason down the hall, "Goodnight, Ladies!"
As the two men walked out of sight, Elizabeth looked over to find Emily staring dreamily after them.
"Em?" Elizabeth asked, her curiosity peaked, "Do you want to tell me what is going on?"
Emily's head snapped back to look at Elizabeth with a surprised and guilty look, "What do you mean?"
Elizabeth laughed, "What do I mean? Something is definitely up, Emily Quartermaine! I saw the way Johnny was looking at you and the whole squeezing of the fingers thing!" Elizabeth motioned towards Emily's hand, "And I also know for a fact that Mr. Patterson was given a sleeping pill two hours before my shift ended and is snoring soundly in his room!"
Fear crossed Emily's face as she slowly inched closer to her friend, "Do you think Jason noticed anything?"
"So I'm right!" Elizabeth exclaimed loudly just before Emily rushed over to clamp her hand over Elizabeth's mouth.
"Shhh!" Emily chastised her, "Jason might hear you!"
Elizabeth removed Emily's hand from her mouth, but kept it firmly in her grasp, "They are in the elevator by now!" While she was surprised by the turn of events, she couldn't help her giddiness at her friend's newfound relationship, "Wow! You and Johnny?" she said in a giggled whisper beginning her ramble, "I can't believe it! How long has this been going on? You two were obviously up to some pretty good stuff if you were smoothing out your hair like that! Jason is going to flip when he finds out! "
Emily shot her friend a worried look, "That's just it, Elizabeth! Jason can't know about us! He will kill Johnny!"
"So," Elizabeth carefully questioned, "Is this just a fling or something more?"
"Something more," Emily bashfully replied.
Elizabeth pried further, "Does Johnny feel the same way?"
"Yes," Emily smiled widely, "He does."
"Then you two better start figuring out how to tell Jason before he finds out on his own!" Elizabeth warned her.
"We can't tell him," Emily pleaded, "Not yet. He won't understand, Elizabeth! You know how he is when it comes to me!" Emily stiffened up and did her best Jason impression, lowering her voice and sternly mimicking, "I don't want you anywhere near this business! Don't you understand how dangerous my life is? Whatever you and Johnny are doing-it's over!"
"Em," Elizabeth exasperated to her friend, "You can't hide it from Jason forever. He's too smart. He's going to figure this out!"
As if a light bulb went off in her head, Emily turned mischievously towards Elizabeth, "Not right away," she smiled wickedly at Elizabeth, "Not if we make him believe Johnny is seeing someone else."
"Oh, no!" Elizabeth contested, "You're not dragging me into this! And what makes you think that Jason will like Johnny seeing me any more than he would like him seeing his sister?"
"Not to mention the fact that I'm the mother of his son! He would definitely kill Johnny then!" she continued in her mind.
Emily's expression turned to one of desperation, "Just hear me out! I think I have an idea that will give Johnny and I time to figure out the best way to ease Jason into the idea of us being together."
"Em!" Elizabeth drawled out.
"Just give me a chance to tell you my plan," Emily pleaded as she led Elizabeth down to the cafeteria for a brain storming session.
