Chapter 25
Jason was still pacing the small waiting room, trying to figure out how to break the news to Carly about the emergency hysterectomy that she had been given. She was out of surgery, and was being moved to a private room, but was still under the anesthesia, so he hadn’t gone in yet.
“Hey, I came as soon as Benny called,” Sonny said breathlessly as he rushed into the room. “What happened? Is she okay?”
Jason sighed and stopped pacing. “Well, she’s alive. She just got out of surgery, so she’s not awake yet.”
“Is it bad? Jason, tell me what happened. Benny wouldn’t say. All he said was that Carly was in the hospital, and something about Luke’s club.”
“There was a shooting before Lucky’s concert. I was inside with Michael, and Liz and Carly were outside talking. They were both hit, no one else.” He lowered his voice at that last part, and Sonny cursed.
“Moreno! We knew something was going down, we should have been more careful.” He looked around the room for a moment, thinking. “How is Liz? Why aren’t you with her?’
“She’s okay. She was only hit on the shoulder, and Lucky rode over with her. Carly was shot in the stomach, and was losing a lot of blood. She’s Michael’s mother, I had to make sure she was okay.”
Sonny rubbed his face, not buying Jason’s flimsy excuse. “Okay, so Carly’s out of surgery, so why aren’t you with Liz now?”
Jason sighed. He could tell Sonny was getting annoyed with him, but he didn’t care. “I was waiting for you to get here. Bobbie was called away on an emergency surgery, and I didn’t want Carly left alone, in case something happened. Now that you’re here, I can go see Liz.”
Sonny nodded, looking toward the door to Carly’s room. “Okay, you go ahead, I’ll watch over her. Um, so she’s going to be okay, right?”
“Yeah, they said she was out of the woods, but there is one thing that she’ll need to know when she wakes up. They had to do a hysterectomy in order to save her, which means she can’t have any more kids.”
Sonny looked up at him in shock. “You’re kidding, right?” Jason shook his head. “But, that’s going to kill her! She’s been dying to have another kid, it’s all she talks about sometimes. You know how guilty she feels about running away after Michael was born, and shuffling him around between you and AJ. She wants another baby, so she can get it right this time. How am I supposed to tell her that she can’t now, because of me?”
“What do you mean, because of you? You didn’t do this to her!” Jason said, praying he wouldn’t start blaming himself like he did when Juan was attacked years ago.
“Of course it is! She was targeted because she’s my girlfriend, same as Liz. We put the women we love in danger, once again, and now we have to live with the consequences. Carly is going to have a fit when she hears this, and will probably want nothing more to do with either of us,” Sonny said, trying to keep his voice down.
“Look, Sonny, if you’re going to blame yourself, I know better than to try to stop you, but Carly isn’t going to leave because of this. She knew from the beginning that there was a danger attached to being your girlfriend, and she accepted that. Liz, on the other hand, is probably going to tear me apart when she sees me. I promised her I wasn’t involved with the Organization anymore, so what is she going to think now?”
“But you aren’t involved,” Sonny said. “You can’t help it that Moreno doesn’t believe that!”
Jason shrugged and started to leave the room. “You and I might know that, but it’s going to be hard to convince her of that when she just had a bullet removed from her shoulder!”
Sonny chuckled as he watched Jason leave, then turned to Carly’s door. He took a deep breath and pushed it open, hoping she wouldn’t be awake yet. He needed some time to figure out the best way to tell her that she’ll never have another baby.
~*~
Jason paused in front of Liz’s room before pushing open the door. She stirred at the sound and slowly opened her eyes.
“Hey,” he said softly, walking over to the chair by her bed. He smiled, hoping she was in a good mood. “How are you feeling?”
Liz glared at him. “Considering that I was just shot, I guess you could say I’m okay. I suppose I should be grateful that they got my left shoulder and not my right one. At least I can still paint.”
Jason sighed. He knew she wasn’t going to make this easy. “I’m sorry, Liz. This shouldn’t have happened. I wish there was something I could do to take away the pain.”
Liz shook her head. “Well, you can’t. It was Moreno, wasn’t it? That’s why Carly and I have had more guards on us lately, right?’
“We think so, but I swear to you, I’m not involved anymore. Moreno just doesn’t believe that I really got out. He thinks we’re up to something, and he’s scared. I should have known better than to leave you outside the club like that.”
“Wait a minute!” Liz said, starting to sit up, but falling back when her shoulder started to throb. “You didn’t let me do anything! I stayed out there because I wanted to, nothing you would have said could have changed that. Look, Jason, legit or not, it’s still dangerous to be your girlfriend, and I swore that I wouldn’t put myself in that kind of danger. “ She took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. This was going to be harder than she had expected.
She looked up into his blue eyes, and could see the dread in them. Not many people could read Jason very well. On the outside, he always looked so stoic and emotionless, but it only took one look into his eyes, and she could tell exactly what he was feeling inside. It broke her heart to do this, but she knew she didn’t have a choice, not if she wanted to keep herself safe.
“Jason, I care about you very much, and you know how much I love Michael, I always will. But, I can’t stay in a situation that puts my life in danger. And frankly, knowing that you rode here with Carly instead of me told me a lot about us. I’m not mad, I’m just finally seeing the truth.”
“Truth? What truth, Liz? I only rode with her because she was hurt so badly. Lucky was with you, so I knew you’d be okay, but Sonny wasn’t there. Someone needed to stay with her, in case she didn’t make it. You didn’t see her, she was really bad.”
Liz nodded slightly, understanding his point, but was still hurt. “How is she now?”
“She’s out of surgery, but they had to do a hysterectomy. She can’t have kids anymore.”
“Oh no,” Liz said, shocked. She knew how badly Carly had wanted to have another baby. “How did she take the news?”
Jason shrugged. “She was still asleep when I left. I came here as soon as Sonny showed up, so he’s probably telling her now. She won’t be happy, that’s for sure.”
Liz folded her hands across her stomach and sighed. “Well, I guess what I was trying to say before is that I can’t see you anymore. Not romantically, at least. It was obvious at the Bachelor’s Auction that there’s still something there between you and Carly, and I just can’t compete with that. I need to be on my own for a while, to find that one person I know I was meant to be with. I think Carly is that person for you, Jason. I know you probably don’t want to hear it, and you’ll argue that she’s with Sonny, but you two share a connection deeper than anything she could have with him. You have a child together, that’s a big thing. Maybe you should give her another chance.”
Jason shook his head in disbelief. Here she was, breaking up with him, and at the same time, calmly telling him to go back to Carly. He didn’t want to admit it yet, but she was right. He was still in love with Carly, and no matter what happened, he always would be. He stood up and smiled at her.
“I’ll miss you, but I have to respect your decision. Take care of yourself, okay? And don’t let this stop you from seeing Michael. He really loves you.”
“I know, don’t worry, I’ll still see him. You too. I really do hope we can stay friends, Jason,” she said, trying not to tear up.
“Me too,” he said, then leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. “I’ll see you around?”
“Sure. Give Carly my love,” Liz whispered, not trusting her voice.
Jason nodded and turned to leave, stopping when he saw Lucky in the doorway. “Hey, Lucky.”
“Jason,” Lucky said, stepping aside as he left. He turned back to Liz and shut the door. “Everything okay?”
Liz nodded. “As okay as things can get right now, I guess. I just told him it was over.”
“Oh,” Lucky mumbled, not sure what to say.
“This was my decision, so why do I feel so bad now?” she asked, a tear running down her cheek.
Lucky sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. “Sometimes doing the right thing hurts, that’s all.” He reached over and touched her hand, trying to offer some sort of comfort. She may not be his favorite person in the world, but he hated to see anyone so sad.
Liz sniffed and looked down at his hand. “I miss him already,” she said, then started to sob. Lucky leaned over impulsively and gathered her in his arms, making sure not to bump her left shoulder too much. Liz wrapped her right arm around his back and buried her face in his chest, not caring that she was supposed to hate him. At that moment, she needed to cry, and that was all that mattered.
