*A/N Hi everyone. Sorry that I haven’t updated in a while but I had a really bad writer’s block then I went on vacation for two weeks.

Chapter 4

The knob on the door turned…

The door opened to reveal a thin brunette. All the kids ran up to the woman standing in the doorway. They knew her from her previous visit the year before and they were all glad that she had come back again. They immediately noticed the diamond engagement ring on her left hand and started spitting out questions.

‘What does he look like?’ ‘What color are his eyes?’ ‘You brought him with you, right?’

Emily looked up at the three women standing on the side. That’s when she saw a shocked Courtney.

“Oh my God! Courtney!” Emily exclaimed as she ran toward the woman. Emily and Courtney embraced as tears ran down both of their faces.

“Oh Courtney, we’ve all been so worried. Even the PCPD honestly tried to help us find you!” Emily laughed. Everyone in Port Charles knew that the PCPD was worthless. They couldn’t do ANYTHING right. “Sonny and Jason have every person they know out trying to find you. Sonny and Carly barely ever leave the penthouse. Michael is refusing to go to school. PC is a wreck without you.”

“How’s Jason?” That was the one question that she really wanted answered.

“Before I answer your question, there are a few things that you should know,” Emily paused before continuing. “First of all, Sam’s baby isn’t Jason’s.” A look of relief came over Courtney’s face. “Sam left town early this morning, but over the past couple weeks she told us a lot of stuff about how Jason has been acting since you left.”

Courtney’s eyes questioned Emily, ‘like what?’

“Umm… Sam has seen Jason crying when he reads the letter that you left for him,” Emily said. “Oh, he gets so upset. This morning he finally broke down. Carly told me that the only things that were left untouched were his pool table, your letter, and a chain with his wedding ring on it.” Tears formed in Emily’s eyes. “I have never seen this side of Jason before,” she finished.

“Is Jason going to be OK?” Courtney asked.

“Yes. He’s just fine now,” said a voice from behind Emily. Courtney couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked over Emily’s shoulder.

Courtney ran into Jason’s arms. He let his fingers run threw her silky hair. “I thought that I lost you forever,” Jason whispered into her ear. She responded by tightening her grip around Jason’s neck. His kissed the top of her head as most of the younger boys let out and ‘ewwww.’

“Miss M?” Marie’s voice broke the room’s silence.

Courtney reluctantly pulled herself from Jason’s arms. She knelt down so she was at the same height as the little girl. “What’s wrong?” Courtney asked, full of concern.

“Why are you crying? Shouldn’t you be happy? Isn’t that the Jason from your pictures?” Marie asked. Courtney’s crying confused her.

“Picture?” Jason asked. He didn’t think that Courtney would have brought a picture of him. He’d imagined that she was angry with him when she left.

The girl Courtney had called Marie ran threw a door leading down some stairs. She reappeared two minutes later with a picture frame and handed it to Jason.

Jason stared at the picture of them at their wedding. He smiled remembering how happy they had been. That was more than eight months ago when that picture had been taken.

Marie removed the frame from Jason’s hands. She placed it face down on the floor and opened the back. Marie took out five pictures and laid them face up in front of Jason. One was of Courtney and him at the Loft. Two were of them at their wedding in France. One was of Jason standing next to their first Christmas tree. Finally there was one of the couple and Carly at the Cellar.

Marie pulled on Jason’s hand silently asking him to squat down so he was closer to her height. She whispered into his ear, “Miss M didn’t know I knew about this picture. She keeps it under her pillow.” The girl handed him a picture of him sleeping. He could tell that Courtney had taken it at the Loft.

“Marie,” Courtney scolded as she saw the picture in Jason’s hand, but she made no effort to take it from him.

Marie gathered the pictures and put them back in the frame. Jason picked the little girl up as he stood.

Marie leaned in to whisper something to Jason. She got a little excited and her voice was well above a whisper. “Oh, and Miss M says she thinks you’re HOT, whatever that means…” The child blurted out.

Jason and Courtney’s faces both went beat red. The room’s occupants all tried to hide their laughter, except for Emily. She laughed so hard that she fell on the ground where she continued laughing.

~DING~

The timer in the kitchen went off. “Umm… Courtney can you please show our guests to the extra bedroom?” Anna asked as she ran to the kitchen.

.*.

Courtney, Clair, Matt, and the twins led Jason and Emily to the spare room. It was right next to Courtney’s room. It had white carpets and walls. The bedspreads on the two singles were a forest green color. There was a chest of drawers in one of the corners. That is what Jason always thought a bedroom should be… a place to sleep and a place for your clothes.

But somehow it felt so empty…

Jason knew why it felt empty to him. His penthouse was once a place to sleep, a desk to work at, and a pool table for something to do when he was bored. Then Courtney came into his life. She made his house a home. She made it so he would look toward the future. Whether he was looking ahead five hours or 50 years. She lightened up his world and gave it color and hope. She made the things he once thought meaningless become magical. She made him feel his emotions, even when he didn’t want to. Courtney made him see beauty in things that he never gave much thought to before. The funny thing was that she didn’t do that intentionally. She just did it by being there.

He knew now that he would do whatever he had to for her. He would go anywhere, do anything, and give up everything.

.*.

Jason lay in bed that night. After dinner he had chased Matt, Angie, and Marie around for thirty minutes. The entire time Courtney laughed at ‘Big Bad Jason Morgan’ not being able to catch the three. Then he, Courtney and Emily tucked all the kids into their beds. After they all went to bed themselves, completely exhausted.

Later that night he lay in bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. It was 2:13 when he heard a small cry from the kid’s room. Jason heard Courtney jumping out of her bed and head to the adjacent room. He decided to go sit in the living room. He mind drifted as he sat on one of the big blue couches.

He didn’t hear Courtney’s door open.

“Jason, what’s wrong?” Courtney’s voice pulled that man back to the present. Jason’s face was slightly paled. The woman, acting on instinct, sat down next to Jason and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Nothing, just a bad memory,” he responded.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” She knew that it wasn’t her place to ask, but she couldn’t help it. He looked so upset.

“I was thinking about when Rick took you and put you in that coal mine. We were so scared that we wouldn’t find you in time. I was afraid that I was going to lose you. I just remember looking at the maps of the mines Ric’s father owned. Each one just had a number. Then we saw that one was named after Sonny’s mother and we figured it out. I was just so relieved when I found you there, still alive,” he said with tears in his eyes.

Courtney, without thinking about it, started to rub Jason’s back to comfort him. “Hey, it’s ok. We both made it. We’re alright,” she said as she stared into his eyes. She smiled. It was wonderful to be able to see his beautiful blue eyes again.

“No. We’re not ok,” he sighed. He put his elbows on his knees as his hands cradled his face. “We’re not and it’s all my fault. I messed up and I can’t fix it.”

Courtney laid her head on the back of Jason’s shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh Jason, it wasn’t your fault.”

Jason just sat there feeling her arms around him. He let a few minutes pass before he slowly turned around so he could look her. “Why did you leave Port Charles?”

“I was hoping that you wouldn’t ask,” she replied.

“Courtney, please tell me.” He saw pain in her eyes, but he needed to know.

“Jason, I… I have a… a…”

“Courtney just say it. I’m right here and I want to help, but I need to know what is going on first,” Jason pleaded.

“Jason, I have a brain tumor,” Courtney whispered.

Jason couldn’t reply. He took Courtney in his arms and let her cry as he silently did the same. He could feel that her tears were soaking his T-shirt, but he didn’t care. How could he have let her suffer threw this alone. He should have looked harder and seen that something wasn’t right.

She had to be ok. He needed her.

. *.

Emily woke up at three in the morning. She looked over at her brother’s bed and saw that it was empty. She went looking for him and found him sitting in the living room.

“Jason?” Emily asked. Her brother lifted his head. His eyes were red and Emily could tell that he had been crying. “Oh my God. Jase, what’s wrong?”

“Courtney has a brain tumor and there’s nothing I-I can do to help her!” His sister enveloped him in a hug. Emily couldn’t find any words and even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to trust her voice.

Jason felt Emily’s embrace, but he didn’t respond to it. He felt like he would lose Courtney if he let her go. He knew that it was absurd, but he couldn’t help feeling it.

.*.

Courtney woke up the next morning in Jason’s arms. She could see that Emily was asleep on the next couch over.

Courtney felt stiff from falling asleep sitting up. Still, she felt better than she had in weeks, and why wouldn’t she? She was in Jason’s arms, she knew that he wasn’t the father of Sam’s baby, and he still wanted to be with her, even after she told him her secret.     

Jason awoke from his sleep and saw the blond looking at him, but deep in thought. “Good morning,” he said gently.

Courtney smiled and snuggled back into his chest.

*A/N This chapter is going to be very short, but I think everyone will like it. This chapter is dedicated to CrazyJay_123 for all of the feedback I have been getting from her.

Chapter 5

About a week later Emily was getting ready to return to Port Charles. Jason had called Sonny and got two months off. He didn’t tell him that he had found Courtney. It was decided that Emily would not tell anyone about Courtney.

Jason woke up at 5:30. He wanted to take Emily, Courtney, Matt, Angela, Marie, and Clair out to breakfast before his sister’s flight left at noon.

Emily was already awake, so Jason went to wake up Courtney.

He sat down on the edge of her bed and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “I love you so much,” he said just below a whisper. He kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose, then her lips trying to lure her from her sleep. After a few minutes she still hadn’t woken up. Finally Jason picked her up and held her a few feet in the air above the bed. He dropped her at it definitely woke her up.

“What was that for?” Courtney asked. She was a little angry that he had woken her up, but she had mostly had just been scared.

“You wouldn’t wake up,” he stated simply.

Courtney shook her head as she got up to get a shower. Emily and Jason went into the kids’ room and got them all dressed. By seven all seven people were in the car and they started off towards breakfast.

.*.

Two hours later, the group again sat in the car. Jason wanted to make a quick detour, but he wouldn’t tell Courtney where they were going.

Ten minutes later, they all exited the car. They looked down on LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Courtney, Angie, Matt, and Clair looked over the city in awe. Emily and Marie stood back with Jason.

Emily gave her brother a nod of encouragement and Marie took something out of her pocket and put it in Jason’s hand.

Jason walked up to Courtney. He took her hand in his and silently led her away from the group.

“Courtney, I know that I really messed up before we got divorced. I was a stubborn pain in the ass and you deserve better than that. But the thing is, I’m too stubborn to give you up. Our lives have become more complicated but in still need you in my life… Will you marry me?”

“Oh my God! Of course! Yes!” She said throwing herself into his arms.

“I love you so much,” Jason whispered.

“I love you more than anything in the whole world,” Courtney responded.

They pulled apart. Jason slipped the sapphire onto Courtney’s finger. “Right where it should be.

Courtney flew into his arms again and kissed him on the lips. She looked in his eyes and knew it. This time would be forever.

“Miss Emily? What does ass mean?” Marie asked.

* Feedback is appreciated.