Title: Only the Beginning
Author: Lena
Feedback: journeyfan368@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Category: Long
Type: Romance/Mob
Summary: Jason and Courtney fall in love, but what will happen when someone from her past returns to haunt her?

Chapter One

Jason sighed, slowly running his hand over his face. How had he let this happen? He knew that as soon as he started to feel something for Courtney he should have broken away. He did try at least; marrying Brenda was supposed to help that. Keep him from complicating her life even more. She didn't need that. She had enough to deal with, with AJ being how he was. And yet he couldn't stay away. And with his marriage to Brenda over and her out of the country...

His phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. "Yeah?"

"Jason? It's Courtney." She sounded upset, like she was crying.

"Courtney? What is it? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Yeah. It's AJ. He...he...he's drunk. Can you come get me, please? I'll explain more later."

"I'll be right there." He hung up his phone, grabbed his jacket, and raced out the door.

He got to her and AJ's apartment and knocked on the door. "Courtney?" He called. "It's Jason."

The door opened and Courtney stood there, her face tearstained and bruised. "Oh god, Jason. He...he came home drunk. He started yelling about how he thinks I'm in love with you and he called me a whore and then he started to hit me..."

"He hit you?! Where is he?! How dare he..." Jason started to say when Courtney interrupted him.

"Jason, Jason. It's ok. I'm ok, really. He's passed out in the bedroom. Please, don't hurt him. I don't want you to hurt anyone for me."

"All right, fine. But I'm getting you out of here. Grab whatever you need, and let's go."

"Thank you. I just need to grab some clothes." She got what she needed and they left.

Jason's PH

They walked in and Courtney set her bag down on the floor. She was shaking from shock and fear. Jason led her over to the couch and sat her down. He knelt in front of her and touched her cheek with his hand.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" He asked her gently.

"Um, when he hit me I fell and then he started kicking me. My...my arms hurt and so do my legs."

"Let me go get the first aid kit. I'll be right back."

He helped clean up her cuts and put ice on the worst of her bruises, which were slowly starting to appear. She was still very shaky and kept staring off into space.

"Courtney..." He said slowly, touching her cheek to get her attention. She looked at him slowly, almost without recognition. He resisted the urge to take her into his arms and comfort her. "Courtney, do you want to stay here tonight? If you're uncomfortable with that I can call Sonny."

"No, no. I don't want to deal with Sonny right now. I know he'll just get upset and want to kill AJ. Can I call him though, and tell him what's going on?" she responded.

"Yeah, of course." He got up and brought her the phone. She dialed and waited a moment.

"Hi, Sonny. It's Courtney. Yeah, I'm um, I'm at Jason's." She paused as Sonny responded. "Long story, really, but AJ came home drunk and--no, no I'm ok. Really. Thank you, really Sonny, but is it ok if I just stay here tonight? I don't want Michael to see me like this...yeah ok I'll see you tomorrow." She hung up the phone and looked at Jason. "He agreed about Michael. It's not good for him to see his Aunt Courtney looking like this."

"Yeah, yeah that's a good point." he replied, secretly glad she was going to be staying with him. "You look tired and you should really get some rest. You can stay in my room. Come on, I'll take you up."

"No, no Jason. That's ok. I'll stay here on the couch. I don't want to inconvenience you in any way."

"Hey, hey, don't argue with me on this. Come on, let's go." He tilted his head and smiled slightly at her.

Later...

He sat on the couch, head in his hands. He could hardly believe that she was upstairs, sleeping safely in his bed. He was about to settle in to go to sleep when there was a soft knock on the door.

"Jason, you in there? It's Sonny,” a voice said from outside.

Jason got up and opened the door. "Hey yeah what's up?"

Sonny looked at him and asked quietly, "How's my sister?"

Jason sighed. "She's ok. She's upstairs, sleeping. I just went and checked on her a few minutes ago. AJ, he-- he went too far. Apparently, he came home drunk, started yelling at her and when she tried to reason with him he hit her."

Sonny ran his hand over his face, trying to control his emotions. "The little bastard. How dare he hurt her like that. I could kill him."

"I know, I know. I had the same reaction. She asked me not to hurt him. Said she didn't want me to hurt anyone because of her." Jason said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Yeah I figured she'd say something like that." Sonny responded. "All right, I'll let it go...this time. It happens again..."

"It happens again and I'll kill him myself. She doesn't deserve any of that." Jason said, staring at the floor.

"All right, I gotta get back to Carly; she's dying to know what's going on. Talk to Courtney tomorrow about what's next for her, ok? Let her know that our door is open."

"Yeah, I will."

Sonny left and Jason went back to the couch. He sighed again, and lay back to go to sleep.

Jason awoke a few hours later, feeling uneasy. He decided to go upstairs to check on Courtney, make sure she was all right. He got to the door and knocked softly. "Courtney?" he whispered. He heard a soft sound from inside and slowly opened the door.

She was sitting on the bed, arms wrapped around her legs, crying. She looked up when she saw Jason standing there. "Why? Why did he...how could he...I loved him Jason. He is my husband. What happened to love and protect?" she sobbed, her voice breaking.

He walked over to the bed and sat down next to her. "Courtney, Courtney, listen to me. This is not your fault. AJ, he's slime. He doesn't deserve you."

She looked up at him and his heart broke for her. How could AJ do something to terrible to someone so wonderful?

"Jason, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I keep running to you with everything, dumping all my issues in my marriage on you." she said, looking into his eyes.

"Oh no Courtney, don't--don't be sorry." He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she leaned her head into his chest. "I like that you can come to me with things. I like helping you."

"Thank you, Jason. Thank you for being here for me whenever I need you." She said sleepily, slowly drifting off into sleep. Once he was sure she had dozed off, he lightly kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome, Courtney." he whispered. He laid her down and tucked the blankets around her. He gave one last look to her peaceful, sleeping form and left the room.