~ Stranger in the Night ~

~ By Vicky ~

~ Chapter 9 ~

~ The Quartermaine Mansion ~

Jason peered into the living room from the patio doors.  No one was there.  He hoped, he could sneak in, find AJ, and be gone before anyone else saw him.  The doors were open, and he made his way in.  He was closing the doors when he heard someone enter the living room.  He turned to see Courtney’s eyes go wide.

“What are you doing here?  You can’t be here!” she exclaimed in shock.

“Courtney listen, I have to tell you something,” he said moving towards her, but it was too late.

“Jason! Get the hell away from my wife!” AJ yelled as he came into the living room.

Courtney looked between the two men and uttered, “What?”

"Jason! When did you get back in town?" Monica exclaimed as she walked into the living room.

Alan followed in behind her. "Good to see you son."

"What's all the commotion in here," Edward bellowed as he too was drawn into the living room, but stopped when he saw his estranged grandson.  "Have you seen your grandmother yet young man?"

"Why does everyone act like a visit from Jason is like the second coming?"

"AJ, your brother has been gone for over a year, don’t start this jealousy crap!" Alan scolded.

"Are you really that insecure Junior?" Ned chimed in, joining the others.

"Ned, I will not have you disrespecting my son in my house," Alan said.

"But you-"

"It's my house!" Monica reminded.

"I gave it to you!"

The room soon erupted in bickering and arguing.  It started out being over Jason's arrival, and the house, but who knows what they were fighting over now.

Jason's eyes were locked with Courtney's the entire time.  He saw the pain and confusion in her eyes and his heart broke, knowing he put it there.  The sound of everyone arguing was giving him a headache and taking up time.  He had to get his job done and then explain things to Courtney.  "Enough! I'm here to speak to AJ," he announced.

Both AJ and Courtney's heads snapped up at his request.

"But Jason you just got here.  Couldn't you visit with the family?"

"I'm sorry Monica.  AJ and I have some business to take care of and then I will be leaving," he said, turning his eyes towards AJ.

Courtney had never seen him so cold.  It surprised her.  So much had just surprised her in the last few minutes.  It was looking like she didn't know him at all.

"Come on Monica, it's obvious Jason has no concern for his family," Edward uttered.

The family began filing out of the room, grumbling to themselves, but Courtney remained there, eyeing both men.

"It's ok honey, I can handle Jason," AJ told her, touching her arm.  She continued to stare at Jason and AJ said again, "Really, I'm ok. Go." 

She didn't want to leave, but it had nothing to with AJ.  Jason had some serious explaining to do. Plus she was afraid of what he was going to say to AJ.  She knew though that she couldn’t get to the bottom of any of this with AJ there, so she relented and left, but not before giving AJ a kiss on the cheek, while watching Jason for a reaction.  Yeah, she did it to hurt him, but right now she was hurting too.  She saw Jason's eyes flare for a moment and that look of pain flash over them.  It only lasted a second though because they soon returned to the cold stare directed at AJ.

Jason watched her go.  He wished he could explain; make her understand before she started imagining the worst.  It looked as though, she already had though.  He knew that kiss was for his benefit, and it had the effect she was going for.  He hated seeing her with that slimy bastard.  He shook those thoughts from his head and returned to business. "You've been messing where you don't belong."

"Oh get off it Jason.  Michael is my son and I have every right to see him and be a part of his life."

"You signed away your rights."

"No Jason, I was forced to!" he yelled.

"And do I need to remind you why you had to give up those rights?  We still have the evidence.  Do you really want to spend the next 20 years in Pentonville?"

"I'm not afraid of you Jason.  I won't let you brow beat me into staying away from my son."

"Well then, Sonny is prepared to do anything to protect his family, and if you don’t cooperate, he'll have to eliminate the problem.  I'm warning you AJ.  Stay away from Michael!"  And with that he left in search for Courtney, praying she would forgive him.

He ran down the stairs, hoping she was there.  He knew she must be confused and he wanted to make her understand.  He heard the sound of footsteps and thanked God, knowing it was her.  When he turned around though, he was taken back.  Her eyes were cold and hard.  'Oh she looks pissed' he thought.

She walked up to him, and he immediately reached out to her, "Courtney listen…"

"Don't!" she said sternly and pulled away.  "Don't touch me, don't talk to me, don't come near me!"

Jason's eyes seemed to melt at her words.  The sparkle in his light blue eyes dulled and a wave of pain washed over his normally stone face.  "Please let me explain."

"What is there to explain Jason?" she said emphasizing his first name.  "You were supposed to be different!  You were supposed to be honest!  You were supposed to be the one person who never lied to me!"

"I never lied to you."

"You didn’t tell me the truth!  What you didn’t think I had the right to know that you were my husband's brother?"

"AJ's not my brother," he corrected.

"Whatever! So what was I Jason?  An easy fuck?  A job?  Did my brother put you up to this?  Get poor naïve Courtney away from her awful husband?"

"Sonny knows nothing about us!"

"There is no us!" she yelled.

"No! What we had was real!  When we first met, I had no idea who you were, I swear to you.  Only recently did I realize who you were.  And I was going to tell you!  That's what the picnic was going to be for.  I swear!" he desperately tried to make her see where he was coming from.

"Did you know who I was when you slept with me?" she asked.  He bowed his head and avoided her eyes.  She nodded and a single tear rolled down her cheek.  She quickly wiped it away.  "That's what I thought." She turned away from him and headed back towards the stairs.

"Courtney, please wait," he begged.

"Just stay away from me Jason… please."

He could tell she was crying harder now.  He heard the hurt in her voice and let her go.  He swore to himself that he'd make her understand and take away that pain he put there.  Here he had been swearing he'd never let anyone hurt her again and turns out he was the one to hurt her the most.  He hated himself for it.  She was the best thing to happen to him and he wasn't ready to give that up.