A/N – Okay. Here's a taste of what's to come. As you can see, I changed the title from Shady and I will start posting next week. It's really a story about unlikely friendships and them coming together to protect each other. I have no idea how this popped into my mind, but I'm really enjoying writing it and putting these particular characters in a different setting and light. I really hope you like it. I'm also almost finished a ficlet with a little Herb and Lynn and Vegas again (not a part 2 but a different crazy scenario). I'll publish that as soon as I'm finished with it. Of course there is Liason, but I'll also focus on some of the other relationships formed. There are 3 crossovers from 3 different shows. You won't have to know the shows to follow. AH

Chapter 1 - Shady

Elizabeth solemnly sat down on her bed and opened her diary and began to write.

Dear Diary, This is my first day in the loony bin. I can't believe that they did it. I can't believe they locked me away. They kept threatening me with it, but I guess after this last time I pushed them over the edge.

She wiped away an errant tear and then looked down at her bandaged wrists and the pain of what she did flooded her body. Would she ever get over what he did to her? It haunted her thoughts day in and out. She couldn't sleep and didn't want to eat. Her family didn't understand why she couldn't just dust herself off and move on. Sarah accused her of being a drama queen and Grams wasn't exactly the most tolerant person to begin with. And then there was Lucky. Out of guilt, he helped her as much as he could—sometimes even sleeping on the floor in her room. He was the reason that she had gone to the stupid park in the first place. For a year he tried to stick by her until her sister pushed her over developed breasts in his face and again it was Elizabeth who? She hated Sarah for it at first, but then realized that maybe she had dodged a bullet. Lucky was really high maintenance and she wanted nothing to do with sex; something that now seemed to be more important to him then she was. Liz continued to write.

I know that I haven't been able to get over what happened to me. I was brutally raped and it changed the entire course of my life. I see him everywhere. No matter what I've tried, he just won't go away. A few days ago, I saw him again and he got so close to me. I panicked and ran home and lost it. I couldn't take it anymore. So, I broke into my Gram's liquor cabinet and got drunk and cut myself. I just didn't want to feel the pain anymore. I'm so tired.

She put down the pen and laid her head on her pillow, wishing she could take back her actions because she wasn't sure if she could handle being in a mental institution. Suppose she started seeing him again? They would never let her out. The thought alone made her start to shake. This had to be what hell was like because the pain never went away.

There was a knock on the door and a nurse stepped into the room. "You should be outside right now. Come on, I'll walk you out." The doctor didn't want Elizabeth to be alone right now.

Shadybrook had two different buildings. The first one, where Elizabeth was kept, had security that was more lax and patients had a lot more freedom to move around. There a lush lawn and benches. A thick patch of woods stood behind it. The other building housed mentally ill patients who were usually more medicated and needed closer supervision. It was surrounded by a fence because security was tighter. Thankfully, they didn't feel like Elizabeth was a threat to herself so they let her stay in building one.

Liz nodded and then put her diary in the drawer and followed the nurse into the courtyard. There was an empty bench in a garden area so she sat down. A bench—it was where she had been sitting before the man had attacked her. In a blink of an eye, she was transported to the other park where it had happened, making her shiver. When someone plopped down next to her, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

He saw the fear in her eyes and it almost took his breath away. "I won't hurt you."

She was frozen and couldn't move, slightly hyperventilating.

"Do you want me to get the nurse?"

She almost nodded yes, but then she was scared that she'd be punished for freaking out.

"Take a deep breath."

He watched her inhale deeply, never taking her eyes off of him, wondering what the hell happened to her that she was like this. When he saw her shoulders relax a little, he spoke again. "Better?"

She nodded.

"Good. I'm John Zacchara."

"Liz."

He smiled and she noticed the way it lit up his face and was almost envious.

"Have you been in here long?" he asked.

"No. Today's my first day."

She relaxed her arms and he saw the bandages. There really was no use in hiding it. It was obvious.

"Well, I tell you what Liz. I could use a friend. I'll watch your back if you'll watch mine."

Liz studied him for a moment. He seemed nice enough and the idea of friendship, especially since she didn't know anyone, was nice. "Deal."

"So, what kind of mischief can we get into today?"

She smirked. The amusement didn't go all the way to her eyes, but it was a start. "Why am I suddenly regretting our friendship?"

John grimaced. "Ouch. It usually takes at least a day before beautiful women dump me."

Liz blushed. No one had ever referred to her as beautiful before and she was sure he was just placating her.

With a twinkle in his eyes, he jumped up. "Follow me."

She looked at the woods and watched him run down a path and then swallowed her fear and ran after him. As the trees parted, she saw their destination. A tree house. She smiled and ran faster to catch up to him.

"You go first," John said.

For a moment, she considered the fact that he could easily hurt her with no one else around, but for some reason she felt no fear from being around him. She climbed up the ladder and went inside.

"This is my hiding place. Not many patients come back here," he said, plopping against the wall across from her. There was a fence right behind them so that people couldn't go too far. At least they had some freedom at their building, although he was quite sure that no one knew he had fixed the place up.

"How did it get here?" Liz looked around. It is small, but there is an all weather floor mat, a dart board on the wall, and a container in the corner. A blue bean bag chair finished off the décor.

"The structure was already here and then I had my guards sneak in and fix it up. I'm rich." There was a wire fence that had surrounded the base of the tree, but his guys ripped it out.

She shook her head and then looked out of the window. "I like it." She felt safe high above the ground where he couldn't get to her. It was probably a very false sense of security, but anything that made her feel better was welcome at the moment.

"Well, mi casa is su casa. You can come up here whenever you want, unless I'm on a date of course."

She chuckled. "Do you have many of those?"

He grinned. "Do you see this face?"

She liked John and knew he was trying to get her to relax. "Why are you here?" He seemed quirky, but there was nothing alarming about him.

"I watched my father kill my mother. He got away with it. I've been in and out of trouble ever since. To avoid jail, my father's lawyer made a deal and I got six months in here."

"Wow."

"I have about a month and a few weeks to go. What about you?"

She was silent for a minute and then pushed up the sleeves of her shirt.

He tried not to make a big deal about it even though it was. "I saw that. Must have been something bad for you to do that to yourself."

She nodded.

Sensing her apprehension, he decided to back off a little. "You don't have to tell me. The only concern I have is that I'm going to do something that puts you on edge."

"I'm not scared of you John."

"I'm glad because I meant what I said. I wouldn't hurt you, but I will protect you if necessary."

"I don't like people touching me unless I give my permission," Liz said before looking away.

"Okay. I'll remember that." He was pretty sure she had been attacked physically, possibly even raped. Given that she looked younger, it just pissed him off even more.

She started to laugh and he moved beside her to look out the window to see what had caught her eye. There was a small gap in the tree which allowed them to see a portion of the lawn. He fell over laughing at the sight of one of the patients passed out, crushing a nurse. You could only see her feet and hair. People were rushing to assist her but couldn't budge the huge man.

Liz had tears streaming down her face. They both were laying on the floor cracking up.

"Anytime I feel like I'm coming out of my skin, I'm going to think about what we just saw," John said grinning.

Liz smiled. He loved that it had reached her eyes this time. She was beautiful, not in a model kind of way but in a girl next door genuine way. Her eyes were a gorgeous deep blue and her lips were definitely kissable. He turned so he didn't make her feel uncomfortable.

Liz had seen how he was studying her, but it didn't unnerve her because she didn't think he would do her any harm. Besides, she really didn't think any man would want her except for the one who had changed everything.

"We should get back before they notice that we're missing."

"Okay." She really didn't want to leave. It was like her own little oasis away from the cruel, dark world.

"We can come back," he said, noting the signs of distress on her face.

She nodded and then John climbed down and she followed.

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

Doctor Violet Turner shifted in her seat. "Elizabeth, did you hear a word I just said?"

Liz snapped out of her daydream. "I'm sorry. Sometimes it's hard for me to focus."

"I asked you how your first day was."

"Quiet."

"Does that bother you?"

She shook her head. "No. It's fine." She studied her doctor for a moment. Her hair was brown, long, and wavy. It was partially pulled back and she had glasses on. Liz thought she was pretty.

"Did you make any friends?"

"Yes."

"Good I'm not supposed to do this, but your brother has been literally stalking me."

Liz perked up. "Steve is here?"

"He was and insisted that I give you a bag. He said it would help you."

Liz's eyes lit up. "May I see it?"

Doctor Turner was just happy that Elizabeth was finally being more responsive. She handed over the bag and Liz actually smiled. "It's a sketch pad and pencils. I like to draw and paint."

Now they were getting somewhere.

"Elizabeth, how would you like to help teach our art classes?"

Liz blushed. "I don't know."

"It's no pressure. People actually sign up for it so they want to be there. It's a couple of times a week. You could help pass out the supplies and maybe assist someone if they are stuck. I promise that you will get to paint as well. I think it might be therapeutic for you."

"I could try." Liz was a little shy, but she usually had no problems speaking up when she was talking about something she loved.

"Good. I'll talk to the teacher tomorrow."

Liz smiled and grabbed her bag and stood up. "Bye."

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

Jason sat in the interrogation room with his head in his hands. He had done it again. He was still having problems controlling his anger due to his brain damage. This time, he had crashed Edward's Bentley in a race.

The door opened and Justice walked inside followed by his grandfather. He could tell by the look on their faces that it was bad.

"Jason, you have two choices, jail or Shadybrook."

"What?"

Edward was livid. "I'm done. You have rage issues and you need help learning how to control them before you kill someone or yourself. So you either go to Shadybrook for treatment or I press charges. What is it going to be?"

"How long in jail?"

Edward's mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe that Jason would consider prison rather than the alternative.

Justice sighed. "Due to your recent arrests, you could be facing five years."

Jason was surprised.

"You hit several parked cars and you took out a hundred year old tree. Trust me, take the Shadybrook deal because if you go to prison you will get into a fight and possible get into more trouble than you bargained for," Justice said.

"Fine. How long do I have to go to the loony bin?"

"A month," Edward said.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay."

"I'll drop you off in twenty-four hours. Your grandmother would like to see you before you go."

Jason nodded. As much as he hated the idea of being committed, he couldn't continue to live like he was or it wasn't going to end well.

IiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiIiI

The next day, Sonny looked across the room at Elizabeth and John who were playing checkers. It was an interesting twosome. John's father was legendary for being a lunatic and he didn't know much about Elizabeth. She was young so he didn't come into contact with her very much, but he had seen her at Kelly's a few times with Lucky. He got up and walked over to them.

John looked up at him and Elizabeth noticed the tension. Sonny flashed his dimples as he smiled at her. "Hello, I'm Sonny."

She nodded. "Elizabeth and this is John."

Sonny looked at John for a long moment. "I know who he is."

"Why are you in here?" John asked. Corinthos was notorious for flying off the handle. He wondered if he had made a deal similar to his.

"I was arrested and had a claustrophobia attack. I did a lot of damage so they admitted me."

John smirked. "I'm not in the business."

"I know, but your family is and I don't want any trouble. Hopefully, I'll be getting out of here soon."

Liz tucked some hair behind her ear. "What business?"

Carly Benson plopped down next to Sonny. "The mafia little girl."

Liz turned red. "Oh."

"Look Princess Purity, try not to judge Sonny for it. He's actually kind of cool."

Sonny didn't say anything, but the look on his face made Liz smile.

"What are you in for?" John asked Carly.

"I keyed my step daddy's car and kind of cut up all his clothes." There was more to it, but she didn't feel like going into more detail.

Liz bit her lip.

"Why?"

Liz was certainly glad that John had no problem being nosey.

"I went crazy because he rejected me."

Liz frowned. "But he's married to your mom."

"I know. She gave me up for adoption and didn't want me so I was trying to get revenge."

"By sleeping with your step father?" Liz felt like she was in the middle of a soap opera and she just couldn't process Carly's logic.

Carly laughed. "Seriously muffin, you really are innocent aren't you?"

The door opened to the rec room and Jason walked in. Carly's mouth dropped open. "Oh my God, I know him."

Jason sat down by the window and looked outside.

Elizabeth thought he was beautiful.

"He doesn't look too happy." John said.

"That's Jason Quartermaine or Morgan now," Sonny said. He was off and on with Brenda and she told him about the accident. "His brother drove them into a tree and he has brain damage now. I hear he has these rages and kind of freaks out."

"I think I read about that accident in the paper," John said.

"We had a stellar make out session at Jake's one night," Carly said. Now that Jason was here, maybe she'd have a little fun because he certainly was packing. She just wished they had finished the deal that night.

Elizabeth remained silent, wondering what Jason was really like and why in the world he'd make out with the train wreck sitting across from her. They watched two orderlies walk towards him.

"Mr. Morgan, you need to go to your room now."

Jason stood up. "Why? I wasn't doing anything."

"Because you are not allowed in the common areas yet." They usually made more violent patients wait before being introduced into the general population.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Jesus, he was sick of rules and people telling him what to do.

Sonny sighed. "Wrong answer."

Liz's mouth dropped open when one of the guards used a taser on Jason and he dropped to the floor.

"You need to learn to listen anger boy." The man prodded him a second and third time as the rest of them watched in shock.

No one would have predicted what came next. Maybe it was because he was being attacked that set her in motion, but Liz jumped up and ran towards them and jumped on the orderlies back.

"What the fuck?"

"Stop it. You're hurting him," she yelled.

John groaned. "Shit." He ran towards the melee.

"Stay back," the other orderly said wielding his taser. John stopped and just kept an eye on Liz.

A nurse ran forward with a syringe. Elizabeth would not let go of the orderly's neck and she felt a prick and then soon the room felt like it turned upside down.

"Liz," John yelled.

She started to slip off the guard and slammed to the floor. Jason's eyes flittered open and connected with hers right before her world went black.

A/N – Violet Turner is from a show called Private Practice (spinoff of Grey's Anatomy) which is no longer on.

Please let me know what you think!