What you need to know:

As far as I know, everything up to and around the time of the second Jake-napping has occurred on the show. I've only watched since early 2004 though so forgive me if I get things wrong. Also, I love Liason but this is not a Liason fic. Along with the Russians bearing down on Jason and his organization, his relationship with Sonny is still in shambles. He's sneaking around with Elizabeth. Spinelli is still doing his cyber bidding with Maxie dangerously distracting his young sidekick while aggravating him at every turn.

Here's where this changes up a bit. We are also going to incorporate the Agent Raynor/FBI thing. They've got the goods on Jason and Spinelli. Maxie is slowly getting herself involved and becoming infatuated with Johnny.

I don't want to spill too much and the story will go slowly at first so that some info and background can be established. The prologue is a forward flash to a year in the future but then we'll back track to give you more history than the prologue does.

Lifetime Of Promises

Prologue

Finally, he could see the shoreline. It had been four long months and if he had to spend one more day with Maxie Jones he was probably going to throw himself overboard. Killing her would have been his first choice but he had made promises. And Jacob and Cameron loved her. More than they loved him it seemed at times.

But there had to be at least one adult in the foursome and over the past year he had discovered quickly that it would have to be him. Honestly, sometimes he thought that Cameron behaved more mature than Maxie did.

She was constantly complaining. And about the stupidest stuff. She needed new shoes. She missed having her nails done. She didn't get to bring even a fourth of her clothes. There was no cell service. Her hair and clothes were last years fashion. She needed a professional stylist. She needed a facial and a bikini wax. She had no privacy. Her room was too small. She hated the food. The water wasn't Evian. The air smelled like fish. The shower was too small.

And the one that drove him craziest I'm not your slave Jason Morgan.

How was it that asking her to cook or help with Jake and Cameron at bedtime or watch them while he was working or for that matter once in a while doing the dishes meant that she was suddenly his slave?

As the marina came into view where he was scheduled to dock their 52' Tiara Sovran Yacht they picked up for the last leg of their trip in Port Grimaud, France, he sighed in relief. He was going to get at least a few days away from Maxie Jones. Even if he had to tie her to a pole and leave her there. Better yet, even if he had to do something to get him thrown into jail for a few days. Anywhere that she wasn't was fine with him.

But then, he couldn't leave the boys. Even if they preferred their time to be spent with the pixie shrew, he was their father. They were his responsibility. But clearly, he was not the favorite.

And if he was honest with himself, he knew that Maxie truly deserved a break from him and his boys as well if not more.

He knew he could be unbearable on a good day. He wasn't much for small talk and she was all about small useless conversations about fashion and clothes and shoes and whoever was the new IT person on the cover of her dozens of fashion and gossip magazines she insisted he buy for her at every port.

She even had Cameron talking about Brangelina and their new twins. Who the hell cared? So two movie stars have a half a dozen kids. Did that really mean something in the scheme of life?

Not to him.

But to her, that information was her lifeline. The connection to her past. To her old life and old dreams.

The dreams that in one fell swoop, he took away from her.

"Are we there yet?" He heard her screech as she was climbing up the stairs to the helm. "Honestly, we would have been here a week ago but NOOOOOO the Borg has to take a trip around the Caymans. Why did you by the way?"

Jason looked over to see Maxie standing in her green strapless sun-dress with her arms crossed over her chest. Suddenly he was taken back to the time that Elizabeth stood in the church, waiting for him with her hair pulled up in the back and curling around her heart shaped face. Her dress was similar but had two tiny spaghetti straps. He held her hand in the church where Patrick and Robin were supposed to get married.

One month later, she was dead.

Maxie must have noticed the look on his face because suddenly her facial features softened. "I'll go get the boys ready. Jake is still taking his nap so if I don't wake him now, he'll be a bear when we go ashore."

"And change your clothes!" Jason growled. He hated that fucking dress and it seemed like she was always wearing it.

Maxie turned at his tone and narrowed her eyes. "You know what Jason Morgan. I hate you!"

"Good!" he replied turning the steering wheel to angle the boat into the narrow channel. He could see the slip he rented up ahead.

Maxie turned back to say something else but could see that he was already past yet another fight the two were having. All she could do was groan in frustration and go down into the lower cabin to the smaller berth mid port. The boys room.

She opened the door and rolled her eyes at the wall to ceiling clothes, toys and books. The room was no bigger than her closet back in Port Charles. Uncle Mac had given her the master bedroom after Georgie died because working for Kate Howard afforded her much more couture.

She smirked thinking about how Matt and Mac complained that the spare room was filled with more of her clothes and shoes. Kate was a great boss. She knew Maxie hardly cared about the money as long as she could afford her double soy mocha latte's and her weekly mani-pedi. So part of her pay was in clothes and shoes. All from the hotest new designers and fashion houses. Much of the stuff sent to the magazine was assured to be in her size.

God what I so wouldn't give for a mani-pedi and a day with Brianna doing my hair while Nico gave me a facial. Ohhh a day at the PC Spa in the Metro Court. Then a night out on the town with Johnny in a Frederico orignal with Jimmy Choo stilettos and handbag to match.

She was pulled from her thoughts when two and a half year old Jake gurgled as he rubbed his little fist in his eyes. She smiled down at the boy who looked just like his father but with much blonder hair. She was astounded how attached she had become to him and his brother over the past year.

If someone would have told her that she'd be caring for Elizabeth Webber Spencer's kids a little over a year ago, she would have laughed in their face. Of course, just a year ago, she had the whole world at her feet. She had Johnny Zacharra panting after her. Spinelli, her best friend in the whole world at her beck and call. Then she was the Belle of high fashion, couture, going to parties with movers and shakers in the fashion, design and publishing world. All clamoring for a morsel of her time because she was the First Assistant to Ms. Kate Howard, Owner and Fashion Editor of Crimson.

Her smile toward the little boy faltered when she thought of Kate. Her beautiful mentor. The woman who gave her the reason and will to live after Cooper then Georgie died. She didn't escape bullet number three. Her luck had run out and so had the rest of Port Charles'.

At least anyone tied to Sonny Corinthos or Jason Morgan.

"Maxie, I gotta go potty." Jake said as he climbed up on the double bed and launched himself into the former fashionista's arms.

"Okay Jake. Come on and then we'll get a snack. We're almost in Tampa so we'll be able to go find a park and play. Doesn't that sound fun?" she asked as she turned around and deposited Jake on the toilet with the child's seat attached.

You barely had to walk on the boat they were on to get from one end to the other. Even a fifty two foot yacht was crammed when four people were living on it for months at a time. It had two rooms, one larger than the other, a livingroom, dining room, kitchen combination area that Jason called the galley and then there was a little room to play above deck at the helm where the boats controls were located.

Jason had safety alarms put in so that Jake and Cameron could play up on deck and not climb over or fall into the water but just to be safe, they always had floating devices on when outside of the cabin. Jason would drive the boat most of the day while the kids played and Maxie entertained them or read one of her magazines.

He tried to teach her how to drive the boat but became so frustrated with her that he gave up, effectively extending their trip by at least a month. Then there were his diversions.

It was all about diversions with him. They started off in Canada then took a train to Seattle. From there they took a cruise to Alaska and flew from Alaska to Baja, Mexico. From there they took a Winnebago down the coast of South America and across to Porto Alegre, Brazil. They stayed there for about two months and then took a plane to the Fiji Islands.

From there they went to Australia. That's where Cameron came down with a mysterious illness and they all flew back to the states so that Cameron could have treatment at St. Josephs Children's Hospital in Tampa, Florida. A month later, Cameron was fine and they headed back out and bounced around Europe and Asia before they got the word that everything was set up. They could come home.

Jason would have never chosen Florida for their final destination but the FBI was calling a lot of the shots.

Or so he assumed.

"Maximista? Fair Maximista? Where are you?" Maxie's head perked up. "Tis I, the Jackal. I've come to rescue you from your impressive albeit cramped sojourn across the ocean."

Maxie quickly helped Jake tug on his Pull Ups and cargo shorts and patted him on the behind for good measure before pulling the toddler into her arms and turned to head through the galley toward the entrance.

There like a Beacon of Hope, stood Damien Spinelli. Special Agent Damien Spinelli of the Federal Beaureau of Investigation.

Maxie attempted to put Jacob down and launch herself at her best friend but Cameron beat her to it.

"SPINELLI!" The little boy shouted. "YAY! Maxie...Spinelli's here!"

He turned around in Spinelli's arms and looked at Maxie. "I see him Cam."

"Panelli pick me up too." Jacob requested from his position. He came to just above Spinelli's knees now. He'd grown at least three inches since he'd seen the Littlest Stone Cold last.

"What wondrous feats. The Littlest Dude has grown since I last laid eyes on the Progeny in Paris." Spinelli announced in his own special way as he bent down and Jacob climbed up into his arms then promptly yanked the toy motorcycle from Cameron's fist.

"Don't remind me of Paris Spinelli." Maxie groaned as she walked over to the threesome. "I had to leave all of my beautiful clothes and shoes and hats and...I can't think about it. Every time I do I want to throw a knife at..."

"Didn't I tell you to change clothes?" The man she was about to name as her target came walking down the four steps into the cabin pulling Cameron out of Spinelli's arms because the boy was balling up his fist to hit his little brother for his toy thieving antics.

"And why exactly would I do anything you tell me to do. You don't own me." She huffed and balled her fists onto her hips and bent slightly at the waist.

Having seen this stance a million times over the past year he rolled his eyes and chimed in with her, mimicking her next statement.

"I'm not your slave Jason Morgan." they both said in unison.

Damien Spinelli watched along with Cameron and Jacob to see what would happen next. The two blonds squared off. The older blond, much larger with much darker hair put his oldest son down. The younger, platinum pixie of a blond set her jaw to mimic her opponent. They each claimed a step between them and took in a deep breath.

Suddenly Spinelli moved in between them and stammered, "I...uh...we...we have an appointment to close on the sale of the boat and the house. It's at an attorney's office just a few blocks away from here. Then I thought that...well...Winnie is here with me this time. She's agreed to stay with the boys." He turned to Maxie then, "I thought that maybe we could go out to a little place in Indian Rocks Beach. Have some dinner, maybe walk on the beach. I reserved a room at a hotel that has a day spa. I thought maybe..."

"I'm NOT going to dinner with her." Jason said never letting his guard down.

"Oh no Stone...err...Jason...I have a brand new Harley waiting for you. I figured you might like to take a few days and...do whatever it is that you do on your journey's of solitude."

Damien Spinelli smiled. Not because he had effectively stunned silent both Jason and Maxie. Not because, for once, it was his Master relying on him to handle all of the details of their next project. Not because he knew that by the end of the night, he would most likely be in the bed and in the arms of the woman he had loved for two years. But because he was getting much better at not speaking Spinelli-speak. Something that Agent Raynor told him he needed to stop doing before he changed his mind and Spinelli became "Princess" to a big black guy named "Bubba" in a Federal Penitentiary.

Jason was the first one to speak.

"It has a big back yard?"

"Yes. It's actually two lots with one house on it." Spinelli responded, straightening his posture.

"And it has four bedrooms?" Jason looked over at Maxie who now had the same curious look as he did. Mention of the number of bedrooms was important. Four was the minimum number both Maxie and Jason agreed upon.

"It has three..." Spinelli saw the rage in both his best friend and his mentors eyes and quickly included, "but it has this room that they call a Florida room. It's like another master bedroom added on to the back of the house. It could easily be used as a fourth bedroom and it also has a separate entrance. So that maybe the person living in the room could sneak out at night for a ride?"

"Or a date!" Maxie interjected and both Spinelli and Jason scowled at her suggestion.

"But why would the Fair Maximista..."

"You can't date when you have kids and a husband at home Maxie." Jason cut his friends cries off and became serious. "You can't date when you're supposed to be a married woman with two young boys."

"About that..." Maxie chimed in, rolling her eyes at Jason and then looking to Spinelli. "Why do I have to be the Mom. It won't work. They call me Maxie, not Mommy. I'll never be able to convince people that this body gave birth to two kids."

She held her arms out and Spinelli took advantage and perused her body fully and thoroughly from toe to blond tips. "And there's no way the Neanderthal over there is touching me. In private OR in public."

Jason grunted and Maxie laughed, "See. He's an ape. A...a...a"

"Beast" Jason afforded for her.

"Well, yes...an uncouth, uncultured, uncaring BEAST!" She retorted, regaining her previous stance of hands on hips, scowl etched across her beautiful face.

"Well at least I'm not an air-headed, whiny, SPOILED LITTLE BRAT!" Jason spat back. He had moved and was now standing, bent a little so that he was inches from her face.

She felt the hot air from his breath when he spoke, or rather shouted, the last few words and took a few retreating steps but bumped into the counter that held the stove and washer-dryer combo that both ran on diesel. She caught herself and braced the counter.

Again, Jake, Cameron and Spinelli could do nothing but stand and wait for the next round of arguing to pass. They flinched at several words but finally, it was Jake who spoke up when Maxie had tears starting to well up in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Daddy, stop making Maxie cry." The two year old pleaded with his father. He tugged on Maxie's green dress and Maxie bent over and picked up the little boy.

With his tiny little hands, he wiped away the lone tear that had shed and then turned back to his father. "You are not being nice. It's not nice to make girls cry."

Jason was defeated and the long breath he let out was proof of such. "I'm sorry Jake."

"Don't say sorry to Jake, Jason. You have to say sorry to Maxie. She's crying." Cameron piped in, pointing out the obvious.

Jason looked down at his oldest child. The one he adopted as Elizabeth lay on her death bed. The paperwork showed that he had actually adopted the boy six months prior so that there was no way anyone from the Spencer or Webber family could try to take him. He rolled his eyes at the curly headed little boy with big soulful brown eyes.

Cameron reminded Jason so much of his mother. His strong determination. His caring and nurturing side. His rambling conversations. His love for anything that had to do with drawing or painting. Aside from his eyes being brown, he was the spitting image of Elizabeth. And he could convince Jason of anything, just like his mother.

"You're right Cam." he looked up at Maxie. "Sorry."

She harumphed but then smiled and verbally accepted Jason's half hearted apology when Cameron took on her own stance and with hands on hips quirked an eyebrow at her. Jake giggled at the incident he'd seen too many times. He didn't know what was going on but when Maxie and Daddy fought, it always ended like this.

Deciding he wanted to play while the adults talked, he squirmed down from Maxie's arms, after placing a big kiss on her cheek. He then ran off to his cabin with Cameron following closely behind yelling to give back his motorcycle.

"Maximista? You have to go along with the plan. We've made all of the arrangements. Your altered arrangements. I even managed your special request. I was going to show you the boutique tomorrow."

Jason's ears perked up and he turned away from watching his two sons climb up on their bed and looked at Spinelli. "What did you just say?"

"Uh...I was going to show her the boutique?...Tomorrow?" Spinelli slouched and brushed his unruly hair across his forehead, noticeably nervous. Had Maxie not told his Master of her request?

"No, I mean altered arrangements....What altered arrangements have you made for her?" Jason said pointing a long finger at Maxie.

"Oh, well...when we were all here the first time...you know when Cam became so sick from that virus he picked up in Fiji?" Spinelli shuffled his feet across the teakwood floor and crossed and uncrossed his fingers.

"Go on..." Jason prompted.

"I...um...well...she...ahhh"

"Oh Christ Spinelli! Why are you so scared of Jason the Jerk?" She fumed at her best friend and then turned, lifting her chin to Jason's glaring face. Looking him in the eye she announced, "When we were here last time, I told Spinelli that the only way I would stay with you and go along with this plan of so called Witness Protection was if we could settle here in the Tampa area and I could own a small boutique in the upscale part of town so that I could import and sell Couture Fashion and shoes."

"YOU WHAT?" Jason yelled.

"What part of that did you not understand Jason. Honestly, you act like you are smarter than everyone. You ran a mob for Christs sake and you cannot grasp the concept of me coercing Spinelli and well...the FBI into giving me what I want to go along with their stupid plan? A plan, by the way, that I never agreed to nor asked to be a part of."

"You couldn't stay there. They would have killed you. You knew too much. You were a way to get to me, to...the boys, your family...to..."

"Me." Spinelli provided for his former boss.

Jason nodded affirmative at his former roommates addition to the list. "Besides, Mac"

Maxie interrupted, "Yeah Yeah Yeah, I've heard all of this before Jason. Mac begged and so did Robin."

"Well they did Maxie. They didn't want you killed. Mac made me promise to take you with me and the boys and keep you safe."

"And the FBI promised me that if I worked for them, I would not go to jail and neither would Jason. And that they would let me be their liason for you two. This was all worked out a year ago Maxie. Then when you made your additional demands, I went to Agent Raynor and we were able to work them out as well. We have a house for you in Largo, near the beach and we have the high end couture boutique for you to run. It's all set. Now you have to keep your end of the bargain." Spinelli reasoned with the woman who filled his dreams each night.

"But I don't want to be his wife. He hates me Spinelli. Can't I just go with you?" she pleaded as she trailed her finger up his torso and leaned her body up against his.

She knew how to get her way where it came to Spinelli. Whenever she needed something or wanted something she appealed to his desire for her in the biblical sense. Besides, even if he was only her best friend and she could never imagine more, he was a wonderful lover. So attentive to her sexual needs and always willing to please her. Over the past year, whenever they met up with Spinelli she would sleep with him. Partly to satisfy her urges and also to get one more thing she wanted out of this deal.

Quickly Spinelli's arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her the rest of the way to him. He gently placed a kiss to her lips and shook his head no. "Were that I could...I would whisk you away to be with me...to be mine forever and a day Fair Maximista for you are the loveliest of all women that roam the Earth."

Realizing what he had just said, he flinched and looked over at Jason who had visibly been affected by the comment. Maxie still roamed the Earth while the most beautiful woman ever created lie dead, cold in the ground in the Hardy/Webber section of the Port Charles Cemetery. Right next to her grandmother Audrey.

"I'm so sorry Stone Cold. It was thoughtless to mention..."

"Don't" was all Jason said as he took several cleansing breaths.

He then looked at Maxie, who was sidled up to Spinelli purring in his ear. She was the reason they were in Florida. She was the reason they weren't in Europe or South America where he felt safer. She was the reason he was going to have to live the version of a life that the FBI came up with for him and his kids. He couldn't just be rich and her be the nanny. Nope, they had to be a struggling middle class young family. He had to find a nine to five job. Something he honestly didn't mind so much. But still. He had to pretend, at least for five years, that she was his wife and the mother of his two boys. Then, they could get a divorce but still had to keep their lives close knit.

As the FBI explained, even if they got a "divorce" after establishing themselves, they would have to remain in the same town and keep up the ruse. The boys would be their tie to each other forever. She would still be Maxine Webber Johnson and he would still be Jason Johnson with their two kids, Cameron Webber Johnson and Jacob Martin Johnson. Either way, they would still have to be in each others lives for school plays and football games. Graduation and college. Weddings, babies and all that comes in a lifetime.

"If I have to stay here with HIM then I want to be the aunt. NOT the wife."

"Maximista" Spinelli went to protest but then Maxie cut him off. And with her reasoning, neither Spinelli nor Jason could argue her points.

"The boys call me Maxie, who calls their mom by her first name? Jason cannot stand me and frankly, I'm not real thrilled with him either. How are we supposed to convince neighbors, teachers and co-workers, and eventually new friends that we are a happy couple. And again....who in their right mind would think I, Maxie Jones..."

"Maxine Webber Johnson" Spinelli interjected.

"Fine Maxie Johnson...but still...it won't work. I can't pull it off. However, I know I could pull off being the aunt."

"But you and Stone...Jason don't look anything alike." Spinelli pointed out.

"And that's why I'll be the sister of his wife who died a year ago in a car crash." she quickly looked over at Jason to see that he was okay. She hated bringing up Elizabeth. It was the only time she would see the real deep down pain in him. After a year, she recognized it and avoided it. Not just because she had compassion but because as soon as the sadness would fade, so would any semblance of a good mood.

"Well..." Spinelli searched his brain... "you know...actually, that could work. Actually that could work better than our original plan."

"Oh yeah? Why?" jason finally spoke.

"Well, because she's right Jason. You two don't get along. Many people don't get along with their in-laws but put aside their differences for the sake of the children, especially after such tragic events. It would also explain Cameron calling you Jason. Cameron could be her son and Jacob yours..."

"No, the boys are brothers." Jason shook his head as he sat down on the bench couch he had called a bed for the past four months. He would sure be glad to climb into a regular bed, a big bed...he thought to himself, I'm sleeping in a king sized bed tonight.

"Right and again, Cameron doesn't call me Mommy. I already thought of that though. That's where the truth comes in because in every good lie, there is a lot of the truth. Cameron is his step-son that he adopted five years ago when he and Lisa got married."

"Lisa?" Jason asked, looking up from his hands.

"Oh yes, since I'll be the aunt, I figured that my sister could be named Monalisa...Lisa for short. Besides, Elizabeth was an artist, a painter...and what painting is more famous than the Mona Lisa." she smirked.

"This will work. But...I need to check in with Agent Raynor. We'll probably have to put off the sale of the house and the boat until tomorrow when we can draw up new papers."

"I don't want to put that off. I'm ready to settle down. Cameron will start kindergarten in three months and I want us moved in and established. I want the boys to have friends before Cam starts school. Besides..."

"Besides what?"

"I can't take being Elizabeth's widower." he whispered as the tear slowly rolled down his cheek.

Here's the boat they were on for the four months. .com/boats/2006/Tiara-Sovran-5200-1858440/Ft.-Lauderdale/FL/United-States