A/N: This "not so" little story has come to an end and I hope you have enjoyed it despite the few long pauses. I surely have enjoyed sharing it with you!
Until next time, thank you for reading and take care!
- Epilogue -
A year and a half later…
"Emily Quartermaine! We are going to be very very late if you don't come out now!" Cody called out, impatience building inside him.
"Ten minutes!" Emily yelled back from the next room.
"You've been saying that for the past thirty minutes, I'm running out of things to do on my iPad." Cody complained, exasperated Emily was taking so long to get ready for the evening. He opened a news app in search of a new distraction and started reading. The young man's attention was very quickly drawn to the breaking news from the Port Charles Times. "Wow, Ric got twenty five years in Pentonville! And the evil doctor got three and a suspended license… for once this justice system gets something right, I'm going to have to give them more credit."
Emily precipitously popped her head out of their bedroom. "Who got what credit?" She asked, having only heard part of Cody's sentence.
"I'll tell you on the way, right now please hurry and finish dressing up or all the finger food will be gone before we get to the gallery." Cody revealed his true worry.
"Ten minutes! I promise!" She shouted before disappearing as fast as she had appeared.
"What are you doing in there anyway? You don't need that much work, you already are gorgeous and you will by far be the most beautiful one in the room." Cody said hoping his skillfully chosen compliments would make his girlfriend speed up.
"Shoes!"
"Shoes? What shoes? What are you talking about? Have you heard anything I said? Gorgeous? Beautiful?" The young man repeated.
"I can't pick, I need your help!"
"Okay…" Cody trailed out, defeated. "Should I come in?
"Oh no!" Emily hastily said. "This room is upside down, you will rethink this living together thing if you see this mess now, I'm coming out."
Emily finally reappeared both hands lifting designer pairs of shoes. But Cody's eyes were mesmerized by how beautiful she looked in the formfitting purple cocktail dress she had opted for. "Wow… you look, you look… wow!"
"I can't choose! Should I go for the black peep toe or the silver sandals?" She begged, dejected by her fashion emergency. "Help me! Please!"
"Ok, ok… try them on and let me see." Emily did as asked and slipped in one of each.
"Silver, definitely!" Cody directly offered.
"Thanks love! I can always count on your incredible sense of style."
"Aren't we a match or what? Someone should announce us as 'The hit couple of Port Charles' when we arrive. Now come on or we're going to be late!"
"One second! I forgot my earrings!" Emily ran back into the bedroom leaving Cody exasperated and hopeless they would ever make it out of their new home that night, but if it was the price to pay to live with he woman of his dreams then Cody would wait a little longer.
Elizabeth stood both fists resting against her hips, at the center of the main expo room at the Howard Art Gallery. The artist squinted her eyes at what she was seeing then called. "Maxie!"
The young assistant ran as fast as she could as she heard her name. "You called me?"
Without looking at her Elizabeth pointed at the table ahead of them. "What is this exactly?"
"Umm it's the table you wanted set up in the room." Maxie replied warily, smelling a trick question.
"I told you this table needed to be white not cream." Elizabeth pointed out. "Guests are going to start arriving soon, this can't stay like this, it doesn't work at all! The table will completely clash with the frame used on most of the paintings."
"I know but…"
"No, no, no excuses! You know how important colors are in an art gallery… you've been working here long enough." Elizabeth said, the sassy inside her coming out to play.
"I know how to do my job, it's just that…" Maxie contested before being interrupted once more.
"Again, no excuses…. Just fix it!" Elizabeth ordered, absolutely positively enchanted to finally be giving the spiteful young assistant some grief. "Or would you prefer me taking it up to Kate? Maybe she will hear your excuses…"
"That won't be necessary. The table will be white before guests arrive." She said rolling her eyes and taking notes on her clipboard.
"Good. And what's up with the lighting? Shouldn't these be working already? We are awfully behind Maxie!" Elizabeth continued.
"That also will be fixed right away." The young blond girl continued writing notes on her clipboard while mumbling inaudibly.
"Seriously! Do I have to do everything myself in here?" The artist complained with an eye roll.
"Oooh well I'm glad you're not that bossy with me around the penthouse." Elizabeth heard from a familiar voice and hurriedly turned around.
"That's just because you haven't given me a reason to be yet… so watch out." She told Jason who had just surprised her.
He grinned. Then looked around amazed by how nice the room looked. "And why do we need to hire a wedding planner again? You've done a great job!"
"Thanks… actually Maxie did a great job but shhhh… don't ever tell anyone I told you that." Elizabeth smirked.
"Promised." Jason offered with half a grin. "How's everything shaping up?"
"Great, everything is pretty much set, just a few last minute hiccups to fix but we should be ready on time." Elizabeth told him, excited to be exposing her own paintings for the world to see that night. "I just hope critiques won't be too harsh on me, it's been my dream for so long to become a real artist, if they hate it I will most likely have to get back to a nine to five job and…"
"Everything is going to be fine!" Jason interrupted her nervous rant. "Everyone is going to love your work you'll see. You even told me Kate loves what you did and that she was a tough judge."
"I know but Kate is also a good friend, who maybe didn't want to hurt my feelings."
"I don't think it is like Kate Howard to spare anyone's feelings." Jason pointed out.
"You have a point and you're right, I shouldn't worry about what they think, I've accomplished so much this past year and no critique can take that away from me."
Jason smiled as he heard the confidence back in Elizabeth's voice.
"Oh I wanted to ask, are Sonny and Carly coming, they never RSVPed." She changed the subject.
"They told me they would so you should see them later." Jason reassured her.
"Great, I haven't seen them in a while, been so busy putting this together, it will be nice to catch up with them… especially Carly. I still feel like she hates me." The brunette confessed.
"She doesn't hate you, it's just the way she is."
"Yes I know, she never forgave me for giving Ric another chance and I guess she never will…" Elizabeth recognized defeated.
"Don't worry too much about her, she'll eventually come around, she'll have to."
"I hope so!" Elizabeth shrugged. "How about our stripper, is she coming too?"
Jason couldn't help a chuckle as he understood right away who Elizabeth was referring to since the little flashing incident at his penthouse.
"I am not sure if Courtney will be here but if Jax is coming then she probably won't."
"What a shame they broke up, they actually made a great couple." Elizabeth said before adding. "And, by the way, what are you doing here already? You're early!"
"I know, but I wanted to have a moment with you before the event starts and I have to share you with everyone else. Jason said then slid both hands along Elizabeth's silky dress, stopping them at the curve of her hips. "I wanted to tell you how proud of you I am for going after what you really wanted and making it happen."
"Aww, that's sweet of you, thank you."
"And wow, you look… you look perfect." He told her, amazed by her beauty and how glowing she looked that day.
Face flushed, the young woman's lips curled up high as she lifted her head up to brush his lips of a kiss then told him. "You don't look too bad yourself, you clean up nice in a suit."
"And I did it just for you." Jason admitted, holding Elizabeth tight against him, then kissed her lips again. "So enjoy while you can because it won't happen until the wedding."
Jason finally let go of the beautiful brunette but never breaking away from her deep stare. A sigh escaped him as he searched for the right words to say what he had to. "Elizabeth, I also came to tell you that Ric's sentence came out today."
Elizabeth could only let out a loud breath of air, feeling the moment she would finally be able to put everything Ric related behind her had at last arrived.
"He's going to be locked away for twenty five years and the doctor who helped him got three and he can't practice medicine anymore."
Elizabeth instinctively chewed on her lower lip. It was over, really over is all that could come to her mind. "We can finally truly move on with our lives. You, this baby and all this" She pointed at the room. "Its all that matters to me now."
Tears of happiness began forming in her doe-shaped eyes, hindering her from saying another word.
"Wait, did you say this baby?" Jason said after a pause.
Elizabeth nodded, still speechless.
"A baby?" Jason repeated unable to contain his excitement.
"I just found out today, I'm pregnant Jason and I know we haven't really talked about having a child so that must come as a surprise to you… and it was to me too, I was not expecting this at all, especially now that we are planning a wedding, this is a whole other step and I'm not sure if you're even ready for such a big step and…" The brunette rambled on, the words trickling out of her mouth faster than her brain could process them.
"Elizabeth!" Jason put an end to her rant. "I love you." He declared in beaming joy. The enforcer took her in his arms and kissed the tip of her forehead. "I'm happy, you make me happy. And so will this little boy"
"Or girl!" She added with a smile larger than life.
"Hmm hmm!" Maxie interrupted the lovebirds and their parental bliss. "Elizabeth, Kate needs to see you, she's in the office and it's pretty urgent. Something to do with matching the paintings number and prices."
"Sorry, I have to take care of this, do you mind waiting for a second? I'll be right back." Elizabeth asked her overjoyed beau.
"No problem, do what you got to do, I'm not going anywhere." Jason said a large smile still glued on his face and watched Elizabeth, his Elizabeth make her way towards her dream life come true.
The End.