Drip Drop. Seven times nine is sixty three. Tick tock. Eight plus ten is eighteen. Drip drop. Eleven times three is thirty three. Tick tock. Drip drop. Four plus six is... Drip. Drip. Drip. Tock.

"For God's sake," he muttered. Four plus six is… Tick. Tock. Tick.

Drip drop. Drip drop. Drip drip drip.

"Ten," Jason answered himself finally. The clock chimed, announcing the hour. Jason turned to glare at it, willing silence to come sooner. After the twelfth chime, he groaned when the bird came out to dance for him.

Half the time he wanted to give the damn thing back to Johnny. What the hell kind of birthday present was a cuckoo clock anyway? Just another useless thing to go along with Jason's penthouse full of useless things.

Drip drop.

And the damn kitchen sink. He'd called the plumber two days ago. It only proved that the mob had lost its hold in the plumbing business. Jason would've tried to fix it himself, but the last time he touched a pipe, Elizabeth had to replace her bathroom floor. But to be completely fair, Johnny and Sonny had a hand in that too. Plus, Isabelle had never seen anything funnier.

Thoughts of his youngest daughter made his eyes drift to the photo he kept on his desk. Alexis and Elizabeth both went through several rolls of film last Thanksgiving, but the impromptu shot was all he kept.

Elizabeth, Abby, and Isabelle were in the front yard rolling around in the leaves. The two children were totally immersed in burying each other, but Elizabeth's gaze was directed somewhere off camera. The look on her face was one of total happiness.

Jason kept that picture because she'd been looking at him. Sonny and Jason were watching them play, as Alexis snapped photographs. Jax remained on the porch, drinking a beer. The second before Alexis took the picture, Elizabeth had called his name. The smile she'd given him warmed his entire body in the crisp November weather.

Finally, Jason pulled his attention from the photograph. His eyes dropped back to the coffee ledger and he sighed. He'd left the Corinthos/Morgan warehouse for some peace and quiet. Now, in his own home, he found the silence deafening.

Sometimes he found it hard to believe that he and Elizabeth had lived there together for a little while the previous year. Jason had to stop himself from thinking of the night in her bedroom and the way she touched him. They'd both been in so much pain then. It would have been so easy to lose himself inside of her, but in the end Jason refused to let their love be made into an escape. Even though, Jason still found himself longing for her as he lay in bed at night.

There was a time when he considered the silence a friend. The quiet of the boxcar offered a reprieve from the noisy Quartermaine mansion. The peacefulness of the bridge he'd met Robin at calmed something inside of him. But now, as Jason sat at his desk listening to the water drip and clocks chime, he found himself wanting chaos.

Not everything-out-of-control chaos. But the disorder Elizabeth brought to his life.

Each Saturday morning, Jason would find himself at her house right after the sun came up. She'd make him a cup of coffee and some french toast. Sometimes they would talk, but not always. Elizabeth would read her book of the week while Jason would flip through the pages of the local newspaper.

There were both waiting for the same thing. Simultaneously, Abby and Isabelle would rush down the kitchen stairs, push through the swinging doors, and plant themselves in the middle of the living room floor for cartoon time. Soon after, Jason would dump his breakfast in the sink and follow his daughters' path. Thirty minutes later, Jason would feel Elizabeth's eyes on his back. He didn't have to turn around to know she was fighting back tears.

It was times like that when everything inside of Jason would fight hard to not sweep her up in his arms, carry her upstairs, and make love to her over and over again. But he couldn't. Not only because he respected Elizabeth much more than that, but because he knew they would never reconcile afterwards. The love of his life wouldn't be so easily traded for a roll in the hay.

A persistent knocking broke into his silence finally. Glancing down at the ledger once more, Jason closed it before he stood to answer the door. The knocking got louder as he made his way across the living room.

When he jerked the door open, Jason realized why the knocking was so persistent. And annoying. Both words described Carly Benson perfectly. She was the last person he was expecting to see.

"God, it took you long enough," she complained. Not waiting for an invitation, Carly came into his home. The blonde shrugged off her brown suede jacket and dropped it in the chair before planting herself on his couch.

"Hi Carly. Come in, have a seat. Take a load off," Jason muttered. He closed the door and turned back to find his friend staring at him. "What?"

"Did you just make a joke?"

"I've made them before."

"Yeah, but not in the last one hundred and fifty years—" Carly stopped mid-sentence as she caught sight of his left hand. Ringless. "Thank God, you finally dumped the little tart."

"Carly—"

"Man, I would have loved to see the look on her face." The blonde's smile was wide and full of pride. "So spill. I want all the details."

"Elizabeth and I are still married," Jason began. He didn't miss it when Carly's face fell. "At her request, we're taking things slow. Which is why I live here and she lives at Audrey's. With our daughters."

"Daughters?"

Jason nodded. "Abby and Isabelle."

"Abby's dead — and — and Isabelle? The little wench got pregnant, didn't she? Some one-night stand — "

"Car-"

The woman's gaze swung back to Jason. Her brown eyes were alive with fury. "Does she love having you raise some other man's kid, Jase? That low down, dirty little who—"

"Enough!" Jason roared. "You won't disrespect Elizabeth in my home." Moving around the chair, Jason sat. He rested his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. "In case you've forgotten, you wanted me to raise my brother's child."

"That was different. You loved Michael. You wanted to help me."

"Yes, I did," Jason agreed. "But Isabelle is my daughter with Elizabeth. She's almost twenty months old."

"But you left- she was pregnant and you left?"

"I didn't know," Jason sighed. He didn't want to go through this with Carly. But it didn't look like he had a choice. "I told her I was leaving the same day she found out she was pregnant. She let me leave without telling me."

"And when you came home, she had this new baby to show you. To make you stay with her. God, why do all men fall at the feet of Elizabeth Webber? What is it about her?"

Jason closed his eyes, willing back some of the rising anger. He just had to keep telling himself that this was Carly and her thinking was backwards. "Carly," he began. Jason leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. "We've had this conversation. I love Elizabeth. I'm in love with her." His voice was low, it was almost the same tone he would use with Abby or Isabelle. "We have two daughters, we're married and we have plans of staying that way."

She knew his tone. Carly had sat by and listened as Jason explained things to her before. And she knew there was no point in arguing. "I thought Abby died."

"She was kidnapped," Jason explained. "Sorel's stepfather had her. She's been home since late October. That's all I can tell you."

"Okay."

"Okay?" he asked. Jason was surprised she had agreed so quickly, but even Carly knew her limits with him. "So, is there a reason you came by?"

"I wanted to see you. Whenever you visit Michael, I'm never there." Carly narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "But maybe you plan it that way."

"I don't." Jason met her eyes and smiled easily. "You've my friend, Carly. No matter what stupid stunt you're planning, I will always care about you and Michael."

It was times like this that Carly was most sorry for sleeping with Sonny all those years ago. That Jason could sit down with her and still be able to treat her like a human being meant more to her than anything. Sometimes she found herself wondering what might have been.

"Carly?" Jason asked. Silence had fallen over the living room, which was unusual anytime Carly was around. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Anyway, I should be going." The blonde reached for the strap on her leather purse. Jason stood, too, and helped her into the coat. Carly spun around in surprise when he pulled her hair out from the collar.

Carly pressed her cheek to his and hugged him gently. "I love you, Jason. Sometimes I wonder where I'd be without you." When she pulled away, Jason could see the tears in her eyes. "I'll always be here when you need a friend, please remember that."

Jason nodded. "See ya around Carly." He waited until the elevator doors closed before turning back to the empty penthouse. He considered finishing the books , but he knew they would be there later.

Instead, he decided to go see Elizabeth.