Send The Pain Below 

Part Two

The soft, yet blazing sun filtered through the blinds of the penthouse.  On the street below traffic moved at a steady pace.  Jason slowly pushed the penthouse door open and looked around.  It had been over three months since Sonny had left.  Ellie had made herself at home in the penthouse while leaving some of Sonny's things up.  She wanted him to feel at home when he returned.

The first few weeks were hard on both of them.  Sammy was persistent on trying to take Ellie into letting them use their ports for drugs.  He called weekly meetings and used every tactic known to man but never got his way.  Jason finally put an end to the meetings since they had more important things to worry about.

And Sonny never called.  Even Jason started to worry about his ex-partner but he would never tell Ellie that.  And today, as the sun started to rise further in the sky he found himself wishing Sonny was home.

"Jason?  Something wrong?" Ellie asked as she came down the steps.  Jason looked up at her and shook his head.

"I was just thinking about the meeting tonight.  Are you coming or not?" Jason asked as he sat down on the desk chair.

"No," said Ellie as she poured herself a glass of orange juice, "I have a meeting with Ned and Jax."

"Ned and Jax?  Why?" Jason asked as he watched her pick the pulp out of the juice.

"They've been bugging me for weeks.  They seem to think I'm going to turn against Sonny and destroy him.  And they want a piece of the action," she said as she sat down on the couch.

"Why didn't you tell me this?" asked Jason as he raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't tell you because you were busy with the five families.  It's really no big deal.  Jax and Ned aren't the smartest so it'll be a piece of cake," said Ellie as she got up and picked an envelope off the coffee table, "This came yesterday for Sonny.  It's from Courtney."

Jason looked at the envelope like it was a foreign object.  He stood up and took it from Ellie's grasp.  "I'll get it to him," he said as he placed it inside of jean pocket.

"Does she know Sonny is gone?" asked Ellie as she looked through the rest of the mail.  Jason watched her closely.  He knew that she was looking for something from Sonny.

Jason was often amazed by the friendship that Sonny and Ellie had built.  They were always there for each other no matter what was going on in their lives.  Their respect for each had stood the test of time.  Jason was also amazed that their friendship hadnt gone to the next level.

He knew how Sonny felt about Ellie, he could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice.  He cared about her more than he had Brenda, Lily or Carly.  A day never passed without them seeing each other and he knew she missed Sonny.

Ellie sighed and threw down the pile of mail.  Jason expected her to ask about Sonny but she didn't.  "So, does Courtney know or not?  I need to know incase she shows up here or something," Ellie said as she sat back down on the couch.

"She knows.  I'm sure she just sent the letter because she thought Sonny would be back by now," said Jason.

"Well he isn't," said Ellie with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"He'll be back.  I promise.  Just give him time.  He wouldn't abandon us," said Jason turn toward the door, "Good luck with your meeting tonight."

"Thank you and good luck with yours," said Ellie.  Jason nodded and slipped out the door.

Faith was beginning to hate her meetings with Ric.  She hated having to stand on the docks and wait for him.  But he was giving her the money in her campaign to bring Sonny down. 

She was beginning to think none of it was worth it.  When she was using Ned and Edward is had been easier.  They never bossed her around or used her as a human shield.  And now Ellie was involved. 

Faith had grown up hearing stories about how ruthless the Cassadines were.  She remembered when the new generation of Cassadines had arrived in town years before and how no one believed they would rule with an iron fist.  Stefan had proved them all wrong.  He took control and kept it. 

Everyone learned to fear the Cassadines, especially Stefan, Alexis and Ellie.  Alexis was an excellent lawyer while Ellie had been groomed to take over the Cassadine Empire by Stefan.  On the surface they seemed harmless but when pushed, they weren't.  And Faith was scared Ric was about to push Ellie to that point.

"Hey," said Ric as he walked up from behind Faith.  She felt her skin crawl at the sound of his voice but managed a smile as she turned to face him.

"Hi.  What do you need now?" she asked as she tried hard not to shake.

"I have a plan and it's going to happen tonight," he said as he grinned.

"And that would be?" asked Faith as she looked into his cold and calculating eyes.

"We are going to kill Ellie tonight," said Ric.

"You can't bring guns to the meetings," said Faith as she shrugged him off.

"It won't be at the meeting.  Ellie has a dinner meeting with Mr. Ashton and Mr. Jacks tonight.  I'm going to set it up so she will think Jason wants to meet her at Kelly's," said Ric as he pulled a gun out of his boots, "And that's where she'll die."

"If you kill her, you'll have to deal with Jason," said Faith as she eyed the gun.

"I'll take my chances because once Ellie is gone it will be easier for me to get what I want," said Ric.

"You seem to think Jason is just going to give you what you want?  He rather die than do that," said Faith.  Ric smirked at her and pulled the gun up until it was leveled with her face.

"Are you against my plan?  Because if you are I can kill you right now," he said.

"No, I'm not against it.  Just trying to be realistic," she said as she stepped back.

"I am being realistic and it will work," he said as he put the gun away,

"Be at Kelly's by nine tonight if you want to see the end of the Corthinos Empire."

Faith nodded and watched him walk off.  She shuddered as a feeling of dread overcame her.  "This is not going to work," she said to herself as she turned to leave.

Ellie should have known by the look of displeasure on Jax's face it was going to be a long night.  When she arrived at The Grille, Jax was sitting by himself at a table in the corner.  As Ellie took her seat, Jax explained that Ned couldn't make it due to a family emergency. 

The meeting had started out fine but before she knew it, Jax started to criticize everything that Ellie was doing and it was getting to her.  But then he decided to play dirty.

"How do you think Kristina would feel if she knew you became a mobster?" he asked as he raised both of his eyebrows for dramatic effect.

Ellie furrowed her brow and gave him a look of disgust.  "I can not believe you are bringing my dead sister into this conversation," she whispered across the table at him.

"Sonny is the reason why she's dead," Jax stated.

"Kristina is dead because of Alcazar.  We've established that already," Ellie said as she motioned for her check.

"How do you think Alexis feels about this?"

"If Alexis cared so much about it then she would've already said something.  She's too busy playing house with Scotty to even care," Ellie said as a waitress handed her the check.  Ellie sat down a wad of money on top of the piece of paper and stood up.  "I have a meeting with Jason that I'm late for.  It was nice talking to you again Jax."

Jax sat and watched her leave.  He got up and followed her outside.  She was unlocking her car door when he finally caught up with her.

"You know, I moved back to Port Charles because of you," he said as he grabbed her hand.  In one swift move Max was standing by Jax and awaited Ellies order.

"It's ok Max, I can handle him," Ellie said as she smiled at the bodyguard.  Max simply nodded and took a step back.  Ellie turned and looked at Jax and shook her head.  "You didn't come back to Port Charles for me.  Why would you even say that?"

"I did," said Jax as he took a step forward, "I wanted a second chance with you but you were so stuck on Sonny that I couldnt get it."

Ellie stared at him in disbelief as the skies opened up and a cool rain began to fall.  "You had your second chance and a third one also.  You were too busy saving Skye and Brenda.  Im finished with you.  Now if you'd excuse me, I have more important things to do."

"You're making a mistake," said Jax as Ellie opened her car door.  Max stepped forward and made his presence known once again and Jax slowly stalked away.  Ellie got into her car and sighed before starting it up and leaving the parking lot.

For being so late at night, Kelly's was packed to its brim.  Ellie stepped inside, soaked from the rain and looked around for Jason but couldn't see him.  She sat down at an empty table and rubbed her eyes.

"You're soaked, Ellie.  Do you need a towel?"  Ellie looked up toward Elizabeth and smiled.

"No.  I'm fine.  Have you seen Jason?" she asked.

"He just came through the door," said Liz as she pointed toward Jason.  Ellie smiled at her again and Liz turned and walked off.

"Hey, how was the meeting?" Jason asked as he sat down across from her.

"It was a waste of time.  Jax just wanted to save me.  How was yours?" she said as she wiped her face off with a napkin.

"It didn't last long.  Sammy was awful disappointed that you weren't there so he left," said Jason as he smiled.

"Sammy is a borderline stalker.  I'm surprised that he hasn't came over to the penthouse yet.  Of course maybe he's smarter than that," said Ellie before she stopped suddenly.  She looked at Jason who was looking over at her shoulder.  She slowly turned around and saw that he was looking at Liz.

"You know," said Ellie as she turned back around, "you should go and talk to her."

Jason blinked his eyes and looked at Ellie.  "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Ellie laughed and shook her head.  "It's so obvious that you care about her.  I have no clue why you just don't go and talk to her."

"I'm just looking out for her because she's dating Ric," Jason said as he started to stand up.

"About ready to go?" asked Jason.

"Yea," said Ellie as she stood up as she noticed the group of teenagers standing by the front door, "Let's go out the side way.  It's closer to my car."

"Ok," said Jason as he followed Ellie to the side door.  She placed her hand on the knob just as the sound of bullets flying through the air and glass breaking sounded throughout Kelly's.

Jason grabbed her and threw her to the ground and landed on top of her.  He held her head down until silence filled the small restaurant.  Ellie struggled to get Jason off of her as she heard the cries for a doctor.

"Someone needs help Jason," she said as she pushed him off.  Jason helped her up and they both went back to the main room.

"Ellie," Liz, who was kneeling beside a body, cried out, "We need your help here."

Ellie ran over to Liz but stopped when she saw whom it was.  Lying beside Liz was a lifeless Maxie.  "She was standing by the door when the shooting started," said Liz as she held a rag on Maxie's wounds.

Ellie fell to her knees and quickly checked for a pulse but couldn't find one.  "Did someone call 911?" she asked Liz.  Liz nodded her head as Ellie began to work on the young teenager.

Within moments the paramedics and Taggart had shown up.  Ellie instructed the paramedics but none of them could start Maxies heart again.  Ten minutes later Ellie had no choice but to declare her dead.

"Well, not even six months on the job and your first victim," said Taggart as he walked up to Ellie.

Ellie looked down at her blood-covered hands and then back up at Taggart.  "This isn't my fault," she said softly, "Jason and I were leaving when it happened."

"Likely story.  Another innocent victim dies because of the mob," Taggart said as he shook his head.  He was about to say something else when a young officer walked up.

"Sir.  We found a teenager outside with a gun that had been fired recently.  Looks like there was a drug deal going on outside and it went bad," the officer said.

"Did you arrest him?" Taggart asked.  The officer nodded his head and then walked off.  "Go home," Taggart said to Ellie before he walked outside.

Ellie stood there, not able to move as she peered out the window.  She took in a sharp breath when she saw Ric standing there, with a grin on his face.  He then winked at her and walked off.

"Come on, let's go," said Jason as he placed his hand on her arms.

"Oh my god, that was meant for me," said Ellie as she choked back her tears.

"You'll be safe at the penthouse," said Jason as he turned her toward the side door.

"Maxie is dead because of me," Ellie whimpered softly.

"It's going to be ok," said Jason as he opened the door.  He led Ellie back to the limo and instructed Johnny that he needed a wet cloth.  Johnny found a piece of a rag in the trunk and poured water over it and handed it to Jason.

Jason helped Ellie into the limo and it started to slowly move away from Kelly's.  "I need to see your hands," Jason said.  Without saying a word, Ellie stuck her hands out.  Jason carefully wiped the blood off of them as Ellie stared out the side window.

"I saw Ric," she finally said.

"I did too," said Jason as he finished cleaning Ellies hands, "We will deal with him."

Ellie nodded as the limo pulled into the parking garage.  Jason got her out of the limo and guided her to the penthouse.  Once inside Ellie found refuge on the couch as Jason gave Max instructions for the rest of the night.

"You should really get some sleep.  Ric is going to be taken care of," he said as he sat beside her.

"I dont want him to be killed," she said as she stared forward.

"We have to stop him"

"Then stop him but I don't want another death," Ellie said softly.

"What do you want then?" Jason asked.

"I want," said Ellie as the tears rolled down her face, "I want Sonny to come home."

Jason placed his hand on the back of her head and pulled it down to his chest.  "He'll come home soon," he said softly as he held her, "Now, you need to get some sleep."

Ellie brought her head up and nodded.  "I will," she said as she wiped the wetness from her cheeks, "You need sleep too."

"I know but I need to take care of a couple things first," Jason said as he stood up, "Are you going to be ok while I'm gone?"

Ellie nodded her head.  "Go do what you have to do," she said as she softly smiled.

"Ok.  I'll be back in the morning," he said as he slipped out of the door.  Ellie watched him leave and then slowly sank down into the couch and cried herself to sleep.