Jason Morgan and Elizabeth Webber, as portrayed by Steve Burton and Rebecca Herbst, had their first major encounter one night in late August 1999.
Still overwhelmed with grief over the "death" of her boyfriend Lucky Spencer, Liz got all dressed up and headed to Jake looking for some trouble and relief from her pain. Trouble came quickly in the form of an overly aggressive customer. In over her head, Jason swooped in and rescued her. However, instead of being grateful for the help, Liz turned her anger on Jason. He soon got her to open up though, and the two bond over the losses in their life. For the first time since Lucky died, Liz felt like she could be totally honest with another person. From that night on, the two formed a close friendship.
Many times over the ensuing months Jason would take Liz for rides on his motorcycle. They were always there for each other. When Jason was hurt from not being able to see Michael, Elizabeth was there to listen, and he was always there for her when life without Lucky overwhelmed her. This friendship did not go unnoticed by Carly Roberts, Jason’s long-time friend and former lover. Then one fateful winter night in 1999, all their lives were changed forever. Jason had gone to Kelly’s when Liz was about to close up. That night, Liz was having an especially hard time with memories of Lucky. She asked Jason to dance with her to see if it would bring back the feeling of dancing with Lucky. While the two were dancing, a jealous Carly peered in through the windows of Kelly’s. Totally misinterpreting the scene, Carly rushed off to confront Sonny, Jason’s best friend, about the nature of Liz’s relationship with Jason.
After an ugly argument, Carly and Sonny wound up in bed together. In the meantime, Jason had gone to a meeting with some rivals in Sonny’s stead. The meeting went horribly awry and Jason winds up getting shot. After the ambushing, Jason returned to Sonny’s only to find that his best friend has slept with Carly, his close friend, the mother of baby Michael, and his former lover. Feeling incredibly shocked and betrayed Jason runs off and winds up passed out in the freezing snow near the boxcars.
The next morning, Liz finds Jason unconscious in the snow. She quickly got help for Jason and after he refused to let Sonny or anyone help him, Liz took him to her art studio. There, Liz began nursing Jason back to health with a little help from Bobbie. Soon, however, others began to learn where Jason was hiding out. Despite all the warnings that others would give Elizabeth about Jason and his lifestyle, she would not give up on their friendship. When Nikolas became overzealous in his attack of Jason, Liz led him to believe that she was sleeping with Jason so that he would leave them alone so Jason could heal. Tensions reached their peak at the Hospital’s Christmas Party when Nikolas got into a shoving match with Jason in front of half the citizens of Port Charles and angrily shouted his rage that Jason would be sleeping with Elizabeth. Soon after this event, Jason moved out of the studio because he didn’t want to hurt Elizabeth anymore and he needed to figure out what he wanted to do with his life after Sonny and Carly’s betrayal.
After moving out of the studio, Jason and Liz continued their friendship. Unbeknownst to them, however, Sorel, the new rival in town after Moreno’s death took notice of their close relationship. Trying to capitalize on this, Sorel and his men placed a bomb in Elizabeth’s art studio. Fortunately, Jason noticed a suspicious man outside the building and with the help of Roy DeLucca got Liz to safety and defused the bomb. Fearing for Liz’s safety and realizing what any kind of relationship with him would mean, Jason regretfully informed Liz that they could no longer be friends. Not one take to no for an answer, Elizabeth soon convinced him to rekindle their friendship. Sadly, this did not last too long. Desperate to protect Michael from Carly’s manipulations and to keep those he cared about safe, Jason decided to leave town. After a tearful goodbye and a kiss on the forehead, Jason bid the town of Port Charles farewell.
Jason returned for a very
brief time in the fall of 2000 to help his friends Carly and Sonny, and
also to aid in the rescue of his sister Emily, who had been kidnapped by
Zander Smith. In this short time, Jason and Liz reconnected, he helped
her blow off some steam she had after continually going up against the
strange behavior of Lucky, who it turned out was not dead at all, merely
taken hostage by Faison and Helena. Jason, Elizabeth and, Lucky all
headed separately towards the Canadian border in search of Emily.
Crossing paths at a bridge by the border they found Emily and her
kidnapper. After a standoff Zander released Emily and fled across the
border. With Emily safe and and a round of good-byes Jason left Port
Charles again.In January 2001 when Jason learned that Sorel and Carlos had joined forces to eliminate Sonny, he returned to town again. Liz was ecstatic to see Jason back in town and he asked if he could hide out at her studio to keep his return a secret. Jason also informed Liz that she couldn’t tell Lucky that he was back in town, he was still wary of Lucky’s strange behavior the last time he was in town. Liz felt guilty about lying to Lucky, but agreed to help Jason and keep his secret. On Valentine’s Day at the studio, Liz gave Jason a box of homemade fudge and was surprised when he gave her a piece of red glass that he'd bought in Italy. Unfortunately, Sorel’s men plotted an explosion at the warehouse. A terrified Liz, with Lucky at her side, watched Jason race into the burning building. Visible joy and relief spread across her face when Jason and Sonny emerged from the building unscathed. Grateful that Jason was safe but unable to speak to him, Liz allowed Lucky to take her home..
Unable to keep her secret from Lucky any longer, Liz confessed that she had known that Jason was in town before the fire. Lucky’s reaction was one of great anger. Later, he would ask Elizabeth to end her friendship with Jason. Elizabeth did try her best to stay away from Jason and at Lucky's requests she threw herself into a competition with Gia Campbell for the Face of Deception. But her rape by a photographer in 1997 made the idea of becoming a model almost too much for Elizabeth to bear. Frustrated and confused Elizabeth turned to the only person she could, Jason. Jason did his best to comfort Elizabeth and persuade her to follow her heart. The growing feelings between them was becoming impossible to ignore..
Lucky learned that Elizabeth had been sneaking behind his back to see Jason and under the control of Helena he attacked Jason with a knife one night on the pier. Jason was able to quickly disarm Lucky sending the knife flying into the water. Elizabeth walking in on the tail end of the altercation accused Jason of attacking a defenseless Lucky. Lucky confirmed her fears by accusing Jason of attacking him for no reason. Horrified Elizabeth told Jason that she didn't want to see him anymore. Jason agreed to stay away from Elizabeth but promised that he would never turn her away if she came to him..
Emily upset with the way Elizabeth was treating Jason helped her to rethink her feelings and remember that Jason had never lied to her before. Elizabeth turned to Jason again unable to deny her feelings for Jason any longer. Unfortunately Lucky, who was still under the control of Helena was far to unstable for Elizabeth to turn her back on and she was torn between following her heart and doing the right thing. After admitting to Lucky that she did have feelings for Jason, Lucky stormed out on a quest to find Jason and confront him. Lucky found Jason talking to Carly in the park and attacked him again. Jason was able to take down Lucky just as Elizabeth walked up to find Lucky crumpled on the ground. Elizabeth then accused of Jason of attacking Lucky again, but Carly was quick to jump to Jason defense..
Beginning to realize that something was wrong with Lucky, Elizabeth felt obligated to stay by him and deny her feelings for Jason. Having been attacked by Lucky twice Jason began to worry about Elizabeth's safety. He asked her to come away with him, but she told him that she had to stay with Lucky because he needed her. After an emotional good-bye Elizabeth walked away. The situation with Sonny and Sorel was becoming explosive, forcing Jason to leave town once again..
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