Tempting Faith.Note: Hi people! I'm not sure how many people are reading ATWT fanfiction these days since the show has unfortunately been long gone bye now, but, us lucky Dutch people, are still enjoying this lovely soap, and I'm loving the CarJack reunion. I've loved Carly and Jack since I started watching, and now that I have time to write again, I couldn't help myself but start a story about them. I hope you all like it, and please let me know what you think of it! xx Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Rating: T, most of the time, I guess. If not, I'll tell you in the beginning of the chapter.
Chapter 1: Let's run away and don't ever look back.
It hadn't been the first time Carly Tenney had run away from home. She'd been only seventeen the first time that had happened. Not wanting the life her mother was living, she was determined to not only be rich, but also be fabulous. Unfortunately for her, that hadn't completely worked out as she'd planned; being a married man's mistress wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind. Running away after that had eventually brought her Jack. But she ran again. Multiple times, that was. To Montana when Sage was born, gone with the wind when Simon was with her… And almost half a year ago, she'd ran again. After Janet had revealed it was Jack's baby she was carrying, Carly knew staying in Oakdale was the worst scenario possible. Loving Jack without his presence was awful, but loving Jack while seeing him with another woman was even worse. At that same time, she'd received an offer from a big company in Los Angeles, asking her to become their new head designer for a short time. Carly had known it was an offer she had to take. Leaving her kids behind had been tough, but modern technologies like Skype had made it a little easier to be on the other side of the country. Carly had always tried to run away and forget about the past, not looking back unless it had revolved around her children. She had never been successful in that department though.
After six months though, her contract had ended and Carly knew she had to head home again. And she was scared. She knew her kids would be as thrilled as her to be reunited again, but she was scared for the man she still loved. Carly had hoped she would've been able to live with Jack being married to another woman after such a long time, even though she knew he loved her more than Janet. She hadn't talked to him for six entire months. Sage and Paker had sometimes mentioned their father, but that were always random things. Secretly, Carly had hoped Jack would've run after her to tell her he would leave Janet. But he hadn't. And now, she knew she had to face him again. And it scared her. But she knew she couldn't run away anymore.
Standing in front of Milltown, a loud sigh escaped from her mouth. She was home again. Carly knew that she would open the front door to find an empty house; the kids were at school. She looked around for a bit, taking in the warm June air while noticing the chirping birds in the warm sun. She closed her eyes for a bit, trying to forget all of the things that scared her about her return to Oakdale before turning the key in the lock. Without a sound, the front door opened and Carly stepped in quietly. She took in the smell, that had everything it used to have except for her perfume that was usually lingering. The place was clean as usual, which actually surprised Carly because she hadn't expected the kids to be there a lot. But it looked as if she'd never left. The paper of a couple of days ago was on the table, fresh flowers were standing in the middle of the living room and Sage's nail polish was lying at three different places in the room, one of them including the floor. Carly smiled when she picked it up and placed it on the desk to her left.
She slowly walked around the house, hearing the soft clicks of her heels on the floor. It surprised her even more when she saw the answering machine of the phone beep; she pressed the play button on the machine and was even more surprised when the message started. "Jack, it's me. I know you're at work right now but since your cellphone isn't working either I didn't know what else to do. I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow at twelve, so you're welcome to come if you want to. Liberty's been asking for you, so you should go see her as well. We'll talk later, bye." Janet's harsh voice had surprised Carly, and the message left her with more than one question. Had Jack been living here again? Did he and Janet split up after all? And wasn't Jack supposed to be at a doctor's appointment since the baby was his? Carly could feel the tension in her body rise, and knew a headache wouldn't wait too long to come. She followed her path to the kitchen, noticing two dirty plates that she put in the dishwasher and a new coffee machine.
Carly was dying to go upstairs to the bedroom, to see whether Jack had been sleeping in "their" bed, but somehow felt like she was invading his privacy. Her suitcases needed to get up though, and technically, the house was still hers. After bringing both of her suitcases upstairs, Carly couldn't beat her curiosity and opened the master bedroom as soon as she could. The smell in it immediately gave away Jack's presence in the room. His aftershave, his perfume, and his typical Jack-scent were all present in the room. Carly inhaled the scent deeply, as she looked at the bed. Sheets that were quickly placed straight again revealed the fact that Jack had been sleeping in the room as well. She fought the urge to reminisce all the memories she and Jack had made in the bed, but knew she had to get out of the bedroom in order to do so. When she got out of the room, she heard the front door close and a stern yell that said: "Parker? Sage? One of you forgot to lock the front door? Guys?"
Knowing Jack was only meters away from her gave Carly chills. What was he going to say? How was he going to respond? She quietly walked down the stairs, a small sigh of relief coming out when she realized Jack was in the kitchen. She could make a run for it… But then again, the suitcases in the hallway upstairs would probably be noticed anyway. She was on her way to the kitchen when Jack came walking out, a bottle of water in his hand.
Their eyes locked immediately and Carly could tell Jack had to tighten his grip on the bottle of water in order to not let it drop. "Carly?" She couldn't help but smile as warm feeling started spreading inside of her again at the sight of Jack. He looked amazing, as handsome as before she'd left. "Hi, Jack."
Note: I really hope you all liked this first chapter. I know there was pretty much no dialogue, but, yeah, well, that's just the way this chapter is haha ;-)! Let me know what you think of it! xx.
Disclaimer: I stole the chapter's title from Katy Perry's song "Teenage Dream".