All I want for Christmas is: You
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'Oh no.' Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jason forced himself not to groan as his eyes took in the site before him. Shaking his head at the Bruce pine tree she picked out, he knew better than to argue with her but he just couldn't seem to prevent himself. "No."
"Jase, come on. It's perfect!" Carly gushed happily as she clasped her hands. She even did a little happy dance. Her smile was blindingly bright as she rubbed her hands together either in glee or in a vain attempt to warm them up.
"No," Jason repeated half-heartedly. He knew full well that he was going to give in. She hadn't been this happy in a long time, even her face glowed.
"Just think of how beautiful it will look in our family room," Carly championed on. Moving closer to him, her whole body faced him as she smiled up at him. "Come on, its Josslyn's first Christmas. Please?"
Her usage of the word 'our' was her only attempt at manipulating him since they had shown up earlier at Bob's Christmas tree stand. Glancing at the tree again, he noted that it was a beautiful pine. Not laden down with balky needles or overly spacious gaps. 'There is no way that tree is going on my SUV. I don't care how beautiful it is.'
"Fine, I'll call the boys. They will pick it up. No, it will not be delivered," Jason clarified as he pulled out his cell phone. He nodded to the man who ran the place and pointed to the tree that Carly wanted. Jason snorted as the man nearly ran over to him. 'Business must not be doing too good.'
"That's fine. It's getting cold out here. Maybe we should head back," Carly stated reasonably. Jason snapped his head to stare at her in shock. 'What?'
"What I can be reasonable," Carly huffed annoyed that Jason acted totally surprised. Pouting hard at him, she passed by him in a huff.
'Since when?' Watching her walk away, Jason smirked at her behavior. He noted the owner's disheveled appearance. Remembering another business that clasped around this time of the year, which lead to yet another hostage situation, Jason handed the man five times what he was asking for.
"Man, make nice with the wife otherwise you'll be on the couch," the owner stated as he took Jason's money.
"I'm never on the couch," Jason informed him. He watched the weathered old man's eyes go large for a few seconds before he started to separate out how much the tree was. 'An honest man.' Looking at him directly, Jason ordered, "Keep the change."
"Lucky son of a gun," the owner grumbled with a relieved smile as he carefully tucked his profit away. Misty eyed the owner breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you want help loading it?"
"Just put it aside, I have several guys coming for it," Jason instructed before he trailed after Carly. Approaching the car, he wasn't surprised to see her already in the passenger's seat waiting on him. 'She's going to be the death of me yet.'
After turning the engine over, Jason blasted the heat, hoping to warm the cool car. Looking over towards Carly he could tell that she wasn't really mad at him but she was upset about something. 'Great, I wonder what or I should say who has her upset now.' Putting the car into gear, he knew that he wouldn't have to wait long before she spilled her guts to him.
"Michael's parole hearing is within the next two weeks," Carly commented as casually as she could. "Dante has already informed me that he's going to recommend that Michael is permanently placed with him. And that if I want any contact with my son it will be through him."
"No judge is going to buy that," Jason stated calmly. 'Dante didn't even tell her the date, just a time frame. Diane will have to look into that.'
"He has Lulu and Sonny backing him up. Dante said that he would grant Sonny Sunday dinners with Michael if he did," Carly informed Jason as she started to panic. "He won't let me near Michael without getting access to Morgan. Morgan hates him!"
"Breathe," Jason demanded. He could hear her gulp in several breaths, his mind already starting to form a plan of attack. "The judge doesn't want Michael near the 'business' and that includes Sonny."
"And you, but you were….. no, you are the best thing that has ever happened to him, my family and me," Carly corrected herself. From her voice, he knew that she was extremely close to crying but struggling to keep her emotions under control. "You went to prison for our son. I don't know how you managed that, but you did."
"What else did Dante say?" Jason inquired as he white knuckled the steering wheel.
"Here you can listen to it yourself?" Carly mumbled as she fumbled with her purse. She pulled out her cell phone.
"Dante left a voice message?" Jason asked astounded. 'He is definitely Sonny's kid.' "Hold on, let me pull in." Parking in her driveway, he took the cell phone from her. He saw that she had several new messages, so he decided to play them all.
'Better listen to them all and disregard the messages I don't need.' As he listened, he felt colder with every message. After the last one, he closed his eyes and found himself counting to twenty before he was calm enough. 'Sonny, how could you go along with this? What Sonny wants, Sonny gets, damn the rest of us in the process.'
"Can he do that?" Carly asked softly as she pick at the imaginary lint off of her jeans.
"Legally no," Jason replied. 'But he shouldn't have been able to get Michael released either, so it might be possible. Damn it.' Looking over at her, Jason offered one of his rare smiles. "Anything else?"
"You won't like it," Carly cringed at her statement.
"Hit me with it," Jason requested.
"Sonny left a message, telling me to go along with Dante's plan or else. Also Claire left one too," Carly heatedly commented as she gestured to her cell phone.
"Just your cell phone or at the house?" Jason clarified. Hoping that Sonny was stupid enough to leave a message at the house, where Morgan could have a chance of over hearing it and call Michael.
"Cell phone," Carly answered as she pouted slightly. Holding out her hand for her phone, she was disappointed when Jason wouldn't give it back.
"You're going to need a new cell phone," Jason informed her as he opened the door. "I'm going to need this one." Pulling out his ring cell phone, Jason answered, "Morgan."
"Stone Cold, greetings on this festive day!" Spinelli gleefully replied over the line.
"Spinelli just the person I was looking for," Jason responded with a snort.
"How may I be of service? Is the former DA bothering you again? Is it Mister Sir?..."
"Spinelli!" Jason grunted cutting him off. "Carly needs a new cell phone. However, I don't want her old one disconnected or migrated to her new one."
"But master, Valkyrie has a lot of important business contacts on her cell phone," Spinelli argued. "Surely she will need that information on her new phone?"
"Spinelli," Jason growled lowly. "Just fine her something that will tie her over until February. Then I'll give her back her old cell phone."
"Eh, okay," Spinelli squeaked until he thought it through. "I get it; you need something from her phone. Since you're doing some cloak and dagger stuff, I'll find a phone that is similar to her old one that way no one will notice."
"Thank you," Jason muttered just before he hung up. "That kid is just like you. He gives me a headache."
"Yeah, but you love us anyways," Carly laughed as she got out of the SUV. She used the SVU to help her balance herself on her driveway until Jason came around and wrapped his arms around her. "No comments about my impractical shoes."
"As long as you acknowledge that they are impractical," Jason huffed seconds away from just picking her up. Relief was short lived once he entered her home. Morgan came running into the living room.
"Jason!" Morgan shouted from within the house causing his voice to echo. "Did you help mama find a tree?"
"Yeah, I don't know how we're going to get it in the house," Jason laughed as Morgan's eyes go comically wide. "It's even larger than last year's."
"Oh boy!" Morgan whispered stunned. "I didn't think she could even top last year's!"
"She did," Jason laughed as he closed the door to the home. "And more importantly, I let her."
"I know that," Morgan laughed. "At least she doesn't go crazy with ornaments for the tree."
"Morgan, it's only the twentieth of December. There is still time," Jason whispered to him. "We'll just have to think of a way to keep her busy otherwise she'll rope us into shopping with her."
"That's so true," Morgan whispered back. "She can do a lot of damage in four days."
"Let's bring up the Christmas supplies," Jason suggested as he directed Morgan towards the basement door. Opening the door, he looked over into the kitchen where Carly stood staring out her back window. Her arms wrapped around herself.
"Do you think Dante will let Michael come home for Christmas?" Morgan innocently inquired as he happily stomped down the stairs. "Or maybe the judge will just let him come home since Michael has been good."
"What does Michael have to say about everything?" Jason inquired as he followed Morgan.
"He says he wants to come home, but he kind of likes some of the freedoms that Dante has given him," Morgan answered providing Jason information unknowingly. Morgan picked up a box marked Christmas. "He says that Dante lets him come and go as he pleases as long as Michael calls him if he's going to say out past one am."
"What else does Dante let Michael do?" Jason inquired as he picked up a large box.
"Dante has Michael protecting Lulu. Michael says that he checks on her at least twice a day just to make sure that she's okay," Morgan stated importantly as he hulled the box up the stairs. Morgan placed the box next to the fireplace before he turned and dashed down the steps. "I started doing that with mama, it made her happier."
"Yeah, well I call her more often than that," Jason tossed out as he hefted a box of Christmas stuff. 'So that's how he convinced Lulu that Michael has forgiven her for helping to putting in him in jail.' Morgan was hot on his tail, Jason nodded to Carly as he passed her, he placed the box near the fireplace. "All the boxes are up. I have to go to work."
"Spinelli called, he said that he's coming over to drop off my new cell phone," Carly informed Jason as she brushed a hand over Morgan's hair. "We're inviting you over for Christmas dinner."
"I'll be there," Jason stated as he hugged Carly goodbye. Winking at Morgan, Jason quietly left the house. 'Carly is going to love my Christmas gift.' Smirking Jason pulled out his cell phone, he left a message for Diane, before putting in a call to Lulu.
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Will update the next part on the 21st - Please review!