Author's Notes: This story follows Aiding and Abetting. The Carly in this story is Tamara Braun. Any questions? Feel free to ask.
Her divorce was final, and the first thing she did was officially change her last name back to Benson. Everything had to be reprinted, including her credit cards. Were anyone to refer to her as Mrs. Corinthos, Carly spun on them and told them in no uncertain terms that her name was no longer Mrs. Corinthos, and she would never be Mrs. Corinthos, again.
Sam had told her that it was a good move. A step in the right direction.
Courtney tried to talk her out of it, tried to talk her out of the final divorce, at all.
As though there were any wonder why Courntey's days as best friend were over.
However, there were questions as to how Sam McCall had taken her place. Though the two had endured a very trying time, had come to trust each other like neither trusted anyone but Jason, a real friendship wasn't expected to evolve. At the most, all that could be expected was for the women to be courteous to one another. That they would be polite enough to one another so as to cause Jason less grief than already filled him.
But, there they were, friends. Carly allowed Sam to babysit her children. Sam allowed Carly to give her fashion advice that she ignored. Both women forced Jason Morgan and Lorenzo Alcazar to sit through tension filled dinners twice a month. Both felt deep regret that Jason had lost a second brother in a ten year time.
"Oh my God, would you look out!" Sam cowered in her seat, and the shoulder strap bit against her collarbone. "I swear, you're even worse now than when we started!"
And now, Sam was teaching her to drive. It made no sense, at all. Lorenzo had offered, and Carly turned him down. Driving just wasn't something that Carly did. Even if she were able to push back the memories of the accident that had killed her best friend in high school, there were others. The last time she got behind the wheel of a car, she drove it off a bridge and showed up at her own memorial service. Carly Benson was just not meant to drive.
"I told you this wouldn't work!" Carly slammed on the breaks and threw her hands up. "I told you this was a stupid idea."
"No, a stupid idea is you not knowing how to drive. Great independence there, Carly. You just sit at home unless Jason or Lorenzo can drive you somewhere, or it's in walking distance."
"I'll have you know that I like being driven around." Carly smoothed the top of her auburn head, then pulled her hand in a cuff down her ponytail. "This is ridiculous. With the money I get in alimony from Sonny, I can afford a driver."
"And you'd still be depending on Sonny. Is that what you want, huh? To always depend on Sonny? Well, it's a stupid thing to do. You should know that by now."
Yeah, she should have, and she did. But that didn't meant that she wanted to drive. Carly's idea of independence was different from most. Carly liked the freedom of doing whatever she wanted to do. She liked the freedom to make her own choices, to see who she wanted to see when she wanted to see them. She liked the freedom to get into her own troubles. She just happened to also like the freedom to call someone to bail her out or do things for her that she couldn't do for herself. She may not have wanted to completely depend on someone, but she liked the thought that she could depend on them when she felt the need to do so.
"Ya know what? You're really one to talk. You live with Jason. You live off of Jason. You live for Jason. So, who are you to really tell me to get off my ass and do something, huh? I'm doing what I want to do. Besides, it's not Sonny that I depend on. It's Jason. It's Lorenzo. And for some reason beyond my contemplation, it's you. Is that so bad, huh?"
"First of all, I don't live for Jason. I live for me, and Jason just happens to be a perk. And I live with and off Jason because that's how he likes it. You more than anyone else should know that Jason has this thing about taking care of people. He wants to take care of me, and who am I to tell him no? And as for the rest, well… Fine, whatever, Carly. But the least you can do is learn how to drive yourself around. We won't always be there to take you to the salon."
"Ya know what? That was low. I took you with me last time, didn't I? I even paid. So, that was really, seriously low."
"What's low, and more than a little pathetic, is that I took you to an empty parking lot, and you still almost hit something."
"It was a bush!"
"A bush on the sidewalk! You'd have jumped the curb if I hadn't told you to pay attention."
"I told you that I shouldn't be driving! I'm a safety hazard!"
"You're a safety hazard because you don't want to drive. Well, it's time that you learned, and I'm going to teach you."
Carly groaned and leaned her head back against the rest. Eyes closed, she sighed and said, "I don't know why I let you talk me into things. I don't know why we're friends. I don't know why I let you be with Jason."
"Excuse me? Let me be with Jason?" Sam snickered. "Well, isn't that funny as hell? Last time I checked, Jason and I were together whether you liked it or not. Isn't that what he said before our big Manhattan adventure? Before we—" Sam stopped and shook her head. They didn't talk about that. They could discuss everything else about that incident, but they didn't talk about that. They didn't talk about Royal. "You couldn't break us up if you tried."
"Oh believe me, I can break up anybody and Jason. I've done it before, and I'd do it again if I have to."
"Do you really think you have to, Carly? Do you really think that I'm the one you need to save Jason from?"
Carly looked at her and sighed. Sadly, no. Sam was good for Jason, as much as Carly hated to admit that. She made him smile, she made him laugh. He hadn't done either of those in so long, and if anyone deserved to do them, it was Jason. No, he'd already been saved from the one that put his heart in danger, and even that salvation left Jason to silently cry.
Carly sighed again, then groaned. "No, you're not the one Jason needs to be saved from. But, you are the one that I need to be saved from, because with you and this driving kick, you're gonna kill me sooner or later. I swear, Sam, you get me into more trouble than I could ever get myself into. And that is a really sad and pathetic thing."