Title: Moment
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I am not making a profit from this story.
Author's Note: Thanks go to Lori, who helped me with the concept and encouraged me to actually write this. It's my first General Hospital piece. I appreciate feedback, including constructive criticism, but no flames if you don't like the way the pairing goes.
Summary: AU One shot (before Sonny shot Carly and while she was still pregnant.) She met Lorenzo on the bridge, and I wrote this as a suggestion for another way their conversation might have gone.
"How can you tell I'm lonely unless you're lonely too?" Lorenzo challenged her in that playfully serious way of his.
"Maybe I am a little lonely." She confessed. "But I'm married. And Sonny and I are going to work things out. So I called you tonight to tell you what I want for you. For your future."
He gave her an intrigued look.
"Take this pendant home with you tonight. Put it in your bag, then pack it with your clothes. Go home to Colombia or go back to Oxford. Remember what you loved, no remember who you were, before Luis twisted your life into this."
Lorenzo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned away.
"Find a colleague you respect. Find someone you can make a brother, or at least a true friend. Find a little infanta."
Lorenzo coughed.
"It means princess." Carly tossed her blond hair, uncomfortably aware that she had just translated a word into a language she didn't speak in front of a man who did speak the language. She uneasily made eye contact. "You need to find someone untouched, so pure, so innocent. I want you to sweep her off her feet, and love her to death. Scare her parents, run away with her to some island and lose yourself in her. Forget this world. Forget drugs, forget weapons, forget Sonny, forget your brother, forget me. Make a few babies. Keep your wife innocent. Don't let this world tarnish her or your relationship. It tarnished me. It tarnished my marriage."
He reached out to her and she shied away from his touch.
"Do you understand me? Go somewhere, remember who you were, fall in love with an innocent, get lost in her, and forget the rest of the world."
"I can't do that." Lorenzo said. "Don't you know that you're burned into my memory?"
"I do that. I burn. Everything around me." She choked up. "Please, leave before I burn you. Find your little infanta, send me a wedding announcement and announcements for your babies. Let me know you're happy."
"Ah, but if I send those things to you, I haven't really forgotten you." Lorenzo pointed out, twinkling at her as though he were the professor and she the student who had just lost an argument because of a logical flaw.
"Then don't send them. I'm sure the paper will cover the events."
"An inconsequential professor in South America announcing his wedding in Port Charles New York?" Lorenzo laughed, certain now that he had caught her. "No, Carly, you don't want me to forget you anymore than you want to forget me. That's what scares you. That you don't even really want to forget me."
"You'll make a good husband, Lorenzo. Sophie would want you to find some little girl with stars in her eyes dreaming of the hero coming for her. It's too late for us. Maybe if we'd met in the time between when I was selfish and the time I was Sonny's, there'd have been a chance. But not now." She paused, overwhelmed. "I'm having a baby this week Lorenzo. So go away, find someone new, and if you have to explain why you sometimes say the name Carly in your sleep, tell her I'm another Sophie. Just be happy Lorenzo. I'll beg if I have to."
"I'd never make a lady beg," Lorenzo said quietly.
She laughed, but there were tears in her eyes. "You're the only man who ever called me a lady."
Lorenzo took her hand and kissed it. "There is no one else who could ever wear that pendant. Keep it. I couldn't give it to anyone any more than I could give you Sophie's ring." He held her hand, and looked in her eyes. "I'll go, but you have to prove to me that this is what you want."
"If you say a kiss you're not half the man I think you are."
"So you think about me."
"You sound like Dillon Quartermaine."
"God forbid." Alcazar laughed a little, through the pain and the confusion.
"It's what I want." Carly said. "I don't know if I can hold me and Sonny together. I don't know if I can make Sonny come home to me and the baby. But I have to try."
"I have to try too." He told her. But he did not grab her and kiss her for all they were worth. He pulled a business card from his pocket. "The next time you call me, wear the pendant."
"There won't be a next time. You'll be married to a demure little lady who would never dream of challenging you."
"I've found woman who argue are just as appealing."
Carly scoffed. "You need someone with long black hair and angel eyes. A poet, maybe. Someone who laughs a lot and makes you smile."
"Can you believe that that's truly what I want?" Alcazar demanded to know.
She shivered. "I can pretend."
"We can both pretend, Mrs. Corinthos." He tossed the name at her like an accusation. "But we both know that someday, you will wear this pendant." He smiled, because she was still holding the jewelry box in her hands. "On that day, I think I will commission an artist to paint a portrait of you. We'll go to Florence, because of my name and the Medici."
She looked blank.
"Il Magnificat." He explained, allowing the history professor in him to step forward. "The greatest prince of the Renaissance was Lorenzo d'Medici."
"You don't think too highly of yourself, now do you?"
"You'll wear the Renaissance pendant and cradle your baby in your arms. Michael will be in the portrait too, as a young angel, I think. You'll make a lovely Virgin with child." Lorenzo said wistfully, looking at Carly as though he could picture her that way now.
Carly tried not to be touched by the wistfulness in his voice. "First a lady, now a virgin? Lorenzo, you come up with the strangest ways to flatter me."
His face dimpled. "Keep it, as a token."
"You won't do anything to Sonny or Jason or my family?"
"I will go away very meekly, but when you call me--" He held up a hand and hushed her protest. "And you will call, Carly. When you call, there'll be no getting rid of me then."
"Goodbye Lorenzo," Carly said with a tilt of her head. "Don't wait for me for too long or you'll never find anyone." She didn't wait for a response. Instead she turned and walked away. But she was still clutching the pendant.
Author: Kate, k4writer02@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, I am not making a profit from this story.
Author's Note: Thanks go to Lori, who helped me with the concept and encouraged me to actually write this. It's my first General Hospital piece. I appreciate feedback, including constructive criticism, but no flames if you don't like the way the pairing goes.
Summary: AU One shot (before Sonny shot Carly and while she was still pregnant.) She met Lorenzo on the bridge, and I wrote this as a suggestion for another way their conversation might have gone.
"How can you tell I'm lonely unless you're lonely too?" Lorenzo challenged her in that playfully serious way of his.
"Maybe I am a little lonely." She confessed. "But I'm married. And Sonny and I are going to work things out. So I called you tonight to tell you what I want for you. For your future."
He gave her an intrigued look.
"Take this pendant home with you tonight. Put it in your bag, then pack it with your clothes. Go home to Colombia or go back to Oxford. Remember what you loved, no remember who you were, before Luis twisted your life into this."
Lorenzo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned away.
"Find a colleague you respect. Find someone you can make a brother, or at least a true friend. Find a little infanta."
Lorenzo coughed.
"It means princess." Carly tossed her blond hair, uncomfortably aware that she had just translated a word into a language she didn't speak in front of a man who did speak the language. She uneasily made eye contact. "You need to find someone untouched, so pure, so innocent. I want you to sweep her off her feet, and love her to death. Scare her parents, run away with her to some island and lose yourself in her. Forget this world. Forget drugs, forget weapons, forget Sonny, forget your brother, forget me. Make a few babies. Keep your wife innocent. Don't let this world tarnish her or your relationship. It tarnished me. It tarnished my marriage."
He reached out to her and she shied away from his touch.
"Do you understand me? Go somewhere, remember who you were, fall in love with an innocent, get lost in her, and forget the rest of the world."
"I can't do that." Lorenzo said. "Don't you know that you're burned into my memory?"
"I do that. I burn. Everything around me." She choked up. "Please, leave before I burn you. Find your little infanta, send me a wedding announcement and announcements for your babies. Let me know you're happy."
"Ah, but if I send those things to you, I haven't really forgotten you." Lorenzo pointed out, twinkling at her as though he were the professor and she the student who had just lost an argument because of a logical flaw.
"Then don't send them. I'm sure the paper will cover the events."
"An inconsequential professor in South America announcing his wedding in Port Charles New York?" Lorenzo laughed, certain now that he had caught her. "No, Carly, you don't want me to forget you anymore than you want to forget me. That's what scares you. That you don't even really want to forget me."
"You'll make a good husband, Lorenzo. Sophie would want you to find some little girl with stars in her eyes dreaming of the hero coming for her. It's too late for us. Maybe if we'd met in the time between when I was selfish and the time I was Sonny's, there'd have been a chance. But not now." She paused, overwhelmed. "I'm having a baby this week Lorenzo. So go away, find someone new, and if you have to explain why you sometimes say the name Carly in your sleep, tell her I'm another Sophie. Just be happy Lorenzo. I'll beg if I have to."
"I'd never make a lady beg," Lorenzo said quietly.
She laughed, but there were tears in her eyes. "You're the only man who ever called me a lady."
Lorenzo took her hand and kissed it. "There is no one else who could ever wear that pendant. Keep it. I couldn't give it to anyone any more than I could give you Sophie's ring." He held her hand, and looked in her eyes. "I'll go, but you have to prove to me that this is what you want."
"If you say a kiss you're not half the man I think you are."
"So you think about me."
"You sound like Dillon Quartermaine."
"God forbid." Alcazar laughed a little, through the pain and the confusion.
"It's what I want." Carly said. "I don't know if I can hold me and Sonny together. I don't know if I can make Sonny come home to me and the baby. But I have to try."
"I have to try too." He told her. But he did not grab her and kiss her for all they were worth. He pulled a business card from his pocket. "The next time you call me, wear the pendant."
"There won't be a next time. You'll be married to a demure little lady who would never dream of challenging you."
"I've found woman who argue are just as appealing."
Carly scoffed. "You need someone with long black hair and angel eyes. A poet, maybe. Someone who laughs a lot and makes you smile."
"Can you believe that that's truly what I want?" Alcazar demanded to know.
She shivered. "I can pretend."
"We can both pretend, Mrs. Corinthos." He tossed the name at her like an accusation. "But we both know that someday, you will wear this pendant." He smiled, because she was still holding the jewelry box in her hands. "On that day, I think I will commission an artist to paint a portrait of you. We'll go to Florence, because of my name and the Medici."
She looked blank.
"Il Magnificat." He explained, allowing the history professor in him to step forward. "The greatest prince of the Renaissance was Lorenzo d'Medici."
"You don't think too highly of yourself, now do you?"
"You'll wear the Renaissance pendant and cradle your baby in your arms. Michael will be in the portrait too, as a young angel, I think. You'll make a lovely Virgin with child." Lorenzo said wistfully, looking at Carly as though he could picture her that way now.
Carly tried not to be touched by the wistfulness in his voice. "First a lady, now a virgin? Lorenzo, you come up with the strangest ways to flatter me."
His face dimpled. "Keep it, as a token."
"You won't do anything to Sonny or Jason or my family?"
"I will go away very meekly, but when you call me--" He held up a hand and hushed her protest. "And you will call, Carly. When you call, there'll be no getting rid of me then."
"Goodbye Lorenzo," Carly said with a tilt of her head. "Don't wait for me for too long or you'll never find anyone." She didn't wait for a response. Instead she turned and walked away. But she was still clutching the pendant.