She had come to him like this many times over the years, whether it was in the pouring rain just a few weeks before she was set to give birth or after a knock-down, drag-out fight with Sonny or when she couldn't make sense of the world. This time could have easily been just like that, but it wasn't like that at all. She knew exactly what she was doing when she walked in with her kids in toe, setting up house immediately without cause or concern for Jason or the rest of the people in his life. She knew where she belonged and neither of them really questioned it when she took over his penthouse like she had taken over his world for most of the past two decades.

The boys were upstairs now in their bedroom, their voices softly drifting down the stairs as they talked in the dark. He would figure out something tomorrow to make sure that they didn't have to share. Michael would only be patient for so long. Jocelyn was asleep in the playpen Carly had set up in his bedroom, a monitor now sitting on his nightstand so they could hear her if she woke up. Jason was pretty sure that Sam had been there at some point, but he really hadn't been paying any attention when she left. His only concern had been for an eerily calm Carly as she confided that her marriage was over.

And now, they were lying on the deck, looking up at the night sky with the ships in the harbor and a staticky monitor providing their soundtrack. Her head was resting on his chest, their hands entwined like this was something that they did every day. The truth was that he hadn't held her like this in more than ten years.

"You okay?"

The question had a million implications, but the answer was simple. She was fine as long as she had her kids and Jason. Carly had always known that, no matter what else was going on in her life. "I think I'm more okay than I've been in a long time," she answered. She looked up at him over his shoulder. Jason smiled warmly before kissing her forehead. "Are you sure that you don't mind me being here?"

"Whatever you need, Carly, you know that I'll make sure you have it," he vowed. It was a promise he had made to her when she had let him be a father to Michael, and he had done everything in his power to always uphold it. Even when he thought he had failed, Carly was there to reassure him that he was everything that she needed. "You can stay here as long as you need to stay here."

"Even if it's forever?" she teased. Carly had no intention of staying in his penthouse forever. It wouldn't be fair to him and Spinelli, not to mention Sam. She just needed a few days to unwind and figure out things.

"Even if it's forever," Jason retorted, his voice serious and sure. "No one comes before you, remember? You could have so easily fallen tonight, but you caught yourself. I'm so proud of you. I know you think you need me, but this just reminds me how strong you are. I love that you think you need me, though."

Carly had been jealous of all the women in Jason's life over the years for one reason. It wasn't because she was replaceable or that he was in love with them. She knew that she had her own permanent place in Jason's life and that there was no one he loved more than her. The thing that made her so envious was the fact that they got to be with Jason. Sam, Elizabeth, even Courtney – they had gotten a part of Jason that Carly had let slip away. It was her life's biggest regret and perhaps the only one she still carried with her. Maybe it was time to start fixing that.

She turned over on her stomach and rested her chin on her folded hands against Jason's chest. "I do need you, Jase. Even if I can do all of this on my own, I'm always going to need you there to love me. You are my best friend, my soul mate, my saving grace, my family. I've wasted all these years by denying the part of you that is also the love of my life. There is never going to be someone that I love as much as you and deeply as I love you. You are the only thing that has been unconditional in my life other than my kids. That kind of love doesn't come along just every day. I always thought you and I would go the distance somehow, even if it was a different kind of forever."

"Carly." He said her name like it carried the weight of the world, and to Jason, it kind of did. His eyes were hooded with fear, confusion and desire – three traits that Jason Morgan did not wear easily. Only Carly could make him feel so conflicted but so utterly at home at the same time. "I don't know..." He started to say something that probably was important but let the words fall away before dragging her up his body. Blue burned into blue as their eyes locked. "I love you, too."

What started out as a sweet exchange quickly turned into an all-encompassing kiss, but as it so often did, reality reared its ugly head. The monitor blared as Jocelyn cried out in hunger, Morgan came down stairs looking for Spinelli and Michael was after Carly to see if he could go see a friend across town. Jason kissed the side of Carly's head before releasing her to go upstairs after her daughter, all the while she was busy talking to Morgan. Jason headed after Michael to see what his plans were. The two of them worked in perfect sync as the helped the kids – their kids.

It took Jason three hours to officially break up with Sam, two weeks for them to tell the kids, three months before her divorce was final, six months before they abandoned the penthouse for a bigger estate for their entire family including Spinelli and Maxie, nine months before Jason proposed over a game of pool at Jake's and exactly one year to the date before they were wed in a small ceremony in their backyard garden. Within two years, there was another little girl, Alanna Barbara Morgan – named after Jason's father and Carly's mother, born into the world. Jason quit being a mob enforcer and actually started up a legitimate luxury hotel with Carly that surpassed the Metrocourt. It was an unconventional and messy path, but it had given them their own kind of happy ending.

Fin.