The End: Chapter Two
Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital. Carly and Jason are the property of ABC and Disney. "She Thinks She Needs Me" is sung by Andy Griggs; I don't own that either.
Summary: The end of Carly and Jason is not what one would expect. Carjax. Implied Jarly.
Tomorrow came and went. Carly, Jax, and the boys left Port Charles for Australia. Jason wanted to follow, but he had too many responsibilities in New York.
It's been a week. She calls every day. It doesn't stop him from wondering, though.
Every day, he wonders if she remembers to count to ten before doing anything drastic. He wonders if she was happy, if she was making friends, if Michael was giving her a hard time. And he wonders about her relationship with Jax, and whether or not she is going to bring another child into this world for him to love as his own.
"She thinks I walk on water. She thinks I hung the moon…" Jason's cell phone began to ring the special ringtone that let him know Carly was calling. "She Thinks She Needs Me" by Andy Griggs – it was extremely fitting for their relationship.
"Hello Carly," he says as he snaps open his phone.
"Hey Jase," Carly says excitedly. "Guess what?"
"What?" he humors her. He finds that he's been doing that a lot more lately. Saying what she wants him to; doing what she wants him to. It's his way of doing what he can to make sure their long-distance relationship lasts.
"I'm pregnant!" she replies, almost before he gets his one word it. "Jax is so excited, and Michael and Morgan are already trying to feel for movement from their little sister. Even Mercedes is happy; I'm not sure if it's because she wants another kid to watch or if she just wants the pay raise that comes with an infant."
Jason is silent for a moment. God, if she was still in Port Charles he knew that she would have run to his office and told him as soon as her doctor let her know she was pregnant. Before Jax, before her boys, and especially before the nanny. Had she told the entire world before her supposed best friend? He knows he's being selfish, that he should be happy for her. But if it's not his child that she's pregnant with, the least he wants is to share this with her first…
"Jase, did you hear me?" she asks him. Jason guesses that he waited too long to respond.
"Yeah, Carly," somehow Jason manages to keep the crack from his voice. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," she responds quickly. Jason smiles at how happy she sounds. His smile soon changes into a frown with her next words.
"I have to go now, Jase," she tells him. "I have to let Mama know she's going to have another grandchild, and Lulu needs to know about her first female cousin."
Jason is glad that she called him before Bobbie and Lulu, at least. But…
"Are you sure it's a girl, Carly?" he questions her.
"Of course it's a girl. I can feel it, Jase," she tells him confidently. Same old Carly. She thinks if she wants something enough, it will magically happen.
"All right," Jason humors her again. The last thing he wants is for her to get mad at him when he's too far away for his baby blues to make her forgive him. And Carly was even more moody when she was pregnant.
"Bye," she says before disconnecting. Jason just stares at his phone after he clicks "end." It's the first time since she left that she hasn't told him "I love you" after her goodbye. He wants to say that he doesn't know why it bothers him so much, but he doesn't want to lie to himself.
"I love you too," Jason says out loud to the empty room.
The weeks pass, and Carly's calls come with less and less frequency. First every other day, then every three days, and now she calls every Sunday afternoon. She tells him some details about her life, but Jason misses the time when he knew everything.
He talks to Sonny about her every once in a while, but it's like Sonny doesn't even care that his ex-wife and kids are on the other side of the world, building a life without him. Carly promised that Michael and Morgan would spend the summer in Port Charles with Sonny, but she wanted them back in time for her due date in September. Sonny is so caught up in his relationship with Kate that he doesn't even miss them.
"She thinks I've got it together. She swears I'm as tough as nails," and there goes his patented Carly ringtone. She always seems to call when he's thinking about her. Although that could just be because there isn't a time that he's not thinking about her.
"Hey Jase," Carly chirps happily as soon as he picks up. Sometimes he wonders how she can be so happy when he's breaking inside.
"Hey," he responds, successfully hiding his pain once again.
"Twins," she tells him. "A boy and a girl. One for Jax and one for me."
Jason has to smile at that last part. He knew Jax didn't care whether it was a boy or a girl; he just wanted a healthy baby. Jax just said that he wanted a boy because he knew how much Carly wanted a girl; her husband loved to push her buttons because Carly was so beautiful when she was angry. Just another countless thing that Jason missed about her.
"That's great, Carly," and Jason genuinely means it. God, two more Carly babies. A little blonde-haired blue-eyed girl; her mother's little clone, Carly's angel. And a little blonde-haired blue-eyed boy. Jason's…not Jason's anything.
It would be Jax's son; a little boy for him to teach how to surf and boat and have fun. Jason probably wouldn't even get to see Carly's kids until they were at least a few months old. Just the thought almost brings him to his knees.
"Thanks," she tells him. "I have to call Bobbie and Lulu and tell them the great news. I'll talk to you next week, Jase. Love ya."
Jason closes his eyes as the call he waited for all week disconnects after less than five minutes. And she had said "Love ya" so flippantly that he had rather she had said nothing at all. Carly had always said "I love you" with such complete seriousness and sincerity that he never had any doubts. But it was impossible to be secure in their relationship when he only got a call once a week from his best friend who lived halfway across the world.
"I love you too," Jason once again says out loud to the empty office. It's almost tradition now, because Carly always hangs up on him before he can say it to her.
It's June now. Carly missed her weekly Sunday call yesterday afternoon, and Jason just sits in his office willing his phone to ring when he should be working. He stares at his phone, wondering why he doesn't just call her himself. But Jason has never had to be the one who worked to keep their friendship alive. Carly needed something; she asked; and he usually gave it to her. She made it as easy on him as possible.
"She don't know that it's all about her. She don't know I can live without her," Jason starts at the sound of his ringtone. He scrambles to open his phone as soon as he realizes it's not just his imagination playing tricks on him.
"Hey," he says quickly, waiting to hear her beautiful voice.
"Hey, sorry I didn't call yesterday," Carly tells him.
"It's okay," Jason forgives her. He would forgive her anything just to have her keep talking to him. Sometimes he wonders why he doesn't just tell her that. It used to be that he was afraid she wouldn't shut up; now he's scared that she'd hang up and never call again if he revealed that much of his pain to her.
He knows that the distance between them is growing, even if it's impossible for her to physically get any farther away unless she flies to the moon. Emotionally, Jason has no idea how to bridge the gap. Carly had always done it for them.
"The babies kicked yesterday for the first time. Jax was so happy that he sent Mercedes out with the boys, and we spent the entire day in bed," Carly is giggling like a teenager as she whispers that last part to him. A part of Jason wishes he was there to see her glowing face; the larger part wishes that she hadn't just told him that she missed their weekly call to spend the day in bed with her husband.
"That's…great," is all Jason manages to say.
"When are you and Jax bringing the boys to Port Charles for the summer?" Jason asks, successfully managing to change the subject to a safer topic. Or so he thinks.
"Well…" Carly draws out the word. Jason's stomach leaps to the back of his throat at her next words…
"Jax and I are going to stay in Australia until I have the babies. The doctor doesn't think that it's safe for me to take the long airplane ride this far into my pregnancy. Twins are always higher-risk, and with my not-so-stellar history she thinks it's bests if we don't chance it. Besides, it would be really bad if I went into early labor on a twelve-hour flight from here to Port Charles, or on the way back home," Carly laughs off the last part, not even realizing that she called Australia "home." Jason wants to vomit, because his home is always wherever she is. And this means he's not going to be home for a very long time yet.
"But the boys are going to take the flight with Mercedes in two weeks. They're going to stay with Sonny most of the time, but I managed to convince him to let Mama have them for a week, too. They are going to be there until the end of August, after all. Sonny can afford to share them with their grandmother for a short time," Carly explains to him.
"That's…nice," is all Jason manages to choke out.
"Jase, is something wrong?" Carly asks him, honestly clueless. There used to be a time not too long ago when she knew what he was feeling almost before he did. He doesn't know whether she lost that ability, or whether she just no longer cares enough to try to figure him out. He doesn't know which situation would hurt more, so he doesn't bother to ask.
"I miss you," he tells her honestly.
A pause, then…
"I miss you too!" Carly cries. She was always moody and emotional when she was pregnant, but oh so beautiful. That wasn't a change though. Jason would think she was the most beautiful thing in the world even if she lost all her hair and started wearing paper bags over her head.
"I love you," Jason manages to say. It's one of the few times in their relationship that he's told her that first. And it's the first time since she left for Australia that he's managed to tell her at all.
"I love you too," Carly responds. Jason can hear Morgan calling for his mother in the background, and the nanny telling the boy that Carly was busy on the phone. But Jason knows that his weekly time with her is almost up.
"I'll talk to you soon, Jase," Carly promises.
"Soon," Jason affirms. Carly disconnects.
It's the first time in six months that he doesn't tell his office how much he loves it after a call from Carly.
