Part 4:
The following morning, Carly was dressed in her sleeping attire, sat up her table with her usual breakfast choice of some cereal and coffee, her laptop was in front of her and the morning newspaper was beside it open on the first page.
Her coffee was definitely needed this morning after not getting in until the early hours of the morning, then not being able to fall asleep straight away due to the tossing and turning she found herself stuck in, her mind going into overload about different things, it was hard to shut it off. But she was doing everything in her power to stop it this morning.
Due to her living alone, Carly had the TV on one of the music channels to make the space she was living in not feel so lonely and for some actual noise to be heard in the quiet home. She hated how big a difference her living lifestyle had changed within a few days, going from living in a dorm with three other girls who were always talking about something, blasting their music loud and flicking in and out between classes to an apartment all by herself.
She didn't quite mind her own company, it helped her think a lot better and helped to clear her head when she was stressed, especially with all the work she knew was waiting for her later on at the station due to the new events that happened over the past couple of days. Tanner had already emailed her over a bunch of tasks for her to get on with and even proposed more once she had done them, making Carly aware that she had to concentrate today and get on with her job.
The sound of a knock at the door broke Carly away from her laptop and she dropped her spoon down into her bowl as the loud noise filled the apartment. Getting up from her spot, she wondered over to her front door and stepped up onto her tip toes to look through the spy hole at who was behind the door.
She found herself almost instantly rolling her eyes when she saw her dad stood there, dressed in a plain light blue shirt, tailored grey trousers and black shoes, a long black trench coat draped over his arm and his phone in his other hand. She thought he had promised to back off a little with the constant calls and texts, but turning up at her house in the morning was something she hadn't even thought he would do as an alternate.
Grabbing hold of the door handle, she pushed it down allowing the door to open up and she stepped aside, as a signal for her dad to wonder inside, which in seconds he did and came into the apartment and stopped a few inches away from the table, as she closed the door behind him and made her back to her seat.
"Look Dad I thought we were serious on this whole I'll give you space and learn to trust you thing." Carly retold him confused as she picked up her drink from the table not even bothering to look at him.
"That's not why I am here Carly" He said laying his coat over one of the chairs before taking a seat opposite her.
Her eyebrows furrowed together, her eyes tracing his face for any message as to what the hell was actually going on right now. She could see that he looked uneasy and was nervous about something. But Carly could not put her finger on what? If he was coming to tell her bad news, then she didn't want to hear it, enough had already happened in the past forty eight hours that she didn't need anything else going wrong.
"What do you mean?" Carly asked taking a small sip out of the steaming coffee.
He lowered his head down to towards his lap at her question, unsure of whether he should bring up what he was about to but he had now choice since she would probably find out anyway. She always did find out things, however hard he tried to keep it from her. No wonder she wanted to be a detective so badly.
Reaching into his left pocket, he pulled out a folded up piece of card and slowly unfolded it as he brought it up to the table for her to see. Carly watched him with questioning eyes as with the same speed he slid the card towards her, making her lean forward placing her coffee back down on the surface and took the card from him.
Spinning the card round, she took it off the table and held it in her hands bringing it closer so she could read it properly. Her lips parted slightly as she read over the information on the card, now understanding why her dad had looked so uncomfortable.
The card was an innovation as such to the funeral of Jessica DiLaurentis, a funeral that was happening in a couple of days already, being held at the local church and was welcoming members of the community to pay their respects to the very known women of the town.
Of course, Carly's dad was going to get an innovation addressed to him and his family, which only happened to be himself and Carly. But still, he had met Jessica a few times when she had come to the hospital for appointments but also just by being in the neighbourhood he had always sparked up a conversation with her, like he would with anyone who was worth his time, especially those wealthy and who stayed out of trouble.
"I can't believe they've already set a date." Carly murmured loud enough for her dad to hear as her eyes stayed glued to the card in her hands.
Her dad shook his head and let out a sigh, knowing that Carly would of course pick that out of everything, despite the fact that she had been invited also meaning he would have to choose whether or not to allow her to be around the one person he wanted her to avoid at all costs.
"Carly." He said softly taking the innovation out of her hands and slipped it back into his pocket without another word from her. "You know what this means, don't you?"
Carly stared at him from across the table as he brought his head back up to look at her with begging eyes that his daughter would refuse to even go to the event and that it was something she wouldn't even bother considering since they had promised each other they wouldn't get involved again.
She couldn't help but shake her head at him, her frown growing harder on her forehead and she had to bit her teeth down on her bottom lip to stop herself from letting the anger take over. She couldn't believe he actually came here to try and persuade her to not go. There was no way she was not going to go to the funeral. She had to go.
Carly scoffed loudly getting up from her chair, taking her bowl and coffee as she did so, suddenly losing her appetite as the feelings of anger took over. She stomped over to the kitchen and dumped the objects into the sink before laying her hands on either side of the station, trying to calm her breathing down.
"Carly sweetheart." her Dad called getting up from his spot and joining her in the kitchen, where he stood a few steps behind her.
"No Dad! Don't even bother." Carly told him drumming her finger nails on the metal sink.
"You're seriously can't be serious about going can you?" He asked her.
"Yes Dad, I am." she snapped back as she turned round on her feet to face him.
He saw the look of frustration on her daughters face and could tell by the tone in her voice, that she was clearly mad at him for trying to stop her from going to the funeral. But he had every right to make her not want to go since they both knew who would be there.
"Carly, we spoke about you staying away from him." Her dad pressed shaking his head with a sigh. "You told me you wouldn't get involved with him again and here you are planning on going to his mother's funeral."
"Yes Dad to pay my respects to the family. I'm not going to just step back to where I used to be, things have changed and I'm not the same person anymore, how many times do I have to tell you that?" she shot back at him the anger getting the better of her. She just wanted him to trust her.
"It's not you I'm worried about."
She blinked at him confused but by the look on her dad's face she could just tell who he was actually referring to. Something inside of her just wanted to retaliate back, defend the person he was singling out like she always had but she knew she couldn't do that anymore. She wasn't a part of their life so why would they care if she would stick up for them?
Folding her arms over her chest crossly, Carly brushed past her dad and over to the door area, not wanting to hear another word of this conversation. She was going and that was the end of it. No one could stop her. Not even her father. She was going to pay her respects and that would be it.
Yanking open the door, Carly stood behind it as her Dad turned to face her still in the same place. "I think it would be best if you left now." She suggested to him, not even bothering to look at him.
He went to protest but instead felt defeated; his daughter was older now and could make her own decisions. He couldn't stop her from going however hard he tried. Carly had her heart set on attending and he know that all he could now was accompany her to pay his own respects, but to also support her and make sure she didn't get anywhere close to that family.
Her dad exhaled loudly as he headed for the door and stepped out of the apartment, as Carly came out from behind and went to close the door. Their eyes briefly met as she began to slowly push it, both of them releasing that despite their differences, they both needed each other more than ever and they knew that once a few hours had passed, their little fight would be forgotten about.
Once her Dad had left and she had shut the door behind him, Carly made her way over to her couch and took a seat in the middle of it. She ran her fingers through the roots of her hair trying to steady her breathing since it got heavy due to her argument with her dad.
But for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about last night, about what happened when she got to the crime scene, when she saw the body roll past her on the stretcher, the sorrow she felt when she recognised the deceased, the feeling of her heart when she saw him again and how badly she wanted to go approach him, to tell him how sorry she was for his loss.
~ Flashback ~
Carly's heart pounded rapidly in her chest, her movement was slow but you could see from the determination on her face that she was not going to stop going over there to see him, despite how wrong it would have been for her regarding her job, all the hard work she had put in to get herself better and going against her dad's wishes. But she needed to see him. She couldn't just leave him there when he looked so lost.
Jason shifted on his feet as he saw Carly approaching him, a shocked and surprised expression broke out on his face to even see her there. He thought he must have been seeing's things due to the news of his mother's death that had shook him, he thought he was hallucinating or something as she continued to walk closer.
He had no idea Carly was back in town. He never thought that she would even come back after everything what happened. He thought that she was gone for good and that her father would never allow her to come back despite him still living here, since Jason always saw him driving to work when he was in town.
But yet, here she was right at the scene, it was like she had never left and was just coming over to see him late at night like she always use to when she was a teenager. But this wasn't that same year, it had been three years and a lot had happened. He didn't understand what she was doing here though, he thought that maybe she had come to visit Melissa Hastings, since they used to be friends or maybe apart of him had hoped she was coming to see him, but just got caught up in all of this.
However as a loud call of her name stopped Carly in her tracks, causing her to freeze along the path way she was walking on and turn her head slightly to the side to see who was calling her from behind.
Jason watched on desperate that she was going to come over to him and ignore whoever the hell was calling her. Tracing his eyes off from Carly and over to the older women who had called her, he frowned when he saw Lieutenant Tanner trying to catch the young women's attention. What the hell did Tanner want with Carly?
"Miss Monroe." Tanner called her name again causing Carly to finally turn round to face the women. "We're leaving now."
Carly felt her chest tighten at the Lieutenants words knowing she wasn't going to be able to apologise to Jason like she would have liked to, meaning it was going to be so hard to just walk away again like she had those summers ago and would probably never be this close to him again.
She glanced over her shoulder at where Jason was still stood in the same place and was staring at her tensely, unsure of what was going on with her. Taking a deep breath, she plucked up the courage and looked away from him, before flashing a small smile in Tanner's direction and made her way over to join the rest of the police force to head back to the station.
Leaving Jason nothing left to do than witness her walk away from him right before she even had the chance to talk to him. He couldn't help but feel confusing as he watched her join with the team of Rosewood Police, something he didn't seem to understand at first but came very clear to him when she opened up the passenger side door of one of the cars, where Detective Holbrook, the detective who was working on his sisters case climbed into the driver's side.
Carly was a part of the Rosewood Police now, like she had always wanted and had proposed to him many times before. He could always see the passion and determination in her eyes when she spoke about it. He thought it was a crazy idea since she didn't exactly hang around with the best behaved people. But he knew it was what she had always wanted.
As she placed her seatbelt round her body, Holbrook started up the engine of the cop car and began to reverse away from the crime scene. Carly who had finally calmed her nerves down now, turned her head one last time to look at the area they were leaving, her eyes going straight over to where Jason had stood minutes before.
However, he was no longer there and from in the distance heading towards his house, she could see him trudging back, his head hung low and his body hunched. She could only feel guilty for leaving him. But she knew she had to stick to her promise to her dad and herself. It had taken her so much effort and sacrifice to get herself better; she couldn't just throw it away again by getting involved with him.
She hadn't come back for him. She had come back to do her dream career. She had come back to help victims and solve crime. Jason was out of the picture a long time ago and it was best if it stayed that way.
~ End ~
A few days had passed since the incident with Carly and her father, they were both right about they got over their arguments quickly and were completely fine with each other within a couple of hours. He had backed off a little with the amount of messages and phone calls he would have with her throughout the day. But he still kept in contact a few times a day to see how she was getting on.
She appreciated that he was concerned about her but if she was going to be brave and stand on her own two feet, a little bit of distance would do her the world of good of reaching that goal.
Distance was one thing that Carly was going to have to become very familiar with, especially today of all days, since it was the morning of Jessica DiLaurentis' funeral and lucky for Carly she didn't have work till the afternoon so she could actually attend and not take a day off or miss the funeral.
She had wanted to go honestly to pay respect to Jessica DiLaurentis since Carly had met her a few times when she was over at the house or when she bumped into her on the street. She had always been a polite and friendly lady to Carly but she knew that deep down she didn't act like that to everyone, so she considered herself lucky.
As she exited out of the bathroom after using the toilet, she wondered over to her mirror attached to her dresser and examined herself all over in the reflection. She was dressed in a black short sleeved off the shoulder fitted at the top and flared out at the bottom mid-thigh length dress that hugged her curves perfectly and highlighted her small waist and on her feet sat a pair of suede black court heels. Her hair was down as usual, flowing in loose waves down either side of her face and her makeup was it usual but with a light pink lip.
Her hands travelled down to lay over her stomach, as she titled her head and stared at herself, trying to calm the nerves in the pit of her stomach, knowing she was going to be around him again. She understood that she needed to stay away from him and keep her distance from him during the service. She couldn't make the same decision she nearly made the other night by going over to him, a part of her was glad Tanner called her over when she did because it would have saved her from going backwards.
A knock at her front door broke her out of her thoughts and back into reality. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she turned away from the mirror and grabbed her black clutch bag off the end of her bed before wondering out of the room to get the door.
Her dad came into the apartment moments later, dressed in a black suit jacket, a white shirt with a dark purple tie, tailored trousers and some black brogues. He looked just as nervous as Carly did, knowing he was going to have to let his daughter be around the DiLaurentis son after all these years of convincing her to stay away.
Although, he was unaware Carly had already seen him since she had returned to Rosewood. He had no idea she had actually been at the Hasting's backyard them few nights ago where she had seen him stood there staring at her, just like she was staring back at him. Carly daren't mention that or the fact she was going to go over to talk to him. If he ever found out about that, there would be no way he would even let her leave her apartment to go to the funeral.
She hadn't been to many funerals over the course of her life thankfully. But the ones she had been to, including her grandma's when she was twelve hadn't been the best moments of her life. They weren't exactly the best type of events to go to. They were full of grief and sadness. Two emotions Carly tried her best to never let get to her.
"Are you ready to go?" Her Dad questioned her.
She simply nodded back at him as she took her keys off one of the kitchen units and headed over to the door with her Dad leading the way. Both of them ready to face the day.
After Carly had locked up her apartment, they made their way down the steps of her apartment block and outside to where her Dad's black jeep was parked against the road side. They both hopped into the car, belted up and within no time they began their journey to the church where the service was being held for Jessica.
The silence lingered for the whole way to their destination, as well as the nerves Carly was feeling being out properly in public for the first time since being back here, seeing all the people she had left who had witnessed her growing up and for being back in Jason's environment. She had to hold it together. She couldn't slip up or allow people to find out the real reasons why she left to abruptly. She planned to keep it that way.
The jeep pulled up outside the church around five minutes later, her Dad shutting off the engine and turning to face her. He found himself getting more anxious when he saw the same look of anxiety growing on Carly's face as her eyes trailed over to the church doors, where people were making their way inside, before she turned to look at him.
She flashed him the best reassuring smile she could in the situation they were in. Her dad knew how hard it was for her but he promised he would be there for her and he was going to be. He wanted everything to be as easy and normal as possible for his daughter.
Gradually the both of them climbed out of the car, Carly making her way over to the path where her dad was standing after locking the vehicle with his keys. He held out his arm for her to take in which she did before they slowly made their way up the church to join the rest of the people already gathered inside.
Carly could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they approached the large double doors and walked through into the entrance. Her eyes helplessly scanned the room for any sign of the DiLaurentis family but gave up when she couldn't see any of them anyway, meaning they had yet to arrive.
This made Carly exhale with relief that she could be seated before Jason arrived, meaning he didn't have to see her enter and realise that she was actually coming to his mother's funeral. She could hide amongst the crowd and hopefully not be spotted by him or anyone for that matter.
Her Dad lead her over to the row of seating second from the back on the left hand side of the church, he smiled briefly at a few people they brushed past recognising them from the neighbourhood and Carly couldn't help but low her head when they stared that little bit longer at her, like they were trying to digest that she was back in town.
The two of them took a seat down at the end of the row, her Dad made sure she sat at the end so she didn't have someone sit beside her knowing she would be uncomfortable with the idea of someone sparking up a conversation with her so early on in her return.
She unlinked her arm from her fathers as the rest of the people took their seats, waiting for the DiLaurentis family to arrive and for the ceremony to begin. Carly couldn't help but notice that she was the only person who was on the police force to actually attend the funeral, making her wonder why none of them had turned up here today to pay their respects as well.
All of a sudden, the chatter and noise from the groups of people seated in the rows of the church went quiet. The sound of footsteps could be heard on the wooden flooring, signalling that the DiLaurentis' had now actually arrived, meaning that it was time to say goodbye to Jessica but also time for Carly to lay low and stay away from Jason.
The ceremony lasted around 30 minutes with Kenneth DiLaurentis being the only member of the family to get up to say a short speech about his ex-wife but overall the service was lovely. After everyone had left the church, all the guests and the family headed over to the cemetery where the body was being laid to rest.
Carly and her father lingered behind the crowd, just like they had done the same in the church due to Carly and her Dad not wanting her to be seen by many people, especially one in particular. Once the service was over, people gathered around to express their feelings about the death of Jessica including those who were close to the family who were looking after them.
"Look I'm just going to go speak to Kenneth, tell him how sorry we are for his loss and that. Why don't you go wait in the car?" Carly's Dad suggested handing her his car keys in which she took from him.
"Sure." Carly mumbled as her Dad flashed a small smile at her before going past and over to Kenneth, leaving Carly with no other choice than to follow her Dad's instructions and get out of there before Jason would see her.
During the service inside and outside, Jason or any of his family had not noticed Carly's presents. She was grateful that they hadn't because she didn't want to cause any drama or turn any of the attention away from them and Jessica during the hard time. Carly wouldn't allow herself to be held responsible for that.
Making her way across the grass and back over to the car which was still parked against the road side, Carly kept her head down so she wasn't spotted by anyone since she seemed to be one of the few already making an exit away from the graveyard.
As she came over to her Dad's car, she found herself stopping beside the drives side when she saw Aria Montgomery making her way over to her, a shy smile on her face and her footsteps seemed to get slower as she got closer to the older girl.
"Hey." Aria greeted Carly feeling slightly awkward to be speaking to her again after so long of not being in contact with her.
When Aria was younger and when her parents went out for teacher conferences or to late night classes, Carly use to come babysit her and her younger brother Mike. That is how the two knew each other. Carly use to spend at least once or twice a week round the Montgomery's house in her teen years looking after the siblings. It was great for her since she was going to be alone anyway at her house since her Dad was always working late, so it meant she didn't have to be so lonely.
She really got to know the Montgomery sibling especially Aria who looked up to her as being like an older sister to her which suited Carly fine since she was an only child and never grew up with a brother or sister. Although, Carly and Aria lost touch when she no longer needed a babysitter as she got older and Carly was busy studying for her finals in senior year, the same year where everything seemed to be the year of the down fall.
"Uh hey." Carly replied as Aria stopped opposite her along the path way a couple of steps in front.
Carly knew her Dad had told her to go wait in the car whilst he spoke to Kenneth, but she knew her dad liked Aria as he still spoke to her family as they were a family friend. So she doubted that he would mind if she stopped to speak to her.
"So it's official that you're back then?" Aria asked.
"Yeah I guess so." Carly flashed a slight smile, still feeling nervous that her past could come up at any moment if it was to be questioned or Jason may spot her out in the open again.
"Well it's good to see you. You look so much older than I last remember you." The younger told her making Carly let out a light laugh.
"You think so?" Carly paused as Aria nodded with a grin. "So do you, you're in your last year of high school now, you've grown up so much."
"I know no more pink hair." Aria joked running her fingers through her hair as Carly nodded her head back knowing she was referring to when Aria had bright pink bits in her hair when she was embracing her punk days. Carly had thought it looked so cute and admired her rebellious ways.
"I miss that pink hair." Carly told her with a matching grin, her nerves from before going away ever so quickly around Aria.
"Really? Someone else has told me that before."
Carly blinked back surprised "Oh yeah who?"
Before Aria had the chance to answer Carly's question, her Dad appeared from beside them walking off the grass area and onto the pavement where they were stood. He frowned when he first saw Carly talking to someone but his features softened when he realised who. Although he knew they had to stick to their plan of getting out of there without anyone else spotting Carly.
"Hello Aria." He said taking the keys out of Carly's hand and unlocking the car door with them, ready to drive Carly out of there.
"Hello Mr Monroe." Aria said back watching as Carly quickly made her way round the car and over to the passenger side.
"Please call me John." He told her hopping into the driver's side and closing the door behind him, but winding down the window so he could say goodbye to the girl. "Sorry to leave so abruptly but I've got to head to the hospital and drop Carly home."
"Oh it's fine." Aria waved her hand in a kind manner "It was nice to see you again, Carly. And you too John."
"It was nice to see you too, Aria." Carly replied sincerely with a warm smile in her direction as her Dad copied his daughters gesture and pulled away from the road side, before making his way back to Carly's apartment at more than the average speed.
"That was nice of Aria and you to talk." John said after they were away from the church and down the main road of the town.
"Yeah well she happens to be the only person from my teen years that you'll actually let me talk to." Carly said back in annoyance.
"Carly we're not going over this again, are we? I allowed you to go to the funeral, didn't I?"
"Yes Dad you did" Carly sighed turning her head to look out the window as they turned down the road where her apartment was. She couldn't wait to get out of that car and away from him. "But still I was being kept on a leash like some dog."
"You know you can't just act like you never left Carly. You've changed way too much to let your past get the better of you again. I will protect you and keep you away from those people for as long as I possibly can."
"Of course you will, Dad because you don't trust me." Carly spat back at him.
She knew she shouldn't have been taking her anger out on her Dad but she couldn't help it. Ever since she got back from the crime scene last night, she couldn't forget how much she wanted to go and speak to Jason again. It was like something within her didn't want to leave him there all alone.
But she did. Maybe that's why she felt so angry for just walking away again. She never got the chance to say goodbye the first time. But now with her Dad watching her and making sure she stayed out of trouble, how was she ever going to get that goodbye she had always wanted?
Author note: I really hope you enjoyed this part and you are liking this story so far. I have so much planned and I can't wait to share it with you all.
Special thanks to Lady Isabelle Black, .1884, redvelvetlover13, chibicheshire, Hannah1024, Jasmine Chyanne, KylieWinchester, Missdamagedgoods, MysticalLouis, supermanisactuallyclarkkent, stephaniesnapemafoy, Rhatch89 and Mavricktag for reviewing/favouriting/following since the last part.
Let me know what you thought about this part and any ideas you have regarding the story. I really love to hear what you think.
xx