The wedding had come and gone. Jason and Carly Morgan were officially married, something thirteen years in the making and twelve years and eleven months too late in Carly's opinion. Jason had taken to married life immediately, hoping that third time would be the char, for him and knowing that this was the forever kind of love. More importantly, Michael and Morgan had taken to their new family immediately as well, putting the past two years of hardships behind them. With Jason in their house, Michale got to be a fairly average seventeen-year-old high school senior worried about applying for college and impressing the cute brunette in his biology class. Morgan was focused on the spring baseball season and the promised trip to spring training that Sonny had given him as an early Christmas gift.
"Hey, Carly, do you have any more of that garlic toast in the freezer? I think we're going to make it with dinner," Maxie asked as she came into the living room from the kitchen. Morgan was busy helping her make dinner for the rest of the family, something that the two of them now did once a week. Jason had gotten used to having the young blonde around and she had easily become a permanent fixture around the Morgan household, much like she had the penthouse. "Aw, Jaycee is up! Why didn't you tell me? I got the cutest little cashmere sleeper for her when I was in Manhattan on Tuesday."
Carly smiled appreciatively at the young style icon before allowing Maxie to take Jaycee into her arms. "Between you and Jason, this little girls is going to be absolutely spoiled rotten," Carly grinned.
"Yeah, because you clearly don't buy her something every single time you set foot in a store," Jason teased as he stepped off the landing and into the living room. He kissed the top of Carly's head before nodding in greeting at Maxie. "Spinelli is up there helping Michael set up that new system we got him. I tried to help, but apparently I'm not much help."
The two blondes shrugged at him in perfect unison, not caring one way or the other about what was going on upstairs with the computers. Carly barely knew how to work her BlackBerry, and Maxie had decided a long time ago that she had no reason to learn to use a computer as long as Spinelli was around to help her. "I'm going to take Jaycee in here to cook with us," Maxie declared, not waiting for permission before disappearing into the kitchen.
"I keep thinking that she is going to tell Spinelli that she wants one, kind of like when she saw the dog that Lucky just got for the boys," Carly grinned. "Speaking of which, my dear cousin agreed to a little play date this weekend. I thought that it might be a nice way for you to get to spend some time with Jake."
Jason grinned at his wife appreciatively. He knew that he had a lot to be thankful for, and all of that started with her. Once Carly had agreed to marry him, he had started the long process of removing himself from the organization. He would never completely leave that life behind, especially not with two of the Corinthos heirs under his roof. However, he was as uninvolved as he could possibly be, and thanks to that choice, Elizabeth and Lucky had agreed to let him spend supervised time with Jake. They were still reluctant to let too many people know, for fear of past enemies making themselves known. The Quartermaines still weren't any the wiser, and Carly had made the very difficult choice of hiding it from the boys. They had spoken at length about the decision, but she couldn't ask Michael and Morgan to keep the secret.
"Have I told you today how much I love you?"
She pretended to think before nodding her head confidently. "I think that you might have mentioned it once or twice or a dozen times," she smiled. "Speaking of family, well kinda, Lucas is going to be in town next week to visit. I thought I might invite everyone out to the house for a big dinner. I was wondering how you would feel about asking Edward and Monica. I know that your mom would love to see the boys, and Edward hasn't been too bad the last few times we saw him."
Jason could feel the stress already boiling up in the pit of his stomach, a feeling he knew would never go away. Much like loving Carly, stressing about the Quartermaines was an inherent reaction for him. However, he had resolved that he was going to make more of an effort to let his family in. Jason was about all that Monica had left, and she deserved to know Michael. She treated Morgan just like she was her own grandson, and she hadn't really gotten to spend much time with Jaycee yet.
"I guess that might be okay."
Carly didn't push it because she knew that was about as close to an agreement as she was going to get. Jason had taken great strides to live up to all the promises he had made to her when she had first taken it back all those months ago. "I won't even cook if it'll make you happy."
"Thanks," he chuckled affectionately before hearing Maxie calling everyone to the dinner table.
An hour later, with their tummies full and their heart warms, the Morgan-Corinthos-Spinelli-Jacks-Jones family found themselves sprawled out in front of the television with one of Carly's favorite old movies playing on the big screen. Carly was spread out over the couch, her head in Jason's lap and a sleeping Jaycee resting on her stomach. Jason's fingers were buried in her blonde locks, playing idly with her curls while watching the old film. Spinelli and Maxie had taken up together on the love seat, her head on his shoulder and his hand resting on her thigh. They were cozy under the blanket and completely at peace to be so domestic on a Saturday evening. Morgan was asleep on the rug just in front of Carly, his mess of dark hair barely visible from the edge of his Yankees sleeping bag. Michael was sprawled over the arm of the overstuffed chair next to the fireplace, one eye on the screen and the other on his iPhone.
A slow smile spread over Jason's face as he looked around the living room at his family. Just six months, he had been alone with only Spinelli in the "Unfortunately Pink Bedroom" and Maxie as an unwelcome house guest. He had been content to be play godfather and best friend to his wife and their children. Now, he couldn't imagine ever going back.
"Jason, you're going with me to pitching practice tomorrow, right?" Morgan asked suddenly, looking up from the movie only long enough to ask the question. Jason nodded silently with a soft, affectionate smile. "Cool, you're not as embarrassing as Mom."
"God, you should have seen her when I played soccer," Michael groaned knowingly. Carly had never done anything halfway, especially when it came to supporting her kids. "I swear, none of the coaches wanted to have me on their team because they were afraid she would get us a technical call for fighting with the refs."
"C'mon, I wasn't that bad..."
"Actually, Carly, I think I remember getting kicked out of the park when Michael was in third grade and that kid from the other team pushed him down."
"Well, the ref was blind. He totally should have called a penalty."
"See," Michael pointed out, exchanging a satisfied smile with his younger brother.
Maxie grimaced as she looked between Michael and Morgan. "At least your mom bothered to show up to your soccer games," she reminded them. Her own mother hadn't managed to see any of her dance recitals, art shows or tennis matches.
"You should listen to her," Carly told them. "You're lucky to have a mom like me."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Michael mumbled agreeably. "Most of the time, we are lucky."
The boys bickered playfully with their mother for a few more moments until Jaycee started to stir. It wasn't too long before her powerful set of lungs were causing wails that easily drowned out the movie. Carly started to sit up to tend to her daughter, but Jason simply shifted her out of her lap before lifting the little girl into his arms. Jaycee loved to walk and was appeased most of the time by bright lights. Jason made his way to the small porch off the kitchen, staying just inside the door but still allowing Jaycee to look over the harbor.
The room settled back down for a few minutes before Spinelli excused himself and wandered off after Jason. Michael's cell phone rang, and he disappeared upstairs to talk to one of his friends about their weekend plans. Morgan was nearly asleep, so Carly sent him upstairs to bed. Only Maxie and Carly were left in the living room.
"Would you look at them?" Maxie mused softly, moving off the love seat and over to the sofa to sit next to Carly. They both gazed over at the back porch, where Jason and Spinelli stood side by side, their voices low as they fussed over Jaycee. "I never thought that I would see Jason like that."
"Despite what anyone says about my husband, he is a natural-born father. People always thought that I was crazy for choosing him over A.J. and Tony to be Michael's father, but they didn't see what I saw. They never saw Jason in the middle of the night, feeding Michael in his arms and reading travel books. They didn't see the way my son's eyes lit up whenever he heard Jason's voice or how Jase just knew instinctively what Michael needed."
Looking at him now, Maxie could easily see all those things that Carly had seen a long time ago. It was a lot like how she was not only able to see the amazing man Spinelli already was but also the incredible man he was going to be. "We're lucky, huh?"
Carly nodded. "Oh, yeah," she agreed. "The luckiest girls in the entire world."
Meanwhile, on the porch, Spinelli was readjusting Jaycee's blanket while asking his mentor for advice. "Stone Cold, I know that I came to you for advisement on this issue many months ago, but I feel that it is time to revisit the subject," he proposed. "As my mentor is well aware, the lovely Maxamista and I have been spending all of our time together as of late. Her career is thriving, and my P.I. business with the Fair Samantha is doing well."
"Yeah, life is good, Spinelli," Jason dismissively. He just wanted the hacker to get to the point.
"I want to propose again."
Jason had tried to talk his young friend out of asking for Maxie's hand marriage the last time around, bu this time, all his reasons just didn't seem to stand up. "Congratulations, Spinelli."
Spinelli turned around and leaned against the door, looking through the window at his lovely counterpart and the Valkyrie. "I need to thank you, Stone Cold."
"For?"
"My family," he smiled appreciatively. "Our family."
He could have said that thanks weren't necessary, but he understood where Spinelli was coming from. "Thank you for being a part of it," he retorted as he turned around to look at his wife. Damn, she was still the most beautiful thing in any room. "Wow, I still can't believe she is mine, that this is mine."
Spinelli nodded as Jaycee cooed softly and fisted Jason's black tee in her tiny fist. "Tell me about it. Maxamista was my greatest dream. Things like her don't happen to guys like me."
"I used to think that too," Jason agreed, remembering all those times that he had believed that he didn't deserve a like this. He still woke up some mornings wondering if karma was going to bite him in the ass one day and take it all back.
Carly popped her head out the door. "Want to help me put her down?"
"Yeah," Jason replied happily, pausing to let Spinelli kiss her forehead gently before following his wife into the house.
Spinelli lagged behind, watching them as they disappeared upstairs. Maxie came outside a moment later with a blanket around her shoulders. "What are you doing?"
"Imagining us with a life of our own like this."
"Yeah?" Maxie asked with a soft smile. There was a time, not too long ago, where that would have scared the hell out of her now. Now it only gave her something to look forward to. "I think I could do that."
