CHAPTER TEN

"Gia, lunch is ready." Carly yells over the back fence. Their backyards are connected by a gate.

Gia sticks her head out the upstairs window. "Hold your horses, we're coming."

"Hey if I can get up and order it the least you could do is be on time." Carly shouts back.

"You are such a brat." Gia laughs and shuts the window.

Carly joins Morgan and Jason by the pool. Morgan is talking a mile a minute about the new friends he's made and the school he's attending. Carly smiles softly. Jason is hanging on his every word. She wishes people could see this side of Jason Morgan. Everyone thinks he's so cold and Borg like but one only has to watch him interact with children to know that's furthest from the truth.

Jason catches her smiling at them and sends back a smile of his own. He loves seeing Carly like this. She looks so relaxed and natural. Her interaction with Gia, the sisterly banter, it's rare to see Carly get along with any female. She is usually on guard and watching for someone to hurt her.

"You two have really become close." Jason remarks as Morgan runs into the house.

Carly gives a half laugh. "It's crazy considering our history in Port Charles; The Face of Deception disaster and all that. It feels like such a lifetime ago. She's grown up, I've grown up. We really get each other, you know? Not just the basic things like shopping and stuff. She understands the life. She understands what it's like to be in love with someone who can be taken away at any minute. She understands my tendency to screw up the things I want most. I finally have another person who actually gets 'me' and I can just be Caroline."

"I think I'm a little jealous." Jason laughs in surprise. He's never experienced this type of feeling before. He's had jealousy over Carly and other men but to be jealous of her friendship with another woman? He just hates the thought of anyone being what he is to her.

She leans over and kisses him. "Don't be. Think of it as fewer headaches."

"I don't know about that." Jason kisses her back. "You and Gia together could be dangerous."

Carly rolls her eyes. "More dangerous than you and Johnny together? I don't think so."

"It's good to have him back." Jason acknowledges. "Things haven't been right since he had to disappear."

Carly sighs. "You know once he's back in the organization Sonny's going to know you disobeyed his order to kill him. I can just hear the betrayal call now."

"Johnny was acting on my orders." Jason shrugs. "I told him to get close to the other side. I knew Sonny was screwing things up. I just needed to know how bad. I never expected him to get caught but you know when he did he held it together and never let on he was working for me. Johnny's…solid."

Carly smiles, "Yes he is. He's always been loyal to us Jase. He wanted us to be a family maybe as much as I did."

"Yeah he kinda told me a couple times to get over it and make it right." Jason admits.

Carly laughs. "Smart guy."

Johnny walks through the gate with Gia on his back. "Yeah I'm brilliant. Hold the applause."

"Brilliant?" Carly arches a brow. "I wouldn't go that far."

Jason stands and shakes his hand. "How've you been man?"

"I made it." Johnny shrugs. "I'm happy to be back on the outside with my wife. I'm even happy to see this one." He drops a kiss on top of Carly's head.

She smiles up at him. "I've missed you too. Life hasn't been the same since you left."

"So you knew?" Johnny raises a brow.

She laughs. "Of course I knew. I consider you family, Johnny, so when Sonny told me you'd sold out...well I knew there was no freaking way you'd sell us out. Jason told me everything I needed to know."

Gia grabs a muffin from the table. "What time is your appointment?"

"Four." Carly checks the time. She turns to Jason. "I have a check-up today. It won't be an ultrasound or anything but we'll hear the heartbeat."

Jason nods. "Okay. I uh need to talk to Johnny in private for a while but I'll be ready."

Johnny downs his orange juice then stands and follows Jason into the house.

"So you know what that's about." Carly sighs. "How are you handling it?"

Gia toys with the muffin. "I hate it. He just got home and its right back to the job. We argued about it most of the night but in the end…"

"It's who he is and you love him." Carly finishes for her.

Gia half laughs. "Yeah pretty much. I mean I knew he wasn't a boy scout when I started dating him. I knew exactly who he was when he asked me to marry him."

"Doesn't change the fact you're scared to death he'll get killed or go back to prison." Carly stops her from tearing the muffin to bits.

Gia closes her eyes. "It's not just that Lee. I think about what you've been through and what happened to Michael and I'm scared. I want kids. I love kids. Johnny definitely wants kids but I don't know if I can bring a kid into this life. If you could go back…would you still ask Jason to be his father? Would you have tangled your life with the mob if you knew then what you know now?"

Carly takes Gia's hand. "The problem wasn't asking Jason to be Michael's father. The problem was letting him stop. I never should have allowed Sonny anywhere near me or Michael. I made so many mistakes, Gia, but Jason…he was never one of them."

"So you do think it's possible to have a semi normal life with a husband, kids, and the picket fence?"

Carly chews her lip. "The picket fence? Maybe not but yeah semi normal. Jason and Johnny are different from Sonny; the way they approach safety issues and problems in the organization. They don't just talk about doing something, you know? Jason pretty much nips it in the bud and if he can't then he talks to me and tells me what's going on so I'm prepared. He doesn't believe in leaving me blind like Sonny did."

Gia nods. "Yeah Johnny's pretty good about keeping me in the loop. Not like what's going on exactly but enough so I'll know if I should stay in for a few days or be extra cautious. Most of the things he was into were pretty low key but it still got him sent away. Now if he's Jason's right hand…"

"Actually that would be a good thing. Almost a perfect thing." Carly argues. "He'd have so much more protection. Say what you want about Diane Miller but the woman is the best lawyer I've ever seen. She's literally a pit-bull in the best designer pumps."

Gia argues back, "But he'd have more protection because he needs more protection."

"True." Carly sighs. "I don't know G. At the end of the day you have to do what's best for you. Whether that's with Johnny or without, I'll support you either way."

Gia picks up another muffin. "It's with Johnny. It's always with Johnny. I'm just going to need time to process the whole baby thing."

Carly studies her. "Did Johnny say something about wanting a kid?"

"He didn't have too." Gia finally gives up on fiddling with the muffins. "My birth control pills mysteriously disappeared and he was pretty…energetic this morning."

Carly laughs. "Gia, you know I love you right? But you are such a Brenda sometimes."

"Brenda?" Gia arches a brow. "Really?"

Carly laughs some more. "Do you not remember you left the pack over here yesterday?"

"I did?" Gia's brow furrows. "OMG I did." She'd called in the refill while over at Carly's and left the pack on the counter.

Carly points inside the house. "Still on the counter where you left them."

"I totally thought…"

"Johnny was trying to trap you." Carly laughs. "Did it occur to you to maybe say no?"

Gia rolls her eyes. "Yeah right, have you seen my husband?"

"Well what are you going to do when the subject does come up?" Carly wonders. "You have legitimate concerns and I don't really see an easy fix."

Gia sighs and gazes toward the house. "We'll take it as it comes, I guess. Whatever happens we'll make the decision together."

"Well I don't know if this helps," Carly's eyes get a devilish twinkle, "but it could be worse. At least you don't have to worry about Old Lady Cassadine trying to steal the kid."

"Oh gawd shut up." Gia throws a muffin at her but has to laugh.

Jason hands him a beer. "So I figure you know what I want to talk to you about."

"Going back to Port Charles." Johnny nods.

Jason downs half his beer. "I want you to be my right hand but the choice is yours. I don't want to make this about loyalty or you to feel like you owe me anything. You've proven you're loyal and you don't owe me anything."

"You saved my life." Johnny disputes.

Jason shakes his head. "I put it at risk in the first place."

"You made the right call. Sonny was fucking up and it was just a matter of time before he got all of us killed, Carly and Michael included." Johnny takes a pull of his beer.

Jason looks away. "You tried to tell me back then but I couldn't see it. If I'd known then what I know now…" Jason rubs his head roughly. "The things he's done to her over the years…he should be dead ten times over by now but I kept letting him get a pass. Then Michael got shot and Sonny…" Jason growls. "Sonny just moved on."

"So are you ready now?" Johnny sits his beer aside and his eyes turn cold. "Are you finally ready to put Sonny in the ground where he belongs?"

Jason sighs. "He married into the Zacchara organization."

"The Zacchara's have a lot of power and the chick, Claudia; I hear she's as dangerous as they come." Johnny whistles.

Jason nods. "She's real. I've been pinned down with her a few times and every time she's been solid."

"Wait you got shot at with her and she had your back?" Johnny inquires.

Jason nods and takes another pull of his beer. "Yeah, I think a relationship between the two organizations could work. Johnny and Claudia; they're reasonable. Claudia's a loon but she loves her brother to the fullest and she'll avoid a war whenever possible to keep him protected. We could've made peace a long time ago if it wasn't for Sonny. He has an unnatural hate for Johnny Z."

"He's jealous." Johnny shrugs. "He's young, rich, and his daddy handed him the business on a silver platter."

Jason nods. "Yeah maybe but I don't know. It's something deeper to it I think."

"Well how does Claudia feel about Sonny? If she's loyal to her brother and he hates him maybe…"

Jason rubs the back of his head. "One of the reasons she married him was to keep Johnny safe but she also sees Sonny as a way to be safe from her psychotic father."

"So we take out Anthony and she takes out Sonny then we form a business relationship that's mutually beneficial. It's a win for everybody."

Jason smiles, "It's good to have my brother back."

"Good to be back." Johnny grins.