Author's Note: Warning: Rated T as there may be some strong language. SO sorry it's taken so long, but YOU know how it goes when life and the muse gang up on you and throw up MAJOR mental blocks… but I'm BACK with about 3-5 chapters completed—only one will feature characters other than Jarly as THEY are the central focus and all others serve as tools for plot development! Regardless, I hope you all continue enjoying this!

The Truth

Part 10
"Johnny!" Carly squealed as the driver opened her door while he did the same with Jason.

"Carly," he acknowledged kindly before refocusing on Jason. "Alright, boss. We got you all set upstairs. We can go over details there before I leave."

"What do you mean everything is set up upstairs?" Carly demanded eyes squinting. "If you messed with anything in my bedroom beyond the absolutely necessary, I will drug you, dress you in lacy lingerie, and send one set of pictures to Moreno and another to the PCPD care of one Marcus Taggert!"

"Chill out, Carly," Jason chuckled watching his second pale and squirm with a hint of fear he'd never witnessed before except when it was directed toward himself. "I had him call Bobbie so he could find out if there was anything I was gonna need."

"Oh," she huffed, throwing his bag over her shoulder before rising to her tiptoes to drop a kiss on hiss still pale cheek. "Good. Sorry, Johnny. I probably wouldn'ta done it, but then, I always liked you." She moved to open the front door after tapping his cheek.

Johnny moved to assist Jason only to be pushed away. "I'm fine!" he grumbled at the former guard.

"Jase, we talked about this," Carly hissed eyes narrowing, foot tapping impatiently.

"Carly, I'm fine!"

"So help me GAWD, Jason Morgan—" she snapped her annoyance as clear as her growing determination.

Sighing, he prepared to give in, knowing in his current state he was far too tired to handle arguing. "Fine!" he gritted hating the feeling of weakness. "Thanks for the help, J."

"No problem, boss," Johnny mumbled trying not to laugh, but also concerned that his boss must be worse off than he seemed since he had given in so easily.

"I love you, Jase," she singsonged as she fought the near-hysterical laughter that threatened to spill as her worry grew. She dropped a kiss on his cheek as he passed her on his way through the door.

"By the way," Johnny said suddenly, as they reached the elevators. "Leticia has Mikey at her place. Also, when I was talking to Ms. Spencer, she demand—uh, requested you call her as soon as you got in and tell her where you're staying. She also mentioned not wanting to be stuck dealing with Quartermaines when she doesn't even know anything. Something about ignorance not always being bliss."

"Ugh," she groaned following them into the elevator. "Ok. I'll get off at Ticia's and while I check on Michael, I'll give Mama a call back."

"Tell Bobbie Johnny will pick her up and bring her by in a few hours," Jason offered.

"Gotcha!" she sighed relieved as she pressed the 2nd and 3rd floor buttons. "I'll be up after I check in with Michael and Ticia. He'll probably napping or on his way. And when he wakes up, Ticia can bring him up and take the rest of the day off."

Jason nodded absently as his brow furrowed in thought. "Looked like four floors from the outside."

"Oh it is!" Carly explained. "The top two floors were converted into my loft. Leticia & Johnny have their fabulous apartments on the second floor along with a gym that has an indoor pool, Jacuzzi and sauna, and a mini security suite. First floor is Johnny & Benny's security creation and blahblah that I'm not allowed to know the details of with a few spare apartments. There are safe rooms and secure exits on every floor and in every apartment, including the gym. You should have SEEN those two with their heads together over this and that creating their little masterpiece right under everyone's nose."

"And Sonny and his guys have no clue?" Jason asked incredulously the disdain clear in his voice.

"Nope," Johnny assured. "Most of his best guys are loyal to you, especially after the mess with Feebs and the Bana—Ms. Scott. What's left wouldn't know their asses from their elbows or were assigned places that would keep them from getting suspicious. And to keep suspicion about me low, I keep that place at Harborview as a blind."

"Like I said Sonny's an idiot!" Carly sneered as elevator stopped and she handed Johnny Jason's bag. "Just like AJ. Two screw-ups who expect you to forever fix everything for them and then blame you for getting sick of it and wanting your own life. And the more you swoop in to save them the more they're both jealous of you, but if you don't wanna save the day, it's all your fault and they'll turn on you. Look at AJ after he murdered Jason Quartermaine and you refused to keep playing his loyal clean-up crew. You couldn't be loyal to his stupidity, disloyalty, and selfishness anymore, so now he hates you even more. Hell, they even wanted your women… Look at AJ with Keisha and Sonny with…"

He silenced her with a quick kiss. "I'll see you upstairs."

"Right. Be careful with that wound, though," she called as the doors started closing between them. "And let Johnny keep helping you!"

Jason smirked shaking his head. "Let me guess," he sighed. "This was what you tried to update me on when I got back to town."

"Yeah, boss," Johnny smirked. "But you asked if it would hurt her or Michael and said unless it was gonna blow up in her face and hurt them it wasn't important."

"I figured if it was that big a deal she'd say something," he sighed slightly annoyed that he'd missed the signs that Carly had been up to something besides trying to get deeper under his skin and between his sheets.

"You were busy with Sonny's crap and then there was the shit with Moreno and the FBI," Johnny offered knowing where Jason's mind would likely go, but still slightly amused to have gotten something past his seemingly omniscient boss. There had been times his boss seemed so damn all-knowing he'd been afraid to enjoy his fantasies for fear the boss would find out.

"Well, then, it is what is," Jason tossed out with a shrug. "You can go ahead in fill me in now. Tell me how "buying a loft for her & Michael" turns into owning and renovating a whole 4-floor building that could easily house—what 30?—regular apartments."

"You do remember this is Carly, right?" he mocked. "How could you have forgotten that ever-growing mountain of design and swatch books that spanned two penthouses? And it's 3 buildings so far. The other two average about 40-50 apartments apiece and all three buildings have had their glass bulletproofed."

"How?" Jason breathed in shock. While never underestimating Carly on a mission, this extent of planning and foresight was thus far unprecedented in his experience with her.

"Carly told Benny she wanted his help finding a place she liked that would be safe for her and Michael," Johnny started. "Then she got it into her head that if she couldn't find exactly what she wanted she could buy up some space and build or renovate. And then, it turns out Carly found out Junior was doing some dirt on the side himself and took it upon herself to have Benny embezzle from that, too. So all of that along with the emergency accounts you left me for her and Michael, which neither she nor Sonny knew anything about helped insure money would not be an object.

"She said outside of you, me and Benny were the only two people she trusted to make sure she and Michael would stay safe and financially secure. So once she latched onto the idea of renovating and told us what she wanted it wasn't a big jump from a security perspective. She was pretty decisive about what she did and didn't want. I gotta say that I think you leaving like that really scared her."

Jason took a minute to absorb all of that. "So three buildings, huh?"

"So far," he answered. "Stan found us a guy—an independent security contractor from outside the states. Checked him over with a fine tooth comb, and the guy works with all kinds of major security needs: public, private, government, legal or not so legal. You got the dough; he's got the expertise, manpower, and discretion. So using the underground maps of the sewer and electrical system layouts Stan pulled, we worked out the best way to protect the building and create emergency egress. Stan still doesn't even know why he pulled it all, but it helped. The building across the street is almost complete and we've got buyers already. Some are civies, and some are our people and their families, but ALL went through strenuous background checks. Those with iron clad leases got bought out if they tried to cause problem or didn't check so as not to raise suspicions with strong arm tactics. The other building down the street has all the security completed, but the apartments will take another month to finish out."

"I'm assuming there are other buildings Benny is looking into," Jason commented before continuing at Johnny's nod. "All security links back to this building, of course."

Johnny just nodded his assent to Jason again as he moved to open the front door to Carly's… no their "loft".