The Longest Night

This chapter takes place on February 8th in the city of Port Charles, New York between the hour of 3 am and 4 am.

Chapter Thirty Six

The Tenth Hour

Bonus Chapter- Song Fic

She had waited on him. Like she promised. Like she swore in a rose garden...the words in her eyes "I'll never give you up!"

Carly loved Jason with a fierceness that frightened most people. They just didn't know that in the first twenty or so years of her life she was just one empty hole....with only Charlotte to make her feel whole, no matter how much Virginia tried...and then she came on a search for her birth family, and she schemed and she lied and she somehow made herself a Spencer by sheer force of will.

But being Bobbie's daughter wasn't what filled that gaping hole in Carly. Only Jason ever could.

So she had waited. And now, he asked her to come back home. She felt like telling him that she'd been just outside his Penthouse door for a decade now....just waiting for him to open it back up again. Just like that night in the rain. Her begging: I need help.

And he always did help her. He always did love her. Now he was finally willing to say he was in love with her, to give her back what was hers, his kisses and full access to his body and his heart. She didn't need time to think.

This was her home.

Carly pulled Jason down on top of her on the couch, loving the feel of his hardness against her. "I belong to you, Jase."

His eyes darkened with lust and hunger and need. He nipped at her lip. "Just promise me you're in this for life."

"I always was!"

Then he was kissing her again, sliding his hand under her shirt, brushing gently at her breast, rubbing his thumb across her nipple. And she was so damn happy she had kept a piece of herself just his through the years. That he had been imprinted on her soul in a way no one else ever could be.

Now he had come all the way back to where he belonged. And she was here with open, loving arms, to take him in from the storm.

(I will be the answer

at the end of the line.

I will be there for you

while you take the time.

In the burning

of uncertainty,

I will be your solid ground.

I will hold the balance if you can't look down.)

XXXXXXXXXXX

Lucky held Sam against his side, as they lay in the bed, basking in the afterglow. She looked up at him. "You love me."

"You believe it now?"

"Lucky..." her voice broke with emotion.

"Believe in me. In us. I'll make you forget I ever hurt you."

"Just be gentle with me...don't you know? I'm no expert at love like you."

"This love of ours isn't the same as what I've had in the past. Its separate from that. Its just ours. I can make you see its not a contest." He kissed her sweat slicked forehead. "You feel okay, sweetheart?"

"I feel loved."

"You are."

He would keep saying it till she really knew it was true.

(If it takes my whole life

I won't bend.

I won't break.

It will be worth it,

worth it

in the end.)

XXXXXXXXXX

Ric kissed Claudia, slowly and sweetly, not wanting to have sex with her cause sex would never prove his love for her. It was in everything but....in his actions, his words, his sweetness, his devotion, his loyalty, his lying for her, his jealousy, his honesty, in the hurt, in the way he begged and how he could not leave.

Each kiss was a gentle soft declaration of love.

Claudia broke away from him. "Don't make the biggest mistake of your life...don't fool yourself into thinking I can be good for you."

"You're good for me. I feel alive again. Don't forget I can be worse for you than anyone....I can hurt the one I love most more than you can even fathom. The Zaccharas did not corner the market on insanity."

"So we should walk away?"

"Is that a question? Cause you know my answer. I'm in, Claudia. Are you?"

After a very long moment she kissed him.

Ric pulled back. "I need to hear it out loud."

"I'll be loyal to two people for as long as I got left...you and John."

"Is that your way of saying you love me back?"

"You love me. That's my way of saying that I believe you."

He brought his mouth close to hers. "So we need to make sure you live long enough for me to hear you say...in my ear...just before you can't talk anymore.....I love you too."

Her eyes darkened with lust as she caressed his face. "You dream big."

"And one of these days one of my dreams will come true. First time for everything and all that."

"Ric."

"Yes?"

"Lets..."

"No."

"Come on!"

"You're leg is still bleeding and you're half scared to death."

"I didn't say it wouldn't be messy."

He chuckled and kissed her temple. "I want a life with you. Do you think I have any shot at all of getting one?"

"If I can live long enough...yeah...you got a shot."

(All I know is that I need you in my life.

When all the stars

have all burned out

you'll still be burning bright.

Cast me gently into the morning because the night has been unkind)

XXXXXXXXXXX

Lulu Spencer was a runner. She ran from her problems- and hid in the arms of whatever man would have her.

Tonight she lay on the floor of the dressing room at the Crimson offices, with couture gowns as her bedding, and let Milo Giambetti hold her.

She did what she always did. Used one man to take away the pain another inflicted. She had thought that she grew up some with Johnny. That she became different....hadn't he made her different? She even thought that bonding with Maxie changed her. That she saw Spinelli through new eyes too...really appreciated him...he wasn't just a poor man's Dillon in her eyes anymore. He was her Spinelli...and that was her Johnny...and her Maxie.

She thought she became so damn different. Better.

But she hadn't-obviously. Or not different enough. Not better enough. Because when she saw the attraction between her boyfriend and her friend she did the worse thing she could, moved in with Maxie and had sex with Johnny where Maxie could hear. Taunted her. Dared her.

Lets play a game, Maxie.

And Lulu lost. Some game it had been. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Johnny was a liar and he kept secrets and he gave himself away to her friend. But still she didn't know that she could do what she had to do in the morning: Go to Carly and say "I know who ordered that hit. I heard a confession."

Sign his death warrant.

All she wanted to do was let Milo hold her and stop thinking. She hated herself. Truly. Because she wasn't sure where her loyalties lay most. Was she worthless if she protected these people she loved who had done her so wrong? Johnny and Maxie- who probably knew the truth and would be standing next to him when Jason came for him...because if Maxie did anything she got in the middle of the mess every single time. Should she tell Spinelli that Maxie probably knew Johnny was part of the reason Michael got hurt...let Spinelli see Maxie as someone who didn't go to Jason, just like Lulu was thinking of not going to Carly. Should she keep Johnny's secret? Or should she be the woman she wished she was born to be...the Spencer who knew she belonged somewhere in this world.

She just wanted to not be herself anymore. Lulu rolled over and looked at Milo. So strong. Sure. Patient. Quietly there. "Why would you want me?"

"Uh..."

"Do you even know? Do you know me?"

"I know something...."

"What's that?"

"Your smile is the best thing on earth."

"When do I ever smile?"

"You could again."

"I just want to..." die.

"No."

"I just want this to be over."

"Its over, I promise."

"Oh, Milo....you're so wrong but I needed to hear that anyway. Cause I know, if you could, you'd fix this."

"I'll....just stay here...and maybe it will get better."

She cuddled close to him. Giving up for now. Giving in to him. She needed to be held too bad to even pretend she could push him away.

"You should be the one in a coma. Not Michael," ran through her head over and over. Hurting her more than the sex they had behind her back. She didn't want to know what she knew.

(Take me to a

place so holy

I can wash this from my mind.

The memory of choosing not to fight)

XXXXXXXXXXX

She was scared- and that made his soul ache. Alexis was scared to love Sonny with everything she had again. To risk it all again.

But he had to make her see, as they sat their talking endlessly, that he was worth the chance. They were worth it.

He'd spend every second he had left proving himself. Hell, he would even change himself. He would give Alexis whatever the hell she asked for. She wasn't like the others, who he made fit him. He would mold to her world...if she needed that. Whatever. Whenever. However. Anything.

"I wanna woo the hell out of you, counselor."

She chuckled. "If you put your mind to it, I know you could."

"My mind's on it, believe that."

"Not just because....you lost everyone else but you can't lose me?"

"Because you just said that I can't lose you! You know what that means to me?"

"No. Not really."

"Then I'll show you." He left his chair and got on his knees in front of her.

Her eyes widened.

Sonny looked up at Alexis. "I'm not good enough for you. I'm this punk from Bensonhurst-"

"Sonny, no!"

"Yeah, yeah...I'm not smart enough, you know that. And I break the law every day."

"That I don't like. You could stop being a mobster any time now- for good, not for show."

"Whatever I am...I know I'm just not the kind of man you expected to want....I never thought you would want to be standing in public next to me, like you used to do. I always figured that you'd be ashamed of me. And hate that people stared at you...wondering why you wanted me."

"Do you think I can really see anyone looking at me when I'm looking at you?"

"So look at me. I'm on my knees. And I'll stay here for you. I'll grovel."

"Get up please. I don't require groveling. Though I love the effort."

"Lexis....I didn't think you'd give me a chance again. You opened this door tonight....walk through. Don't walk away. You already heard me ...earlier...I'm not walking out...so its on you."

"I'm not walking out."

She slid off the seat, and they started kissing, as he laid back on the floor, pulling her on top of him. He kissed her like she was most amazing treasure on this earth.

His miracle.

Sonny might not be Harvard educated but he was no dumb ass. He knew that a woman like Alexis might come around, and give him her heart, twice in one lifetime but he would not get a third shot. He had to make this last.

(Cause I can only tell you what I know

that I need you in my life.

When all the stars have all burned out

you'll still be burning bright

Cast me gently into the morning for the night has been unkind.) (Sarah McLachlan)

Note- I don't know how many people even like Madine but I'm crazy about them! The next chapter is for the Madine fans out there.(Madine is Matt and Nadine). And there is Jomax in it, too.