Note- This is a story that was originally posted at Jarly Love, so some of you have probably read it. I am working on a new G and L story and wanted something to separate my last one and my new one so that readers are clear they are two different tales.

The new Georgie and Logan story is called Eyes Wide Open and will be posted soon. ( Yes I am still -LOL- absolutely crazy about the idea of Glo!)

Here is an old J and C story I wrote. Jacob does not exist in this story.

Last Chance

August 2007

She knocked on the penthouse door. Each time her knuckles hit the wood she flashed back in her mind to doing this years ago. Before Micheal. That felt like another lifetime now.

Then she relied on Jason to help keep her sane, to hold her steady, to make her life make sense. Jason was the only man who was able to do that for her. Yet, he was the only one who, with just one glance of his eyes, could break her heart. Then hold her and piece it back together. Tell her to hold on, stay strong, keep sane, be still, wait, wait, wait.

But she couldn't anymore.

This was the end of the line.

She knocked again. When he pulled the door open, she saw him ten years younger. That image faded into now and he asked, seeing the tortured expression on her face, "What's wrong?"

Carly brushed past him into his home. "I have something to tell you."

She didn't turn around but could picture the way his eyebrows furrowed, the worry there instantly. He was already thinking of ways to save her, she was sure, before he even knew what the problem was.

Carly walked to the pool table, ran her hand over it, thinking back to Jake's, then went to the window to look out. The only way she could do this was not looking at him.

"Carly! Talk to me." Jason watched her, his fear growing with each second. Carly was never this
quiet.

"I'm leaving town, tonight. The boys and I are going to disappear. No one, not my mom, not Jax, not Sonny know about this. They will never see us again."

Jason stiffened. He knew he had to talk her down. Make her see reason. Make her stay."This is because of what happened to Morgan?"

Carly blamed herself, Jason blamed himself. The man who shot Morgan had been aiming at Sonny in the park that day. And though Sonny didn't get a scratch on him, Morgan and Max crumbled to the ground. Blood ran onto the grass, and stained the spot where the child's innocence died.

The surgery fixed the body of their little boy but nothing could make them all whole again.

Jason saw the change in Carly's eyes that night, when she ran into his arms in the ER. The self hate there, the fraying of her sanity. If Morgan hadn't pulled through...Jason felt a shiver pass up his spine.

True fear had a taste.

And he felt it in his mouth when Micheal went missing, when Carly was shot in the head, when Morgan lay in the hospital bed fighting to survive and now. As he looked at Carly, he knew there would be no talking her out of this. But he had to try.

She told him, "From now on I plan to do a better job protecting my boys. I came to say good-bye."

Jason walked over to her. "Carly."

She turned away, let her hair fall over her face so he couldn't see her eyes.

"Carly, come on. Look at me." He put his hand on her shoulder and eased her around.

She jutted her chin up. "The life for us ends tonight. I'm out. My boys are out. I only waited this long so that Morgan could be released from the hospital. They are downstairs in the limo with Milo. He's coming with us."

"I can keep you all ..." Jason started to say

"Safe?" she whispered

He looked down, knowing he couldn't lie to her. But without that promise she wouldn't stay. She had to stay.

Jason said,"He's dead. He can't come after any of you again."

"I know."

The man who put a bullet in their baby was gone from the earth. But he had changed the course of their future. Left his mark on Morgan, and all of them.

Jason racked his mind for words to change this, but everything in him was colliding: the past, when she promised they would be a family, the present, when he swore they would be safe, the future, when she would be gone, her and the boys living somewhere without him. Crash. Like a house falling from the sky, the weight of what was about to happen fell upon him.

He scrambled for something to use. "What about Sonny? They are his kids."
"Not as much as they are yours. Do you want them in this life?"

Jason's head leaned backwards. Carly reached her arms around him and pressed her head to his chest.

Her voice was small and tearful when she said, "I have to do this."

He buried his face in her hair, pulling her closer than he had in years. The way she smelled, the way she felt, all her feelings for him that radiated off her skin and made him feel important, worthy, loved- she was taking that all away from him. Right now. And he couldn't stop her. His tears fell into her hair. Hers fell onto his t-shirt.

When they separated, he took her hand. "There has to be something I can do."

"Help me get away. And never tell Sonny where I went."

This was the moment, Carly realized, the moment she would know for sure. From the second he saw her come down the stairs at Sonny apartment that first night, Jason had walked a thin line between Sonny and her. No longer was it just Jason and Carly against the world. Sonny was there in the mix. And Jason's loyalty to him could never be discounted by Carly. She had lost battles, but she couldn't lose the war. Though she may never see Jason again after tonight, she had to leave knowing she wasn't a fool in this thing alone. That he balanced her: risk for risk, chance for chance, heartbreak for heartbreak, love for love.

This time she needed her best friend to choose her.

"Listen, Jase, I would never go this far if I could do anything else. I wouldn't hurt my kids by separating them from Sonny, Bobbie, Mike. I wouldn't leave you...if there was any other way. But I can't keep lying. They will die if I don't run. I put them in this. We did this, Jase." She spun around and faced the window again. She choked out, "You were right... our love...it wrecked us both. But maybe because I am so damn selfish or maybe because you are so damn hot, I don't know... but..." She turned again and gave him a teary smile " I loved every second of loving you. And even knowing this is how it ends I would do it all over again." She smiled through her tears and said, " I would love to do it all over again. Wouldn't you?"

With tears in his eyes, he mouthed "Yeah."

Carly said, "I love you still. Like I did the day you gave me my rings and the day you gave up on us. You know that right? I'll never stop. But I will live without you to save our kids."

His hands came up and covered his face, he sobbed. Carly knew then she had won. He would do what he had to and help her tonight. Then never see her again.