~ Praying For a Sign ~
"If you don't let me file the marriage license you could be forced to testify against him."
"Find another way, Diane"
"I can't conjure privilege out of nowhere, Sonny. I'm good but not that good."
"I'm not going to let my wife be married to another man, no matter who it is."
"Well technically she's not your wife either. That marriage was dissolved when I had you legally declared dead."
"I don't care about technically!"
Jason watched Carly jump when Sonny's fist came down on the counter and took a protective step closer to her before running a hand over his face and sighing, "Diane, what's the fallout if we don't do it?"
"Well," Diane started, "thanks to Jax, Dante knows you and Carly were running things together and Jax is willing to testify to that in a court of law. They will call Carly to testify and if she refuses to testify, they will lock her up until she complies or charge her as well and then you will both be locked up pending trial on a double homicide and possibly convicted and while we don't live in a capital punishment state, natural life in prison is a very long time."
"That's not going to happen!" Sonny insisted angrily. "We'll find another way."
"Sonny…" Carly almost whispered, "There is no other way."
"I don't accept that!" He screamed, hitting the counter again.
Carly jumped and closed her eyes, covering her face in her hands before shaking her head and looking up at them all. "I need to think this all through. I'll…I'll be back."
She looked over at Jason, the pain and confusion so clear in her eyes that it caused a physical pain in his chest. She shook her head sadly and headed out of the kitchen door.
They all watched her go and after the door closed Sonny sighed and looked at Jason, "Follow her please and talk some sense into her. I know she thinks she has no choice here but to save you, but we will think of something else."
"There is nothing else, Sonny." Diane insisted.
"Well find something!" Sonny yelled angrily before tossing his coffee mug across the kitchen and storming into the other room.
Diane took a sip of her own coffee and raised an eyebrow at Jason, "So you must all be overjoyed to have Sonny back."
"Everyone's still adjusting." Jason sighed, "It'll just take some time. They'll get back to how they were…we all will."
Diane studied him for a moment and tilted her head, "Is that really what you want…what Carly wants?"
"I can't think like that." Jason replied, his voice void of all emotion.
"Ok." Diane laughed softly, finishing her coffee as she stood up and grabbed her briefcase off the counter, "I know as well as anyone what that tone means, and I don't get paid enough to try to move Stone Cold Morgan even a little bit. Talk to Carly and call me later."
"I'm not going to try to talk her into sacrificing her marriage to save me."
"I know." Diane smiled at him sadly, touching his cheek before she headed for the door, "Which is exactly why she should."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carly knew who was behind her the moment she heard the steps. Her mouth turned into a small smile and without turning around she asked, "Did you have Spinelli track my phone again?"
"No." Jason replied quietly sitting next to her and giving her a small smile, "I just knew this is where you would be."
"How?" She asked, looking at him curiously, "I didn't even know I was coming here until I pulled up. I was planning on going to Jake's."
"I know." He nodded, "Me too but you didn't."
"No." Carly agreed, "I didn't, and you knew that because you know me…better than I know myself."
"I do know you." Jason smiled, "And you know me and you never give yourself enough credit because you know yourself too and you have great instincts and a great heart and a you should trust yourself more."
Carly laughed sadly and wiped the tears from her eyes, shaking her head, "You are the only person in the world who thinks that."
"Who else needs to?"
"No one." She whispered, looking at him for a long moment before clearing her throat and slowly scanning the destruction in church they had been married in just a few days before, "We made a mess in here…well you did. I didn't know about it beforehand because you kept it a secret."
"Carly…" Jason groaned, running a hand over his face, "I told you why I didn't tell you beforehand and explained it all to you after."
"I know." She nodded, "And I'm not mad or upset or anything. I'm just…saying."
"I know." He laughed softly, "You always do."
She looked over at him and smiled, "Yeah well…one of us has to."
"Do we?" He smirked back.
"Shut up." She laughed, lightly nudging his shoulder with her own.
"Ok." He nodded, sitting quietly for a few minutes, watching her stare at the spot they had stood saying their vows to each other, knowing she was hearing them again in her head just as he was.
Carly finally broke her silence, laughing softly, "I actually prayed before you got here. Me…praying…can you imagine what God must have thought of that?"
"I think he knows you're in a tough spot." Jason replied in a measured tone, "And I think that no matter what you decide we'll deal with it."
"Jase…" She smiled sadly, looking at him, "What do you think I'm trying to decide? Do you actually think it is even a question in my mind about if I should do anything I have to do to help you?"
"You have to think about your marriage…to Sonny."
"I'm not married to Sonny."
"Carly…" He started, sighing and shaking his head, "Don't do this."
"Do what?" She asked, "It's true. I know…I know we aren't married either and we never would have even tried to be if Sonny had been here…I know…I know all of that, but the reality is the reality and Sonny and I are no longer married and it is not a matter of if we tell Diane to file the marriage certificate for you and I. We are doing that. It is happening and there is nothing you can say to change my mind on that Jason."
He stared at her for a long moment and shook his head, getting up and pacing the aisle for a moment, "It's not just up to you, Carly. I get a say too and Diane's not going to do it if I don't tell her it's ok."
"Well then tell her."
"No!" He replied sharply, "I'm not going to let you just throw away what you have with Sonny because of something I did!"
"We did it!" She insisted, getting up and going over to him, putting her and on his arm and looking up at him seriously, "Just because I didn't know about the details beforehand doesn't mean I had no hand in it. I'm the reason you ever had to do it in the first place." She motioned around the church and sighed, "I did all of this!"
Jason covered her hand in his own and gave her a small smile, "We did it."
She stared into his eyes for a long moment and then smiled back, "Yes so we will deal with it…together."
"Together." He replied quietly, squeezing her hand gently before taking a step back and clearing his throat, "So if uh…if that wasn't what you were praying about, what was?"
Carly bit her lip for a moment before nodding, "Sonny…and my relationship with him…whether it is what I still wanted or what I should work to fix…if there was anything really left to fix. I prayed for a sign."
"Did you get one?" Jason asked.
"No." Carly laughed, sadly, shaking her head, "Not that I deserve God to answer my questions or anything like that when I make such a mess of everything but I was kinda hoping…but no."
"You deserve more than you think." Jason smiled at her, brushing a tear off her cheek, letting his hand linger. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment before he dropped his hand and nodded to the door, "We should get out of here."
"Yeah." Carly agreed, heading for the door, "Meet me back at the house so we can call Diane together."
"We'll talk about it at the house." He sighed, taking one last look around the church before following her out.
"You need to stop speeding. You blew two stop signs and a red light." Jason laughed as he walked into the kitchen a little while later and saw Carly at the counter with her back to him.
"We got a package." She replied quietly, staring down at it sitting on the counter in front of her, "From Father Reyes…to Mr. and Mrs. Jason Morgan."
"What is it?" He asked curiously as he stepped next to her.
"I don't know." She whispered sadly, "I don't know if I want to know."
Jason sighed, wrapping an arm around her and kissing the top of her head, "It's ok. We don't have to open it."
"I want to. I just…it's just…hard."
"I know." He nodded, "So we'll do whatever you want to do, ok? There's no rush."
"The last time you said that to me was on our wedding night and then Sonny burst in on us." She sighed, straightening up and exhaling slowly before unwrapping the package and opening the box. As she peeled back the paper, they both sharply inhaled as they saw the sign from their wedding.
They both stared at it for a long moment before reaching for each other's hand at the exact same moment. As their hands entwined, they turned and looked into each other's eyes, the words they had said to each other echoing in their heads.
Jason smiled at Carly and raised their hands to his lips, kissing her hand softly, "This is a choice."
"Your hand in mine." She smiled back at him, "Starts the rest of our lives."