Second Chances
Introduction
This has been twenty years in the making – literally – ever since I can remember Carly being portrayed by Sarah Brown (whom I miss dearly). I fell in love with both Jason Morgan and Carly Benson. When Carly slept with Sonny and GH decided to go that route and made them fall in love, I was devastated. Completely and utterly devastated. I had invested and put so much effort, love and fan fiction into Jarly. I was disgusted and stopped watching and never looked back. Why should I? While there was a lot of fans at that time for Jarly, it seemed we had been dealt a huge blow. Years, upon years of waiting for Jason to admit to himself and to Carly that he loved her and we get a Sonny and Carly pairing? Heartbreaking. A part of me always said that it had been a huge mistake but I was in my 20's, I let go of the love for Jarly and moved on. I had felt burned with Sonny and Brenda and then Jason and Carly that it just was time to stop watching. And so, I did.
Fast forward to the present, I am sidelined from work and there's a pandemic running rampant in the world. What else is there to do? Well start DVR'ing GH once again. I mean how bad could it be, right? Jason and Carly were over – best friends now and Carly wasn't insanely in love with him and feeling that her love was unrequited. Jason back then had not only made me angry because of Robin and Liz. He had a child – a child – with Liz! The character I hated the most. I was not a fan of Robin's but Liz? Well yikes. It was instant dislike. Then Sam (I'm sure others before her) and then Britt. Listen folks, I understood: Jason had to move on. They made Carly move on with Sonny, right? But I always said to my sister and to whomever was an avid GH watcher back then that Jason and Carly were destined to be together. They deserved to be together. In response, I always got: no, no, no, they're just best friends and they're better off as best friends. Well…I never bought it, and never would. To me they were end game. Two decades later, I still see it. I truly do. They have known other love but they are still in each other's lives and willing to die for each other – no matter what. I get that their friendship is sacred. It is. But their love? That's inevitable. And it goes beyond all logic.
I heard rumors that they wanted to try to marry them for 'business' reasons. And I'll be honest: my heart soared and for the first time in decades, I had hope. Hope that maybe I was right all along. Hope that someone at GH had finally read my mind and accepted the fact that these two needed to be in each other's lives as husband and wife. The fact was (and I have seen it on other occasions) they were and are in love each other. They just refuse to admit it. They are each other's soulmates and they deserve a chance to be happy with each other. Best friends oftentimes make the best lovers and the best partners in life. The glances, the looks, the dances, the grazes so they can subtlety caress or touch each other. All of that had hidden meaning to them. They fed off of it for years and years. They convinced themselves that they were willing to do anything and everything for each other but it ended there. They had been so integral in each other's lives that this marriage was just something they had to do – for the family, for their safety, for each other. But if they took one second, took a step back, and both counted to ten, they would realize that deep inside, they both wanted this. They wanted to know what it would be like to be a couple in love and to be able to voice it out loud to the people they cared about.
Can I be dreaming? Delusional? Maybe. Am I happy that I get to see some screen time of them finally admitting to each other that they have feelings – still have feelings – that they never acknowledged due to fear? Yep. Do I believe how easily they stepped into the role of being a couple versus friends? You betcha! It was seamless. Beautiful to watch on screen – what I had always wanted two decades back. Am I thinking they are making them end game? Probably not. But will I keep the hope alive? Yes. I will also take what I can get. And maybe also create some awesome fan fiction? You bet. There may not be that many Jarly fans out there still, but if you're out there?! Here I come…and please let me know your thoughts on all this. I remember we used to have a select group of Jarly fans that talked constantly about them and how much we loved them. I read some awesome fan fiction back then and I would love to have that again with this newfound effort to bring them together.
Please enjoy where my mind is taking me this time around – twenty years later and I'm writing again for them. And I have a newfound love for them. I miss Sarah Brown but I've grown to accept and even love Laura Wright as Carly Corinthos (UGH) just typing that last name next to Carly's still makes me mad…ha, ha). I own nothing but my imagination and my love for these two. They are not my property, nor my characters. I am just taking some liberties with them to mold them to what I would love to see play out.
Happy reading!