You lay me down, whisper in my ear
Well, it may be my name you call,
but it's his name I hear
Alex watched as Sonny comforted Carly. She was snuggled up in his arms not
caring who could stumble upon them. He turned and walked through the busy
brownstone with a dejected look on his face. It was time to finally face
the truth. He had been hiding from it for too long. There was only one
thing left to do. He sighed heavily and headed for Carly's apartment.
Bobbie stopped him as he passed by.
"Hey, Alex. You're going to be staying here for a while right? Cause I can
pack up some food for you to take." Bobbie cocked her head to the side and
studied him. "Alex? Are you alright?"
"I, uh, I…" He shook his head. "I'm fine. You don't have to fix the plate."
"Oh, so you *are* staying?" Bobbie pressed. It was probably none of her
business but she could tell that something was the matter.
"I didn't…I didn't say that." He tried to smile.
Eve came over. "Bobbie, do you have any more Tupperware?"
"I'll take care of it in a second." Bobbie dismissed her. "What's going on
Alex?"
"No, no, no you go do whatever you have to. I'll see you around." Alex
touched her lightly on the shoulder and moved past her.
"What's up with him?" Eve asked.
Bobbie shrugged. "I wish I knew."
Alex walked into Carly's quiet apartment. He could hear the sounds of
Thanksgiving coming from Bobbie and Jerry's place. He moved through the
living room picking up a few scattered possessions. He went into Carly's
bedroom and got out the overnight bag he sometimes used. He looked around.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
~*~*~
You promised me through thick and thin
You told me you loved me, you told me a lie,
because you love him
Carly moved back from Sonny. She wiped the tears from her face. "I'm
sorry."
"For what?" He said softly and tried to take her back into his arms.
She resisted him. "For uh, breaking down like that and…"
"It was all right." He swore. "I didn't mind."
"Yeah well I minded." She ran a hand through her hair. "How do I look?"
"Like crap. Like you were just crying your eyes out." He tenderly touched
her cheek.
She scowled. "You're so good with the compliments."
"You asked. But you love me. You already said and you can't take it back."
He said quickly.
Carly stood. "I…I'm going to go inside and check on everything."
"Why are you running away?" Sonny demanded.
"I'm not running." She denied. "But I do have to go inside. You can stay
out on the stoop and freeze your butt off if you want to." She rushed up
the stairs into the house without a backward glance. Sonny watched her go
up with a knowing smirk.
She burst into the house. The place was in chaos. Loud conversations came
from everywhere. Little kids darted through grownups playing games. Carly
caught Michael as he came racing by. "Hey, no running in here. You know
that."
"But Mom, they're doing it too." Michael whined as he wiggled in her grip.
"Tell them no running also." She said. She let him go and patted him on his
bottom as he went to catch up with the others.
"You okay now Caro—Carly." Luke asked as he passed her.
"I'm fine, Uncle Luke." She tucked a strand of hair behind her hair and
smirked. "It takes more than your smart mouth to rile me."
"Uh-huh." He nodded. He spotted Lulu. "Princess, go and get Daddy some more
of that chocolate cake."
"Da-ad!" Lulu rolled her eyes. She wanted to play not fetch for her
father.
"I'll do it myself." Luke sighed. He looked at Carly. "These kids today."
"Go on, Uncle Luke." She said and continued on her way. She ended up in the
kitchen where several people were helping Bobbie pack up food. Bobbie
glanced up.
"Hey honey. Are you alright?"
"Sure. Need some help?" She leaned against the refrigerator.
"No, but you should go look in on Alex." Bobbie advised.
Carly immediately straightened up. "Why? What happened?"
Bobbie shrugged. "I don't know but he was acting weird and he doesn't look
too good. He went to your place."
"Alright, I'll see what's wrong. Thanks for telling me."
~*~*~
And I'm missin', your love every day
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me,
I'm still missin', your love
"Alex? Babe, where are you?" Carly called out as she came in.
"I'm in the bedroom." Alex's muffled voice called back.
"What are you doing in there?" She walked to her bedroom. She stopped at
the door. Alex was slowly and methodically folding up his clothes and
placing them into his overnight bag. "What are you doing?"
"I'm packing." He said simply.
"You going away or something?" She asked even though she knew the answer
already. Oh God, not now. This can't be happening now.
He said quietly. "You know where I'm going."
She closed her eyes. "You're leaving me."
"I'm not leaving you. I'm leaving the situation."
"The *situation*? What the hell does that mean?" She stepped into the room.
"The situation…" Alex took a deep breath. "This thing has gone on for too
long."
"What, you have a time limit on relationships? I outlasted the expiration
date or something?" Carly snapped.
Alex zipped up his bag. "Don't make this harder than it has to be. I'm
trying to make it easy here."
"Oh, it's just easy for you to just leave me like this? For you to just
walk away?" She arched her eyebrow.
He came close to her and took her hands in his. She shook loose of him.
"Calm down Carly. We…how do I say this. I now know the truth. Okay I
probably knew the truth a long time ago and I just ignored it all this
time. But I can't anymore."
"And what do you think the truth is?"
"You don't love me."
And when we talk, you look into my eyes
You're talkin', to me but baby I can see,
he's on your mind
Carly laughed without humor. "I don't love you. Right."
"You don't." He said sadly. "You may love me but you're not in love with me
and I know the difference."
"Okay." Carly nodded slowly. "So tell me this, am I *in love* with someone
else?"
Alex's face screwed up and he spat out the name. "Sonny Corinthos."
She shook her head and went over to the bed. She flopped down. "I should
have known you would say that."
Alex sat down next to her. "Look we don't have to talk about Corinthos."
"Let's not." She said.
"But you have to face it. It's over."
"Because I don't love you."
He nodded. "I'm trying to be noble here. I'm letting you go. If I was a
selfish bastard, and I wish to God I was, I would go about my business like
nothing happened. But I can't pretend anymore and neither should you."
And I'm missin', your love every day
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me, baby, I'm missin', your love,
I reach out for you and you turn away
It takes all I can do to make it through the day,
and I'm missin', your love
"Pretend about what?" Carly felt so stupid, sitting there listening while
Alex listed the reasons why they should break up.
"About us. There is no us and there hasn't been one in a long time. We've
been pretending for so long. It was real in the beginning but somewhere a
long the line it began to change. I noticed it and you must have also. But
we never said a word and we just continued, happy but not really happy."
"We have some good times." She said softly. "We weren't a fighting couple.
Okay, we fought but it wasn't all the time."
"Yeah, we did have our good times and our bad times like any other couple
but I'm not the one you wanted or the one you needed."
"I needed you." She protested.
"No, you never needed me the one you needed Corinthos."
"So you wanted me to be needy and clingy?" She asked curiously. "Because I
have done that before."
"I don't want you to be like that. The thing is you never turned to me for
help. It was always Sonny. Like this thing with the Cassadines. Instead of
letting me stay in town to help you, you pushed me to go on that case and
then you ran to Corinthos."
"The case was important to you. I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass
you by while you sat around holding my hand."
He brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. "*You* are important
to me. If holding your hand was what you needed then that's what I would
have done."
"So you're still mad that I stayed with Sonny." She guessed. "I apologized.
I thought you were okay with that."
"It's just not that." Alex racked his brain for another example. "Jason's
anniversary. When I was out of town, were you or were you not with Sonny?"
"What is this? An Inquisition?" Carly demanded.
"You were." He stated.
"So Sonny stopped by. He and Jason were like brothers, you know that. Can't
two people who cared for the same man grieve together?"
"It was more than that and we both know it. Time and time again you turn to
that man for comfort. Us being together doesn't make any sense when you
want to be with him."
"You only stated *two* occasions." Carly couldn't help but point out.
"I can give you an even more recent one if you like. Today, just now out on
the stoop."
Carly gasped. "You were eavesdropping on me?"
"I came to check on you and I found you in good hands." He muttered. "You
opened up to him about your dream. You scared the hell out of me last night
in the bathroom. I tried to talk to you about it today and you just brushed
me off like nothing happened. Corinthos says two words to you and you're
collapsing in his arms."
"You're mad at me because I didn't tell you about some dream?" She asked
incredulously.
"It's not just some dream. It's obviously a nightmare that you've had often
and it affects you in an extreme way. The fact that you didn't trust me
enough to say anything hurts. The fact that you went to Corinthos convinced
me that it was time to just stop."
"So just like that," She snapped her fingers. "It's over?" He nodded. Carly
cupped his face in her hands. "It doesn't have to be." She whispered
against his lips. She pressed her lips against his, kissing him roughly.
She ran her hands through his hair, wishing he would respond. But he
didn't. A few tears trailed down her face.
Alex removed her hands from his hair. He kissed them softly then caressed
the side of her face. "Just like that."
"We're over. We're over. You know if I say it enough times I just might
believe it." She said softly.
"Look, you want and need to be with him. We're not going to be happy if we
keep denying the fact."
"Who said I wanted to be with him?" Alex just gave her a long knowing look.
Carly shrugged. "Whatever."
Alex got off the bed and picked up his bag. "I'm letting you go."
"You're letting me go." She repeated dully.
He tried to smile. "Hey, be happy. You're free." Carly didn't respond and
he walked to the door.
He stopped at the door. "I'll…I'll come by when you're at work to get the
rest of my stuff. And tell Michael goodbye for me?"
Carly bit her lip and barely managed to nod. She didn't notice that he
paused to look at her one last time before walking out.
And I'm missin', your love every day,
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me,
Baby I'm missin', your love
Carly curled up in a ball on the bed. So now it was "over". She was "free".
Whatever the hell that meant. Was she free to do what she wanted? Free to
go to Sonny? For so long she had used Alex as a way to keep from going back
to Sonny. And now her safety net was gone. What was she going to do?
Maybe it was time to do what Alex had done: face the truth. If she really
wanted Sonny and deep down inside she knew she did then maybe it was time
to—
Sonny knocked on the door jerking her out of her deep thoughts. "Are you
okay?"
"Are you stalking me now?" Carly snapped.
"I was worried about you. I came in the house and I couldn't find you
anywhere." He crouched down beside the bed. "What happened?"
"Can't I ever have a poignant moment without you always popping up to take
care of me?" She rolled her eyes.
"I'll think about it and get back to you." Sonny smiled then repeated
firmly. "What happened?"
"Nothing much. The kids were running around so I made them stop." She
shrugged the hair out of her eyes. "Oh and, um, Alex broke up with me. I
bet you're very happy."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." He grinned. "You should be too."
"Why does everyone think I should be turning cartwheels because of this?"
Carly raged. "Can't I be a little upset? Alex and I did mean something to
each other for awhile."
He nodded. "Right and now that's over and done with. You doing anything
Saturday night?"
Carly gasped. She pushed her hands against his chest sending him toppling
backwards. "I can't believe you! I just broke up with my boyfriend and you
want to take me out?"
"Why not? You fall off the horse and you got to get right back on." Sonny
laughed.
Carly folded her arms. "Are you *deliberately* trying to get me to laugh or
are you truly psycho? I'm not about to go running right into your arms."
"Nobody said you would, sweetheart. It would be nice though. However I know
you. I figured I had a twenty second window to get in before you shut down
on me." He shrugged.
"So you thought you'd take a chance." She smirked.
He shrugged back. "Well what can I say? Lucky's performing at Luke's
Saturday. I thought we could go."
"He's my cousin, I was planning on going anyway." She said.
"Yeah but I want you to go with me. We've never done the date thing."
"Let me think. I moved in, we fought, we made love, I moved out. You're
right, somehow we never managed to squeeze a date in there."
"What do you say?" He said expectantly. "I don't like to beg so don't make
me ask you again."
"I'll think about it." She said noncommittally.
~*~*~
Bobbie and Jerry were saying goodbye to people as they were leaving. Stefan
stopped in front of them. Jerry crossed his arms as he waited for whatever
Stefan was going to say.
Stefan nodded in Jerry's direction as if he was dismissing him. Jerry
scowled back. "I had hoped to speak to Carly before I left. However I
cannot seem to find her."
"She's probably occupied right now with something important." Bobbie said.
"Perhaps you could extend my good-byes then?" Bobbie nodded in agreement.
"Also inform her that the test results will be back soon."
"I will." Stefan nodded once more before leaving.
"What was that about?" Jerry asked.
Before she could answer Mac, Felicia and family came over. Bobbie hugged
Felicia. "You give me a call, okay? We'll do lunch or something."
"Sure thing." Felicia smiled.
"I think we're missing someone. Where's Maxie?" Mac asked Georgie. Georgie
shifted a sleeping Robbie higher in her arms and shook her head. "I don't
know."
"Maxie!" Felicia shouted.
Maxie rose from her seat in the living room. She had been watching Lucky
the whole night. "I'm coming Mom!" She winked at Lucky. "I'll see *you*
around." She sauntered out into the hall confident that he was watching her
every move. He was.
Lucky shot Nikolas a look. "Did you just see that?"
"See what?" Nikolas asked bored. He was hoping he could talk to Emily
before she left but she was "occupied" with Sly at the moment. God, he
hated that guy.
"*That*!" Lucky pointed at the direction Maxie had went in. "That wink. I
think she's starting her little mission."
"Oh, the *wink*." Nikolas nodded slowly. He had no idea what Lucky was
talking about. "You still want to get a ride with me?"
"Yeah, you want to leave now? Cause I am ready to go."
Out of the corner of his eye Nikolas saw Emily walking past the living room
alone. "Hold that thought. I have to go take care of something." He shot
off in the direction Emily went.
He caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "Can we talk?"
Emily looked around. There were still a lot of people milling around. No
way they could talk in the middle of this. She saw the determined look in
his eyes. She sighed. "Come with me."
She took him to Carly's apartment, knowing that it would be deserted. She
closed the door behind them and folded her arms. "Okay talk."
Nikolas cupped her face and kissed her deeply. Emily gasped as he backed
her into the door. He trailed his lips down her neck. "Nikolas?"
"I've been wanting to do that all night." He confessed against her neck.
Emily plowed her fingers into his hair. "Are you crazy? We might get
caught." She tilted her head to the side to give him more room.
"I don't care." He muttered. Suddenly he lifted his head. "I saw you."
"What?" She asked confused.
"I saw you and Sly outside." He growled.
"You're spying on me now?" She demanded. She started to squeeze out his
embrace.
He gripped her chin and made her look at him. His eyes glowed. "I wasn't
spying but I did see you. I saw you kiss him."
"I was trying to say goodbye to him without him knowing it." She explained.
"But did you have to *kiss* him?" He muttered.
Emily frowned then she started to laugh. "Nikolas…are you *jealous*?"
"Don't laugh. It's not funny." He snapped.
Emily smiled softly and touched his face. "You're right. This whole
situation isn't funny. But if you think about it Nikolas, you're the last
person who should be jealous about anything."
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "Is it wrong for
me to want you all to myself? To want to kill someone every time I see him
touch you?"
"No." She said quietly. "Cause I feel the same way. Except for the wanting
to kill someone part. That's a little too physical for me."
He laughed. "All right, all right. The plan is we tell them when Elizabeth
comes back on Monday."
"Right, I'm picking her up from the airport." Emily confirmed.
"I can't wait for this to be over. I don't want to ever have to let you
go." He murmured.
"Everybody's going to hate us." Emily said sadly.
"Do I look like I care what everyone will think?" Nikolas arched his
eyebrow. He gently brushed the back of his hand down the side of her face.
"You are so beautiful."
Emily blushed at the sudden compliment. Nikolas shook his head. "No, you
really are."
Emily ducked her head. "Whatever. We should get out of here before someone
notices that we're gone."
"You're right. Any more time and I just might have to show you how
beautiful you really are." He threatened with a smile.
~*~*~
Next up were Luke and Laura. Luke was carrying Lulu. "The little princess
passed out."
"She must have had a good time." Jerry smiled.
"Have you checked on Caroline?" Luke asked. He didn't want to admit but he
was worried about the girl.
Bobbie nodded. "She should be fine."
"You think?" Luke asked.
"She'll bounce back from whatever is bothering her by tomorrow. Don't worry
about it."
"Me? Worry about little Caroline?" Luke scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."
Bobbie smirked knowingly. Laura laughed also because she knew he was lying
through his teeth. "Thanks for having us, Bobbie."
"Next year, it's at your house." Jerry said.
Laura shuddered. "I guess we're going to have to start preparing for it
tomorrow."
"It feels like it takes a whole year. Believe me." Bobbie swore.
~*~
Carly bounced into the kitchen where Eve was chatting with Karen. She went
over and hugged her. "I didn't know you were here."
"Joe and I just got here. Apparently we got here a little too late." Karen
said. "I hear you had an extra special guest."
"I hear Eve Lambert soon to be Ramsey has a big mouth." Carly shot Eve a
dirty look.
Eve just laughed it off. "Relax, she was going to find out anyway. She was
bound to run into him."
"So why exactly was Sonny here anyway?" Karen asked, curious.
"It's *Thanksgiving*, he's *family*, where else would he be?" Carly
shrugged.
"Uh-huh." Eve nodded.
Mike stuck his head into the kitchen. "Hey ladies."
"Hi Mike." They said in unison.
"Jake and I are heading out but I wanted to catch you before I left." Mike
said to Carly.
"I'm glad that two of you came." Carly hugged him. "You had fun right?"
"Mmm, something like that." Mike smiled. "Tell Michael that I promise that
sometime soon the two of us will spend the day together. Just godfather and
godson."
"I will. Just don't be taking him to the track." Carly waggled her finger
warningly. "He's too young to be learning about gambling. We should at
least wait until he's ten."
"You're never to learn how to lose your money. But for you I'll wait." Mike
laughed. "I'll see you later. Evening ladies."
"Bye Mike." Eve and Karen recited together. Mike waved and walked out.
"That Mike is such a nice guy." Carly said.
"A sweetheart." Karen agreed. "And you're avoiding the subject."
"And that subject would be…?" Carly pretended confusion.
"Now she's going to play dumb." Karen threw up her hands.
Eve smirked. "Playing? You think she's *playing* dumb?"
"Shut up, dear." Carly said with pseudo-sweetness.
"Just stating the facts, hon."
"You know what I need? Shut up!" Carly said when she saw Eve open her
mouth. "That was a rhetorical question. What I need is a shopping spree.
Doing anything tomorrow? The Friday after Thanksgiving is always a big
sales day…"
"I think I got some free time tomorrow." Karen said slowly.
Eve shook her head. "I don't know. I don't like to go shopping with people
that tell me to shut up..."
Carly shrugged. "Fine with me. I just happen to have some big news that I
have to get off my chest but I can't do it here and now so I was going to
do it tomorrow. But if you don't want to know, that's okay. I'm sure Karen
could fill you in…maybe."
"If it's like that then of course I'll be there." Eve gave in.
"I should have known. You're just a sucker for gossip." Carly sighed.
"I happen to want to be there for my friend in her time of need." Eve said
haughtily.
"*Sure*. " Karen nodded while Carly started to laugh.
~*~*~
Later on that evening after the last guest had departed, all the food was
put away, the dishwasher fully loaded and Michael sleeping peacefully Carly
padded into her living room and curled up on her couch. She was lost in
thought when there was a knock at her door.
She sighed. She didn't want to deal with anymore people. "Come in!"
"Hey sweetie. I was wondering if you were still up." Bobbie said as she
slipped in.
"Well I am. What do you want?" Carly asked.
"I came to let you know that Stefan told me that the test results will be
back any day now. Are you excited?"
"I'm trembling with anticipation." Carly deadpanned. She ran her hands
through her hair. "Honestly, I can't wait for the results but I also don't
want to know."
"Why?"
"A blood test is going to say he's my father. But so what? That's not going
to make him my *father* you know. He wasn't around all my life and he can't
just pop into my life and expect everything to be like 'Father's Know
Best'." She snapped.
"Need I point out that *you* popped into my life and since then I have
treated you as my daughter and you have treated me as your mother even
though I wasn't around while you were growing up?"
"Point taken. Do you always have to be so damn logical?" She grumbled.
"Some one has to be."
"Okay but tell me this do you really think that if it turns out that he is
my father the two of us are going to have a real father-daughter
relationship? I'm going to go around calling him 'Dad', he's going
introducing me to people as his daughter, are we going to be doing a whole
bunch of father/daughter activities? Is he going to be sitting down my
dates and giving them a nice fatherly chat?" Carly deepened her voice and
imitated a concerned father. "'Don't you dare lay a hand on my little
girl!'"
"You two will figure out what kind of relationship that works for you. Wait
a second, what do you mean dates? What's going with you and Alex?"
"You'll be happy to hear this, Mother. Alex left me tonight."
"He left you? Why on earth did you think I was going to be happy about
that? Are you okay?" Bobbie moved to hug her.
"I'm fine. He said this should have been done a long time ago. He thinks
I'm in love with Sonny."
"Are you?"
"I don't know. I guess I am. But I was determined to stick by Alex and now
he's gone and…"
"Now you're free to go to Sonny." Bobbie finished.
"I guess…" Carly rubbed at her eyes. "I should go to bed. It's been a long
exhausting day and I barely got any sleep last night."
"Fine but if you need me you just go ahead and call me, okay?" Bobbie rose
from the couch.
Carly escorted her to the door. "Okay, mama."
~*~*~
Paris
The man came into Robin's apartment. Robin and her mother were sitting on
the couch talking.
"Hi." Robin smiled up at him. "What's up?"
"I'm on my way home." He said brandishing a plane ticket.
"You got the ticket?" Robin asked.
"Yes. I loved being here but I need to go home" He said shrugging out of
his jacket. "By Saturday I should be back in Port Charles."
*Song credit* Missing Your Love from the Lie To Me CD by Jonny Lang
Well, it may be my name you call,
but it's his name I hear
Alex watched as Sonny comforted Carly. She was snuggled up in his arms not
caring who could stumble upon them. He turned and walked through the busy
brownstone with a dejected look on his face. It was time to finally face
the truth. He had been hiding from it for too long. There was only one
thing left to do. He sighed heavily and headed for Carly's apartment.
Bobbie stopped him as he passed by.
"Hey, Alex. You're going to be staying here for a while right? Cause I can
pack up some food for you to take." Bobbie cocked her head to the side and
studied him. "Alex? Are you alright?"
"I, uh, I…" He shook his head. "I'm fine. You don't have to fix the plate."
"Oh, so you *are* staying?" Bobbie pressed. It was probably none of her
business but she could tell that something was the matter.
"I didn't…I didn't say that." He tried to smile.
Eve came over. "Bobbie, do you have any more Tupperware?"
"I'll take care of it in a second." Bobbie dismissed her. "What's going on
Alex?"
"No, no, no you go do whatever you have to. I'll see you around." Alex
touched her lightly on the shoulder and moved past her.
"What's up with him?" Eve asked.
Bobbie shrugged. "I wish I knew."
Alex walked into Carly's quiet apartment. He could hear the sounds of
Thanksgiving coming from Bobbie and Jerry's place. He moved through the
living room picking up a few scattered possessions. He went into Carly's
bedroom and got out the overnight bag he sometimes used. He looked around.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
~*~*~
You promised me through thick and thin
You told me you loved me, you told me a lie,
because you love him
Carly moved back from Sonny. She wiped the tears from her face. "I'm
sorry."
"For what?" He said softly and tried to take her back into his arms.
She resisted him. "For uh, breaking down like that and…"
"It was all right." He swore. "I didn't mind."
"Yeah well I minded." She ran a hand through her hair. "How do I look?"
"Like crap. Like you were just crying your eyes out." He tenderly touched
her cheek.
She scowled. "You're so good with the compliments."
"You asked. But you love me. You already said and you can't take it back."
He said quickly.
Carly stood. "I…I'm going to go inside and check on everything."
"Why are you running away?" Sonny demanded.
"I'm not running." She denied. "But I do have to go inside. You can stay
out on the stoop and freeze your butt off if you want to." She rushed up
the stairs into the house without a backward glance. Sonny watched her go
up with a knowing smirk.
She burst into the house. The place was in chaos. Loud conversations came
from everywhere. Little kids darted through grownups playing games. Carly
caught Michael as he came racing by. "Hey, no running in here. You know
that."
"But Mom, they're doing it too." Michael whined as he wiggled in her grip.
"Tell them no running also." She said. She let him go and patted him on his
bottom as he went to catch up with the others.
"You okay now Caro—Carly." Luke asked as he passed her.
"I'm fine, Uncle Luke." She tucked a strand of hair behind her hair and
smirked. "It takes more than your smart mouth to rile me."
"Uh-huh." He nodded. He spotted Lulu. "Princess, go and get Daddy some more
of that chocolate cake."
"Da-ad!" Lulu rolled her eyes. She wanted to play not fetch for her
father.
"I'll do it myself." Luke sighed. He looked at Carly. "These kids today."
"Go on, Uncle Luke." She said and continued on her way. She ended up in the
kitchen where several people were helping Bobbie pack up food. Bobbie
glanced up.
"Hey honey. Are you alright?"
"Sure. Need some help?" She leaned against the refrigerator.
"No, but you should go look in on Alex." Bobbie advised.
Carly immediately straightened up. "Why? What happened?"
Bobbie shrugged. "I don't know but he was acting weird and he doesn't look
too good. He went to your place."
"Alright, I'll see what's wrong. Thanks for telling me."
~*~*~
And I'm missin', your love every day
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me,
I'm still missin', your love
"Alex? Babe, where are you?" Carly called out as she came in.
"I'm in the bedroom." Alex's muffled voice called back.
"What are you doing in there?" She walked to her bedroom. She stopped at
the door. Alex was slowly and methodically folding up his clothes and
placing them into his overnight bag. "What are you doing?"
"I'm packing." He said simply.
"You going away or something?" She asked even though she knew the answer
already. Oh God, not now. This can't be happening now.
He said quietly. "You know where I'm going."
She closed her eyes. "You're leaving me."
"I'm not leaving you. I'm leaving the situation."
"The *situation*? What the hell does that mean?" She stepped into the room.
"The situation…" Alex took a deep breath. "This thing has gone on for too
long."
"What, you have a time limit on relationships? I outlasted the expiration
date or something?" Carly snapped.
Alex zipped up his bag. "Don't make this harder than it has to be. I'm
trying to make it easy here."
"Oh, it's just easy for you to just leave me like this? For you to just
walk away?" She arched her eyebrow.
He came close to her and took her hands in his. She shook loose of him.
"Calm down Carly. We…how do I say this. I now know the truth. Okay I
probably knew the truth a long time ago and I just ignored it all this
time. But I can't anymore."
"And what do you think the truth is?"
"You don't love me."
And when we talk, you look into my eyes
You're talkin', to me but baby I can see,
he's on your mind
Carly laughed without humor. "I don't love you. Right."
"You don't." He said sadly. "You may love me but you're not in love with me
and I know the difference."
"Okay." Carly nodded slowly. "So tell me this, am I *in love* with someone
else?"
Alex's face screwed up and he spat out the name. "Sonny Corinthos."
She shook her head and went over to the bed. She flopped down. "I should
have known you would say that."
Alex sat down next to her. "Look we don't have to talk about Corinthos."
"Let's not." She said.
"But you have to face it. It's over."
"Because I don't love you."
He nodded. "I'm trying to be noble here. I'm letting you go. If I was a
selfish bastard, and I wish to God I was, I would go about my business like
nothing happened. But I can't pretend anymore and neither should you."
And I'm missin', your love every day
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me, baby, I'm missin', your love,
I reach out for you and you turn away
It takes all I can do to make it through the day,
and I'm missin', your love
"Pretend about what?" Carly felt so stupid, sitting there listening while
Alex listed the reasons why they should break up.
"About us. There is no us and there hasn't been one in a long time. We've
been pretending for so long. It was real in the beginning but somewhere a
long the line it began to change. I noticed it and you must have also. But
we never said a word and we just continued, happy but not really happy."
"We have some good times." She said softly. "We weren't a fighting couple.
Okay, we fought but it wasn't all the time."
"Yeah, we did have our good times and our bad times like any other couple
but I'm not the one you wanted or the one you needed."
"I needed you." She protested.
"No, you never needed me the one you needed Corinthos."
"So you wanted me to be needy and clingy?" She asked curiously. "Because I
have done that before."
"I don't want you to be like that. The thing is you never turned to me for
help. It was always Sonny. Like this thing with the Cassadines. Instead of
letting me stay in town to help you, you pushed me to go on that case and
then you ran to Corinthos."
"The case was important to you. I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass
you by while you sat around holding my hand."
He brushed a few strands of hair away from her face. "*You* are important
to me. If holding your hand was what you needed then that's what I would
have done."
"So you're still mad that I stayed with Sonny." She guessed. "I apologized.
I thought you were okay with that."
"It's just not that." Alex racked his brain for another example. "Jason's
anniversary. When I was out of town, were you or were you not with Sonny?"
"What is this? An Inquisition?" Carly demanded.
"You were." He stated.
"So Sonny stopped by. He and Jason were like brothers, you know that. Can't
two people who cared for the same man grieve together?"
"It was more than that and we both know it. Time and time again you turn to
that man for comfort. Us being together doesn't make any sense when you
want to be with him."
"You only stated *two* occasions." Carly couldn't help but point out.
"I can give you an even more recent one if you like. Today, just now out on
the stoop."
Carly gasped. "You were eavesdropping on me?"
"I came to check on you and I found you in good hands." He muttered. "You
opened up to him about your dream. You scared the hell out of me last night
in the bathroom. I tried to talk to you about it today and you just brushed
me off like nothing happened. Corinthos says two words to you and you're
collapsing in his arms."
"You're mad at me because I didn't tell you about some dream?" She asked
incredulously.
"It's not just some dream. It's obviously a nightmare that you've had often
and it affects you in an extreme way. The fact that you didn't trust me
enough to say anything hurts. The fact that you went to Corinthos convinced
me that it was time to just stop."
"So just like that," She snapped her fingers. "It's over?" He nodded. Carly
cupped his face in her hands. "It doesn't have to be." She whispered
against his lips. She pressed her lips against his, kissing him roughly.
She ran her hands through his hair, wishing he would respond. But he
didn't. A few tears trailed down her face.
Alex removed her hands from his hair. He kissed them softly then caressed
the side of her face. "Just like that."
"We're over. We're over. You know if I say it enough times I just might
believe it." She said softly.
"Look, you want and need to be with him. We're not going to be happy if we
keep denying the fact."
"Who said I wanted to be with him?" Alex just gave her a long knowing look.
Carly shrugged. "Whatever."
Alex got off the bed and picked up his bag. "I'm letting you go."
"You're letting me go." She repeated dully.
He tried to smile. "Hey, be happy. You're free." Carly didn't respond and
he walked to the door.
He stopped at the door. "I'll…I'll come by when you're at work to get the
rest of my stuff. And tell Michael goodbye for me?"
Carly bit her lip and barely managed to nod. She didn't notice that he
paused to look at her one last time before walking out.
And I'm missin', your love every day,
I'm missin', your love every way
Though you're here with me,
Baby I'm missin', your love
Carly curled up in a ball on the bed. So now it was "over". She was "free".
Whatever the hell that meant. Was she free to do what she wanted? Free to
go to Sonny? For so long she had used Alex as a way to keep from going back
to Sonny. And now her safety net was gone. What was she going to do?
Maybe it was time to do what Alex had done: face the truth. If she really
wanted Sonny and deep down inside she knew she did then maybe it was time
to—
Sonny knocked on the door jerking her out of her deep thoughts. "Are you
okay?"
"Are you stalking me now?" Carly snapped.
"I was worried about you. I came in the house and I couldn't find you
anywhere." He crouched down beside the bed. "What happened?"
"Can't I ever have a poignant moment without you always popping up to take
care of me?" She rolled her eyes.
"I'll think about it and get back to you." Sonny smiled then repeated
firmly. "What happened?"
"Nothing much. The kids were running around so I made them stop." She
shrugged the hair out of her eyes. "Oh and, um, Alex broke up with me. I
bet you're very happy."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." He grinned. "You should be too."
"Why does everyone think I should be turning cartwheels because of this?"
Carly raged. "Can't I be a little upset? Alex and I did mean something to
each other for awhile."
He nodded. "Right and now that's over and done with. You doing anything
Saturday night?"
Carly gasped. She pushed her hands against his chest sending him toppling
backwards. "I can't believe you! I just broke up with my boyfriend and you
want to take me out?"
"Why not? You fall off the horse and you got to get right back on." Sonny
laughed.
Carly folded her arms. "Are you *deliberately* trying to get me to laugh or
are you truly psycho? I'm not about to go running right into your arms."
"Nobody said you would, sweetheart. It would be nice though. However I know
you. I figured I had a twenty second window to get in before you shut down
on me." He shrugged.
"So you thought you'd take a chance." She smirked.
He shrugged back. "Well what can I say? Lucky's performing at Luke's
Saturday. I thought we could go."
"He's my cousin, I was planning on going anyway." She said.
"Yeah but I want you to go with me. We've never done the date thing."
"Let me think. I moved in, we fought, we made love, I moved out. You're
right, somehow we never managed to squeeze a date in there."
"What do you say?" He said expectantly. "I don't like to beg so don't make
me ask you again."
"I'll think about it." She said noncommittally.
~*~*~
Bobbie and Jerry were saying goodbye to people as they were leaving. Stefan
stopped in front of them. Jerry crossed his arms as he waited for whatever
Stefan was going to say.
Stefan nodded in Jerry's direction as if he was dismissing him. Jerry
scowled back. "I had hoped to speak to Carly before I left. However I
cannot seem to find her."
"She's probably occupied right now with something important." Bobbie said.
"Perhaps you could extend my good-byes then?" Bobbie nodded in agreement.
"Also inform her that the test results will be back soon."
"I will." Stefan nodded once more before leaving.
"What was that about?" Jerry asked.
Before she could answer Mac, Felicia and family came over. Bobbie hugged
Felicia. "You give me a call, okay? We'll do lunch or something."
"Sure thing." Felicia smiled.
"I think we're missing someone. Where's Maxie?" Mac asked Georgie. Georgie
shifted a sleeping Robbie higher in her arms and shook her head. "I don't
know."
"Maxie!" Felicia shouted.
Maxie rose from her seat in the living room. She had been watching Lucky
the whole night. "I'm coming Mom!" She winked at Lucky. "I'll see *you*
around." She sauntered out into the hall confident that he was watching her
every move. He was.
Lucky shot Nikolas a look. "Did you just see that?"
"See what?" Nikolas asked bored. He was hoping he could talk to Emily
before she left but she was "occupied" with Sly at the moment. God, he
hated that guy.
"*That*!" Lucky pointed at the direction Maxie had went in. "That wink. I
think she's starting her little mission."
"Oh, the *wink*." Nikolas nodded slowly. He had no idea what Lucky was
talking about. "You still want to get a ride with me?"
"Yeah, you want to leave now? Cause I am ready to go."
Out of the corner of his eye Nikolas saw Emily walking past the living room
alone. "Hold that thought. I have to go take care of something." He shot
off in the direction Emily went.
He caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "Can we talk?"
Emily looked around. There were still a lot of people milling around. No
way they could talk in the middle of this. She saw the determined look in
his eyes. She sighed. "Come with me."
She took him to Carly's apartment, knowing that it would be deserted. She
closed the door behind them and folded her arms. "Okay talk."
Nikolas cupped her face and kissed her deeply. Emily gasped as he backed
her into the door. He trailed his lips down her neck. "Nikolas?"
"I've been wanting to do that all night." He confessed against her neck.
Emily plowed her fingers into his hair. "Are you crazy? We might get
caught." She tilted her head to the side to give him more room.
"I don't care." He muttered. Suddenly he lifted his head. "I saw you."
"What?" She asked confused.
"I saw you and Sly outside." He growled.
"You're spying on me now?" She demanded. She started to squeeze out his
embrace.
He gripped her chin and made her look at him. His eyes glowed. "I wasn't
spying but I did see you. I saw you kiss him."
"I was trying to say goodbye to him without him knowing it." She explained.
"But did you have to *kiss* him?" He muttered.
Emily frowned then she started to laugh. "Nikolas…are you *jealous*?"
"Don't laugh. It's not funny." He snapped.
Emily smiled softly and touched his face. "You're right. This whole
situation isn't funny. But if you think about it Nikolas, you're the last
person who should be jealous about anything."
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. "Is it wrong for
me to want you all to myself? To want to kill someone every time I see him
touch you?"
"No." She said quietly. "Cause I feel the same way. Except for the wanting
to kill someone part. That's a little too physical for me."
He laughed. "All right, all right. The plan is we tell them when Elizabeth
comes back on Monday."
"Right, I'm picking her up from the airport." Emily confirmed.
"I can't wait for this to be over. I don't want to ever have to let you
go." He murmured.
"Everybody's going to hate us." Emily said sadly.
"Do I look like I care what everyone will think?" Nikolas arched his
eyebrow. He gently brushed the back of his hand down the side of her face.
"You are so beautiful."
Emily blushed at the sudden compliment. Nikolas shook his head. "No, you
really are."
Emily ducked her head. "Whatever. We should get out of here before someone
notices that we're gone."
"You're right. Any more time and I just might have to show you how
beautiful you really are." He threatened with a smile.
~*~*~
Next up were Luke and Laura. Luke was carrying Lulu. "The little princess
passed out."
"She must have had a good time." Jerry smiled.
"Have you checked on Caroline?" Luke asked. He didn't want to admit but he
was worried about the girl.
Bobbie nodded. "She should be fine."
"You think?" Luke asked.
"She'll bounce back from whatever is bothering her by tomorrow. Don't worry
about it."
"Me? Worry about little Caroline?" Luke scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous."
Bobbie smirked knowingly. Laura laughed also because she knew he was lying
through his teeth. "Thanks for having us, Bobbie."
"Next year, it's at your house." Jerry said.
Laura shuddered. "I guess we're going to have to start preparing for it
tomorrow."
"It feels like it takes a whole year. Believe me." Bobbie swore.
~*~
Carly bounced into the kitchen where Eve was chatting with Karen. She went
over and hugged her. "I didn't know you were here."
"Joe and I just got here. Apparently we got here a little too late." Karen
said. "I hear you had an extra special guest."
"I hear Eve Lambert soon to be Ramsey has a big mouth." Carly shot Eve a
dirty look.
Eve just laughed it off. "Relax, she was going to find out anyway. She was
bound to run into him."
"So why exactly was Sonny here anyway?" Karen asked, curious.
"It's *Thanksgiving*, he's *family*, where else would he be?" Carly
shrugged.
"Uh-huh." Eve nodded.
Mike stuck his head into the kitchen. "Hey ladies."
"Hi Mike." They said in unison.
"Jake and I are heading out but I wanted to catch you before I left." Mike
said to Carly.
"I'm glad that two of you came." Carly hugged him. "You had fun right?"
"Mmm, something like that." Mike smiled. "Tell Michael that I promise that
sometime soon the two of us will spend the day together. Just godfather and
godson."
"I will. Just don't be taking him to the track." Carly waggled her finger
warningly. "He's too young to be learning about gambling. We should at
least wait until he's ten."
"You're never to learn how to lose your money. But for you I'll wait." Mike
laughed. "I'll see you later. Evening ladies."
"Bye Mike." Eve and Karen recited together. Mike waved and walked out.
"That Mike is such a nice guy." Carly said.
"A sweetheart." Karen agreed. "And you're avoiding the subject."
"And that subject would be…?" Carly pretended confusion.
"Now she's going to play dumb." Karen threw up her hands.
Eve smirked. "Playing? You think she's *playing* dumb?"
"Shut up, dear." Carly said with pseudo-sweetness.
"Just stating the facts, hon."
"You know what I need? Shut up!" Carly said when she saw Eve open her
mouth. "That was a rhetorical question. What I need is a shopping spree.
Doing anything tomorrow? The Friday after Thanksgiving is always a big
sales day…"
"I think I got some free time tomorrow." Karen said slowly.
Eve shook her head. "I don't know. I don't like to go shopping with people
that tell me to shut up..."
Carly shrugged. "Fine with me. I just happen to have some big news that I
have to get off my chest but I can't do it here and now so I was going to
do it tomorrow. But if you don't want to know, that's okay. I'm sure Karen
could fill you in…maybe."
"If it's like that then of course I'll be there." Eve gave in.
"I should have known. You're just a sucker for gossip." Carly sighed.
"I happen to want to be there for my friend in her time of need." Eve said
haughtily.
"*Sure*. " Karen nodded while Carly started to laugh.
~*~*~
Later on that evening after the last guest had departed, all the food was
put away, the dishwasher fully loaded and Michael sleeping peacefully Carly
padded into her living room and curled up on her couch. She was lost in
thought when there was a knock at her door.
She sighed. She didn't want to deal with anymore people. "Come in!"
"Hey sweetie. I was wondering if you were still up." Bobbie said as she
slipped in.
"Well I am. What do you want?" Carly asked.
"I came to let you know that Stefan told me that the test results will be
back any day now. Are you excited?"
"I'm trembling with anticipation." Carly deadpanned. She ran her hands
through her hair. "Honestly, I can't wait for the results but I also don't
want to know."
"Why?"
"A blood test is going to say he's my father. But so what? That's not going
to make him my *father* you know. He wasn't around all my life and he can't
just pop into my life and expect everything to be like 'Father's Know
Best'." She snapped.
"Need I point out that *you* popped into my life and since then I have
treated you as my daughter and you have treated me as your mother even
though I wasn't around while you were growing up?"
"Point taken. Do you always have to be so damn logical?" She grumbled.
"Some one has to be."
"Okay but tell me this do you really think that if it turns out that he is
my father the two of us are going to have a real father-daughter
relationship? I'm going to go around calling him 'Dad', he's going
introducing me to people as his daughter, are we going to be doing a whole
bunch of father/daughter activities? Is he going to be sitting down my
dates and giving them a nice fatherly chat?" Carly deepened her voice and
imitated a concerned father. "'Don't you dare lay a hand on my little
girl!'"
"You two will figure out what kind of relationship that works for you. Wait
a second, what do you mean dates? What's going with you and Alex?"
"You'll be happy to hear this, Mother. Alex left me tonight."
"He left you? Why on earth did you think I was going to be happy about
that? Are you okay?" Bobbie moved to hug her.
"I'm fine. He said this should have been done a long time ago. He thinks
I'm in love with Sonny."
"Are you?"
"I don't know. I guess I am. But I was determined to stick by Alex and now
he's gone and…"
"Now you're free to go to Sonny." Bobbie finished.
"I guess…" Carly rubbed at her eyes. "I should go to bed. It's been a long
exhausting day and I barely got any sleep last night."
"Fine but if you need me you just go ahead and call me, okay?" Bobbie rose
from the couch.
Carly escorted her to the door. "Okay, mama."
~*~*~
Paris
The man came into Robin's apartment. Robin and her mother were sitting on
the couch talking.
"Hi." Robin smiled up at him. "What's up?"
"I'm on my way home." He said brandishing a plane ticket.
"You got the ticket?" Robin asked.
"Yes. I loved being here but I need to go home" He said shrugging out of
his jacket. "By Saturday I should be back in Port Charles."
*Song credit* Missing Your Love from the Lie To Me CD by Jonny Lang