"Carly!" Sonny shouted and rushed over to her but Jason got there first and
scooped her up in his arms. He cradled her close.

"That girl always has to have the spotlight on her." Luke drawled. Not
letting the shock of seeing Jason back from the dead show he barked an
order at Jason. "Take her into the back room."

Luke jumped off the stage and he and Sonny followed Jason into the back
room. Stefan watched them go with a worried look. He wanted to go with them
but he knew he wouldn't be welcomed. But Carly was his daughter and he was
concerned.

Layla reached over and touched his arm. She could tell that he was
conflicted. She nodded in the direction of the room and said softly. "Go."

He hesitantly rose and then quickly headed towards the back room. Layla
watched him go with a faint smile then signaled the distracted waitress.
She needed a refill.

Across the room tears rolled down Emily's face as she pressed her hand to
her mouth. She was shaking in her seat. Nikolas tried wiping the tears
away. "Emily?"

"He's alive, he's…" She couldn't say anymore and Nikolas rubbed her
shoulder in comfort. "Let's go in the back with them. Come on."

He helped her up and they slowly made their way across the club. They were
passing by the entrance when Lucky and Maxie stumbled in. Lucky was holding
onto Maxie's hand and it was clear that he wasn't even aware of it. Maxie
was of course. She was smiling triumphantly and looked very pleased with
herself about the situation.

"Emily! Nikolas!" Lucky exclaimed. "You'll never believe who I thought I
just—Emily? What's wrong?" He worriedly looked at her tear-streaked face.

"Not now, Lucky. Jason is alive." Nikolas explained.

"You mean I really did see him out there?" Lucky gaped.

"Yeah and Emily's…listen, we'll talk later okay?" Nikolas said before
ushering Emily away.

"Wow, I can't believe this. Jason…alive!" Lucky ran his hand through his
hair.

"Yeah, it's amazing." Maxie murmured. She cuddled up to Lucky's side. She
didn't want to talk Jason or anybody else. She wanted to get back to the
conversation they were having outside. "So you're not really going to make
me go home, right?"

Before Lucky could answer, Sly and Elizabeth came storming through the
door. Both were very upset. Lucky could feel the anger radiating off of
them. "Whoa, what happened to you two?"

"Where's Emily and Nikolas?" Sly ignored him as he scanned the room for the
couple.

"Yeah, where is that bitch?" Elizabeth demanded. She had been upset when
Sly had first told her about Nikolas and Emily's betrayal but that had soon
turned to anger.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is going on here?" Lucky looked at Elizabeth in
shock.

"She and Nikolas have been having an affair. With each other!" Elizabeth
answered. "I'm going to kill her. Some friend she was."

Emily…and Nikolas? Lucky wished he could deny it but when he thought about
it, it all added up. It explains that time at Kelly's when Nikolas and
Emily were acting weird towards each other. He should have known. Lucky
shook his head in disapproval.

"Guys, I know…okay I don't know how you feel but tonight isn't a good night
to confront them."

"Why?" Sly sneered. He was ready to take them both apart.

"Because…" Lucky took a deep breath. "Jason is alive."

~*~

In the back room Jason had laid Carly out on a small couch. He and Stefan
stood off to the side watching her. No one had said a word to Stefan. He
wasn't sure if they even noticed him.

Sonny kneeled beside Carly and was softly slapping her face. "Come on." He
whispered softly. "Wake up, babe. Luke, do you have any smelling salts?"

"Negative." Luke shook his head. "How about this?" He reached over Sonny
and grabbed Carly by the shoulders.

He shook her slightly and said in his most commanding voice. "Alright
enough theatrics, girl, get up already."

It must have done the trick because Carly moaned slightly and turned her
head to the side. When she slowly opened her eyes the first thing she saw
was Sonny. She smiled. "You would not believe the dream I had…"

Without thinking, Jason said. "Carly."

Carly froze and then looked up. "Oh my God, it's real. You're real!"

He nodded and Carly squealed. She jumped up and hugged him. She laughed out
loud with delight as she ran her hands across his body. She repeated over
and over. "You're real, you're here, you're real, you're here…"

The door to the room swung open and Nikolas stood in the doorway supporting
Emily. Carly grinned at Emily. "Look, Emily, he's alive!"

Emily let go of Nikolas and ran towards Jason. Carly stepped aside and
watched with a smile as Emily embraced Jason. She buried her face in his
neck and cried. Her voice was muffled. "Oh, thank God, thank God."

Then Emily suddenly pushed away from Jason and slapped him across the face.
Everyone in the room gasped. They hadn't been expecting that. Carly
frowned. "Em!"

Jason rubbed his face as he patiently waited for Emily to explain her
actions. She stood before him with tears still running down her face but
this time the tears were angry. Her chest was heaving as she took deep
breaths. Her eyes began to harden.

"How dare you? How dare you!" She exploded. "Six years!" She shoved him
causing him to back up, all her pent-up anger and frustrations giving her
extra strength.

"You let us think you were dead for six years. You were in our thoughts,
our hearts, and our prayers! Michael grew up without a father because you.
I lost my brother. We all thought you were gone forever and now six years
later you come sauntering back in town thinking everything will go back to
the way it was? How dare you?"

"Emily." Nikolas said softly. He came up behind her and rested his hands on
her shoulders. "Maybe you should let him explain?"

"I'm sure he has a reasonable explanation." Carly said even though she
didn't care what his reason was. She was just glad he was back.

"Emily, I can explain." Jason swore but Emily shook her head in dismissal.

"I don't want to hear it. Not right now anyway. I need to go home." She
looked back at Nikolas. "Could you take me home?"

"Don't even worry about it. Uh, welcome back Jason." He tossed over his
shoulder and quietly led her out of the room.

"Well…" Luke said, smirking at Jason. "You sure know how to spice up a
party."

"Shut up, Luke." Carly said good-naturedly. Then she spotted Stefan. He had
somehow melded in with the background. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about your welfare." He said simply.

"Whatever Dad." Carly grinned. "Not even you can bring me down." She linked
her arm through Jason's. "You have a lot of explaining to do and unlike
Emily, I want to hear all about it."

Jason looked around. The last thing he wanted to do was explained how he
spent the last six years in Luke's back room. Sonny intercepted the look
and came up with a solution. "Why don't we take this back to the penthouse.
It'll be more comfortable there."

"You trying to say my place ain't comfortable?" Luke growled.

"Exactly." Carly nudged Luke in the side. "It wouldn't hurt if you fixed
things up. Maybe then you could afford some real talent."

"I'm going to tell Lucky you said that." Luke promised. "Alright, y'all
better get out there and face the music."

Just as the trio emerged from the room a group of people advanced on them.
Ned shocked them by throwing his arms around Jason. "Damn you, twice in one
lifetime. How lucky are you?"

Bobbie beamed at him. "I can't believe this. Monica will not believe this."

Ned asked. "Have you been to the house yet?"

Jason shook his head. "No, I came here first."

"Are you on your way to the house now then?" Ned asked. "Alexis and I could
give you a ride if you need."

"He's coming home with us." Carly announced proudly.

Bobbie frowned at Carly. "Don't you think he should go see his family?"

"I'll see them tomorrow." Jason said smoothly before Carly and Bobbie could
go off on each other. He was comforted to know that some things never
change. "I want to spend tonight with my family."

Carly threw Bobbie a triumphant smirk. Eve came up to them carrying Carly's
coat and purse. "Hey, I thought you might need this."

"Thanks." Carly grabbed her things. "I'll give you a call and let you know
everything tomorrow."

"You better." Eve eyed Jason with disbelief. This night was just getting
weirder and weirder! Karen is going to be kicking herself for not being
here tonight. I can't wait to tell her, Eve thought wickedly.

"I'll take care of everything tomorrow." Jason looked at Sonny and Carly.
"Can we leave…?"

Sonny nodded. "Yeah, Johnny already left to pull the car around."

Taggert chewed on the ice from his drink as he watched Sonny and Carly
escort Jason out of the club. "So…Anger Boy lives."

"I know, it's amazing isn't it?" Keesha was watching them also.

Taggert narrowed his eyes and looked at her sideways. "You seem pretty
excited to have him back."

"Marcus, we are not going to go into that again. Unlike you I never wanted
him dead." Keesha snapped. "Why don't we talk about something that we
should have discussed earlier. It seems I was informed this morning that
our temporary houseguest just became *permanent*."

He winced. He should have known that it was going to come back around and
bite him on his butt sooner or later. "Listen, Keesha, baby, I meant to
tell you…"

"Why wasn't I involved in this decision?" Keesha glared at him. "It's my
apartment too?"

"She's been having trouble at the hoity-toity boarding school that her
mother insisted on sending her to. What was I supposed to do? Turn my back
on her? She's my niece and goddaughter. Other than Katarina I'm her only
family. She'll benefit from staying with us."

"You still should have tried to discussing this with me." She insisted.

"This isn't the best place to talk about this." Taggert stood up and
reached into his wallet. He threw down a handful of bills. "How about we go
home and finish talking about this?"

"Fine." Keesha got up also and grabbed her jacket. "But don't expect me to
make this easy for you."

"God forbid I ever do that." He muttered.

Stefan slipped into the chair next to Layla. Layla gently massaged his
shoulder with her hand. "How was she?"

"She was fine and saw no use for me." Stefan breathed.

"Well if there is no reason for you to be here," Layla trailed a finger
across his jaw and murmured, "how about we leave this dump?"

"I think that's the best suggestion I've heard all night." Stefan said
standing up and grabbing her hand.

~*~*~
Nikolas glanced over at Emily. Her outburst at the club had him worried
about her. But ever since they'd left Luke's she'd been staring out the car
window not saying a word. "Emily?"

"I thought you were taking me home?" She said suddenly.

At least she was speaking again. "I think it's better that you came back to
Wyndemere with me."

Nikolas wasn't going to tell her the real reason he was taking her back to
Wyndemere. Just when he and Emily were leaving the club Lucky had caught up
to them. He roughly grabbed Nikolas' arm and said through gritted teeth.
"Sly and Elizabeth were just here."

"Were they? Where are they now?" Nikolas looked around curiously. In a daze
Emily walked out the club. "Emily, wait for me." He started to go after her
but Lucky kept hold of him.

"I know what you two did to them."

"What?" Nikolas asked absently. Then when the words finally sunk into his
mind he said slowly. "What are you talking about?" But he had a sinking
feeling he already knew.

"What the hell is your problem?" Lucky yelled. "I thought you had better
sense than that. And don't even get me started on Emily. What were you guys
thinking?"

Nikolas wavered between finding out how Elizabeth and Sly knew and his
concern over Emily's state of mind. "You can chew me out tomorrow. Right
now I have to take care of Emily."

He rushed out with Lucky glaring at his back. Now he glanced at Emily. The
last thing she needed was to walk into her apartment and get ambushed by an
angry Elizabeth. "I don't want you to be alone. Let me take care of you."

Emily rubbed her hands together. For some reason she was so cold. "Fine.
Turn up the heat in here. I just can't believe he's here. I'm so used to
him not being here that I don't know what to do."

Nikolas gave her a curious look. It was pretty hot in the car already but
he still turned the heat up for her. It was probably shock. "Well slapping
him probably wasn't such a good idea."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Maybe you should have just heard him out. Carly was willing to." He noted.

"Carly missed him more than I did, if possible." Emily leaned back and
closed her eyes. "I used to dream that this would happen, you know? That
one day I would look up and I would see Jason coming towards me, smiling
and saying it was all a mistake. All a stupid mistake."

"Emily, that just happened tonight."

"Yeah, but the next morning I always wake up and he's not there." She said
softly and stared back out the window.

~*~*~
As Lucky drove Maxie home, once again he wondered how ended up in this
position. After Jason's appearance at the club Luke had decided it was time
to call it a night. He and Ned both agreed that everyone would be too busy
gossiping about the mysterious return of Jason Morgan. No one would be
listening to Lucky. When Maxie found out that he could leave early she
insisted her take her home.

But even when he protested: "Maxie, I have to help the band pack up." Maxie
just hopped up on a barstool, crossed her legs and said with a cheeky grin.
"I can wait."

Lucky had looked at his dad for help but Luke just smiled at him and walked
away, muttering something about blondes. "Look, I'll get you a cab. Okay?"

"I don't know…" She glanced down at her dress then back at Lucky. She
slowly raised one eyebrow. "Will it be safe? At this hour?"

Lucky looked at her skintight dress and groaned. There was no way in hell
he was putting her in a cab dressed like that. That was his last coherent
thought. The next thing he knew he was hustling Maxie out to his car and
shouting to the band that he would be right back.

Lucky looked at Maxie. "You're good, you know that."

She looked surprised. "I am? At what?"

"At manipulating people. At manipulating me." He muttered.

Maxie inched over closer to him. "Lucky, I never manipulated you. You
always did what you wanted. In the parking lot tonight? You didn't have to
kiss me but you did. And you enjoyed it. And right now? You could have put
me in a cab if you really wanted to but that's not what you wanted. You
wanted to take me home and that's what you're doing."

Lucky pulled up in front of the Scorpio house. He stared at the steering
wheel in silence. There was a grain of truth in what she said. Did he
really have feelings other than the usual friendly kind for Maxie? Who was
he kidding? The kiss was proof of that. But acknowledging that would be the
last thing he would do.

So instead he lied. "The kiss was a mistake. I only brought you because
it's too late for little girls like you to be out."

Maxie sucked in her breath and looked out the window. Her voice wavered
slightly. "Why do you have to be so cruel?"

Lucky lowered his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Maxie. He
reached out and stroked her hair. "Maxie, I…I'm sorry."

Maxie brushed his hand away. She folded her arms and turned to glare at
him. The anger in her eyes made Lucky rear back. "You make me so mad, Lucky
Spencer! You keep on pretending that I'm just some little girl who doesn't
know what she's doing if that makes you happy. You act like you don't feel
anything and this whole thing is one sided. It's not; you're in this too.
You feel it when you kiss me. So face up to the truth already Lucky, this
isn't ending any time soon, no matter how mean you are to me."

At the end of her tirade Maxie angrily opened the car door. "I have to get
inside before my parents come out and catch me. You're not getting rid of
me that easily, just remember that." Then she surprised him by leaning over
giving him a quick kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled.
"See you tomorrow, Lucky."

Lucky just watched her in confusion. Her quick mood change had stunned him.
Maxie sashayed up the walk to her house. She paused at the door and she
cheerfully waved goodbye. Lucky laughed a little and shook his head. As he
started to drive away the only thing he could think was he would never
understand her and he didn't think he would ever want to.

~*~*~

Jason looked around Sonny's penthouse in amazement. "It looks exactly the
same."

"Well somebody wouldn't let me redecorate. 'Don't touch that pillow, Carly.
I like this table, Carly.'" She mimicked Sonny with a grin.

"Hey, I'm sorry but you know I wasn't going to let you do it. Jason, man,
she tried to redo my kitchen."

"Sacrilege." Carly rolled her eyes and shrugged out of her jacket. She
casually threw it on the back of the couch before dropping down on it
herself.

Jason watched their bantering with a curious eye. Two people who had never
met while he was "alive" had somehow become very close after his "death".

Carly patted the space beside her. She pointed at Jason. "You. Here. Now."

Jason obeyed her with a grin. Carly curled into Jason's side. She couldn't
stop touching him. "Alright, you, what the hell happened?"

"She goes straight to the point doesn't she?" Jason smiled at Sonny who had
taken his seat in the armchair.

"It's an annoying but endearing trait of hers." Sonny smirked at her.

"And she's sitting right next to you." Carly pinched him then laughed. "I
can't tell you how good that feels to do that to you."

"Good for you maybe." Jason rubbed his side. "Tell me what's been happening
here instead."

"God, there's been so much. How can we pack six years into one night?"
Carly said dramatically.

"Maybe you should restrict it to the important things only." Sonny
suggested helpfully. "Cassadine things, Carly?"

She tossed a pillow at him. "Be quiet, Sonny. I just found this out
myself."

"What are you talking about?" Jason looked at them.

"I just found out yesterday that Stefan Cassadine is my father." Carly said
nonchalantly as she ran her fingers through her hair. But I would rather
not talk about that right now."

"Okay, is there anything else I should know?"

Carly looked down at her hands and murmured. "Well, Lila…Lila died, Jason."

Jason felt his stomach clench. "When?"

"About three years ago." Sonny told him.

"It was painless. She went in her sleep." Carly quickly assured him.

"I should have been here. She…" He stared off into space.

Carly tenderly caressed his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into her
touch. "She knew. I think deep down inside she knew."

Sonny looked away from them. He knew he was being irrational but he felt
shut out, like he was a fifth wheel. He felt guilty just thinking it. He
cleared his throat to get their attention. "What happened to you? We were
told you died on the operating table. Obviously that wasn't true."

Carly gasped then she began to laugh. The guys looked at her, puzzled. She
stopped laughing long enough to tell them. "The urn! Oh my God, Monica and
I have been fighting over some John Doe all these years. Maybe I should
give it to her after all."

"Excuse me?" Jason said confused.

"When you "died" there was a mix-up and instead of a John Doe being
cremated, you were. Or at least we thought it was you." Carly frowned. "But
the thing is Robin was given the urn at first but she gave it to Sonny who
gave it to me. And every year Monica would come to me on the anniversary of
your death and ask for it. We would get into a big fight and I would kick
her out. I can't believe that all those times I was talking to the urn I
was talking to some other guy. I thought it was you!"

"But Carly, even if I was dead, that wouldn't be me in the urn." He said
gently. "Not really."

"To me, you were still here." She said softly.

Once again Sonny shifted his gaze away from them. He stared at the wall.
"So if you weren't cremated or buried, what happened that night?"

Jason began slowly. "I remember Robin and I were standing outside of this
building. We just going to go inside when out of the corner of my eye I saw
a car coming down the street. I got this feeling that something was about
to happen but it was too late. The car pulled up and they just opened fire.
I barely had time to knock Robin out of the way before I felt the first
bullet. I tried to pull out my gun but the bullets just kept coming, over
and over. The next thing I know I was falling and my head slammed against
that statue down there and then I completely blacked out."

Sonny leaned in. "Do you remember anything else?"

"I woke up at GH in this little room. I must have flatlined in the OR and
they thought I was dead but I wasn't. Somehow I came back."

"Cause you're one lucky SOB, that's why." Carly grinned.

"I must be. I woke up but my head was killing me. I had this pounding
headache and I couldn't remember anything."

"You mean you had amnesia?" Carly's eyes widened. "I thought that only
happened on cheesy soaps."

"It happened to me. I couldn't remember anything, not my name, where I was,
anything. But I remembered the feeling of danger. So I left the hospital."
He shrugged.

"You just walked out? No one stopped you?" Sonny asked incredulously.

"More like I snuck out." Jason clarified. "I stole some clothes and got the
hell out of there. Something told me I had to get out of Port Charles so
I…I stole a car."

"Wait a second!" Carly held up her hand to stop his story. "You couldn't
remember your name but you could remember how to hot wire a *car*?"

"Little things like that I could remember but the big things like my name
or you and Sonny and Michael?" He shook his head. "It was gone."

"So where did you go?" Sonny asked, curious to hear the rest of the tale.

"I went south. I drove as far as I could before the car ran out of gas and
then I hitchhiked until I ended up in Florida. I got a few odd jobs—"

Sonny cut him off. "Wait, Florida? We have people down in Florida, someone
should have spotted you."

"I was incognito." He laughed. "I had a full beard, long hair. I didn't
know what I was hiding from but I made damn sure I wasn't going to be
recognized. As I was saying, I got a few odd jobs here and there. Soon I
ended up working for this guy's shipping business. The job became my life.
It was all I did and I impressed my boss. Soon I was moving up in the
business. After a year or two I got used to things down there. I made a
handful of friends. I stopped wondering what I was running from and
concentrated on my future."

"You had a whole new life." Carly whispered.

He nodded. "I started going on business trips for my boss. I never came to
New York. I went everywhere but here. But slowly starting last year I began
to remember things, little things that didn't connect. Like my name or the
penthouse. And in my dreams I would see Michael or places that I used to
go. But they never made any sense. And then about two months ago the
company sent me to Europe. I did some business in London and then I had to
go to Paris."

"Paris?" Carly repeated slowly. She should have known. "You went to Robin?"

He shook his head. "I didn't know I was going to her. But one day I was
walking through the city on my way to an appointment and I saw her. It all
came rushing back to me. I suddenly remembered everything."

"All because you saw her." Carly muttered. "Figures."

Jason ignored her and continued. "It all confused me so I didn't approach
her. I followed her back to her apartment then went back to my hotel room
to sort things out. I can't tell you how many times I picked up the phone
to call somebody, anybody to let you guys know where I was. But I waited
until the next day and I went to talk to Robin. She was just as surprised
as you guys were." He frowned. "Carly, didn't you get her letter?"

"Letter? Oh yeah, I did get a letter from her but I tossed it in the
garbage."

"Carly." Sonny frowned.

"What? I got it on the anniversary of his death. I thought it was one of
her "let's talk about our feelings about Jason" letters and I was not up to
it. So I tossed it."

Sonny shook his head at her explanation. It was so like Carly. Jason said.
"In letter Robin explained everything so that you would be expecting me."

"But you just got here today." Sonny said. "What happened in the time
between you coming back and Carly getting the letter?"

"I got delayed and stranded in Paris. There were all sorts of problems so I
used that time to cut my ties to my job in Florida. And then I was able to
come home. I came to the penthouse and there was no one here. I tried
Bobbie's brownstone and I couldn't find anyone so I decided to see if Luke
was still running the club. And that's where the story ends."

Carly was dying to know. "Why isn't Robin with you?"

"Robin?" Jason seemed surprised that she would ask. "She lives in Paris.
She has her own life now."

"Oh." Carly wore a satisfied smile. It was one thing for her and Robin to
call a truce because of Jason's death. It was easy since they lived in
different countries. But it was obvious that the truce would be over if
Robin ever came back.

"I have to tell you, this whole night is unbelievable." Sonny stood. "I
need a drink."

While Sonny walked over to the bar Carly stared at Jason as if she wasn't
sure he was really there. "I just can't believe it. All these years, you
had amnesia!"

"How is Michael?" He asked.

Carly grinned. "He is perfect. Okay, he's not perfect but I'm his mother, I
can say that. I tell him about his father all the time. He knows who his
daddy is."

Jason nodded slowly, he understood that Michael was still his. He breathed
a relieved breath of air.

"He is going to be so excited. He missed you, I know he did." Carly jumped
up. "I'm going to go upstairs and call Betty so she can let him know that I
have a surprise for him! Sonny, I'm saying here tonight."

Sonny tossed back his drink before answering. "I knew you would be."

Jason watched as Carly dashed up the staircase. She paused at the top to
smile down at him and he smiled back. Sonny silently observed the exchange.
Jason came over to Sonny's side. Sonny placed a smile on his face.

"This seeing you and talking to you thing…I'm going to have to get used to
it again. I missed you, buddy."

"That's good to know." Jason nodded and then he jumped to another subject.
"Robin told me that she thought you and Carly were involved."

Sonny stopped in mid-swallow. He hadn't been expecting this. The last thing
he wanted to do was discuss his relationship with Carly. "We…were, for a
while."

"Really?" Jason's expression was blank and Sonny couldn't figure out what
his friend was thinking.

"After your 'death' Carly came to me with Michael. She needed help so I
took care of them. Things happened."

"So you aren't together now?" Jason pressed, he wanted things as clear as
possible.

"Right now we aren't but if I had my way…" Sonny let the sentence trail off
and poured himself another drink.

Jason crossed his arms and stared intently. "Do you love her?"

"What is this? Twenty questions?" When Jason continued to stare at him he
set down his glass and said harshly. "Yes, I do love her and she knows it."

The room was filled with tension as Sonny stubbornly glared at Jason. Jason
took a deep breath and looked away. "So…I no longer have a job or a place
to live."

Sonny looked away also relieved that the moment had passed. He said. "You
know you always have a room here if you want and your job is still
available."

"Good, good."

"Okay, I called Betty and she promised to tell Michael first thing in the
morning." Carly came bouncing down the stairs wearing one of Sonny's
T-shirts and a pair of shorts she had accidentally left behind.

"Raided my closet I see." Sonny murmured.

"You don't mind." She said confidently as she slipped her arm around Jason.
"You guys playing catch up or what?"

"Yeah and I'm a little tired." Sonny said, rubbing his neck. "I think I'll
turn in."

"No, you can't." Carly pouted. "I thought we'd all stay up, order some
food, and talk some more."

"You two go ahead. I'll see you in the morning." Sonny smiled briefly at
them before heading for the stairs.

Carly frowned at the abrupt way Sonny had left. She turned to Jason. "Did
something happen while I was gone?"

"No." He lied smoothly. He led Carly over to the couch and they sat back
down.

"Oh, he just seemed a little…" Carly shrugged off her concerns and
concentrated on the man beside her. She reached up and traced his features
with her finger. "I'm sorry but I still don't believe that you're here."

He gently touched her wrist and said softly. "I'm here."

She murmured. "I thought about you all the time. I would see someone or
someone would say something and it would remind me of you. When I first
moved back in here I would go through your stuff all the night. There was
this jacket of yours that I would put on and I'd pretend that you were
still here. I thought I was losing my mind. If you ever left us again, I
don't know how I would survive."

"You'd survive. You did this time." He pointed out.

"Barely. But it took a long time" She sighed and leaned her head on his
shoulder. "So let me just warn you that I won't be letting you out of my
sight for at least two weeks."

He laughed. "Really?"

"Yes and I want to know everything that happened to you. I want to know how
come you've changed."

"Changed?" He frowned. "I haven't changed."

"Jason, I know you. You're different somehow. Believe me, you've changed."

~*~
Carly suddenly opened her eyes and tried to remember where she was. And
then it came back to her. She and Jason must have fallen asleep during
their long talk. Her face softened as she looked at Jason who was sleeping
next to her.

Carly nudged Jason awake. "Jase? Wake up."

"Mmm?" He stretched out and lazily opened one eye.

"You can't sleep on this couch. Come with me." She slid off the couch and
held out her hand for him. He smiled impishly at her and Carly, reading his
mind, scowled. "Shut up, Jason. I didn't mean it like that."

"I didn't say anything." He laughed as he allowed her to lead him upstairs.

"I knew what you were thinking. And you say you haven't changed." She
shook her head. She stopped in front of a bedroom. "Here, you can stay in
this room."

Jason leaned against the door and reached out to stroke her face. "I didn't
want to say this in front of Sonny but I remembered you."

"Huh?" Carly was confused.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and murmured. "In my dreams, I
would see you. I didn't know who you were or what you meant to me but you
were always there."

Now Carly was intrigued. "When did this start? And what was I doing?"

"It was about four years ago…and I think you already know what you were
doing." He said suggestively.

"Jase!" Carly punched him in the arm. "Don't joke around."

"I'm not joking." He said seriously.

Carly looked at him dazed. "I never would have thought…"

He leaned in and softly brushed his lips across hers. "Don't worry about
it. Goodnight." Jason smiled at her before going into the room.

Carly stared in confusion at his closed door. What the hell had that been
about? She thoughtfully touched her lips and shook her head. She was being
silly. It didn't mean anything at all. It was just a goodnight kiss.

Sonny was unable to sleep. He lay in his bed staring up at the ceiling. He
was disgusted with himself for being irritated with Jason. He only wanted
to know about Carly, what was so wrong about that? Sonny frowned as he
thought about it. Jason was a threat to all that he worked for.

It was ridiculous but instead of thinking about how happy he should be that
Jason was alive he was worried that he was going to lose Carly. It would be
absurd to think that Jason wouldn't want to things to go back to the way
they used to be.

The door of his bedroom opened and he looked over to see who it was. Carly
was silhouetted in the doorway. She whispered. "Sonny?"

He sat up. "What is it?"

"Just seeing if you were awake." She crossed the room. Lifting the covers,
she slipped into bed with him.

He looked at her surprised. "I was just thinking. What are you doing here?"

"Going to sleep?" She said matter-of-factually. She punched her pillow
shaping it the way she liked it. "What were you thinking about?"

Sonny blinked. Then he shrugged, why bother to question her action. She was
here and that's all that matter. He reached for her and brought her close
to him. "I was thinking about Jason."

"It's great, isn't it?" She curled up against him and yawned loudly. "It's
like a miracle."