Chapter Six

Carly heard the loud voice and jumped, her eyes flying wide open as her heart began pounding. She wasn't sure at first what woke her but as she turned her face to the left, she found herself looking into Jason's chest. She lifted her eyes to Jason's face and saw they were wide with surprise. Carly twisted herself around until she found herself gazing at her husband and his sister. Her lips twisted into a false smile. "Hello, Sonny."

"What is going on here?" Sonny repeated furiously, softening his tone in light of the obvious surprise he'd caused Carly when he'd yelled.

"Jason & I were watching a movie and we fell asleep," Carly replied nonchalantly. "Why, what do you think is going on here?"

Sonny frowned, his eyes narrowed. After not having seen his wife for over a month, Sonny wasn't entirely sure he appreciated her tone. "I guess I'm not used to seeing my wife in another man's arms," he muttered, emphasizing the 'my wife' part.

"*Your wife* is with her best friend. Who happened to be the one who never gave up on finding her," Carly spit at him. She slowly sat up on the bed and slid off it. Jason also stood up but said nothing. He could sense Carly needed to handle this herself. He hated the pain he saw in Courtney's eyes, however. But Jason knew that before this was over, there would be more pain in Courtney's eyes.

"Thank you for finding her," Sonny directed at Jason, his voice soft.

Jason nodded. "I think Courtney and I need to go and talk on our own," he said quietly. He approached Courtney and gently took her arm, leading her from the room. "Let us know if you need anything."

Sonny nodded and watched them leave. Then he turned back to Carly, approaching slowly. "No hug for your husband?" he asked, a small smile forming on his lips.

Carly frowned. "I should think not." Carly took the rings from her finger and set them down. "This marriage is over, Sonny."

"What?" Sonny was stunned. "Why?"

"Why?" A bitter laughed escaped from Carly's lips as she began to pace slowly around the room, keeping a safe distance from Sonny. "Why didn't you find me? Why did you give up on me after only a short time? Why did you shack up with someone else? There are a lot of why's here, Sonny."

"I can explain," Sonny began, holding up his hand.

"You can explain what?" Carly interrupted. "You can explain how Jason was the one that came looking for me day after day in the place I was in. How HE knew and felt that I was there and because of that never gave up. And yet, you? You moved on two weeks later! Not only that, you didn't trust Jason, your own best friend!"

"Singing Jason's praises now, huh?" Sonny's lip curled in disgust. "So it's true then? Ric did have you?"

"Congratulations, Sherlock Holmes," Carly said sarcastically. "You figured it out. At little slow on the uptake, though."

Sonny winced. "I didn't shack up with Faith, Carly. I made a deal with the Feds."

Carly softened slightly. "You did? What kind of deal?"

Encouraged by her reaction, Sonny said, "They use all their resources to find you, I pretend Faith is my mistress to trap Alcazar."

"Didn't work, huh?" Carly asked. "He's way smarter than that. He'd never fall for Faith's tricks. Or yours either, even though you're a smoother player. He knew where I was all along too, by the way. But Alcazar wasn't the one who took me or who was holding me."

Sonny's fists clenched. "I *knew* Alcazar knew!"

"A lot of good that did me," Carly retorted. She shook her head. "Forget it, Sonny. Four weeks alone is a lot of time to think, to decide what I want. What I want is someone who has a connection to me. What I want is ... " She stopped abruptly as the thought hit her. What she wanted was something she couldn't have, "Jason."

Sonny's eyes grew wide with anger. "Jason!?!" he spit at her. "You want Jason? You're willing to let our marriage end, let our child be raised with his parents not together over the fact that Jason knew where you were and I didn't?"

Carly sighed and shook her head. "No, not only because of that," she said quietly. Now that her feelings were becoming clearer to her, Carly's anger was slowly disappearing. "Jason was there every day, Sonny. He searched that house high and low. Even when it seemed impossible that I was there, he still knew I was. He could feel me there, Sonny." Her eyes lifted to meet his. "That's something a husband and wife should feel. And it's something you obviously didn't feel." She sighed, sitting back down on the bed. "Maybe Jason's been in my heart all along, Sonny. Ric kidnapping me only brought those feelings to the surface."

Sonny's face was stony. "I won't believe that," he hissed, anger surging through him. "Maybe in the beginning. That was how we got together." Sonny raked a hand through his hair as he began to pace. "But we fell in love, Carly. You're carrying our second child. That's what's kept us together: our love for each other."

"Yes, I do love you," Carly admitted softly. Sonny began to relax, relieved. "But, I don't feel the same fire or passion that I used to feel. I feel more ... complacent." Sonny's heart began to pound at her words. He wanted to scream to stop her from speaking, but he couldn't seem to get his mouth open. "I will always love you, but something changed for me. I think ... " she looked searchingly at Sonny. "After I found out about you and Alexis."

Sonny blanched. "That was one night, Carly," he said, anger in his voice. "Are you going to hold that against me for the rest of my life?"

"I'm not holding it against you now," Carly said quietly. "I'm only telling you what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling. Ever since I found about that, my feelings have slowly changed. I will always love you, but that's not enough for me anymore. Ric's kidnapping me taught showed me that. And if you were honest," Carly said, approaching him slowly. She reached out and gently touched his cheek. "Then you'd admit that you didn't feel any connection to me the few times you did come into Ric's house."

Sonny sighed and took her hand in his. "Not feeling connected to you doesn't mean our marriage has to end, Carly."

"But it does," Carly said softly. She squeezed Sonny's hand. "I love you and I want us to raise our baby. But not as a married couple. As best friends who once shared more." Tears filled Sonny's eyes as she gently kissed his cheek and then his lips. "Don't make this harder than it is."

Sonny laughed bitterly. "Don't make this harder?" He wiped the tears that came to his own eyes. "My wife was kidnapped over a month ago. Now, after she's finally found, she tells me she wants a divorce. How do you want me to react, Carly?"

Carly winced at the tone of his voice. "It'll take time," she acknowledged. "I don't expect us to settle everything overnight. Michael and I can move into the Brownstone when we get back."

Sonny shook his head. "I need some air. I can't swallow this right now."

Carly nodded, taking a step back from him. "Let me know when you're ready to talk more. And contact the lawyers."

Sonny couldn't even answer her over the lump in his throat. He swallowed hard and stared at Carly for one last moment before turning and leaving the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*`*~*~*`*~*~

Courtney remained silent all the way back to the room. She had a bad feeling, but tried hard to stay optimistic while Jason led her to the couch in their room.

"We need to talk," Jason began, his face serious as always. His eyes were distant, but warm as he looked at Courtney.

Courtney's heart began to pound and she swallowed hard. "I hate conversations that start like that," she said softly, her attempt a humor lame, but she couldn't help it. Her knees began to shake a little so she allowed herself to sink down onto the couch.

Jason gave her a small smile and sat down beside her. "I think you know what I'm going to say already," Jason said softly. "I don't want to hurt you, Courtney. You .... " he sighed, reaching out and taking her hands in his, "you've meant so much to me. You taught me how to move on with a woman who loved me for me. In doing that, you set me free to realize the feelings I've kept hidden for years."

"What's that?" Courtney asked, a lump rising in her throat as she breathed deeply to try and force her heart to slow down.

"I am in love with Carly," Jason admitted quietly.

* WHACK *

Courtney's hand came across Jason's cheek so fast there was no way to have seen it coming. "I deserved that," Jason whispered. He looked at Courtney, his eyes full of pain. "I want you to know you're the first person I am discussing it with. I felt I owed it to you to tell you first."

"Gee, thanks," Courtney said sarcastically, tears welling up in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. "I appreciate your humbleness, Jason."

Jason grabbed a Kleenex and handed it to her, sighing. "I know this hurts, and I wish I could take away this pain, but I can't lie, Courtney."

"Of course not!" Courtney jumped up, anger spilling out with the tears. "Jason Morgan could never tell a lie! Except the one where he's coveted my brother's wife for months, possibly even years!"

Jason stood up, facing her but not touching her. His eyes met hers. "I would give anything not to feel the way I feel Courtney. Think about it. Not only am I hurting you, but I'm also sticking a knife in Sonny's back. He's been a brother to me for years, and this is how I repay him?" Jason's voice was anguished. "But I also can't hide what I feel, or lie to you. That's not fair, and you deserve better, Courtney."

Courtney was momentarily touched by his words and the pain she could see he felt. But her own pain took over every other emotion he was conveying to her. "I hope Sonny stabs you in the back and walks away with Carly and their baby," she said viciously.

Jason winced, but didn't approach her. "I deserve all the hate you can spew at me," he acknowledged. "But in the end, I know you'll find someone who will make you happy, Courtney. Someone who loves you only for you, and not someone who loves you but is in love with someone else."

Courtney sputtered with laughed. "You deserve it? You'd better believe you deserve it!" She began to pace around the room, shaking with anger. Her tears were subsiding as the anger overtook her. "Why have you hidden this?"

"Carly became pregnant with Sonny's child, and it was important to let them be together for their baby," Jason said softly. "I was out of town, and I thought I was doing the right thing by them. By the time I came back, Carly had fallen in love with Sonny."

"And she's not now?" Courtney asked, wondering if Carly had betrayed her too.

"I don't know," Jason shrugged. "I haven't asked her or even talked to her about it. What you saw earlier was truly just an accident. I'm not in this to break up your brother's marriage, Courtney. And if Carly loves Sonny, so be it. But I can't do this to you anymore. It's not fair."

Courtney shook her head. "No wonder you were so obsessed with finding Carly," she muttered.

"My feelings for her became stronger while she was missing," Jason admitted. "But they were there before that, Courtney. I knew I had to find her, and I knew Ric had her. I could feel it." His eyes were bright with sincerity.

Courtney shuddered. "Leave," she whispered. She walked over to her suitcase and opened it. Lifting Jason's clothes from it, she hurled them at him. "Take these and go," she said, beginning to cry again.

Jason leaned down and lifted the clothing into his arms. "I'm sorry, Courtney," Jason murmured softly. He threw her one more look and opened the door, planning on going to one of the spare rooms, dropping his stuff off and then going for a walk. When he opened the door, he was stunned to find Sonny standing there, looking wild eyed and furious.

"We need to talk," Sonny said icily, his voice disbelievingly calm.

Jason almost shuddered at the look on his face, but didn't. He nodded and walked out ahead of Sonny down the hall to a room that he knew was empty. Unemotionally, he dropped the clothes on the bed and turned to look at the man who'd been his brother for years. "Okay, go ahead."

Sonny shook his head with disbelief. "I don't even know where to start."

"Start with telling me what a bad friend I am for loving Carly," Jason offered, his tone sad. "And how unloyal I've been to you, especially after all you've done for me. And how you never want to see me again, and I'd better run and hide if I want to live. And how I hurt Courtney after I swore I wouldn't and you hate my guts for that too. You won't be telling me anything I don't already know."

A smile of repulsion settled across Sonny's face. "You think that feeling sorry for yourself excuses this? You're dead on with everything you said, man, and more. The fact that you know that isn't going to change what is."

Jason shrugged. "All I can do is apologize and tell you I didn't mean for this to happen."

"You didn't mean to fall in love with my wife?" Sonny asked sarcastically. "How nice. And I'm sure Carly didn't mean to fall in love with you either. But that's what we have here. And now we have to decide what to do about it."

Jason was stuck on his words. "Carly .... she's in love with me too?"

"Like you didn't know that." Sonny groaned with disgust at his faked surprise. "Why should I let you live?" he advanced on Jason menacingly. "If I kill you now, nothing in my life would change except the non-existence of a traitor."

Jason met Sonny's eyes. "You'd win by default, Sonny. Is that okay with you? Winning Carly's love because you kill the man she's fallen in love with?"

Sonny glared at Jason, but his words had hit home. "You're no longer my brother and you no longer work for me," Sonny said. "You're fired. You can stay the night; you leave in the morning. In the meantime, I forbid you to talk to either Michael or Carly."

"I'll stay away from your son," Jason replied. "And for now, I'll stay away from Carly. But you're not keeping me away from her forever, Sonny. Be warned."

Sonny stared at him a long moment, sparks shooting from his eyes. Then he turned on his heel and left.

Jason sighed and sat down, a small smile crossing his face as he realized what Sonny had said: Carly had feelings for him!