The three of them stared at each other. All was quiet for a moment. Karen
took advantage of the opportunity by wrapping her arms around Jason from
behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. She smirked at Carly, "Oh hi
Carly."
Jason shrugged her off him and started to stand up. He remembered that he
was naked beneath the sheets and sat back down. "Carly, I can explain."
"Hell yeah, you better explain." Carly couldn't believe her eyes. Jason,
true, steadfast, loyal Jason, the same Jason who nearly had a fit when she
suggested he see other women before the wedding, had cheated on her. She
remembered the look of shock on his face when she told him that if wanted
to have an affair with Karen Wexler it was all right with her.
"You don't have to explain anything, Jason." Karen piped up.
Carly leveled a murderous gaze on Karen that caused her to momentarily
shrink back. "We'll get to you in a second, just wait your turn. Jason?"
Karen's interruption reminded him of the pictures. "Karen's right. I don't
have anything to explain to you. You, on other hand, do."
Carly lifted her eyebrow. She had to pat herself on her back for her
self-control. Instead of standing there, calmly talking things out, all she
really wanted to do was kick Karen's butt. "Excuse me?"
"He means you and Sonny Corinthos." Karen sneered. She leaned over the bed
and picked up Jason's discarded shirt and pulled it on. She got up and ran
out of the room.
"There is no me and Sonny Corinthos." Carly said truthfully. After last
night, she was sure that things were over between her and Sonny.
Jason laughed without humor. "You can't stop lying, can you?"
"Jason, why don't you kick Dr. Slut out so that you and I can talk
privately." Carly suggested.
Karen returned clutching a handful of the pictures. "Here! Explain away
this." She thrust them at Carly. "My private detective does a good job,
doesn't he?"
Carly snatched them out of her hand and quickly sorted through them. She
immediately recognized them. They were from a few days ago. Her facial
expression stayed perfectly composed while inside she was boiling with
rage. How dare that bitch invade her privacy this way? She placed a cool
smile on her face. "I didn't know I was so photogenic."
Karen folded her arms. "So there's nothing going on with you and Sonny,
right? Ha!"
Jason closed his eyes. He couldn't do this with Karen there. "Karen, get
out."
"But Jason—"
"Just go. Into the living room or something. I need to talk to Carly,
alone."
"I'll start breakfast." She smiled sweetly and flounced out of the bedroom.
Carly watched as Jason picked up his pants and slid them on. He stood up
and looked at her sadly. "Carly..."
She had a feeling that she knew what he was going to say so she hurried to
cut him off. "Now that's all out in the open, I think we should figure out
how to put this all behind us and move on."
He shook his head. "No, we can't."
"Look, I made a mistake, you made a mistake. We're even."
"What happened between me and Karen last night," he waved his hand over the
bed, "yeah that was a mistake. But it was one time mistake. You and Sonny
are together. It's an ongoing thing."
"Not anymore." Carly said stiffly as she dropped the photographs to the
floor.
"I don't care. It happened and because of that I can't be with you
anymore."
"Just like that? You can just shut off all your love for me, just like
that?" Carly said in disbelief.
Jason put his head down and looked at the floor for a moment. When he
looked back up, his eyes were guarded. "It's not that easy for me. But this
isn't about me, this is about you. And the fact that you obviously didn't
love me as much as you said."
"How do you know that? Jason, I do love you."
"In your own way, I suppose you do."
"But not in the way you feel I should?" Carly asked softly. "I didn't know
there were rules to loving Jason Quartermaine."
"I won't accept you sleeping with other men!" He roared, surprising her.
She'd never seen him lose his temper that way before.
Though shocked, she wasn't about to let him intimidate her. She yelled
back. "I'm not sleeping with him anymore!"
"Just because it's over now doesn't mean—"
"It was only until the wedding. After that it was going to be over.
Marriage is sacred to me and I wouldn't have disrespected you like that."
"Oh you mean the way you've been disrespecting me already? It's funny how
you can hold marriage sacred but the period before the marriage, the
promise to love each other forever, that's not important at all."
"That's not how I meant it." Carly tried defending herself.
"I don't care how you meant it. Your idea of love—" He stopped himself
before he said horrible something about the Cassadines. He took a breath,
"I can't spend our married life worrying that you're out with some other
guy."
Carly stood quiet for a moment. "I know where this is coming from. Jason,
we are not Alan and Monica, and we will never be those two. They seriously
screwed you up."
"And the same can't be said for your parents?" He quickly shot back. He
shook his head, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have—"
Carly held up a hand. "No, you were saying what you felt, right? And this
is what I feel. I'm not going to sit here and beg you to stay with me.
Forget that and forget you. I'm better than that. I'm not going to break
down and die without you. I don't need you."
"Did you ever really need me?" He murmured.
Carly didn't hear him as she pulled on her engagement ring and tossed it
onto the rumpled bed. "I don't need that anymore either. Hope you have nice
life."
She was halfway across the room when she remembered the pictures. She
turned and swiped a handful off the floor. "I think I'll keep some of
these. You know, as souvenirs. Keep the rest, to remember me by."
She strode out of the bedroom, walking with confidence. When she came near
the kitchen she saw Karen. Karen was leaning against the wall, still
wearing Jason's shirt and holding a spatula.
Karen smirked at Carly. "Not staying for breakfast?"
Carly slowly turned her head and stared directly in Karen's eyes. The anger
and the hatred that blazed in them scared Karen.
Carly walked up to Karen until they were inches away. "You think you've
won? You want Jason? Have him. But you shouldn't have messed with me."
"I'm not scared of you." Karen said with false bravado. "You try and hurt
me and I'll have you arrested so fast..."
Carly laughed lightly. "I'm not going to touch you. I have other plans for
you."
Carly turned on her heel and walked out of the apartment. Jason had waited
until he was sure Carly was gone before coming out to confront Karen.
Karen's face lit up when she saw him.
"Hey! Breakfast is almost ready. I'm making pancakes and toast unless you
want something else?"
"Let's forget about breakfast." Jason said.
Karen's face fell. "Don't tell me you want to go *out* for breakfast, cause
I've already started and it'd be such a waste if—"
"Karen!" He snapped. He regretted his harsh tone immediately. He said, this
time more gently, "Karen, I don't want to talk about breakfast. I want to
talk about...what happened last night."
Karen smiled seductively and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed
her body against his and murmured. "Mmm, wasn't it amazing?"
Jason removed her arms and took a step back. "Karen, it was wrong."
"Why? You didn't force me into your bed. I wanted to be there."
"I took advantage of that. I wanted to lash out at Carly and you were right
there willing to help. I should have thought about your feelings more than
mine."
Karen licked her suddenly dry lips. "What are you trying to say Jason?"
"I'm saying," he reached out to tenderly tuck a lock of hair behind her
ear, "that last night was a one time thing. We can't get back together.
We're not in high school."
Karen closed her eyes tightly. "I know that. I don't want to go back to
high school. I want to be with you, here, now."
"I wish I could say the same."
"So you sleep with me and you kick me out the next day?" Karen whispered as
a tear ran down her face. Jason winced when he saw it. "Bastard."
"I shouldn't have slept with you. I'm sorry."
"Save your apologies." Karen told him angrily. "I don't want them."
Karen pushed away from him and ran down the hall to his bedroom. She
slammed the door behind her. Jason rubbed his hands over his face and tried
to figure out how his life could get so turned upside down in barely
twenty-four hours.
~*~*~
Once outside Jason's apartment building Carly by passed her car and instead
decided to walk. Her driver stood waiting for her to tell him what to do
but when she continued walking and then crossed the street, he quickly got
in the car and followed her.
Carly wasn't aware of where she was going. She walked blindly down the
street. How did she end up this way? She glanced down at her hand where a
band of light skin stood out in contrast. How did she lose both Jason and
Sonny in two days? And which loss was killing her? She knew Jason for two
years, she was comfortable with him but there was this feeling… Her heart
wasn't breaking because of Sonny, was it?
She sighed. She couldn't take these heavy emotions. She was never one to
dwell on things like that. She got in, she got out, she moved on. She
didn't stand around and ask why? Her cell phone rang pulling her out of her
thoughts. She tucked the photos under her arm and pulled out her cell.
"Yes?"
"Carly, it's me." Alexis told her.
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah, I...are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't sound okay."
"Al, I'm fine." Carly reassured her. "What's up?"
"I am going to kill my research assistant, that's what's up." Alexis
growled. "You know how I said that the DNA results would take four weeks to
come back?"
"Yeah..."
"She told me this morning that she goofed. They'll be ready in a week."
"What? How did we not know that? Why didn't anybody tell us?"
"They assumed we knew, I guess."
Carly sighed. She didn't need this on top of everything. "Ok, here's what
we're going to do. Call Luke and tell him about this but he is *not* to
tell Laura. She'll just tell Nikolas and he'll tell Helena. It's better
that she think she has four weeks to plan her next move. Call Father and
let him know also."
"I called him." Alexis told her.
"And what did he say to do?"
"The same thing you did."
"Oh...good. Is that it then?" Carly asked as she realized that she'd walked
all the way to the park. She made her way to an empty bench and sat down.
"Yes. Oh, and dinner tonight at Wyndemere."
"Why?" Carly asked suspiciously.
"Stefan wants the family to gather. So we can touch base, I guess. Kevin
will be there so please don't antagonize him." Alexis pleaded. "What time
should we expect you and Jason?"
"Jason won't be there." Carly told her.
"Why not?"
"He'll be...working." Carly said. Great, she had to break the news to her
family over dinner.
"Oh, that's a shame. Hold on a minute." Alexis put her on hold for a while.
When she came back she said, "I have to go. I'll see you tonight at
Wyndemere."
Once she disconnected the call, Carly slid her cell back in her purse,
leaned back, and closed her eyes. Five minutes, she thought, all I need is
just five minutes where the world is calm and at a standstill. No big
revelations, no mix-ups, and no dinners where I have to tell my father I
failed. Caroline Cassadine and the word failure never went together.
"Mind if I join you?"
Carly opened one eye. "Jax? Why are you always around?"
Jax was dressed in his running gear, shorts and a T-shirt. He ran in place
in front of her, his blond hair fell into his eyes, and sweat beaded his
forehead and arms. "I don't know. I guess you could say that I'm always in
the right place at the right time."
"That or you have a white knight complex." She muttered, opening both eyes
now. "Could you stop with the running, you're giving me a headache."
Jax only grinned at her as he placed two fingers on his wrist and checked
his watch. Once he was satisfied with his heart rate he sat down next to
Carly, who quickly moved away.
"Okay, the sweat thing? Keep that away from me. I have to go to work
today."
"I take it you're not into physical activity. How do you keep in shape?"
"Oh I exercise. And I like to ride." Catching the look in his eye she
quickly added. "Horses, I like to ride horses, you pervert."
"What? I didn't say anything." He said with a smile. "If you have to get to
work, on a Saturday no less, what are you doing sitting in the park? You
don't strike me as the type to 'stop and smell the roses.'"
"I'm having a bad day."
He looked at his watch. "Already?"
"Want to see for yourself? Here." She tossed the pictures into his lap.
"What is this?" He said, picking them up. His eyes widened as he got a good
look at them. "Oh! Can I get a copy of these?"
"Give me those." She snatched them out of his hands.
"What happened?"
She held up her ringless hand and said. "Use your great powers of
deduction."
"So how did those photos end up in the hands of your now ex-fiancee?"
"By way of a little bitch who's about to get the payback of her life."
Carly smiled as the beginnings of a plan formed in her mind.
"Does this mean you're going to joining me in the ELQ takeover?"
"No, you're still on your own for that one buddy."
"But now that you guys are broken up, what better revenge is there on the
guy?"
"I wouldn't use ELQ to get revenge on Jason. I told you, he's a doctor. It
wouldn't affect him as much. Besides I don't want to get revenge on
*Jason*. No, I'm going to make Karen Wexler pay."
~*~*~
Sonny sat at his desk at the Paradise and turned a pencil over and over in
his hands. He was brooding over his argument with Carly last night. He had
been jealous and he knew why. When he saw her with Jax last night he knew
that that could never be them. He could never openly flirt with her in
public, take her out, and be seen in places with her.
He wanted more plain and simple. It was killing him. He'd ignored the need
for the longest time, telling himself he was satisfied with things the way
they were. But in reality he wanted to be more than just one more of Carly
Cassadine's nameless, faceless lovers. But they were both tied to
obligations that couldn't allow that to happen.
"You won't believe what was just delivered for me right after my
rehearsal." Hannah announced as she entered his office unannounced, jolting
Sonny out of his thoughts. She carried a large bouquet of red roses.
"Roses?" Sonny deadpanned.
"Not just any roses, roses from *Zander Smith*!" Hannah squealed. She
hopped up on the corner of his desk and cradled the roses in arms. "Aren't
they beautiful?"
"Yeah." Sonny muttered. He had an open door policy with his girls but
listening to Hannah's prattle wasn't at the top of his agenda.
"Joey told me that Zander was asking about me last night. Do you think he
saw my act?" Hannah didn't wait for Sonny to answer before continuing, "Oh
my God! This is just so cool. I mean, okay, I *know* he's involved with
someone else. Really, who could ignore the newspaper headlines: 'The Model
and the Mobster' but do I look like I mind being someone's kept woman? Gia
Campbell can't keep him *that* happy, right?"
Hannah realized that Sonny wasn't listening to a word she was saying. She
waved her hand in front of his face, "Hello? Anybody home?"
"Hannah, I'm not in the mood." Sonny snapped.
"Jeez, who kicked your puppy?" Hannah asked.
"I'm not going to talk about it."
"What did Miss Cassadine do now?" Hannah asked shrewdly. "She break your
heart?"
"Get out." He snapped.
"Oh, I touched a nerve. It must be pretty bad. Look, boss, you're better
off without her. All you do is sneak around with her and you deserve
someone you can be out in the open with."
"Hannah..." Sonny growled.
She jumped off his desk, "Okay, okay. I'll leave it alone. You want me to
send some of the girls back here to cheer you up?"
Sonny was saved from answering by the phone. As he was picking it up,
Hannah scooted out the door to give him privacy. "Corinthos."
"Daddy?"
Sonny sat up straighter. "Brooke? What happened? Are you okay? Your
brother? Your mother?"
"We're fine, Daddy. You'd know that if you called or came down more often."
Brooke Lynn replied sullenly.
Sonny relaxed in his seat. "You sound just like your mother, kiddo. What
do you mean, I don't come down to see you guys. I was just there for
Michael's birthday."
"Oh, big deal."
"Do something about that attitude, young lady." He said without much heat.
He thought, God, she sounds *just* like her mother. "So there's nothing
wrong?"
"No, I can't call my daddy and say hi?" Brooke whined.
"How much do you want?"
"I don't need any money."
"If it's not trouble or money, then what is it?"
"It's summer you know, and I wanted to know if it's okay if I came to stay
with you for a while. Like, this week?"
Sonny rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know...I'm kind of busy right
now."
Brooke sighed dramatically. "Great, Daddy, it's nice to know you don't give
a crap about me."
"Don't start that. Look we'll...I'll talk to your mother and we'll see what
happens from there."
"Yes!" Brooke said triumphantly.
"Don't get excited, it may not happen okay? So everything's all right down
there?"
"Yeah, Michael's okay, if that's what you want to know. Oh! Grandpa Mike
was here the other day."
Sonny narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "What did he want?"
"He felt bad for missing Michael's birthday so he brought presents for
Michael and me. It was cool."
"That's it?" Sonny demanded. He knew his father.
"He didn't come for money, Daddy! Grandpa Mike just wanted to see us,
okay?" Brooke told him. "Uh-oh."
"What is it?" Sonny said. He could hear in the background Lois coming in
yelling, "Brooke Lynn Corinthos! You know you're not supposed to be on the
phone. Give me that right now!"
Lois said in the phone, this time her voice calm and mellow. "I'm sorry
but—"
"Lois?"
"Sonny? Did you call here?"
"No, Brooke—"
Lois laughed bitterly. "Of course you didn't call here, like you give a
damn about this family."
Sonny closed his eyes for a moment. "Lois, what the hell is going on down
there? What's going on with Brooke?"
"She's grounded, that's what. She stayed out all night and missy thought
she was too old to call home."
"She did what? Put her back on the phone."
"So you can do what? Yell at her? I did that. Ground her? I did. Parent
her? *I* do that." Lois snapped. "You can't all of sudden decide you want
to long distance parent."
"Don't start that Lois, you wanted it like this. How long has Brooke been
grounded?"
"For a few days, it stays in effect for two more weeks no matter what you
say."
"I agree with you, Lois. She was just trying to convince me to let her come
up here this week. She was trying to get around the grounding."
"That little..." Lois muttered something under her breath in Italian that
Sonny couldn't quite catch. "I gotta go, Sonny, I have to talk to Miss
Brooke."
"Give Michael a kiss for me." Sonny said quickly.
"And I'll tell him you love him." She said, her tone softening.
"Lois...when everything's all settled down, we need to talk."
"Yeah, we do." Lois said softly before hanging up.
~*~*~
"Lucky, hey, thanks for meeting me here." Emily called out that afternoon.
She was seated at a small table outside of Kelly's. She stood up to greet
him with a kiss. She quickly sat back down. She was nervous and didn't want
Lucky to notice.
"Like I would turn you down." Lucky joked. "I heard Dad finally caved and
called in a repairman so we can get a hot lunch."
"I didn't ask you to meet me here for lunch."
Lucky narrowed his eyes, "Then why?"
Because doing this out in the open means you won't make a scene, she
thought. She reached across the table to take his hands in hers. "Lucky, I,
uh..."
Lucky pulled back. "You're not about to say what I think you're about to
say, are you?"
"What?" Emily asked. Once she realized what he meant she immediately shook
her head. "No! No, no, no, that's not what I'm talking about. God, no."
This didn't do much to calm Lucky's nerves because he still looked at her
warily. "Then what are you talking about?"
"It's kind of stupid, well, not stupid exactly, it's uh—"
"Emily, just say it."
Emily took a deep breath. "I kind of knew Nikolas before the press
conference the other day."
Lucky pushed away from the table and stood up. "You knew about him? You
knew about him and didn't warn me and my family or Carly?"
Emily jumped up. "No! The press conference was a shock to me also. Before
that all I knew was that he was some guy named Nikolas."
Lucky took a moment to think it over. "Why didn't you tell me about him
anyway? Why did you hide him from me?"
"Because..." Emily twisted her fingers together. "The first time I met him,
we ran into each other and he...he kissed me."
"He what?"
"I don't know why he did it. He said it was because he was hiding from
someone but that could be a lie because all he does is lie." Emily said in
a rush. She added. "I hit him though."
"Why did you keep that a secret from me?" Lucky asked slowly as if he was
afraid of her answer.
"I knew you would get mad and I felt it wasn't worth it. It wasn't like I
was going to see him again!" Emily tried to laugh it off but under Lucky's
steady gaze her laughter trailed off.
"You saw him again."
Emily looked down. "Yeah."
Lucky closed his eyes. "That night outside of my dad's club. That was you
after all."
She said softly. "Yeah. It's not what you think. He was drunk and I was
just helping him home. I should have told you. I don't know why I didn't
tell you."
"You lied to me." He said in a soft accusatory tone. "Over and over again,
after we made promises never to lie to each other. After I ask you straight
out if you were with another guy, you still lied to me."
"But Lucky, it wasn't like that. I wasn't interested in him."
"Then why did you lie about it?"
"I don't know." Lucky just looked at her. He started to back away from her.
"Lucky? Where are you going?"
"I have to go. I have to think about this." Lucky said.
"But Lucky—"
"You broke my trust Emily. I need some time." Lucky said before quickly
walking away.
Emily collapsed into her seat. She had expected Lucky to react badly but
not this badly. How am I going to fix this, she thought.
~*~*~
Carly walked into Wyndemere that evening and saw that she was the last to
arrive. "Sorry I'm late. I was at the office."
"On a Saturday?" Barbara arched a brow.
Carly shrugged. "I felt like going in."
"Alexis told me couldn't come because of work?" Stefan asked. "I suppose
it's for the best. He is not in the family yet and we as a family need to
discuss things."
Alexis glanced at her brother. She knew what Stefan wanted to talk about.
That morning when she called about the DNA mistake he decided that now was
the time to tell Carly the story Irena Markopoulos had told him.
"Before we get into that I have something to tell you." Carly took a deep
breath. She'd rather it was just her and her father and not the rest of the
family but she might as well just get it all over with.
"Is there something wrong?" Barbara asked.
Carly said carefully. "Jason and I have decided to end our relationship. We
are no longer involved."
"I'm sorry to hear that Carly." Kevin murmured.
"This is awfully sudden." Alexis said.
"But things were just fine with you two at the Nurses Ball, what happened?"
Barbara asked in concern. She got up and went over to Carly, who carefully
avoided her touch.
Stefan was the only one who didn't react instantly. He saw the way Carly's
eyes wouldn't meet any one else's in the room. She kept her gaze fixated on
the floor. She looked uneasy. There was something wrong. It would seem that
tonight would not be the night to tell her Irena's story. Further stress
wouldn't be good for her. Stefan finally said. "I am sorry to hear about
this Caroline. I, along with everyone else, will respect your privacy and
not push for anymore information."
Chastened, Barbara cleared her throat, "Yes, it's a shame that you and
Jason aren't together. I'm sure you will continue to be friends. Is that
Mrs. Landsbury? I think dinner is ready."
took advantage of the opportunity by wrapping her arms around Jason from
behind and resting her chin on his shoulder. She smirked at Carly, "Oh hi
Carly."
Jason shrugged her off him and started to stand up. He remembered that he
was naked beneath the sheets and sat back down. "Carly, I can explain."
"Hell yeah, you better explain." Carly couldn't believe her eyes. Jason,
true, steadfast, loyal Jason, the same Jason who nearly had a fit when she
suggested he see other women before the wedding, had cheated on her. She
remembered the look of shock on his face when she told him that if wanted
to have an affair with Karen Wexler it was all right with her.
"You don't have to explain anything, Jason." Karen piped up.
Carly leveled a murderous gaze on Karen that caused her to momentarily
shrink back. "We'll get to you in a second, just wait your turn. Jason?"
Karen's interruption reminded him of the pictures. "Karen's right. I don't
have anything to explain to you. You, on other hand, do."
Carly lifted her eyebrow. She had to pat herself on her back for her
self-control. Instead of standing there, calmly talking things out, all she
really wanted to do was kick Karen's butt. "Excuse me?"
"He means you and Sonny Corinthos." Karen sneered. She leaned over the bed
and picked up Jason's discarded shirt and pulled it on. She got up and ran
out of the room.
"There is no me and Sonny Corinthos." Carly said truthfully. After last
night, she was sure that things were over between her and Sonny.
Jason laughed without humor. "You can't stop lying, can you?"
"Jason, why don't you kick Dr. Slut out so that you and I can talk
privately." Carly suggested.
Karen returned clutching a handful of the pictures. "Here! Explain away
this." She thrust them at Carly. "My private detective does a good job,
doesn't he?"
Carly snatched them out of her hand and quickly sorted through them. She
immediately recognized them. They were from a few days ago. Her facial
expression stayed perfectly composed while inside she was boiling with
rage. How dare that bitch invade her privacy this way? She placed a cool
smile on her face. "I didn't know I was so photogenic."
Karen folded her arms. "So there's nothing going on with you and Sonny,
right? Ha!"
Jason closed his eyes. He couldn't do this with Karen there. "Karen, get
out."
"But Jason—"
"Just go. Into the living room or something. I need to talk to Carly,
alone."
"I'll start breakfast." She smiled sweetly and flounced out of the bedroom.
Carly watched as Jason picked up his pants and slid them on. He stood up
and looked at her sadly. "Carly..."
She had a feeling that she knew what he was going to say so she hurried to
cut him off. "Now that's all out in the open, I think we should figure out
how to put this all behind us and move on."
He shook his head. "No, we can't."
"Look, I made a mistake, you made a mistake. We're even."
"What happened between me and Karen last night," he waved his hand over the
bed, "yeah that was a mistake. But it was one time mistake. You and Sonny
are together. It's an ongoing thing."
"Not anymore." Carly said stiffly as she dropped the photographs to the
floor.
"I don't care. It happened and because of that I can't be with you
anymore."
"Just like that? You can just shut off all your love for me, just like
that?" Carly said in disbelief.
Jason put his head down and looked at the floor for a moment. When he
looked back up, his eyes were guarded. "It's not that easy for me. But this
isn't about me, this is about you. And the fact that you obviously didn't
love me as much as you said."
"How do you know that? Jason, I do love you."
"In your own way, I suppose you do."
"But not in the way you feel I should?" Carly asked softly. "I didn't know
there were rules to loving Jason Quartermaine."
"I won't accept you sleeping with other men!" He roared, surprising her.
She'd never seen him lose his temper that way before.
Though shocked, she wasn't about to let him intimidate her. She yelled
back. "I'm not sleeping with him anymore!"
"Just because it's over now doesn't mean—"
"It was only until the wedding. After that it was going to be over.
Marriage is sacred to me and I wouldn't have disrespected you like that."
"Oh you mean the way you've been disrespecting me already? It's funny how
you can hold marriage sacred but the period before the marriage, the
promise to love each other forever, that's not important at all."
"That's not how I meant it." Carly tried defending herself.
"I don't care how you meant it. Your idea of love—" He stopped himself
before he said horrible something about the Cassadines. He took a breath,
"I can't spend our married life worrying that you're out with some other
guy."
Carly stood quiet for a moment. "I know where this is coming from. Jason,
we are not Alan and Monica, and we will never be those two. They seriously
screwed you up."
"And the same can't be said for your parents?" He quickly shot back. He
shook his head, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have—"
Carly held up a hand. "No, you were saying what you felt, right? And this
is what I feel. I'm not going to sit here and beg you to stay with me.
Forget that and forget you. I'm better than that. I'm not going to break
down and die without you. I don't need you."
"Did you ever really need me?" He murmured.
Carly didn't hear him as she pulled on her engagement ring and tossed it
onto the rumpled bed. "I don't need that anymore either. Hope you have nice
life."
She was halfway across the room when she remembered the pictures. She
turned and swiped a handful off the floor. "I think I'll keep some of
these. You know, as souvenirs. Keep the rest, to remember me by."
She strode out of the bedroom, walking with confidence. When she came near
the kitchen she saw Karen. Karen was leaning against the wall, still
wearing Jason's shirt and holding a spatula.
Karen smirked at Carly. "Not staying for breakfast?"
Carly slowly turned her head and stared directly in Karen's eyes. The anger
and the hatred that blazed in them scared Karen.
Carly walked up to Karen until they were inches away. "You think you've
won? You want Jason? Have him. But you shouldn't have messed with me."
"I'm not scared of you." Karen said with false bravado. "You try and hurt
me and I'll have you arrested so fast..."
Carly laughed lightly. "I'm not going to touch you. I have other plans for
you."
Carly turned on her heel and walked out of the apartment. Jason had waited
until he was sure Carly was gone before coming out to confront Karen.
Karen's face lit up when she saw him.
"Hey! Breakfast is almost ready. I'm making pancakes and toast unless you
want something else?"
"Let's forget about breakfast." Jason said.
Karen's face fell. "Don't tell me you want to go *out* for breakfast, cause
I've already started and it'd be such a waste if—"
"Karen!" He snapped. He regretted his harsh tone immediately. He said, this
time more gently, "Karen, I don't want to talk about breakfast. I want to
talk about...what happened last night."
Karen smiled seductively and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed
her body against his and murmured. "Mmm, wasn't it amazing?"
Jason removed her arms and took a step back. "Karen, it was wrong."
"Why? You didn't force me into your bed. I wanted to be there."
"I took advantage of that. I wanted to lash out at Carly and you were right
there willing to help. I should have thought about your feelings more than
mine."
Karen licked her suddenly dry lips. "What are you trying to say Jason?"
"I'm saying," he reached out to tenderly tuck a lock of hair behind her
ear, "that last night was a one time thing. We can't get back together.
We're not in high school."
Karen closed her eyes tightly. "I know that. I don't want to go back to
high school. I want to be with you, here, now."
"I wish I could say the same."
"So you sleep with me and you kick me out the next day?" Karen whispered as
a tear ran down her face. Jason winced when he saw it. "Bastard."
"I shouldn't have slept with you. I'm sorry."
"Save your apologies." Karen told him angrily. "I don't want them."
Karen pushed away from him and ran down the hall to his bedroom. She
slammed the door behind her. Jason rubbed his hands over his face and tried
to figure out how his life could get so turned upside down in barely
twenty-four hours.
~*~*~
Once outside Jason's apartment building Carly by passed her car and instead
decided to walk. Her driver stood waiting for her to tell him what to do
but when she continued walking and then crossed the street, he quickly got
in the car and followed her.
Carly wasn't aware of where she was going. She walked blindly down the
street. How did she end up this way? She glanced down at her hand where a
band of light skin stood out in contrast. How did she lose both Jason and
Sonny in two days? And which loss was killing her? She knew Jason for two
years, she was comfortable with him but there was this feeling… Her heart
wasn't breaking because of Sonny, was it?
She sighed. She couldn't take these heavy emotions. She was never one to
dwell on things like that. She got in, she got out, she moved on. She
didn't stand around and ask why? Her cell phone rang pulling her out of her
thoughts. She tucked the photos under her arm and pulled out her cell.
"Yes?"
"Carly, it's me." Alexis told her.
"Did something happen?"
"Yeah, I...are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
"You don't sound okay."
"Al, I'm fine." Carly reassured her. "What's up?"
"I am going to kill my research assistant, that's what's up." Alexis
growled. "You know how I said that the DNA results would take four weeks to
come back?"
"Yeah..."
"She told me this morning that she goofed. They'll be ready in a week."
"What? How did we not know that? Why didn't anybody tell us?"
"They assumed we knew, I guess."
Carly sighed. She didn't need this on top of everything. "Ok, here's what
we're going to do. Call Luke and tell him about this but he is *not* to
tell Laura. She'll just tell Nikolas and he'll tell Helena. It's better
that she think she has four weeks to plan her next move. Call Father and
let him know also."
"I called him." Alexis told her.
"And what did he say to do?"
"The same thing you did."
"Oh...good. Is that it then?" Carly asked as she realized that she'd walked
all the way to the park. She made her way to an empty bench and sat down.
"Yes. Oh, and dinner tonight at Wyndemere."
"Why?" Carly asked suspiciously.
"Stefan wants the family to gather. So we can touch base, I guess. Kevin
will be there so please don't antagonize him." Alexis pleaded. "What time
should we expect you and Jason?"
"Jason won't be there." Carly told her.
"Why not?"
"He'll be...working." Carly said. Great, she had to break the news to her
family over dinner.
"Oh, that's a shame. Hold on a minute." Alexis put her on hold for a while.
When she came back she said, "I have to go. I'll see you tonight at
Wyndemere."
Once she disconnected the call, Carly slid her cell back in her purse,
leaned back, and closed her eyes. Five minutes, she thought, all I need is
just five minutes where the world is calm and at a standstill. No big
revelations, no mix-ups, and no dinners where I have to tell my father I
failed. Caroline Cassadine and the word failure never went together.
"Mind if I join you?"
Carly opened one eye. "Jax? Why are you always around?"
Jax was dressed in his running gear, shorts and a T-shirt. He ran in place
in front of her, his blond hair fell into his eyes, and sweat beaded his
forehead and arms. "I don't know. I guess you could say that I'm always in
the right place at the right time."
"That or you have a white knight complex." She muttered, opening both eyes
now. "Could you stop with the running, you're giving me a headache."
Jax only grinned at her as he placed two fingers on his wrist and checked
his watch. Once he was satisfied with his heart rate he sat down next to
Carly, who quickly moved away.
"Okay, the sweat thing? Keep that away from me. I have to go to work
today."
"I take it you're not into physical activity. How do you keep in shape?"
"Oh I exercise. And I like to ride." Catching the look in his eye she
quickly added. "Horses, I like to ride horses, you pervert."
"What? I didn't say anything." He said with a smile. "If you have to get to
work, on a Saturday no less, what are you doing sitting in the park? You
don't strike me as the type to 'stop and smell the roses.'"
"I'm having a bad day."
He looked at his watch. "Already?"
"Want to see for yourself? Here." She tossed the pictures into his lap.
"What is this?" He said, picking them up. His eyes widened as he got a good
look at them. "Oh! Can I get a copy of these?"
"Give me those." She snatched them out of his hands.
"What happened?"
She held up her ringless hand and said. "Use your great powers of
deduction."
"So how did those photos end up in the hands of your now ex-fiancee?"
"By way of a little bitch who's about to get the payback of her life."
Carly smiled as the beginnings of a plan formed in her mind.
"Does this mean you're going to joining me in the ELQ takeover?"
"No, you're still on your own for that one buddy."
"But now that you guys are broken up, what better revenge is there on the
guy?"
"I wouldn't use ELQ to get revenge on Jason. I told you, he's a doctor. It
wouldn't affect him as much. Besides I don't want to get revenge on
*Jason*. No, I'm going to make Karen Wexler pay."
~*~*~
Sonny sat at his desk at the Paradise and turned a pencil over and over in
his hands. He was brooding over his argument with Carly last night. He had
been jealous and he knew why. When he saw her with Jax last night he knew
that that could never be them. He could never openly flirt with her in
public, take her out, and be seen in places with her.
He wanted more plain and simple. It was killing him. He'd ignored the need
for the longest time, telling himself he was satisfied with things the way
they were. But in reality he wanted to be more than just one more of Carly
Cassadine's nameless, faceless lovers. But they were both tied to
obligations that couldn't allow that to happen.
"You won't believe what was just delivered for me right after my
rehearsal." Hannah announced as she entered his office unannounced, jolting
Sonny out of his thoughts. She carried a large bouquet of red roses.
"Roses?" Sonny deadpanned.
"Not just any roses, roses from *Zander Smith*!" Hannah squealed. She
hopped up on the corner of his desk and cradled the roses in arms. "Aren't
they beautiful?"
"Yeah." Sonny muttered. He had an open door policy with his girls but
listening to Hannah's prattle wasn't at the top of his agenda.
"Joey told me that Zander was asking about me last night. Do you think he
saw my act?" Hannah didn't wait for Sonny to answer before continuing, "Oh
my God! This is just so cool. I mean, okay, I *know* he's involved with
someone else. Really, who could ignore the newspaper headlines: 'The Model
and the Mobster' but do I look like I mind being someone's kept woman? Gia
Campbell can't keep him *that* happy, right?"
Hannah realized that Sonny wasn't listening to a word she was saying. She
waved her hand in front of his face, "Hello? Anybody home?"
"Hannah, I'm not in the mood." Sonny snapped.
"Jeez, who kicked your puppy?" Hannah asked.
"I'm not going to talk about it."
"What did Miss Cassadine do now?" Hannah asked shrewdly. "She break your
heart?"
"Get out." He snapped.
"Oh, I touched a nerve. It must be pretty bad. Look, boss, you're better
off without her. All you do is sneak around with her and you deserve
someone you can be out in the open with."
"Hannah..." Sonny growled.
She jumped off his desk, "Okay, okay. I'll leave it alone. You want me to
send some of the girls back here to cheer you up?"
Sonny was saved from answering by the phone. As he was picking it up,
Hannah scooted out the door to give him privacy. "Corinthos."
"Daddy?"
Sonny sat up straighter. "Brooke? What happened? Are you okay? Your
brother? Your mother?"
"We're fine, Daddy. You'd know that if you called or came down more often."
Brooke Lynn replied sullenly.
Sonny relaxed in his seat. "You sound just like your mother, kiddo. What
do you mean, I don't come down to see you guys. I was just there for
Michael's birthday."
"Oh, big deal."
"Do something about that attitude, young lady." He said without much heat.
He thought, God, she sounds *just* like her mother. "So there's nothing
wrong?"
"No, I can't call my daddy and say hi?" Brooke whined.
"How much do you want?"
"I don't need any money."
"If it's not trouble or money, then what is it?"
"It's summer you know, and I wanted to know if it's okay if I came to stay
with you for a while. Like, this week?"
Sonny rubbed the back of his neck, "I don't know...I'm kind of busy right
now."
Brooke sighed dramatically. "Great, Daddy, it's nice to know you don't give
a crap about me."
"Don't start that. Look we'll...I'll talk to your mother and we'll see what
happens from there."
"Yes!" Brooke said triumphantly.
"Don't get excited, it may not happen okay? So everything's all right down
there?"
"Yeah, Michael's okay, if that's what you want to know. Oh! Grandpa Mike
was here the other day."
Sonny narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "What did he want?"
"He felt bad for missing Michael's birthday so he brought presents for
Michael and me. It was cool."
"That's it?" Sonny demanded. He knew his father.
"He didn't come for money, Daddy! Grandpa Mike just wanted to see us,
okay?" Brooke told him. "Uh-oh."
"What is it?" Sonny said. He could hear in the background Lois coming in
yelling, "Brooke Lynn Corinthos! You know you're not supposed to be on the
phone. Give me that right now!"
Lois said in the phone, this time her voice calm and mellow. "I'm sorry
but—"
"Lois?"
"Sonny? Did you call here?"
"No, Brooke—"
Lois laughed bitterly. "Of course you didn't call here, like you give a
damn about this family."
Sonny closed his eyes for a moment. "Lois, what the hell is going on down
there? What's going on with Brooke?"
"She's grounded, that's what. She stayed out all night and missy thought
she was too old to call home."
"She did what? Put her back on the phone."
"So you can do what? Yell at her? I did that. Ground her? I did. Parent
her? *I* do that." Lois snapped. "You can't all of sudden decide you want
to long distance parent."
"Don't start that Lois, you wanted it like this. How long has Brooke been
grounded?"
"For a few days, it stays in effect for two more weeks no matter what you
say."
"I agree with you, Lois. She was just trying to convince me to let her come
up here this week. She was trying to get around the grounding."
"That little..." Lois muttered something under her breath in Italian that
Sonny couldn't quite catch. "I gotta go, Sonny, I have to talk to Miss
Brooke."
"Give Michael a kiss for me." Sonny said quickly.
"And I'll tell him you love him." She said, her tone softening.
"Lois...when everything's all settled down, we need to talk."
"Yeah, we do." Lois said softly before hanging up.
~*~*~
"Lucky, hey, thanks for meeting me here." Emily called out that afternoon.
She was seated at a small table outside of Kelly's. She stood up to greet
him with a kiss. She quickly sat back down. She was nervous and didn't want
Lucky to notice.
"Like I would turn you down." Lucky joked. "I heard Dad finally caved and
called in a repairman so we can get a hot lunch."
"I didn't ask you to meet me here for lunch."
Lucky narrowed his eyes, "Then why?"
Because doing this out in the open means you won't make a scene, she
thought. She reached across the table to take his hands in hers. "Lucky, I,
uh..."
Lucky pulled back. "You're not about to say what I think you're about to
say, are you?"
"What?" Emily asked. Once she realized what he meant she immediately shook
her head. "No! No, no, no, that's not what I'm talking about. God, no."
This didn't do much to calm Lucky's nerves because he still looked at her
warily. "Then what are you talking about?"
"It's kind of stupid, well, not stupid exactly, it's uh—"
"Emily, just say it."
Emily took a deep breath. "I kind of knew Nikolas before the press
conference the other day."
Lucky pushed away from the table and stood up. "You knew about him? You
knew about him and didn't warn me and my family or Carly?"
Emily jumped up. "No! The press conference was a shock to me also. Before
that all I knew was that he was some guy named Nikolas."
Lucky took a moment to think it over. "Why didn't you tell me about him
anyway? Why did you hide him from me?"
"Because..." Emily twisted her fingers together. "The first time I met him,
we ran into each other and he...he kissed me."
"He what?"
"I don't know why he did it. He said it was because he was hiding from
someone but that could be a lie because all he does is lie." Emily said in
a rush. She added. "I hit him though."
"Why did you keep that a secret from me?" Lucky asked slowly as if he was
afraid of her answer.
"I knew you would get mad and I felt it wasn't worth it. It wasn't like I
was going to see him again!" Emily tried to laugh it off but under Lucky's
steady gaze her laughter trailed off.
"You saw him again."
Emily looked down. "Yeah."
Lucky closed his eyes. "That night outside of my dad's club. That was you
after all."
She said softly. "Yeah. It's not what you think. He was drunk and I was
just helping him home. I should have told you. I don't know why I didn't
tell you."
"You lied to me." He said in a soft accusatory tone. "Over and over again,
after we made promises never to lie to each other. After I ask you straight
out if you were with another guy, you still lied to me."
"But Lucky, it wasn't like that. I wasn't interested in him."
"Then why did you lie about it?"
"I don't know." Lucky just looked at her. He started to back away from her.
"Lucky? Where are you going?"
"I have to go. I have to think about this." Lucky said.
"But Lucky—"
"You broke my trust Emily. I need some time." Lucky said before quickly
walking away.
Emily collapsed into her seat. She had expected Lucky to react badly but
not this badly. How am I going to fix this, she thought.
~*~*~
Carly walked into Wyndemere that evening and saw that she was the last to
arrive. "Sorry I'm late. I was at the office."
"On a Saturday?" Barbara arched a brow.
Carly shrugged. "I felt like going in."
"Alexis told me couldn't come because of work?" Stefan asked. "I suppose
it's for the best. He is not in the family yet and we as a family need to
discuss things."
Alexis glanced at her brother. She knew what Stefan wanted to talk about.
That morning when she called about the DNA mistake he decided that now was
the time to tell Carly the story Irena Markopoulos had told him.
"Before we get into that I have something to tell you." Carly took a deep
breath. She'd rather it was just her and her father and not the rest of the
family but she might as well just get it all over with.
"Is there something wrong?" Barbara asked.
Carly said carefully. "Jason and I have decided to end our relationship. We
are no longer involved."
"I'm sorry to hear that Carly." Kevin murmured.
"This is awfully sudden." Alexis said.
"But things were just fine with you two at the Nurses Ball, what happened?"
Barbara asked in concern. She got up and went over to Carly, who carefully
avoided her touch.
Stefan was the only one who didn't react instantly. He saw the way Carly's
eyes wouldn't meet any one else's in the room. She kept her gaze fixated on
the floor. She looked uneasy. There was something wrong. It would seem that
tonight would not be the night to tell her Irena's story. Further stress
wouldn't be good for her. Stefan finally said. "I am sorry to hear about
this Caroline. I, along with everyone else, will respect your privacy and
not push for anymore information."
Chastened, Barbara cleared her throat, "Yes, it's a shame that you and
Jason aren't together. I'm sure you will continue to be friends. Is that
Mrs. Landsbury? I think dinner is ready."