**A/N - Sorry it took longer to update this time. I had a touch of
writer's indecision (otherwise known as a block), so I decided to take a
day or two and not think about it. Lo and behold it worked because here I
am, posting this part. I've also been busy, plus I bought season two of
Angel on DVD. Nuff said. So, here you go. Read, enjoy & review. I can't
stress enough how much reviews motivate me and inspire me, so please let me
know what you think! **
***************************************
Jason flipped through the different papers that he had taken from the warehouse. He had narrowed the search down to two of Sonny's properties and three of Alcazar's. The only problem now was that if he sent out some people to search through them, it would alert Sonny to Jason's 'suspicion'. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing.
"Yeah," he greeted. It was Johnny. "What have you got? Okay - let me know if anything changes." For the past week, Jason had Johnny searching out Max. The guard was nowhere to be found. He surfaced a few days ago, but disappeared again quickly. It meant only one thing - he was guarding Carly, wherever she was. Jason knew time was running out and that if he didn't figure this out, Carly was going to pay the price that no one wanted to think about. A knock on the door interrupted Jason's thoughts again. He was about to stand up to answer it when it opened on it's own, Luke barging into the room. He held a piece of paper in front of him.
"Take a look at this, kid," he said. Jason took the paper and read over the information, noting the picture in the top corner.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"My guy. He just sent it to me," Luke answered. Jason nodded as he continued reading.
"Great. One question though," he said.
"Shoot, kid," Luke said.
"Isn't Sophie Germaine supposed to be dead?" he asked. Luke smirked.
"Same question I asked, kid. Which is why I did some deeper digging," Luke said. Jason looked up at Luke.
"And?"
"I think I found our connection," he said. Jason took the other paper Luke handed him and frowned in confusion.
"What does Stefan Cassidine have to do with this?" Jason asked. Luke laughed.
"When *doesn't* Stefan Cassidine have anything to do with anything? I told you that he owed Lorenzo Alcazar millions - and now Sophie Germaine is alive, yet she has disappeared," Luke said. Jason nodded in affirmation, looking back at the first piece of paper.
"Okay," he prompted. Luke smiled again.
"When you owe a man millions that you know you can't pay, you get desperate," Luke offered. Jason thought about that for a second.
"You think he searched this woman out, kidnapped her and is going to use her for leverage against Alcazar? With Sonny's revenge and taking Carly as a bonus?" Jason asked. Luke laughed again.
"Nice scenario, but no. I can do you one better - and I've been saving it for dramatic effect," Luke said as he handed the paper-loaded man another piece of paper. Jason looked it over with Luke waiting eagerly.
"Well - shit," Jason said quietly. Luke frowned.
"I worked long and hard for that information - I expected a little more shock and awe to come from you," he grumbled. Jason just shook his head.
"I will say that this is interesting information," he said. Luke nodded with a satisfied smirk.
***************************************
"You never said anything about killing my wife," Sonny said, looking at the gun and feeling sick.
"Did I say anything about killing? Well, no, not particularly. I just told you that we would use Mrs. Corinthos' presence as a torture of its own kind. Now, I'm just going to amend that statement and add the word of 'lack'. Her *lack* of presence will be his torture," the person answered. Sonny shook his head.
"I never agreed to this," he said looking angrily at Stefan Cassidine. He laughed.
"You agreed to assist in the capture and torment of Lorenzo Alcazar. You have been paid handsomely to meet the requirements. That end of the bargain has been held, it is time for you to hold up yours." Doubt was written all over Sonny's face.
"You can have all of the money back, then," Sonny said.
"Such actions have been anticipated," Stefan said as he took out his own gun. "I can take care of the problem in a matter of seconds." Sonny raised his hands as Stefan made to enter the room where his wife sat.
"Fine," he relented. "I'll do it." The second gun was put away.
"Wonderful. I have other business to attend to." With that, Sonny was left alone in the hallway with his thoughts. And his thoughts couldn't seem to help him. Hesitation immobilized him and all he could do was stare at the door. He looked to Max, who was watching him with extreme interest. With a shake of his head, Sonny lifted the gun, placed his hand on the doorknob and finally pushed his way into the room.
***************************************
Lorenzo's head shot up as the door opened. In walked Stefan Cassidine, causing Lorenzo to laugh.
"I don't think I see any humor in this situation, Mr. Alcazar," Stefan said. Lorenzo shook his head.
"Well, Mr. Cassidine, I do. We thought that you weren't stupid enough to go through with all of this. I guess we were wrong. Hilariously so," he said. Stefan smiled good-naturedly.
"Who said that this was my show? Involved? Yes. Orchestrated? No," he said. "The reason I am here is to let you know that our business involvement is now over. The debt has been paid."
"How? By kidnapping me and locking me up? How is killing me paying the debt?" Lorenzo asked scornfully. Stefan smirked knowingly.
"Who said we're going to kill *you*?" he asked. Lorenzo went silent as he realized what Stefan was telling him.
"I see you've finally grasped the situation. And before you begin any threats, curses and/or vile name calling, her death has already been called for. It should be over with fairly soon and by Mr. Corinthos' own capable hand," Stefan confirmed. Lorenzo's eyes closed. He prayed to every thing he could think of that Sonny would not be able to pull that trigger.
"You are going to kill the woman I love and then leave me alive? How intelligent is that?" Lorenzo asked.
"It no longer concerns me. My debt is paid, you are alive - and I didn't order Mrs. Corinthos' death. We no longer have an association," Stefan said, straightening his suit jacket. Lorenzo stood up.
"If you didn't order her death, then who did?" he asked, gritting his teeth.
"I did," a voice said from behind Stefan. To Lorenzo's credit, he didn't even flinch.
"Sophie," he said his eyes hard as he watched the now clean, well-dressed woman enter the room. "You are the one behind all of this." She smiled in a mixture of love and anger.
"Is it so unexpected?" she asked acidly, but softly. Lorenzo just looked at her, astonished that she would even ask.
"Sophie - you wanted to save the world, an impoverished village at a time. How can you ask if this is unexpected?" he asked. Sophie smiled wryly.
"Well then, you must expect the unexpected," she said. Stefan cleared his throat.
"I see that my presence is no longer warranted. I bid you a good evening -" he said. As he made his way towards the door, Sophie pulled a gun on him.
"Now, Mr. Cassidine. I don't want you disappearing completely. You owe me a large sum of money," she said. Lorenzo looked between the two of them. Now, he understood.
"You transferred your debt," he said to the other man. Stefan looked at him for a split second before looking back to the woman holding the gun.
"Our connections would sell me out in a second if the price was right. I don't pretend to think otherwise. You can be assured that you will be paid back in full," he said. Sophie's eyes were deadly serious as she watched him.
"You can be assured that the money is not my main concern. But you are right, your presence is no longer needed. You may want to leave before I decide that it would be better to kill you," she said. Stefan smiled.
"And killing me wouldn't get your money, now would it?" he asked, amused. Sophie smiled back.
"I don't need you to collect what you owe," she hinted. Stefan's eyes cooled, fear tainting them.
"Leave Nikolas out of this," he warned. She aimed the gun at him.
"Or what?" she asked evilly, laughter in her voice. She nodded once to the guard by the door and he came forward, grabbing Stefan by his arm. "As long as you stay alive, your nephew is safe." With that, he was escorted from the room, leaving Sophie and Lorenzo alone.
"Is this business, or is this personal?" Lorenzo asked, curious as to what was going on in Sophie's head.
"Rest assured, Lorenzo, if this were all business you would be dead. You're alive because it is partially personal," she said as she flicked her wrist around nonchalantly. Lorenzo's eyes were peeled on the gun. He didn't know what to do. Carly was in the next room with her husband. She could be dead at this very moment. His worry must have been visible. "I know that look, Lorenzo. No matter how much you try to school your emotions, you cannot fool me. There is no need to worry, darling. Mrs. Corinthos is in capable hands," Sophie said with a mirthless smirk.
"What is your gain in all of this, Sophie? Why go to all of this trouble?" Lorenzo asked. She shrugged.
"I suppose you can say there are many reasons. It would take too long to list them all to you. But I will say one thing to, perhaps, ease your mind. *Luis*," she said. Lorenzo looked at her in semi-confusion. She'd told him earlier that Luis had been the one to keep them apart after she had survived the massacre.
"You're going to all of this trouble because of Luis?" he asked. Her eyes turned icy as she looked at him.
"You say it like it's a paltry thing. I guarantee you, it's not. Luis took my life from me," she said. Now Lorenzo was really confused. And she saw it. "I suppose you would like the whole story."
"It would help me to understand," he said.
"I went to that village to help, Lorenzo. It was my calling. I loved to meet and help those unfortunate people. It was everything to me. That day, there were eight of us traveling from village to village. My youngest brother and my sister were with me. I had talked them into coming with me - in your place," she said, causing Lorenzo to look away from her in guilt. "While we were there passing out food and clothing and medicating the children, gunfight broke out. There had been guerilla warfare in that area for some time. I was with the children when they marched into the village and started shooting. I took as many children as I could to the edge of the village and told them to run. They did. How far they got, I do not know." She stopped talking when she remembered the children, her eyes drifting into memory.
"You did your best, Sophie," Lorenzo tried to soothe. Her eyes snapped back to his again, cold.
"I tried my best to get back to the rest of the children, but the guerillas had gotten their first. They were all dead. I managed to survive by running. They never even knew I was there. My brother and sister were among the murdered," she said.
"I'm sorry, Sophie," he said. She shook her head.
"Your brother had talked you into not coming with me. Had you been with us, everyone would have lived that day," she said softly, lost in the reminiscence. Lorenzo shook his head.
"You don't know that," he said, although the guilt still sat heavily on his shoulder.
"Yes! They would have!" she yelled suddenly. "They would have lived because the people who murdered them were your brother's guerillas! They were funded by none other than Luis Alcazar! Had you been there, your brother would never have sent a garrison there to murder those innocent lives. Because of your presence, we would have been safe." Sophie's yelling had quieted, but the last had been delivered with malice. Lorenzo's eyes had widened at the news.
"Sophie -"
"And you chose him over me. You always chose him over me. A murderer over the woman you loved," she finished.
"If I'd known -" he started, but was interrupted by her sneer.
"If you'd known, what? What would you have done? You can't rewrite history, Lorenzo. You of all people know that. What's done is done," she said. Lorenzo nodded.
"So this is about revenge - not money. It is why the money doesn't matter to you," he said.
"Of course it is about revenge. Everything has been about my family. Everything but Carly. Carly's death is purely for me. You left me, chose him over me time and time again. I want you to feel the pain of losing someone you love while you are helpless. I want you to feel that pain for the rest of your life because that is what you - and your brother - made me do," she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek the only expression of her emotion.
"Leave Carly out of this, Sophie. She's done nothing to you," he said. Sophie looked almost amazed.
"Nothing? She's done nothing to me?" she asked. "She's only instilled more loyalty from you than I ever received. She's become your reason to stay here - something I was never able to do. She's become the most important person in your life. More so than your dearly departed brother. I'd say *Mrs. Corinthos* has her place. And I will be damned if it's beside you."
***************************************
The door opened suddenly, causing Carly to jump. There stood Sonny and Max. Sonny had a gun pointed at her.
"Sonny! What are you doing?" she asked as he quickly took off the silencer and pointed the gun back at her.
"Carly - I'm - I'm sorry," he said, his eyes pleading with hers. Carly looked between the two men as she stood up, and instead of struggling or begging, she lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and stared straight at Sonny. Her chin quivered once and tears covered her eyes. ** My heart is with you, Lorenzo ** Her eyes stayed locked on Sonny as his eyes closed and he pulled the trigger.
***************************************
The retort of a gun was heard causing Lorenzo to jump. His eyes went immediately to Sophie as she laughed.
"Finally - I wasn't sure if Corinthos was going to do it. I thought I was going to have to do it myself. It would have been smarter to use the silencer, but all I need is one less Carly Corinthos," she said. Lorenzo fell to his knees, the pain pulling at him. Corinthos had killed Carly. Sophie watched him as he struggled between the pain and the anger. His eyes watered until a tear finally freed itself and spilled onto his cheek. Sophie kneeled in front of him and reached out to wipe the moisture from his face.
"She is dead, Lorenzo," she whispered, leaning close to his ear. "She is dead, and you've only begun to feel the pain in store for you."
***************************************
**A/N - Eh? Eh? What did you think? **
** Additional irrelevant A/N - Oh my GOD! Yesterday's episode (10/14) was almost too much to handle! The JnC scene on the phone - I can't believe Jason said 'Carly, I love you' and looked to actually regret not telling her that before - I never thought I'd see ANYTHING like that! I actually shed a very rare tear. If only - *sigh* - Now I'm hoping for a little closure where they are concerned. A potentially fruitless hope, I know, but a girl can dream. To get me by, though, I'm relishing every CarLo moment no matter how hostile (because we all know it will turn out right in the end!). Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. Can't wait for more! (Although I still hate the writers!) **
***************************************
Jason flipped through the different papers that he had taken from the warehouse. He had narrowed the search down to two of Sonny's properties and three of Alcazar's. The only problem now was that if he sent out some people to search through them, it would alert Sonny to Jason's 'suspicion'. His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing.
"Yeah," he greeted. It was Johnny. "What have you got? Okay - let me know if anything changes." For the past week, Jason had Johnny searching out Max. The guard was nowhere to be found. He surfaced a few days ago, but disappeared again quickly. It meant only one thing - he was guarding Carly, wherever she was. Jason knew time was running out and that if he didn't figure this out, Carly was going to pay the price that no one wanted to think about. A knock on the door interrupted Jason's thoughts again. He was about to stand up to answer it when it opened on it's own, Luke barging into the room. He held a piece of paper in front of him.
"Take a look at this, kid," he said. Jason took the paper and read over the information, noting the picture in the top corner.
"Where did you get this?" he asked.
"My guy. He just sent it to me," Luke answered. Jason nodded as he continued reading.
"Great. One question though," he said.
"Shoot, kid," Luke said.
"Isn't Sophie Germaine supposed to be dead?" he asked. Luke smirked.
"Same question I asked, kid. Which is why I did some deeper digging," Luke said. Jason looked up at Luke.
"And?"
"I think I found our connection," he said. Jason took the other paper Luke handed him and frowned in confusion.
"What does Stefan Cassidine have to do with this?" Jason asked. Luke laughed.
"When *doesn't* Stefan Cassidine have anything to do with anything? I told you that he owed Lorenzo Alcazar millions - and now Sophie Germaine is alive, yet she has disappeared," Luke said. Jason nodded in affirmation, looking back at the first piece of paper.
"Okay," he prompted. Luke smiled again.
"When you owe a man millions that you know you can't pay, you get desperate," Luke offered. Jason thought about that for a second.
"You think he searched this woman out, kidnapped her and is going to use her for leverage against Alcazar? With Sonny's revenge and taking Carly as a bonus?" Jason asked. Luke laughed again.
"Nice scenario, but no. I can do you one better - and I've been saving it for dramatic effect," Luke said as he handed the paper-loaded man another piece of paper. Jason looked it over with Luke waiting eagerly.
"Well - shit," Jason said quietly. Luke frowned.
"I worked long and hard for that information - I expected a little more shock and awe to come from you," he grumbled. Jason just shook his head.
"I will say that this is interesting information," he said. Luke nodded with a satisfied smirk.
***************************************
"You never said anything about killing my wife," Sonny said, looking at the gun and feeling sick.
"Did I say anything about killing? Well, no, not particularly. I just told you that we would use Mrs. Corinthos' presence as a torture of its own kind. Now, I'm just going to amend that statement and add the word of 'lack'. Her *lack* of presence will be his torture," the person answered. Sonny shook his head.
"I never agreed to this," he said looking angrily at Stefan Cassidine. He laughed.
"You agreed to assist in the capture and torment of Lorenzo Alcazar. You have been paid handsomely to meet the requirements. That end of the bargain has been held, it is time for you to hold up yours." Doubt was written all over Sonny's face.
"You can have all of the money back, then," Sonny said.
"Such actions have been anticipated," Stefan said as he took out his own gun. "I can take care of the problem in a matter of seconds." Sonny raised his hands as Stefan made to enter the room where his wife sat.
"Fine," he relented. "I'll do it." The second gun was put away.
"Wonderful. I have other business to attend to." With that, Sonny was left alone in the hallway with his thoughts. And his thoughts couldn't seem to help him. Hesitation immobilized him and all he could do was stare at the door. He looked to Max, who was watching him with extreme interest. With a shake of his head, Sonny lifted the gun, placed his hand on the doorknob and finally pushed his way into the room.
***************************************
Lorenzo's head shot up as the door opened. In walked Stefan Cassidine, causing Lorenzo to laugh.
"I don't think I see any humor in this situation, Mr. Alcazar," Stefan said. Lorenzo shook his head.
"Well, Mr. Cassidine, I do. We thought that you weren't stupid enough to go through with all of this. I guess we were wrong. Hilariously so," he said. Stefan smiled good-naturedly.
"Who said that this was my show? Involved? Yes. Orchestrated? No," he said. "The reason I am here is to let you know that our business involvement is now over. The debt has been paid."
"How? By kidnapping me and locking me up? How is killing me paying the debt?" Lorenzo asked scornfully. Stefan smirked knowingly.
"Who said we're going to kill *you*?" he asked. Lorenzo went silent as he realized what Stefan was telling him.
"I see you've finally grasped the situation. And before you begin any threats, curses and/or vile name calling, her death has already been called for. It should be over with fairly soon and by Mr. Corinthos' own capable hand," Stefan confirmed. Lorenzo's eyes closed. He prayed to every thing he could think of that Sonny would not be able to pull that trigger.
"You are going to kill the woman I love and then leave me alive? How intelligent is that?" Lorenzo asked.
"It no longer concerns me. My debt is paid, you are alive - and I didn't order Mrs. Corinthos' death. We no longer have an association," Stefan said, straightening his suit jacket. Lorenzo stood up.
"If you didn't order her death, then who did?" he asked, gritting his teeth.
"I did," a voice said from behind Stefan. To Lorenzo's credit, he didn't even flinch.
"Sophie," he said his eyes hard as he watched the now clean, well-dressed woman enter the room. "You are the one behind all of this." She smiled in a mixture of love and anger.
"Is it so unexpected?" she asked acidly, but softly. Lorenzo just looked at her, astonished that she would even ask.
"Sophie - you wanted to save the world, an impoverished village at a time. How can you ask if this is unexpected?" he asked. Sophie smiled wryly.
"Well then, you must expect the unexpected," she said. Stefan cleared his throat.
"I see that my presence is no longer warranted. I bid you a good evening -" he said. As he made his way towards the door, Sophie pulled a gun on him.
"Now, Mr. Cassidine. I don't want you disappearing completely. You owe me a large sum of money," she said. Lorenzo looked between the two of them. Now, he understood.
"You transferred your debt," he said to the other man. Stefan looked at him for a split second before looking back to the woman holding the gun.
"Our connections would sell me out in a second if the price was right. I don't pretend to think otherwise. You can be assured that you will be paid back in full," he said. Sophie's eyes were deadly serious as she watched him.
"You can be assured that the money is not my main concern. But you are right, your presence is no longer needed. You may want to leave before I decide that it would be better to kill you," she said. Stefan smiled.
"And killing me wouldn't get your money, now would it?" he asked, amused. Sophie smiled back.
"I don't need you to collect what you owe," she hinted. Stefan's eyes cooled, fear tainting them.
"Leave Nikolas out of this," he warned. She aimed the gun at him.
"Or what?" she asked evilly, laughter in her voice. She nodded once to the guard by the door and he came forward, grabbing Stefan by his arm. "As long as you stay alive, your nephew is safe." With that, he was escorted from the room, leaving Sophie and Lorenzo alone.
"Is this business, or is this personal?" Lorenzo asked, curious as to what was going on in Sophie's head.
"Rest assured, Lorenzo, if this were all business you would be dead. You're alive because it is partially personal," she said as she flicked her wrist around nonchalantly. Lorenzo's eyes were peeled on the gun. He didn't know what to do. Carly was in the next room with her husband. She could be dead at this very moment. His worry must have been visible. "I know that look, Lorenzo. No matter how much you try to school your emotions, you cannot fool me. There is no need to worry, darling. Mrs. Corinthos is in capable hands," Sophie said with a mirthless smirk.
"What is your gain in all of this, Sophie? Why go to all of this trouble?" Lorenzo asked. She shrugged.
"I suppose you can say there are many reasons. It would take too long to list them all to you. But I will say one thing to, perhaps, ease your mind. *Luis*," she said. Lorenzo looked at her in semi-confusion. She'd told him earlier that Luis had been the one to keep them apart after she had survived the massacre.
"You're going to all of this trouble because of Luis?" he asked. Her eyes turned icy as she looked at him.
"You say it like it's a paltry thing. I guarantee you, it's not. Luis took my life from me," she said. Now Lorenzo was really confused. And she saw it. "I suppose you would like the whole story."
"It would help me to understand," he said.
"I went to that village to help, Lorenzo. It was my calling. I loved to meet and help those unfortunate people. It was everything to me. That day, there were eight of us traveling from village to village. My youngest brother and my sister were with me. I had talked them into coming with me - in your place," she said, causing Lorenzo to look away from her in guilt. "While we were there passing out food and clothing and medicating the children, gunfight broke out. There had been guerilla warfare in that area for some time. I was with the children when they marched into the village and started shooting. I took as many children as I could to the edge of the village and told them to run. They did. How far they got, I do not know." She stopped talking when she remembered the children, her eyes drifting into memory.
"You did your best, Sophie," Lorenzo tried to soothe. Her eyes snapped back to his again, cold.
"I tried my best to get back to the rest of the children, but the guerillas had gotten their first. They were all dead. I managed to survive by running. They never even knew I was there. My brother and sister were among the murdered," she said.
"I'm sorry, Sophie," he said. She shook her head.
"Your brother had talked you into not coming with me. Had you been with us, everyone would have lived that day," she said softly, lost in the reminiscence. Lorenzo shook his head.
"You don't know that," he said, although the guilt still sat heavily on his shoulder.
"Yes! They would have!" she yelled suddenly. "They would have lived because the people who murdered them were your brother's guerillas! They were funded by none other than Luis Alcazar! Had you been there, your brother would never have sent a garrison there to murder those innocent lives. Because of your presence, we would have been safe." Sophie's yelling had quieted, but the last had been delivered with malice. Lorenzo's eyes had widened at the news.
"Sophie -"
"And you chose him over me. You always chose him over me. A murderer over the woman you loved," she finished.
"If I'd known -" he started, but was interrupted by her sneer.
"If you'd known, what? What would you have done? You can't rewrite history, Lorenzo. You of all people know that. What's done is done," she said. Lorenzo nodded.
"So this is about revenge - not money. It is why the money doesn't matter to you," he said.
"Of course it is about revenge. Everything has been about my family. Everything but Carly. Carly's death is purely for me. You left me, chose him over me time and time again. I want you to feel the pain of losing someone you love while you are helpless. I want you to feel that pain for the rest of your life because that is what you - and your brother - made me do," she said, a single tear rolling down her cheek the only expression of her emotion.
"Leave Carly out of this, Sophie. She's done nothing to you," he said. Sophie looked almost amazed.
"Nothing? She's done nothing to me?" she asked. "She's only instilled more loyalty from you than I ever received. She's become your reason to stay here - something I was never able to do. She's become the most important person in your life. More so than your dearly departed brother. I'd say *Mrs. Corinthos* has her place. And I will be damned if it's beside you."
***************************************
The door opened suddenly, causing Carly to jump. There stood Sonny and Max. Sonny had a gun pointed at her.
"Sonny! What are you doing?" she asked as he quickly took off the silencer and pointed the gun back at her.
"Carly - I'm - I'm sorry," he said, his eyes pleading with hers. Carly looked between the two men as she stood up, and instead of struggling or begging, she lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and stared straight at Sonny. Her chin quivered once and tears covered her eyes. ** My heart is with you, Lorenzo ** Her eyes stayed locked on Sonny as his eyes closed and he pulled the trigger.
***************************************
The retort of a gun was heard causing Lorenzo to jump. His eyes went immediately to Sophie as she laughed.
"Finally - I wasn't sure if Corinthos was going to do it. I thought I was going to have to do it myself. It would have been smarter to use the silencer, but all I need is one less Carly Corinthos," she said. Lorenzo fell to his knees, the pain pulling at him. Corinthos had killed Carly. Sophie watched him as he struggled between the pain and the anger. His eyes watered until a tear finally freed itself and spilled onto his cheek. Sophie kneeled in front of him and reached out to wipe the moisture from his face.
"She is dead, Lorenzo," she whispered, leaning close to his ear. "She is dead, and you've only begun to feel the pain in store for you."
***************************************
**A/N - Eh? Eh? What did you think? **
** Additional irrelevant A/N - Oh my GOD! Yesterday's episode (10/14) was almost too much to handle! The JnC scene on the phone - I can't believe Jason said 'Carly, I love you' and looked to actually regret not telling her that before - I never thought I'd see ANYTHING like that! I actually shed a very rare tear. If only - *sigh* - Now I'm hoping for a little closure where they are concerned. A potentially fruitless hope, I know, but a girl can dream. To get me by, though, I'm relishing every CarLo moment no matter how hostile (because we all know it will turn out right in the end!). Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. Can't wait for more! (Although I still hate the writers!) **