Note: Sure, this is kind of 'Morgan Penthouse'-ish, and I really did like
that story, but I don't think I'm stealing the idea...
Story-
Outside the Penthouse Towers-
Since they had arrived separately, Carly and Courtney had also left separately. However, Courtney had an extra passenger in the car that she did not have when she first game to the hospital, Dillon. Carly had figured that Courtney was going to take Dillon home, since he apparently didn't want to wait for Monica to go back to the mansion. She knew that she certainly wasn't going to be traveling to the Quatermaine mansion anytime soon. She wasn't exactly welcome there, nor did she really want to be. Courtney was at least on good terms with the Quatermaine's, even after her relationship with AJ had dissolved. Besides, she was married to Jason. But, when Carly noticed that Courtney was still following her, and had come back home with Dillon in the passengers side of her car, she became suspicious.
"Do you want Jason to take Dillon home or something?" Carly asked Courtney.
Courtney, who was still in her car, looked at Dillon and gave him a look that told him to stay in the car and stay quiet. She knew that Carly would probably initially object to her offer that she made to Dillon, but Dillon was staying at Courtney's house, not Carly's. "I know that asking Jason to go to the Quatermaine's for something like that wouldn't exactly be looked upon with any degree of fondness, Carly."
"So why is Dillon still in the car?" Carly asked. "Did you need to get something before you took him home?"
"The thing is," Courtney began uneasily, "Dillon is home, Carly."
"I don't see the Quatermaine mansion anywhere around here," Carly scoffed. "They may have a lot of money, and they may own most of Port Charles, but they don't own our home."
"I know that," Courtney countered. "I made Dillon the offer that he could live with me and Jason... he accepted."
"What?!" Carly almost yelled, her voice seething. "Courtney, you can't have a teenager living in the penthouse with you and Jason. You know what Jason and Sonny do, you can't have Dillon running around and finding out personal information like that!"
"Carly, everyone knows what Jason and Sonny do," Courtney defended her moral standing. "Think about it, the Quatermaine's are all well aware of the fact that our husbands are criminals who do a whole lot of immoral things. Not that they have any right to talk about being righteous and pure, but it's not like Dillon's blind to the truth."
"It's still a bad idea..."
"He doesn't have anywhere else to go, Carly!" Courtney declared.
"What are you talking about? Lila would never throw one of her family members out of the house. For Gods sake, she's still letting Tracy live there."
"Tracy kicked him out," Courtney said. "When Jason went to the mansion to tell Dillon what had happened Dillon wanted to come to the hospital to be with the people that were worried about Damian. Tracy told him that if he left he wouldn't be welcomed back."
"Tracy's always making stupid little threats like that, Courtney. It's a game that she plays. She doesn't have a life of her own so she has to spend every waking moment that she can making our lives hell to make up for it." Carly looked over at Dillon, who had also looked at her before averting his eyes in a hurry. Carly, in that one moment, had become more intimidating than Sonny and Jason combined. "He's not family..."
"He's Jason's family."
"Jason doesn't view any of the Quatermaine's as family except for Emily and Lila!" Carly pointed out. It was a fair point.
"He's my cousin through marriage," Courtney said. "He's also Michael's cousin."
"Michael is not a Quatermaine, you should have known better than to point that out!"
"Carly, I can't stand around and let Dillon roam the streets homeless just because of something so trivial as lineage!" Courtney was angry that Carly was still fighting her. Courtney really did think that Carly would have given up by then. "Look, I don't want to fight you right now."
"You haven't even told Jason that you made this little decision without his approval or input, have you?"
"No, and you're not going to tell him, either..." Courtney said.
"Oh, but I am..."
"No," Courtney was forceful. "Carly, I'm not involved in the problems that go on in your marriage until I have to be, until you come begging for me to help you out with something. How many times have I managed to help you and Sonny get through something?"
Carly rolled her eyes, "More times than I can count."
"And have I ever called in a favor when it came to my marriage?"
Carly knew that she didn't have a leg to stand on. She had to give up. "If Jason asks for my opinion on this I am going to tell him what I think, okay?"
"Fine... but until then, please, let me try and do this on my own."
"Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" Carly asked. "You and I both know that this isn't the environment that a teenager should be living in. I'm sure that we could convince one of the Quatermaine's to talk some sense into Tracy."
"You know that's impossible," Courtney replied smugly. "Once Tracy's made up her mind there's no turning back. Besides, I want to help Dillon. We need members of the Quatermaine's who aren't tainted by the life that they lead. Jason managed to get out and it did wonders for him, why shouldn't Dillon be allowed the same chance? If we keep him in that mansion he's just going to turn into another Edward. Do you really want that?"
The idea sent a shiver down Carly's spine. She didn't want that. She was slowly becoming a supporter of the idea that Courtney had cooked up. In the end, though, it was Jason's decision. Even Sonny couldn't tell Jason who he let live in his own house. Sonny could bar Dillon from their penthouse, and he probably would, but if Jason wanted a ward, which he probably didn't, there was really no way of stopping him. "You know how I've told you that your moral sensibilities are often the strongest part of your being?"
"Yeah..."
"Sometimes those morals are the hardest thing for me to understand," Carly smiled. "But... if you think that this is the right thing to do... I know I can't stop you."
"Give me five minutes to get Dillon in the penthouse," Courtney requested. "Until then, don't let Jason out of your house."
"Five minutes... nothing more," Carly went for the elevator, which opened almost instantly as she got in, shaking her head at Courtney before the doors closed.
Dillon got out of the car and sighed, "Courtney... I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't want you to get into a fight with the people that you really care about over me."
"Who said I don't care about you?" Courtney asked.
"Come on, Courtney," Dillon began, "it's not like we spend time together at Christmas or anything."
"Well, maybe we can start. Jason doesn't really get into the whole tree thing. Perhaps the two of us could manage to break him down and we could get a really nice one."
"You're enjoying this too much, you know that," Dillon smirked. "What am I going to do if Jason doesn't want me to live with you two?"
"Leave that to me." Courtney closed the passenger door, "We'd better get into the penthouse..."
Corinthos Household-
Carly walked in. Even though it was really late at night, Jason was still up, reading a magazine. Carly walked over and hugged him, "Jase... make the day end. Please, just make it all go away." Even though she was supposed to be stalling for time, that request was entirely founded. There was nothing that Courtney had asked her to do or say that had caused that reaction. She wanted Jason to take everything and make it better, like he had done so many times before.
"I wish I could, Carly," Jason admitted. "But I can't fix everything. You know that. I know that, too, even though I don't always have the easiest time accepting it."
"How's my Mr. Man?" Carly asked, wiping away a single frustrated tear.
"I wouldn't go into his room right now. He's turned it into a war zone."
"What?"
"Everything is scattered around the room, Carly. He just lashed out because of what had happened and the things that got in his way were scattered. Nothing's broken, I don't think, but the room is a mess."
Carly sighed, "He shouldn't have such outburst, he knows better than that."
"Carly, he's a scared little boy who is worried about his brother. I don't think I would have acted any differently if I had been his age..."
Carly eyed the clock. She still had a minute that she needed to give Courtney. "Sonny's... going to stay at the hospital for the night."
"I had a feeling he would," Jason nodded. "Sonny loves his children more than anything. He wouldn't just leave them alone if they were hurt."
"He's scaring me, Jason," Carly admitted. "I know how he gets when he starts to think about the things that he's done, the ways that he's managed to fail. What if he has another breakdown?"
"We won't let that happen."
"What if we can't stop him?"
"We will."
"My mom was with Damian, so was Monica..."
Jason turned an eye as he heard the name of his adopted mother. "Monica's one of the best people that they have on the staff at the hospital, she probably did everything that she could."
"I was surprised that you went back to the mansion... I know how much you hate being around them."
"Dillon had a right to know," Jason blankly replied. "Damian would have wanted his best friend to know that he was hurt. I did it for Damian, nobody else." Jason changed the subject, as he almost always did when the subject of the Quatermaine's came up. "Where's Courtney? Did she stay at the hospital a little longer?"
"No, she's at your house."
"Why didn't she just come here?" Jason wondered.
"Because she had something she needed to take care of," Carly replied nervously.
Jason knew when Carly was keeping secrets from him, or making a pitiful attempt at it, at least. "Carly..."
"I can't tell you, Jason. I promised Courtney I would let her be the one that told you everything."
"Everything about what?" Jason didn't like not knowing things. It reminded him too much of the accident.
"Go and find out for yourself," Carly suggest. "She should be ready now..."
Jason headed for the door, "This had better be good..."
"Jason, thanks."
Jason's anger curbed for a moment. In that single instance he allowed himself to take Carly's gratitude. He only gave a slight nod of his head before he left.
Morgan Household-
Courtney wasn't even going to try and make herself seem like she was busy. Jason would see through it. He had probably already broken Carly down. Courtney wasn't sure what she was thinking, asking Carly of all people to keep a secret around Jason. Dillon was already crashed in the guestroom. He didn't have anything to wear, but he said it was fine. The poor boy...
Jason came in and saw Courtney standing around. "What did you do this time?" Jason asked.
"Carly told you?" Courtney rolled her eyes.
"No, Carly told me that I needed to talk to you about something. So, what is it?"
"You went to the mansion today..."
"What's that have to do with anything?" Jason asked. "I went because I had an obligation to a member of my family, of our family..."
"Did you know that Tracy gave Dillon an ultimatum..." Courtney asked.
"Tracy does that with everyone, why should it surprise me?"
"Because Dillon was kicked out of the mansion when he decided that his friendship with Damian meant more than being told that he couldn't go see his friend." Courtney sighed, "He doesn't have a place to stay."
Jason had an idea of where the train of thought was going. "No... Courtney, there is no way..."
"Jason... please. I don't want to see him walking around the streets, homeless."
"He's not our responsibility!" Jason shot back. "Where is he?"
"Sleeping in the guest room..."
"He's out, tomorrow morning he's gone."
"Jason... think about this for a moment, would you? He's so much like you. A Quatermaine, but so much different, so much kinder. Do you want to see him get destroyed by that family the same way that they tried to destroy you? Do you want to see them stomp out the spark of individuality that Dillon's somehow managing to hold onto? Haven't you wished that they could be different, be something other than what they are to you? Now you have that chance... don't throw it away."
Jason was silent. He tried to keep his eyes away from Courtney. They were so pure, so full of reason, reason that he couldn't debate. "I'll think about it."
Courtney hugged him. She had at least partially won.
Story-
Outside the Penthouse Towers-
Since they had arrived separately, Carly and Courtney had also left separately. However, Courtney had an extra passenger in the car that she did not have when she first game to the hospital, Dillon. Carly had figured that Courtney was going to take Dillon home, since he apparently didn't want to wait for Monica to go back to the mansion. She knew that she certainly wasn't going to be traveling to the Quatermaine mansion anytime soon. She wasn't exactly welcome there, nor did she really want to be. Courtney was at least on good terms with the Quatermaine's, even after her relationship with AJ had dissolved. Besides, she was married to Jason. But, when Carly noticed that Courtney was still following her, and had come back home with Dillon in the passengers side of her car, she became suspicious.
"Do you want Jason to take Dillon home or something?" Carly asked Courtney.
Courtney, who was still in her car, looked at Dillon and gave him a look that told him to stay in the car and stay quiet. She knew that Carly would probably initially object to her offer that she made to Dillon, but Dillon was staying at Courtney's house, not Carly's. "I know that asking Jason to go to the Quatermaine's for something like that wouldn't exactly be looked upon with any degree of fondness, Carly."
"So why is Dillon still in the car?" Carly asked. "Did you need to get something before you took him home?"
"The thing is," Courtney began uneasily, "Dillon is home, Carly."
"I don't see the Quatermaine mansion anywhere around here," Carly scoffed. "They may have a lot of money, and they may own most of Port Charles, but they don't own our home."
"I know that," Courtney countered. "I made Dillon the offer that he could live with me and Jason... he accepted."
"What?!" Carly almost yelled, her voice seething. "Courtney, you can't have a teenager living in the penthouse with you and Jason. You know what Jason and Sonny do, you can't have Dillon running around and finding out personal information like that!"
"Carly, everyone knows what Jason and Sonny do," Courtney defended her moral standing. "Think about it, the Quatermaine's are all well aware of the fact that our husbands are criminals who do a whole lot of immoral things. Not that they have any right to talk about being righteous and pure, but it's not like Dillon's blind to the truth."
"It's still a bad idea..."
"He doesn't have anywhere else to go, Carly!" Courtney declared.
"What are you talking about? Lila would never throw one of her family members out of the house. For Gods sake, she's still letting Tracy live there."
"Tracy kicked him out," Courtney said. "When Jason went to the mansion to tell Dillon what had happened Dillon wanted to come to the hospital to be with the people that were worried about Damian. Tracy told him that if he left he wouldn't be welcomed back."
"Tracy's always making stupid little threats like that, Courtney. It's a game that she plays. She doesn't have a life of her own so she has to spend every waking moment that she can making our lives hell to make up for it." Carly looked over at Dillon, who had also looked at her before averting his eyes in a hurry. Carly, in that one moment, had become more intimidating than Sonny and Jason combined. "He's not family..."
"He's Jason's family."
"Jason doesn't view any of the Quatermaine's as family except for Emily and Lila!" Carly pointed out. It was a fair point.
"He's my cousin through marriage," Courtney said. "He's also Michael's cousin."
"Michael is not a Quatermaine, you should have known better than to point that out!"
"Carly, I can't stand around and let Dillon roam the streets homeless just because of something so trivial as lineage!" Courtney was angry that Carly was still fighting her. Courtney really did think that Carly would have given up by then. "Look, I don't want to fight you right now."
"You haven't even told Jason that you made this little decision without his approval or input, have you?"
"No, and you're not going to tell him, either..." Courtney said.
"Oh, but I am..."
"No," Courtney was forceful. "Carly, I'm not involved in the problems that go on in your marriage until I have to be, until you come begging for me to help you out with something. How many times have I managed to help you and Sonny get through something?"
Carly rolled her eyes, "More times than I can count."
"And have I ever called in a favor when it came to my marriage?"
Carly knew that she didn't have a leg to stand on. She had to give up. "If Jason asks for my opinion on this I am going to tell him what I think, okay?"
"Fine... but until then, please, let me try and do this on my own."
"Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" Carly asked. "You and I both know that this isn't the environment that a teenager should be living in. I'm sure that we could convince one of the Quatermaine's to talk some sense into Tracy."
"You know that's impossible," Courtney replied smugly. "Once Tracy's made up her mind there's no turning back. Besides, I want to help Dillon. We need members of the Quatermaine's who aren't tainted by the life that they lead. Jason managed to get out and it did wonders for him, why shouldn't Dillon be allowed the same chance? If we keep him in that mansion he's just going to turn into another Edward. Do you really want that?"
The idea sent a shiver down Carly's spine. She didn't want that. She was slowly becoming a supporter of the idea that Courtney had cooked up. In the end, though, it was Jason's decision. Even Sonny couldn't tell Jason who he let live in his own house. Sonny could bar Dillon from their penthouse, and he probably would, but if Jason wanted a ward, which he probably didn't, there was really no way of stopping him. "You know how I've told you that your moral sensibilities are often the strongest part of your being?"
"Yeah..."
"Sometimes those morals are the hardest thing for me to understand," Carly smiled. "But... if you think that this is the right thing to do... I know I can't stop you."
"Give me five minutes to get Dillon in the penthouse," Courtney requested. "Until then, don't let Jason out of your house."
"Five minutes... nothing more," Carly went for the elevator, which opened almost instantly as she got in, shaking her head at Courtney before the doors closed.
Dillon got out of the car and sighed, "Courtney... I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't want you to get into a fight with the people that you really care about over me."
"Who said I don't care about you?" Courtney asked.
"Come on, Courtney," Dillon began, "it's not like we spend time together at Christmas or anything."
"Well, maybe we can start. Jason doesn't really get into the whole tree thing. Perhaps the two of us could manage to break him down and we could get a really nice one."
"You're enjoying this too much, you know that," Dillon smirked. "What am I going to do if Jason doesn't want me to live with you two?"
"Leave that to me." Courtney closed the passenger door, "We'd better get into the penthouse..."
Corinthos Household-
Carly walked in. Even though it was really late at night, Jason was still up, reading a magazine. Carly walked over and hugged him, "Jase... make the day end. Please, just make it all go away." Even though she was supposed to be stalling for time, that request was entirely founded. There was nothing that Courtney had asked her to do or say that had caused that reaction. She wanted Jason to take everything and make it better, like he had done so many times before.
"I wish I could, Carly," Jason admitted. "But I can't fix everything. You know that. I know that, too, even though I don't always have the easiest time accepting it."
"How's my Mr. Man?" Carly asked, wiping away a single frustrated tear.
"I wouldn't go into his room right now. He's turned it into a war zone."
"What?"
"Everything is scattered around the room, Carly. He just lashed out because of what had happened and the things that got in his way were scattered. Nothing's broken, I don't think, but the room is a mess."
Carly sighed, "He shouldn't have such outburst, he knows better than that."
"Carly, he's a scared little boy who is worried about his brother. I don't think I would have acted any differently if I had been his age..."
Carly eyed the clock. She still had a minute that she needed to give Courtney. "Sonny's... going to stay at the hospital for the night."
"I had a feeling he would," Jason nodded. "Sonny loves his children more than anything. He wouldn't just leave them alone if they were hurt."
"He's scaring me, Jason," Carly admitted. "I know how he gets when he starts to think about the things that he's done, the ways that he's managed to fail. What if he has another breakdown?"
"We won't let that happen."
"What if we can't stop him?"
"We will."
"My mom was with Damian, so was Monica..."
Jason turned an eye as he heard the name of his adopted mother. "Monica's one of the best people that they have on the staff at the hospital, she probably did everything that she could."
"I was surprised that you went back to the mansion... I know how much you hate being around them."
"Dillon had a right to know," Jason blankly replied. "Damian would have wanted his best friend to know that he was hurt. I did it for Damian, nobody else." Jason changed the subject, as he almost always did when the subject of the Quatermaine's came up. "Where's Courtney? Did she stay at the hospital a little longer?"
"No, she's at your house."
"Why didn't she just come here?" Jason wondered.
"Because she had something she needed to take care of," Carly replied nervously.
Jason knew when Carly was keeping secrets from him, or making a pitiful attempt at it, at least. "Carly..."
"I can't tell you, Jason. I promised Courtney I would let her be the one that told you everything."
"Everything about what?" Jason didn't like not knowing things. It reminded him too much of the accident.
"Go and find out for yourself," Carly suggest. "She should be ready now..."
Jason headed for the door, "This had better be good..."
"Jason, thanks."
Jason's anger curbed for a moment. In that single instance he allowed himself to take Carly's gratitude. He only gave a slight nod of his head before he left.
Morgan Household-
Courtney wasn't even going to try and make herself seem like she was busy. Jason would see through it. He had probably already broken Carly down. Courtney wasn't sure what she was thinking, asking Carly of all people to keep a secret around Jason. Dillon was already crashed in the guestroom. He didn't have anything to wear, but he said it was fine. The poor boy...
Jason came in and saw Courtney standing around. "What did you do this time?" Jason asked.
"Carly told you?" Courtney rolled her eyes.
"No, Carly told me that I needed to talk to you about something. So, what is it?"
"You went to the mansion today..."
"What's that have to do with anything?" Jason asked. "I went because I had an obligation to a member of my family, of our family..."
"Did you know that Tracy gave Dillon an ultimatum..." Courtney asked.
"Tracy does that with everyone, why should it surprise me?"
"Because Dillon was kicked out of the mansion when he decided that his friendship with Damian meant more than being told that he couldn't go see his friend." Courtney sighed, "He doesn't have a place to stay."
Jason had an idea of where the train of thought was going. "No... Courtney, there is no way..."
"Jason... please. I don't want to see him walking around the streets, homeless."
"He's not our responsibility!" Jason shot back. "Where is he?"
"Sleeping in the guest room..."
"He's out, tomorrow morning he's gone."
"Jason... think about this for a moment, would you? He's so much like you. A Quatermaine, but so much different, so much kinder. Do you want to see him get destroyed by that family the same way that they tried to destroy you? Do you want to see them stomp out the spark of individuality that Dillon's somehow managing to hold onto? Haven't you wished that they could be different, be something other than what they are to you? Now you have that chance... don't throw it away."
Jason was silent. He tried to keep his eyes away from Courtney. They were so pure, so full of reason, reason that he couldn't debate. "I'll think about it."
Courtney hugged him. She had at least partially won.