"Jax." Courtney appeared at the doorway. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, she felt so drained. It was so heartbreaking to be in Carly's presence; she wanted to make everything better, but Carly simple answered when spoken to and never more. Of course, she couldn't blame her, but she had an eerily unpleasant feeling that Carly's silence went much beyond what had happened the previous night. And now, she was looking and her brother, who seemed beyond angry. And she was angry too. She was angry that he hadn't been there when Carly needed him. She was angry that her best friend was put in the hospital, and the one thing...the one thing that she wanted couldn't be given to her. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that Carly didn't need to be put through anything else, so she pushed her anger aside.
Looking her brother in the eye, seeing his heated frustration appeased her a bit...but not enough. "Carly's hurt. She's in a fragile state," she closed her eyes, darkly humoring herself about referring to Carly as fragile, "Just....just please, calm down before you see her okay?" Sparing a glance at Jason, who surprisingly displayed more than a flicker of concern in his eyes, she turned away, refusing to relive through any pointless longings.
Pushing the door open slowly and soundlessly, Courtney bit down on her bottom lip again in an effort to hold back the pained sound she always unleashed when freshly gazing upon Carly's form. Again, Carly was curled to her side, clutching the bed sheet close to her lithe body. Her blank eyes, stared unseeingly at the window. Courtney thought that Carly chose the window because she'd think others would figure she was looking at the scenery...but Courtney knew that Carly didn't really see anything; her mind was thousands of miles away. She still couldn't move much, but once she had eaten she felt a bit of her strength regain. The only conversation that passed between the two of them this morning was queries about Michael and Morgan...she didn't ask about Sonny again. And Courtney, for one, had been glad about that. But now, he was here...and she didn't know quite what to expect.
"Carly?" She wasn't surprised to receive no acknowledgement. "Carly, Sonny and Jason are here..."
Sonny was paralyzed. He couldn't believe what his eyes saw, he refused to believe them. Anger erupted in his soul, dark, black anger. Nevertheless, he swallowed it, and fought to will it away...temporarily. Looking at Courtney and Jason, he gave then a nod, indicating that he wanted to be left alone. He stared at the bed while Courtney, after internally struggling with the idea walked quietly out. Jason, on the other hand, seemed struck to the core. But Sonny made no move to do anything until he left...and so he did...in utter disbelief and cold, building rage.
"Jason!"
Broken away from his intense thoughts, Jason looked up to see Sam. He had left her downstairs, alone, having to check on the situation himself. Shaking his head, he spoke slowly, "You should have stayed downstairs."
Giving him a measuring look, Sam recalled how frustrated she became on the first floor, left with nothing to do but wait. "Is Carly-"
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Courtney's voice whipped. She couldn't believe this. How dare she come here. She stood straight, her eyes flashing dangerously. "I don't know what you think you're doing here, but I do know that you're leaving right now." She took a step towards Sam.
"Jason brought me here," Sam countered defensively; "I wanted to know how Carly's doing!"
"You disgusting bi-" Seeing red, Courtney couldn't stomach Sam's presence any longer. There was no way in hell she'd let Sam in Carly's eyesight.
"Hey!" Grabbing Sam's elbow, Jason gave Courtney a pointed look. He had so many damn thoughts running through his head, and he couldn't get them straightened out and he all he knew was that he didn't need this. But Courtney's incredulous look silenced him.
Courtney couldn't believe it. He was actually defending Sam. His supposed best friend was lying in a hospital bed, beaten...and he didn't even....she shook her head. It was a wasted effort. She wouldn't go through this because she knew that, inevitably, she would yell and scream, while Jason stood impassively, making her seem dam unreasonable. Feeling a hand on the small of her back, she turned to find Jax, who met her gaze calmly. She felt the anger ebbing slowly away.
"Why don't we talk to Monica and see when Carly can be release?" He poised it as a question, but was already leading Courtney away from Morgan and Sam. Normally, he would have reveled in the stiffening in Morgan's posture and the extra iciness in his pupils, but Jax really didn't care anymore. His thoughts were more on Carly and Courtney.
"Hey..." Speaking softly, Sonny had pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. Leaning forward a bit, he clenched his teeth at the sight of the cut about her left eye, the scab on her bottom lip, and the blue hue on her cheekbone. "Carly?"
Her eyes fastened onto his. Fighting a shiver, Carly mentally braced herself for this. She had been spending the whole time lying here...thinking. Thinking about her life, about the people who made up her life. It was so sad. SHE was sad. How pathetic was she? Replaying events in her mind, she realized that she became someone who absolutely disgusted her: selfish, clingy, and spiteful. It shook her to realize that this...this PERSON was her. She had to be stronger, stronger for her children. Better. She would be better.
"How are you feeling?" His eyes stared beseechingly into hers.
She almost faltered. Almost. But she didn't. She refused to.
Giving him a brittle smile, "Okay...I'm okay."
Nodding, he swallowed. He fought the urge to take her hand, though he realized that he couldn't if he wanted to because her hands were pillowing the side of her head. "I'm going to get him, Carly." He leaned in more and spoke lower. "I'm going to find this bastard and I'm going to kill him."
A part of Carly wished that she had enough good in her to tell him no, that she didn't want to hurt whoever had hurt her. But, she wasn't. She wanted whoever had done this to hurt too. So, she simply nodded in acceptance. She fought to not lose herself in the pair of intense eyes.
"Do you remember him? Anything at all?" He hated to make her recall it, but he needed something to start with. He needed to make someone pay for hurting someone he...
She shook her head and turned her head when the door opened unexpectedly.
"Hey." Courtney and Jax entered. Carly let out a relieved breath at seeing the two. They gave her a bit of confidence and put her more on ease.
Courtney crossed over to the bed, ignoring Sonny's disapproving silence. "We spoke with Monica, and she said that you can leave whenever you feel up to it..."
"Whoa, hey, take it easy." Sonny helped her into a sit-up position.
"I want to leave as soon as possible," Carly stated firmly, "I want to be with my kids..."
"Are you sure-" Sonny stopped his questioning at Carly's stiff nod.
Courtney sensed something...off...in Carly. But, regardless, she knew better than to voice it aloud now. "Sonny, Monica wanted to know if you could take care of the release forms..."
"Yeah," he took another look at Carly, "Yeah, I got it...I'll be right back."
Watching him leave, Carly smiled a little at Courtney and Jax, thinking that smiling was getting more difficult each time she forced it. "I should change..."
"Do you need help?" Courtney sighed when Carly declined, "I'll be right outside okay?" She turned around to leave, but Carly's voice stopped her mid-step. "Courtney? Thank you..." Carly's gaze looked to Jax. "Thank you both, for...for being helping me."
Courtney's eyes glistened; Jax gave a nod, "Whenever you need it Carly. Whenever you need it..."
Sonny walked swiftly to the receptionist desk, spotting Jason and Sam there already. "What are you doing here?"
Sam held a breath a bit. Understandably, Sonny wasn't in a good mood and she didn't want to make matters worse. "I, uh...Jason wanted to come here, and I didn't want to make him drop me off first."
Carefully nodding, Sonny nodded for Jason, then walked a good feet away from everyone else's earshot. Jason, who joined him within seconds, gave Sonny a measured look. "How's Carly?"
Closing his eyes, he wanted to shun away the picture of Carly's battered face. Taking a breath that he held on to, Sonny looked around and made sure no one paid attention to the two of them. "Find him, Jason. I want whoever did this to her found." He clenched his teeth. "Bring him to me." It was an order, unyielding.
An understanding silence stood between them, and Jason barely nodded his head. "I'll get him."
With multiple nods, Sonny thought about what to do next. He just wanted to get Carly home, safe and secure. "I'm going to take Carly home, but I want you to leave with Sam now, okay?" He spared a glance at Sam, who was fidgeting in a lounge chair. "I don't want Carly to see her, you know? It might-it might upset her, and she doesn't need that."
"Yeah, yeah. Okay." Jason paused. "I want to see Carly before I leave though."
Just finishing dressing a few seconds ago, Carly tried to abstain from moving around unnecessarily…it hurt too much. She turned as she heard the door open once again, already beginning to force another smile to her face…she let it slip away.
"Alcazar."
Hi! Wow, thank you to everyone who reviewed my first chapter, it really mean a lot, and definitely propelled me to hurrying into finishing the second chapter. I, honestly, don't know where I'm going with this story. I'm truly a Carly/Sonny fan, as well as a Courtney/Jason one, but I'm enjoying Courtney/Jax also. I've never liked Sam, but I've come to realize that she isn't all bad, but I still don't like her :D. Anyways, please, please review. The more reviews I get, the more I'll write, I promise. Thanks!