The Journey is Over
A General Hospital fan-fiction
Chapter Seven: Epilogue
Jason walked down the steps from his room at Jake's and approached the bar. Jake wasn't in sight so he gave an envelope to the bartender. "Give this to Jake when she gets back."
The bartender nodded, taking the envelope and placing it in the cash register. Jason left the bar and hopped on his bike.
He had been sitting in his room for the past hour mulling over his life. He didn't like the turn his life had taken and realized that he hadn't been happy in a long time. The last time he felt any happiness was when Michael was a baby and they lived at the cottage with Robin, before Carly returned from Ferncliff and blew his life into bits.
Sitting in his room, Jason decided that he needed a new start; a fresh start away from Port Charles and away from Carly. She was like a poison to him, a poison that infected you until you were helpless to it. Jason felt like he was waking up from a coma induced by her poison. He could finally see what Robin had been trying to tell him about her. She manipulated people by using their weaknesses. Jason's fatal weakness had been Michael. He loved that boy from the moment he held him and Carly latched onto that. Jason wished he had listened to Robin's warnings because it would have saved him so much heartache.
It was the loss of Michael that made him vulnerable to Courtney. His need for a family of his own, after he "gave" Michael to Sonny to raise, that drew him into Courtney's web of lies. But now that was over. He was free, free of Courtney, and free of Carly finally.
He knew Sonny would understand his need to leave town. He drove to the Harborview Towers and spoke to Max. "Give this to Sonny for me," he began, taking the letter out of his jacket pocket. "I won't be around for awhile."
Max nodded. He looked at the envelope and ached to read its' contents but instead of opening it, he slid it inside his jacket. He knew better than to read anything meant for his boss.
Jason hopped back on his bike and took off. He had a destination in mind. Europe. He wanted, no needed, to see Robin. He knew she might not want to see him but he had to apologize to her. After that, she never had to see him again.
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Carly followed Courtney upstairs. "You're leaving? Just like that?" She couldn't understand the way Courtney was giving up so easily.
"Yes, Carly, it's over," Courtney said, calmly, "Jason will never talk to me, let alone trust me, again. The best thing I can do for him is to leave."
She packed her bag quickly, taking only the essentials. She had no idea where she was going but she knew she didn't need a whole lot to start over.
When she was done, she carried her suitcase downstairs and retrieved her jacket from the closet. She turned to Carly and smiled. "I guess this is good-bye then," she said. "I want you to know that you were the best friend I ever had, Carly."
Carly nodded. "As were you. In fact," she added, "you were the only friend I ever had."
They quickly hugged and Courtney picked up her suitcase and, with one last glance back at the home she shared with Jason, if only for a short time, she left. She rode the elevator in silence and waved good-bye to the guards in the lobby.
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The weeks and months passed quickly. Mike came home and moved into Jason's penthouse. Sonny insisted he remain close to keep an eye on him.
Sonny had read the letter from Jason and, unlike Carly, understood why he had to leave. Because of this, Sonny and Carly grew increasingly distant. They fought more and more until finally Sonny had had enough.
When he heard about Courtney's disappearance, Sonny wasn't surprised. Mike, on the other hand, had hoped to talk to her. He wanted to know why she had lied to him. Most of all, he wanted to find out where his real daughter was. Once he was feeling better, Mike and Sonny paid a visit to Janine in Atlantic City. They found her and forced her to tell them the truth. She finally revealed that her and Mike's real daughter had died at the age of four after a bout with scarlet fever. Mike was devastated.
One year after he left Port Charles, Jason returned for his grandmother's 90th birthday. He had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.
When he visited Sonny, he revealed that he had finally found the happiness and the family he had wanted for so long. Robin was back at their home in Paris about to give birth to their first child. She was still HIV-positive but with the aid of the triple cocktail, the doctors assured them that the baby was in no danger of contracting the virus in utero.
His journey to a happy life was now over.
THE END.
(I want to thank all my reviewers for all the kind words. I really appreciate ya'll. I hope you like how I ended this story and yes, this is the end. I may pen a sequel one day but not now. I want to concentrate on my other fics. Anyway, thanks again. And please remember to review one last time.)