Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot

Summary: Courtney and Jax left Port Charles over 16 years ago, but what happens when a tragic event forces Courtney to come home and face the mess she left behind?

Author's Note: I'm not sure how old Courtney is in the show, but for the sake of my story we are going to say that she was fairly young, probably about 22 years old, which would make her about 38 in my story. I also want to thank everyone for the positive reviews. I really appreciate all the feedback and I'm willing to incorporate any ideas that anyone has, so let me know. Oh yeah, by the way…I'm fairly certain that it's going to Journey, but it's not set in stone, yet.

And you can't fight the tears that ain't
coming. Or the moment of truth in your lies

Goo Goo Dolls

Courtney entered the bustling atmosphere of Kelly's. The Monday morning rush was in full effect and it took her a moment to search through the sea of people to find Carly sitting at a table in the back corner. She forced herself through the masses, finally taking her seat at the table. Her best friend's attention was occupied by a young waitress, so she took this time to look around Kelly's. It hadn't changed a bit. The old worn tables were set up in the same exact spots that she left them. The customers were much the same, if not a little older. She caught sight of a grown up Emily and Zander snuggled in the corner booth together. I thought he was dead, Courtney wondered making a mental note to ask Carly about it later. Liz was sitting with a young man, who she assumed was her son. He looked exactly like her right down to the dark hair and round face. She searched the crowd for more familiar faces, but came up empty.

"Earth to Courtney," Carly's screechy voice interrupted her.

"What?" The younger woman answered in annoyance. It was bad enough that she was ripped out of her slumber, but now Carly wanted to have a heart to heart.

"Still a little bitchy in the morning I see," Carly grumbled.

"Well forgive me, Carly. My husband just died, my brother is trying to run me out of town, and now I have you waking me up at dawn to have a discussion that I'm not sure you will even understand. So yeah, I guess I am a little "bitchy" this morning." Courtney snapped.

"You done?" Carly asked with an arched eyebrow. "Because, you are not the only one that has to deal with your return to Port Charles. Sonny may have been a little out of line last night, but did you honestly expect him to greet you with open arms?"

"No," Courtney mumbled.

"I love you, Court. But so much has changed around here and it was naïve of you to think that you could just walk back into town and have everyone accept you.

"That's not what I thought. I know how hard it's going to be, but I have no where else to go!" Courtney let out in a yelp. "Do you think that I want to bring my son around this chaos? I don't, but there was no where else for me to turn. So yeah, maybe coming here was not the best idea, but it was the only choice I had."

"Why?" Courtney looked at her in confusion. "Why is Port Charles the only place that you could go? I mean it's no secret that Jax had money, why not put it to use?"

"I can't."

"Why? I'm sure he wouldn't object to his son and wife using his money to better their lives in his absence," Carly prodded. She noticed the wince on the other woman's face at the mention of "his" son.

"I just can't, Carly! Jay and I are going to be fine without Jax's money."

"Oh my God," Carly murmured. "Sonny was right; Jay's not Jax's is he?" Courtney cursed her best friend for being so observant. How could Sonny possibly have known? He only saw Jay for a few moments. How am I going to get out of this? Her mind raced.

"It's none of your business," Courtney forced her voice to be steady and firm. The other woman didn't respond right away, but nodded her head. The gesture made the blonde uneasy, knowing that Carly never gave up that easy.

"You know—Jason's not married to Sam anymore," to anyone else the comment may have seemed random, but Courtney knew better. It was Carly's way of planning out her next move. "He divorced the tramp about three months after you left. She was never even pregnant; it was all some elaborate hoax to stay close to Sonny."

"Oh."

"And then there was Robin," Carly continued on. "Yup, little Miss Scorpio made her return to Port Charles and into Jason's heart. I really thought that they were going to make it this time, but unfortunately Robin passed away a few years ago along with their daughter Emma. It was a tragedy… The bomb wasn't even meant for them."

"That's enough, Carly." Courtney whispered hoarsely. "I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but stop."

"You know— even when Robin was around; he held onto to hope that you might come back," Carly began, ignoring the other woman's pleas. "He would never admit it to anyone, but you could see it in his eyes; the way they lit up at the mention of your name."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You know—Jason was an excellent father; Emma absolutely adored him. I think losing her was harder on him than losing Robin. He's strong, though. He pushed through and made it out of that dark time" Carly carried on. "I sometimes wonder what it would be like if he had another child, because if anyone deserves a second chance at fatherhood it's Jason. Maybe someday will find out," she finished.

"You can't tell him, Carly." Courtney pleaded.

"I'm not going to say a word; you are." The blonde shook her head. "You have already robbed Jason of valuable years with his son, not too mention what Jay lost."

"I thought Sam was pregnant with his kid. What was I suppose to do? Stick around and force him to raise another child, that I wasn't even sure was his at the time." Courtney was trying to make her friend understand, but it didn't seem to be working.

"You could have come back. You know—I'm sure it didn't take long to see the resemblance between the two; Sonny noticed it within five minutes," Carly spat back.

"And how would I explain that to Jax? Oh yeah, you have been great, but I am going to take Jay into a life filled with violence, codes, and pain." Courtney growled.

"You know—you can try and spin it anyway you want, but what you did was wrong and there is no way around that. So, I'm going to go, because it's obvious that you need some time to think." Carly responded quietly getting up and leaving an overwhelmed Courtney alone in the busy diner.

Jason Morgan entered Penthouse Four. His life over the past few years had changed drastically, not that anyone would notice. On the surface things seemed the same; he still lived across the hall from his boss Sonny Corinthos and spent almost every waking moment at work. Just below the surface, however, Jason Morgan was a different man. A man that still ached for the loss of his family and wondered what happened to the blue eyed beauty he once loved. His life was a series of missed opportunities: Robin, Courtney, and unfortunately Emma were all casualties in the everlasting war that he called his life.

His mind often drifted back to the cool December day that Robin and Emma settled into his sleek, black Rolls Royce. They were heading off the visit Robin's family and Jason was supposed to meet them at Mac's house around seven. They hadn't even pulled off the curb when the explosion happened, causing both females to be killed instantly. The bomb was supposed to be for Sonny, but unfortunately the men who set it up mistook Jason's car for Sonny's. It was a mistake that he had to live with for the rest of his life. Maybe if he had gone with his wife and daughter he would have noticed the blinking red light tucked away in the cigarette lighter, but he was too busy with work to be bothered. Another missed opportunity.

"Jase, you ok?" Sonny's low timber broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Johnny said you wanted to see me?" He tried to read the look on the older man's face, but could not.

"Courtney's back in town." He announced searching Jason's eyes for any sort of emotion. The younger man's mind raced with happiness and dread. Their last night together flashed in his head. Say the word and I won't do it. His final plea to her had gone unanswered. "I just you know—wanted to give you the heads up." Jason noticed that there was something that Sonny wasn't telling him, but decided not to press the issue.

"Thanks," he responded and the elder man nodded. An uncomfortable silence filled the air until Johnny entered the room; the harsh slam of the hard cherry door caused both men to look up.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but there is a problem down at the docks." Sonny and Jason looked at him in alarm.

"What kind of trouble?"

"Something about one of the coffee shipments."

"I'll handle it," Jason offered. He needed an excuse to get out of the Penthouse before Carly came home and wanted to talk about Courtney. He loved her to death, but sometimes she was unbearable in her eternal quest to save him. After all, he was a grown man that could take care of himself and handle his own problems. He nodded to Sonny before leaving.

Jay slid out of bed looking around anxiously for his mother. His search came up empty except for a short note left on the night stand.

Jay,

Went out with Carly for a bit. There's money on the table in case you want to order breakfast. Be back soon.

Love,

Mom

He found a twenty dollar bill placed strategically on the room service menu. His stomach began to churn at the thought of eating any sort of hotel food. Getting up, he made his way over to the window. The street scenes of Port Charles seemed very much like the ones in his hometown. He suddenly felt the overwhelming need to get out and explore and see what other connections he could make to his home. After a quick shower, he wrote a note to his mother, shoved the twenty bucks in his pocket and setout on his sight-seeing adventure.

Jason had just finished clearing up the mess on the docks. Apparently, Ric had stopped by and wanted to do a random inspection of the shipment. Sonny had told Ric numerous times that their business was legit, but there were still searches and questioning. It was tougher being an upstanding citizen than it was to be a criminal. It had taken twenty years, but Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan were finally clean, law abiding citizens; ironically, the PCPD harassed them even more now than they ever did before. It had only taken two deaths and four heartbreaks to get him out of the business.

His mind drifted to Courtney. Jax's death had been a shock to everyone, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that she would come back to Port Charles. He used to fantasize about the day she would come back and he would fix things between them. He would walk away from his career for her and they would ride off into their fairy-tale life; the life that he knew she deserved. He slowly gave up hope with each passing year and then Robin came back. Sure she wasn't Courtney, but she was the only woman that could even hold a candle to his ex wife.

"Get your hands off of me!" Jason heard a young voice shout. He looked up to see Faith Roscoe with a tight grip clasped to a young man's arm.

"Listen here you sniveling brat…" Faith rasped. The teenager squared his shoulders defiantly, obviously preparing himself for a battle.

"Who are you calling a brat, you old wench?" The comment elicited a chuckle from the spectator and look of shear rage on Faith's face. The anger was rising in the petite blonde and Jason was sure that if someone didn't intervene, she would end up taking out her gun and shooting the kid in broad daylight.

"Leave him alone," Jason stepped in between the two, which caused a look of surprise from Roscoe. "Come on Faith, what are you trying to do? Steal his lunch money? I know times are tough, but are you really that despicable?"

"This is none of your business, Morgan!" Faith growled and Jason laughed.

"I'm saving your ass right now. If Ric sees you harassing a minor, well he'll make sure that you go down for every charge he can trump up."

"I don't need your help. You and Sonny already gave me everything I needed when you left the game," Faith whispered with a smile which caused a look of disgust creep on Jason's face. Sonny? Jay thought to himself. How did this guy have ties to Sonny and what kind of "game" was that old witch talking about.

"Whatever, just get out of here, Roscoe!" The older of the two men ordered and surprisingly the woman obeyed. She retreated back before staring down Jay. "You alright?" Jason asked turning around to face the young man. He was slightly shocked by the boy's haunting blue eyes.

"I'm fine, thanks. I could have handled it myself," Jay assured the stranger while shoving a disposable camera into his back pocket. He looked up to meet the gaze of the older man and was surprised by his striking resemblance to himself.

"I bet you could have," Jason chuckled.

"Who was she?"

"Faith Roscoe; Port Charles resident thug," Jason responded.

"Yeah well if that is what passes for a "thug" around here than I'm pretty sure this town is more pathetic than I thought," Jay grumbled and caused a grin to form on his companion's lips.

"It could be worse. Why was she bothering you?"

"I was snapping pictures and I happened to get one of her doing some unsavory business," Jay explained.

"This town is full of "unsavory business," just watch out for her."

"Thanks. My name's Jay," the young man informed him offering a handshake.

"Jason," he said noticing the firmness of the kid's handshake. The similarities were beginning to add up in Jay's troubled mind. The name and resemblance were hard to ignore as he wondered if he was shaking hands with his biological father.

"That's some handshake you got there," Jason remarked.

"Oh yeah, my dad taught me that. It's suppose to me make people respect me or something," the kid laughed. The two men settled in a comfortable each one lost in their own thoughts and worries.

Courtney wandered aimlessly around Port Charles Park. She was beginning to worry about Jay; he was naïve to the people in this town and she didn't want him getting into any trouble. She caught a glimpse of his lean form across the baseball field, but failed to notice his companion. She sped up a little bit and made it across the diamond in record time.

"Hey. I've been looking for you," she informed him leaning against a tree to catch her breath. When her son didn't respond, she followed his gaze and noticed Jason standing across from her.

"Jason," she whispered her breath hitching slightly. Does he know? Does Jay know? He still looks good; her jumbled thoughts were flying through her head.

"Courtney…"