Author's Note: Well look at this, two updates in one day! I wish it happened more often, but I got really excited about writing this and knew where I wanted to go next, so here's the next chapter.

As for this chapter… way back in Chapter 4, I told you to pay attention to a few things that happened there because they'd come to play in the future. Well, the future is this chapter.

Hope you enjoy this chapter, and the previous one as well! As always, feedback is appreciated.

Love, Daisies, and Troubadours – Chapter 9

"So this happens all the time?" Courtney looked at Carly curiously. Carly had found her almost immediately after leaving the police department, and against her better judgment she had allowed Carly to convince her to go with her to the island for now. It was several hours later and they were on a jet going to a place Carly described as breathtakingly beautiful and exotic. Too bad she wasn't in the mood for a tropical vacation.

Carly shrugged. "I wouldn't say all the time, but I've probably lost count of how many times Sonny's been shot at, or myself for that matter."

"And you're okay with that?" Courtney sounded incredulous and Carly turned to look at her.

"Jason's never told you about any of it?" she asked.

"No." Courtney shook her head. "I would try and ask, but he always changed the topic. We never talked about his work other than the basics. He never went into detail, and I'm still not sure what happened tonight really."

"Neither am I," Carly admitted. "But I'm hoping Sonny will fill me in soon. I'll tell you this though, it was definitely one hell of an opening night."

"Oh god, your club." Courtney had almost forgotten. "Is this going to hurt it at all?"

Carly laughed and waved a hand dismissively. "Please. If every business was hurt from being the location of a mob war, there'd be no business in Port Charles. I'm not worried. If anything, this might even help business."

"You're so relaxed," Courtney said. "Aren't you scared Carly?"

Again Carly shrugged. "Of course I'm scared," she admitted. "But I'm so used to it now, that I don't know…" her voice trailed off as she thought. "It doesn't seem as scary to me as it used to. It's become a way of life. My way of life, because of Sonny."

"Okay, but why hasn't he tried to send you away?" Courtney asked slowly. "Why is it okay for you to be a part of this side of his life, but I can't be?"

Carly smiled sympathetically. "He loves you, he really does. Don't ever doubt that. And Sonny, well, he likes to protect the ones he loves however he sees fit, no matter how irrational he is. He's tried to get rid of me he really has; only I'm way more stubborn than he is. I'm here and he knows he can't do anything about it. You on the other hand, he doesn't know you that well yet, but he still loves you, and he thinks that you'll just do whatever he wants, and accept it as the best idea."

"It's a horrible idea though," Courtney protested.

"Yeah, it is," Carly agreed. "But sweetie, you have to remember that Sonny just found out about you and Jason, and not in the best way. He feels betrayed by not only you, but by Jason, and I can honestly tell you that he has no idea what to do about that."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning Jason has never lied to Sonny before. He's never done anything Sonny wouldn't approve of," Carly explained. "And now suddenly he's secretly seeing you and openly defying Sonny by telling him that he's not going to stop. Sonny has no idea how to react to that."

Courtney shook her head. "What about what Sonny said though? About Jason only asking me about school because they were planning to get me to leave?"

"Oh, Sonny may have asked Jason to talk to you about that but there's no way Jason did it only because Sonny wanted him to," Carly said with a shake of her head. "Jason would never do that, not to you. I've seen the two of you together and I've seen him around you, Courtney, he cares about you. Don't ever doubt that."

She nodded and looked down at her hands. Carly was probably right, but she wasn't sure, and that killed her. If Carly was right, than Courtney had probably ruined everything by already doubting Jason and accusing him of betraying her. If Carly was wrong though, then she never wanted to see Sonny or Jason again.

"There you are!" Carly said with a bright smile as Courtney came into the living room from the patio. "Where were you?"

Courtney returned the smile to Carly before going to pour a glass of water. "I needed to get out of the house so I took a nap on the beach." It had been over a week since she and Carly had arrived on the island and she had to admit that Carly had been right, it was an amazing place. She laughed at the look on Carly's face. "Don't worry, I took one of the guards with me."

"Well that's good, I'm glad you remembered, but I've got something else to tell you." Carly's voice was full of hesitation and Courtney sighed and set her glass down on the table.

"Sonny and Jason are here, right?" she asked carefully, looking at Carly.

"Not yet, but they're on their way," Carly answered.

"So then it's over and we're okay to leave the island?" Courtney asked, looking to Carly for confirmation.

"Sonny didn't say for sure, but he wouldn't leave Port Charles if that wasn't the case."

"Right." Courtney took a deep breath. "Well then I guess I should go pack," she said, turning to walk to the staircase. "With any luck I can be gone before they get here."

"Court, you can't just leave!" Carly protested.

"I can't? Carly, I don't want to see either of them and quite honestly, I don't think either of them wants to see me right now so I'll save everyone the trouble of having to deal with all of this."

"What are you talking about?" Carly asked.

"I haven't heard from Jason since the night at the police department," Courtney confessed. "And we both know Sonny hasn't picked up the phone to call me either so I don't think they can make this any clearer to me."

"No, Courtney, you've got it all wrong," Carly protested.

She shrugged sadly. "Maybe I do," she conceded. "But at this point, I don't care to find out either way. "I'm going to go pack my things." She walked upstairs before Carly could stop her.

Less than an hour later there was a slight knock on her bedroom door and she sighed. She was almost done packing and wanted to finish without any distractions from Carly. Before she could move there was another knock. And another. And a fourth before she crossed the carpet to the door. "Carly, don't even try to change my mind, there's nothing you can do!" She flung the door open, expecting to see Carly standing there. "Oh." She stepped back.

Jason stood in the doorway and looked at her. "Going somewhere?" he asked, leaning against the frame.

She nodded. "I told Sonny I would. And the fact that you're here now means its safe for me to leave, so really, there's no reason not to."

"Just like that?" Jason asked, folding his arms in front of him. "You're not even going to let me explain anything?"

"What's there to explain?" Courtney asked, lifting her eyes to meet his. "I think you've said enough already."

"What do you mean? Courtney, I haven't talked to you since you left town." He saw the look of anger pass over her face. "Oh." He sighed. "Courtney, let me explain."

"Explain what?" She shook her head. "No Jason, you don't have to explain anything. I've done a lot of thinking this week, and I've made up my mind."

"To leave? To give up without even fighting?"

"Fighting?" She laughed. "How can I fight for you when I'm not even sure I know who you are?" She saw a look of hurt flash in his eyes and for a moment felt badly.

"How can you say that?" he asked. "You don't really mean it. You can't actually think that you don't know me." He crossed the room in three long strides and stood in front of her.

"I don't know what I think anymore," she confessed softly. She didn't fight back when she felt Jason's hand on her back and she let him pull her into his arms.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you," Jason whispered into her hair. "I wanted to, I picked up the phone to call you probably ten times an hour, but I couldn't. Not until I knew you were safe."

"I was safe here," she said, but he shook his head to cut her off.

"I meant safe for good," he explained. "I haven't been honest with you Courtney, I never thought AJ was the one who sent you those flowers, in fact, I knew it wasn't him from the moment you told me about them."

"Who then?"

"His name is Jackson Parelli and he's the reason I had to keep going to Atlantic City," Jason went on. "He approached me and made veiled threats against you."

"And you decided not to tell me?" She pulled back to look at him.

"It was a bad decision, but you were already convinced it was AJ and I thought it was better you still thought that," Jason said. "You weren't scared and I didn't want to be the one to scare you. And I could still protect you while we went after Parelli and the less you knew the better."

"That's how it would always be, wouldn't it?" Courtney pulled away from him and walked several feet away. "You would always hide things from me and keep me in the dark because you think that would be better for me."

"Wouldn't it?" Jason challenged. "Courtney, would you really want to know every little detail about my job? Would that really make you feel better?"

"Did you kill Jackson Parelli?" she asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Well it's over now isn't it? You wouldn't be here if it wasn't over, so how did it end? Did you kill him?"

Jason shook his head slowly. "It's over and Parelli was dealt with, but no, I didn't kill him."

"But you have killed before, right?" she pressed on. "How many times?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" he asked, staring at her.

"No." She shook her head from side to side as she brushed a few wayward tears from her cheeks. "No, I don't want you to answer it but I don't think I can handle not knowing either." She sighed and walked further away, turning her back on him. "Don't you understand?" she whispered. "I'm not leaving because I don't want to be with you, I'm leaving because I don't know what else to do."

"Courtney, we can figure this out. We can—"

"We can't," she argued. "I can't be with you Jason, because I don't want to know what you do when you're working, but I can't not know either. I can't sit and watch you leave for work every day and wonder what you're doing or if you're even going to come home."

"So that's it?"

"No, that's not it." She sighed. "I'm not going to come between you and Sonny, I don't want to be a… a distraction that gets you killed."

"Hey." He crossed the room again to get to her and cupped the side of her face. "I don't want you to ever think you're a distraction, because you're not." He smiled at her, brushing away her tears with his thumb. "Courtney, if anything, you're the exact opposite. Before I met you, there's nothing I wouldn't have done for Sonny. I didn't care how dangerous it was. If something happened to me, it wasn't going to matter. Now, it matters Courtney, I matter."

Courtney smiled in spite of herself. "That's not fair," she said with a shake of her head.

"I know, it wasn't fair at all, but it's true." He brought his other hand up to the back of her head and stroked her hair, threading his fingers through it. He smiled as she rested her head against his chest and slid her hands around him. They stayed like that for a long moment and Jason was surprised as she pulled away.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head again. "I'm sorry, but I just can't do this. Maybe Sonny was right from the beginning and maybe we're just blinded by our emotions, but this isn't the kind of life I ever pictured myself having."

"And the life you had with AJ was?" He regretted the words as soon as they came out. "I didn't mean that Court, I just meant that—"

"No, you're right," she interrupted. "You're right, my life with AJ wasn't what I expected either, but maybe that's the whole point. Maybe Port Charles isn't the place for me."

"What about what you told me?" he asked. "About finally finding the stability you needed here?"

She looked up at him with sad eyes and shook her head slowly. "I don't think that's a particular conversation you ever want to bring up with me," she said.

"But just admit that you were happy," Jason pressed. "That you were happy with me."

"I was," she said sincerely. "But with everything that's happened with you and me and Sonny, I just don't think that it can work."

"So you're not even willing to try?" Jason shook his head as he paced. He wasn't used to this. In every other circumstance he would be in Courtney's place, but he had changed. She had changed him, and he no longer thought logically when it came to her. "See, I knew this would happen," he said as he began to pace. "This is why I never wanted to tell you about my job, why Sonny never wanted you to become a part of it. We knew would it would do to you."

"So you would rather I lived in some beautiful oblivion?" she shot back.

"If it meant we'd be together, maybe!"

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I can't say that enough, but Jason, I won't change my mind."

"Courtney, I l-"

"I won't change my mind," she said firmly. "No matter what you say." She couldn't hear him say it, she would crumble right there if she did.

"Fine," he said heavily. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. "You know what you want out of life, and I respect that. I hope you find it." He turned and started to walk out of the room.

Courtney bit her lip as she watched him, not bothering to wipe away her tears anymore. "Jase," she called out as he reached the door. She waited until he turned to look at her again.

"Yeah?"

"What you tried to say. That night at the club or right here just now?" She swallowed hard. "I would have said it back." She felt her heart break as he looked at her and processed her words. He didn't say anything. He simply nodded at her and walked out of her room.

She took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. He was gone, and he probably wasn't coming back. The look in his eyes as he left told her everything she needed to know. She wasn't the only one with a broken heart over this.

Time passed and finally she left the bedroom and descended down the stairs, only to be met by Carly at the base.

"What happened?" Carly demanded. "I came home from lunch with Sonny and I ran into him and he didn't look happy at all. He barely even said hi to me, but shoved this at me and told me to give it to you." She held out a small gift-wrapped box.

Courtney took it gingerly. "We broke up," she said softly.

Carly sighed. "You did? I've been working on Sonny all week, and if you would have just given me another day or so, I'd have had him broke down and he would have been okay with you two." She waited expectantly. "Aren't you going to open it?" she asked impatiently.

Courtney slid her index finger under the edge of the silver paper and slid it down, breaking the seal. She dropped the paper to the ground and stared at what she held in her hands.

"Books," Carly said, confusion evident in her voice. "He seriously tried to win you back with books?" She took them from Courtney. "Not even books, two copies of the same book." She looked back at the blonde, who took the books back from her. "And yet you're reacting to this? I don't get it."

Courtney opened the cover to the first book and read the note that was tucked inside of it.

Courtney – I know you never found your copy of Little Women from when you moved, and I always meant to replace it from the first night we talked about it. It just took me a little longer than I thought it would. This one's your copy to read whenever you want, and if you lose it again, I'll just buy you another. She smiled as she read the words silently. The other one however, that's a little more special. It took some time, but I was able to find a first-edition printing and that's what you're holding in your hands Courtney. Now every time you read this, you can think of me, and if you read it as often as you said you did, I can guarantee I'll never be far from your thoughts. Happy reading. Love, Jason.

"Oh God," she whispered, pressing her hand to her mouth. She turned and looked at Carly who was still staring at her strangely. "Can it work?" she asked suddenly.

"Can what work? Courtney, are you okay? You look like you're about to—"

"Can it work? Can Jason and I work out even though neither of us know what the hell we're doing right now?"

Carly smiled then. "I never know what I'm doing and Sonny and I work just fine," she said.

It was also only answer Courtney needed. "Where did Jason go?" she asked.

"He's at the guest house next door." Carly looked at her watch. "Or at least, he will be if he hasn't already gotten on the jet back to Port Charles." Courtney was halfway through the living room before she even finished her sentence and Carly smiled as the front door slammed shut. "That's my girl," she said approvingly. "Don't let him get on that plane."

Courtney stood in front of the door to Sonny's other house and hesitated. She could still hear him inside, moving around, so that was good, at least he wasn't gone yet. She took some relief in that. She raised her hand but the door swung open before she could knock and her fist fell gently against his chest before she could stop it.

"What are you doing here?" He questioned, looking at her, his eyes roaming from head to toe. "I think you've said everything you needed to say."

She took a deep breath, hoping she could find the right words to say because she was pretty sure she only had one chance. It was now or never.