Ch. 41 Bits And Pieces

He stood outside the door, wondering what she was doing behind it. Wishing he knew what she was thinking; what was going through her head. Something was different. It had been since he'd spoken with her in the hospital. He was sure that the way she'd acted then was just a reaction to being back there. But it was more.

When he'd brought her back to the penthouse, the whole way there she did not say a word to him, and as soon as they'd arrived, she'd gone straight into the room. That was a few days ago and that was still where she spent most of her time. He raised his fist to knock when his phone rang. Walking away from the door, he answered it.

"Morgan." he greeted. "This isn't the best time. I know, but-"

He stopped his sentence and listened. Apparently things weren't going well when it came to the business front. It didn't help that he had not been there to ensure that everything went smoothly. But he would not apologize for that. Jason knew his priorities and knew that he had them correctly in place.

"Fine. Fine, I'll be right there." He said before hanging up.

Jason sighed and reproached the door. He hit his fist against it a few times, knocking. She didn't respond so he spoke.

"Courtney." he called. "I have to work, I'll be out for a while, ok?"

He hoped she would answer or give him some sort of reply. For a second he thought he heard one, but he wasn't sure, and assumed that it was just a product of his hopes playing with his mind.

"Ok." he said quietly before walking away.

Inside the room, Courtney silently waited to hear his retreating footsteps. When she did, she opened the door and stood on the stairs; watching him put on his jacket and walk out the door.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" he asked her. "Once this begins, there's no backing out, understand?"

"Yes." she answered, a bit uneasy, but still dead set on doing it. The end justified the means, and the end she was waiting for was certainly worth any means she went through.

"And you know your end of the bargain?" he asked, giving her an intimidating glance.

"Yes."

"You better. Because you are an investment of mine. If I don't get what I want out of this, I'll take care of that investment. Do you understand me?"

She looked him in the eyes and knew he meant business, and that he would probably kill her if she didn't come through on her part. To get what she wanted, she would do whatever she had to. Going through it all would be well worth it, he would get what he wanted and so would she.

"Perfectly." she answered.

"Well then," he began." let's get started."

He was bored. Not just a "there's nothing to do" type of bored. Because there was plenty for him to do. But for some reason, Michael was in one of those moods where no matter what he could or did do for fun, it just wasn't entertaining to him. He ran down the stairs, though he was always being not to do so, and found his mom on the couch reading one of her magazines. He didn't understand why she liked them so much. He looked at one once and it was dull. He just assumed it was one of those things grown ups like for whatever reason they like everything else that's boring.

"Mommy!" he shouted to get her attention, causing her to jump.

"What is it, Mr. Man?" she asked setting it down.

"I'm bored."

"Ok, what about you read one of your comic books grandpa gave you?"

"I read them all." he complained.

"Alright, what do you want to do?" she asked the boy who shrugged his shoulders. His mother let out an amused chuckle at his response. "Well, that's a lot of help. Tell you what, how about you get your shoes on and we'll go get some sundaes?"

"With chocolate fudge?" he asked, excitedly.

"With extra chocolate fudge." she answered and felt her smile grow bigger as her son cheered and jumped off the couch to get ready.

A few moments later she heard his shoes rapidly thumping down the stairs and she rolled her eyes at the action. He was always running down those stairs. She opened her mouth to give him yet another warning about speeding down the steps, but the red head already started to speak anxiously to her once more.

"Ooh, can Aunt Courtney come to?" he asked.

"I…don't know, Michael." she began. "Aunt Courtney might not be feeling up to it right now."

"Well, just ask her and she'll say yes. You'll see!" he instructed.

Before Carly could respond, the little boy was running out the door and across the hall. She got up to go after him and found him in the living room talking to his aunt, who sat on the couch. Courtney looked up as Carly entered the room, and met her eyes for a moment.

"Mom said you might not want to go, but I wanted to ask you for myself." Michael explained to her. "Will you come with us? Please?"

There was a moment where Carly observed the inner battle her friend fought over the decision. She noticed that Courtney bit her lower lip as she thought about it. Unwillingly, Carly smiled slightly, remembering the last time she saw her use that gesture when trying to make a decision.

Flashback

"Oh I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching--oh it's you." she stopped when she realized who it was she'd ran over.

"That's all I get? Me? Your best friend in the entire world and I don't get a 'Hi Carly it's great to see you.' I get 'Oh it's you?' I'm touched."

"Sorry Carly. I wasn't watching where I was going. I was...thinking."

"Thinking, hmm? Thinking about a certain blue eyed hottie who happens to be crazy about you?" She couldn't hide the pride in her voice. She didn't plan on letting anybody live down how right she'd been about the two of them.

"Yes I am." Courtney stated matter of factly. "I'm actually on my way home. Where are you headed?"

"I was going to The Cellar for a few things. I could use a hand if you don't mind. Please? To make up for trying to kill me just now?" She watched her sister-in-law bite her lower lip and could tell that she was desperately anxious to get back to her man. However, she agreed to help. And with good reason, with all the time Carly had spent defending their relationship to her husband.

"I promise it won't take long at all. Five minutes tops!" she nearly laughed grabbing her hand and dragging the younger woman off in the direction of her club. "Lets go."

End Flashback

That was the last night she had seen either of them completely happy. The night they got engaged. It felt like an eternity ago. Carly snapped away from her reverie and listened to her response.

"Yeah." she told the little boy. "Yeah, I'll come with you."

Michael smiled from ear to ear at her answer. He looked over his shoulder to his mother.

"See, told you."