Carly twisted her hands within each other, not quite sure how to broach Lorenzo's self imposed solitude. She'd purposely avoided contact with him since returning, knowing at the sight of her slight wounds he would clench his jaw and his Arctic eyes would go icier. But now, there was nowhere else for her to go. She had visited every part of the yacht twice over, and unless she was going to head for shore, Carly's options were gone.

He knew that they didn't return with the boys, but it wasn't Carly who had told him. Sam McCall was showing just how useful she could be. As the doctor bandaged her arm, she told Lorenzo as much as she could. Just that the boys had been moved and the two of them had to make a mad dash out of Sonny's. She left out any news of Carly's injuries, as she'd been instructed, and instead focused on the fact that Carly had actually driven the car. She even made a joke of it. On any other day, Lorenzo might have laughed. On that day, however, Sam told her that his eyes were cold and heavy.

The amount of trust that Carly had put into Sam still astounded her. She'd put her life in this woman's hands, her boys's safety. These were things that she had only recently learned to entrust Lorenzo with, and before would have only trusted Jason. But dire circumstances made for strange bedfellows, and for her, they couldn't come stranger than Sam.

Carly knew that her thoughts were sheer procrastination. She had avoided contact with Lorenzo, yes, but he hadn't come after her. She worried that he was deciding if any of this was worth it. Then, she worried if he was plotting. He was so quiet, so still… Staring at his back, he reminded her of Sonny. He was taller, thicker, but the posture was Sonny before the storm. His rigid back was Sonny before he broke and started throwing and smashing things.

Looking around the room, though, it was obvious that Lorenzo had done his smashing in private. He always did, as though letting her see his tirades and his rage would lessen him in her eyes. It wasn't the first time that she'd walked into a room with broken glass, shattered vases, and displaced furniture. It was the sign of Lorenzo's rage, and she was glad that she hadn't seen it. She didn't want him to be that much like Sonny.

"I know you're standing there." Lorenzo's voice was low and crawled from deep within his throat. "And I know about your face, Carly. There isn't a doctor or medic on this yacht that wouldn't tell me something when I asked."

She took in a deep breath and rolled her lips together. Carly folded her arms, hugging herself tightly. Slowly, she released her breath. As it escaped, her jaw trembled. She bit her bottom lip. "I didn't want you to see it. I didn't want you to be angry."

He turned to her and for a moment, his eyes glistened. He closed his eyes and when they reopened, the hint of tears were gone. He stayed where he stood though, watching her cautiously. "Agent Marshall."

Carly nodded. She took a step forward and glass crushed beneath her feet. She stopped and looked to the floor. The clear spots were sparse. She looked around and it seemed as though every piece of glass in the room was shattered. Liquid mixed with glass, coloring it the shade of whatever liquor coursed through the smashed pieces.

Carly looked up at him, then tilted her head to the side. She averted her eyes and focused on a spot on the floor. "They're gone, Lorenzo. He knew I'd come back for them and he moved them. I should be glad that Leticia's with them, but… she's not their mother. I don't care how mad Michael will be that I'm here with you, or that I helped Sam…" She faced him again with tears streaking her cheeks. "They're my babies, Lorenzo. They're my babies and he took them from me."

Lorenzo's body loosened. His shoulders slumped. As he released his anger, he looked as though he shrunk a couple of inches. His body moved in on itself, then stretched back out as he walked to her. The glass broke and crunched beneath his feet and the sound was loud and abrasive to Carly's ears. She cringed against the noise, then it was forgotten as his arms opened. She tucked herself against him, huddling into his body. His arms wrapped around her, one around her waist, the other higher. His hand lightly touched the back of her head and she sobbed.

There was such comfort in his arms, a comfort that she couldn't remember feeling with anyone else before. The closest she ever got was with Jason. He had been her only protector for so long, her only true trusting friend. She could cry against him and feel safe. Hugging Lorenzo was similar to that, only somehow more. Jason had once been in love with her, but not anymore. When he held her, it was only the love of friendship, the devotion of promises made. With Lorenzo, however, there was a promise of more. He wouldn't just keep her safe. He wouldn't only make sure that her wrongs were made right. When everything was over and the world was back on its proper axis, he would make it up to her. He would give her everything she could ever need to be happy. She would eventually hug him again, and that time, pain wouldn't leak out of her body in the form of bitter tears. There would just be love and comfort, the safety of another person's heart belonging only to her.

Carly pulled back from him, somewhat reluctantly, and wiped her eyes. "I shouldn't be breaking down like this." She shook her head and felt more tears spilling from her eyes. She wiped them again. "I'm stronger than this. You shouldn't have to keep doing this, ya know? Making things better while I cry. I should just stop crying."

"Carly, you deserve to cry." Lorenzo rose one shaky hand and hovered his fingertips over the cuts in her cheek. "With all that's happened…" He moved his fingers closer but still didn't touch. "How badly does it hurt?"

"It's not bad," she said with a shake of her head. "Sam got hurt worse. She, um, she got shot and…" Carly shook her head. "I don't know why she's helping me. I don't know why you're helping me. You should really just let me go. I got myself into this, and now I've pulled you into it. Lorenzo, it's not right, and I still keep doing it."

"You can't pull me into anything that I don't want to be in." He sighed and let his hand drop to her shoulder. Slowly, he ran his hands up and down her slender arms, though he didn't make it all the way to her wrist. He stopped just below her elbows and Carly knew it was because of her other wounds. "I don't like Morgan, and I really have no use for Sam McCall, but I don't want to see someone railroaded. If I believed that she had kidnapped that little girl, Carly, believe me, I would have denied you this. I wouldn't stand party to a child being hurt."

His eyes went off into the distance, and Carly knew he was thinking of Sage. Lorenzo had lost so much, and others always made his losses less important. Standing there with the knowledge that her sons were alive and well, her own problems seemed trivial in comparison to his losses. His brother, his twin, was murdered and no one had ever been punished for it. His neice had been murdered and all he received were well wishes and nice thoughts of her after-the-fact; nice words that would have never been said about her when she was alive.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, and it wasn't just that Sage was gone. Or Luis, for that matter. Some part of her had always wondered if Luis had contacted Lorenzo before his death; if he had let him know everyone that he'd approached for help and who turned him down. She didn't feel guilty for not helping Luis, and she didn't think she contributed at all to his death, but she still wondered, in the beginning, if Lorenzo would ever transfer his need for vengeance from Sonny to anyone who'd had any negative contact with Luis, at all.

But, no, she wasn't just apologetic for his losses. She was apologetic for not being there for him during the last one. Even when she didn't want him around, he was there for her. Every time that Sonny used the boys against her, Lorenzo's arms were open to her, his heart and home were there for the taking. Yet, when the last of his family was stolen from him, her own life was too important. He had to bury his neice alone. He shouldn't have had to do that. She should have been there to hold his hand or something. He shouldn't have had to stand between his brother's grave and his neice's and watch that last connection be lowered into the ground.

"I don't do enough for you, Lorenzo." Carly sighed and stepped back. A chunk of glass crunched beneath the heel of her boot. "You do everything for me and I… All I do is leave you waiting and wondering, and that's not fair."

"You trust me, Carly, and that's more than enough." He sighed and lowered his head. "I know how you feel about Morgan. I know that you'll always love him, that you want to return all the favors that he's done for you. You put his life in my hands and that means that you've got more trust in me than you've ever done with anyone else."

"I do trust you, Lorenzo. I just…" She shook her head. "Everything is so confusing. These past couple of days have just been a mess and I don't really know how to handle it all. I mean… You wanna talk trust?" She barked a harsh laugh, mixed with a frustrated sob. "I trusted the woman that was pregnant with my husband's baby! I trust a woman with my life, with Jason's life that I… I wanted her so far from Jason, Lorenzo. I didn't think she was worthy of him, but…" She shook her head. "God, I just can't believe what I've done in the past couple of days."

"You've thought for yourself, and honestly, Carly, you haven't done that in a long time." He took her arms lightly by the wrist and slowly began to push up her sleeves. Carly tried to fight him, but Lorenzo was determined. She didn't want to see the marks again. She didn't want him to see them, again. "And I hope that now, after this, you'll do it all the time."

Carly looked down at her arms. The purple was fading into a sickly green. The imprints of Sonny's fingers were visible. She closed her eyes and she could see it all over again. She could feel it again. Tears leaked from her closed lids. Carly opened her eyes and forced herself to look up at Lorenzo.

He wasn't Sonny. No matter how similar he had seemed from behind, standing in a room of broken glass, she knew that he wasn't her ex-husband. Lorenzo would never grab her like that. Even when he was angry, she would never look at him and be afraid that he would strike her. Her heart was safe with him, but so was her body.

"I'd love to say that he didn't mean it, but I know he did." Carly let out a heavy breath. "He would have done anything to get the information out of me. And when he got it, he might have apologized, but I know that he'd do it again if he had to. And, he would just toss me aside like I was yesterday's garbage. Sonny always says he doesn't forgive betrayal and this would be the biggest betrayal of them all."

"Carly, whether you stay with me when this is all over or go find your own life, it doesn't matter as long as you don't go back to him. I've said it so many times before, and I've meant it. I love you, and I want you with me, but more than anything, I want you away from him."

"I know, and I won't go back." She looked up into his eyes and wanted so badly to tell him that she loved him, but she didn't want to say it just because of the circumstances. When she confessed the love that had been building in her for over a year, she wanted it to be obvious that she loved him, not just what he could do for her. "I know where I belong, Lorenzo, and it's not with Sonny. Sometimes, I don't think I ever belonged with him. I gave up a man who loved me once before to be with him. I won't do that again."

Lorenzo's arms enveloped her and he sighed against her head. Carly curled against him and savored his warmth, his affection. "That's enough for me," he said softly. "I love you, Carly. I never want to see you in this kind of pain."

She remained silent against him. Her arms snaked out and around him, encircling his waist. Carly held onto him tightly. He was her safety, her way out of the life that did nothing but hurt her. She could have stayed that way forever, but a crunch of glass behind her made Carly pull back and turn around.

A tall Hispanic man stood in the doorway, his arms to his sides. He didn't look like one of the regular attendants on the yacht. He was better dressed and he stood a bit taller. "Mr. Alcazar," he said, "we've located the children. Corinthos has taken them to a safe house just outside of Port Charles."

"Thank you, Julio," he said with a nod. "Tell the captain to take us down the shore. We'll take one of the smaller boats onto the mainland outside of Port Charles." Julio nodded and left. When he was gone, Lorenzo looked down at Carly. "We leave Sam here with Morgan. I'm going with you."

"Lorenzo…"

"I won't let Corinthos hurt you again, Carly. I'll be there with you and, no matter what, we will get those children before anything can happen to them. You've trusted me with Morgan's life, now trust me with your children."

"I do trust you, Lorenzo. I just… I don't want you to get hurt."

"Believe me." He looked down at her and his eyes began to cool and harden. "If it gets as rough as when you went with Sam to get the children, it won't be me that ends up hurt."