Disclaimer: I don't own a damn thing
Summary: So here's the deal, everything that has happened on the show up until April 15, 2004 has happened. But instead of staying in Port Charles, Courtney leaves. She hasn't talked to anyone from PC, except for Carly, but Carly isn't even sure where she is. The story picks up about 2 years after Courtney left.
A.N.: So I know that I haven't updated in a very long time, but I have kind of hit a road block of sorts with this story. I can't promise that this chapter is going to be worth the wait, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. If anyone has any ideas on where I should go with this, please let me know. I know my version of Sonny is a little out of character, but I kind of hoped that a few years would have done a little something more for his sense of humor.
Last Train Home Ch. 8:
Courtney made her way into Skye and Luke's new restaurant, The Last Resort; she spared herself a chuckle at the name when she noticed the clock on the side wall. 1:07 it read and she let out an exasperated sigh. Great, I'm late! Sonny is just going to love this.
"Excuse me…Can I help you?" A young girl asked, her voice ringing with annoyance.
"Yes, I'm looking for Sonny Corinthos." Courtney watched the hostess's once bright features turn dark at the mere mention of her brother's name. Obviously, his reputation still struck fear in the hearts of Port Charles citizens.
"Right this way," she offered. They made it to Sonny's table in record speed due to the young girl's long strides. Courtney almost ran out of breath trying to keep up with her.
"Your waitress will be right with you," she informed them before hurrying back to her post.
"Sorry I'm late," Courtney mumbled.
"Yeah, well you were never known for your punctuality…" Sonny grumbled back, but his sister chose to ignore the comment. Last thing she needed right now was to get into a fight with him; it would only upset herself and Carly.
"Hi my name is Georgie and I will be waitress for this afternoon. Can I start you guys off with some drinks?" The girl chirped with a huge smile plastered on her face.
"I'll have an ice tea, please." Sonny ordered and then gestured to Courtney.
"Water, please." The young girl nodded before heading to the back to prepare their drinks. She returned moments later to take their orders before disappearing into the back once again. An uncomfortable silence fell over the table. Courtney was wringing her napkin through her hands while Sonny became increasingly more interested on the condensation that had formed on the glass of his beverage.
"Umm, so is there any particular reason you asked me to meet you here?" Courtney inquired, trying desperately to break the tension.
"Do you not want to be here? Because you can leave and I will eat lunch by myself," he shot back which elicited an enthused shake of the head from his sister.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be," she growled and Sonny nodded. "I was just curious, because last time I checked you wanted nothing to do with me."
"Yeah, well things change."
"What kind of "things"?" She pried. Her brother watched her carefully, but didn't respond right away.
"You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"
"When have I ever made things easy for you?" She shot back.
"I may have been the slightest bit wrong when I shut you out," he sighed. "I should have never forced you to leave your family and Jason behind.
"You didn't force me to do anything. I left by choice."
"Because it was the only choice that I gave you," he reasoned.
"If I wanted to stay I would have stayed. Believe it or not Sonny, you don't control everything I do," she answered carefully eyeing him.
"I just wanted to apologize—you know…" his gaze was fixed on the table.
"Can't we just say "the past is the past" and move on?" She offered.
"No, because what I did was unfair to you," he rumbled and Courtney was taken aback. She had never known Sonny to be forceful in an apology; he usually just grumbled an apology and moved on, not going into too much detail. If there was one thing her older brother hated, it was admitting he was wrong. How had this conversation changed tides so quickly? It started off with her wanting the full blown explanation and now she just wanted it to be over. "You lost precious years with your nephews as well as Jason and it's my fault." She let out an exasperated sigh trying to concentrate on how she wanted to handle the situation.
"Jason is my ex husband," she over pronounced the word to get her point across. "I don't know why you and Carly can't understand that. And as for Michael and Morgan, well…I did miss them, but I'm going to be visiting a lot more."
"Jason wouldn't be your ex husband if it wasn't for me," he replied mimicking her.
"Jesus, Sonny! Do you think that you could step off that cross long enough to have a real conversation? Not everything revolves around you. Jason and I had a lot of problems and we were probably not going to ever find way to fix them. That night was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Despite what you and Carly may think, you can't save a relationship that doesn't want to be saved. So please just do me a favor and back off." Her voice was rising with each sentence.
"Do you still love him?" He asked quietly almost afraid of her response. It was not his intention to go on a crusade to save his sister's broken marriage, but if the opportunity arose. Damn it! He was turning into Carly.
"Out of everything I just said that's your response?" She looked at him in awe. "My feelings for Jason are none of your business; he has moved on, which is more than I can say for you."
"So I'm going to take that as a yes…"
"You're worse than Carly!" She let out in a huff.
"Ok…I'm done," he held up his hands in mock surrender. His sister nodded, but could not hide the look of worry on her face after the conversation she had just had. What if Sonny really has gotten as bad as Carly and tries to scheme me and Jason together, again? The thought was enough to send shivers down her spine, because she and Jason had no chance in hell if the Corinthoses teamed up against them. It wasn't that she didn't still care for him, because she did, but he deserved to be happy and Liz seemed to make him smile. Who was she to drag him back into their dysfunctional relationship?
"Let's just try and enjoy our lunch together," her brother broke into her thoughts as the food was placed in front of the two. Courtney nodded, but an air of uneasiness still engulfed her.
"He's not home, yet." Carly didn't even have to look up to know that it was Jason who entered the Penthouse looking for her soon-to-be husband. "I am glad you're here, though. We need to talk." He rolled his eyes and made his way over to the plush chair in the corner of the parlor. He could tell by the tone of her voice that his best friend wanted to argue about something, so he figured that the least he could do was get comfortable.
"What's up?" He asked trying hard not to roll his eyes again.
"We need to discuss that witch you call a girlfriend," Carly began keeping her gaze steady on Jason as she placed her arms across her chest. She waited for his reply, but instead was met with a look of annoyance. "I don't appreciate her barging into my Penthouse and harassing my houseguest."
"What are you talking about, Carly?"
"This morning! She just came in, uninvited may I add, and tore into Courtney." Carly bellowed.
"What? Courtney told me that it wasn't a big deal," Jason replied with a confused look on his face.
"Of course she would tell you that. The truth is that Liz called her almost every unpleasant name in the book, because she was with you last night."
"What did Courtney do?"
"She just stood there and took it, Jase," Carly whispered softly. She felt bad for her female best friend. It was kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If Courtney defended herself, well Liz would have forced a fight and therefore won by default. Her best option was to keep quiet and even that didn't help very much.
"I'll talk to her," Jason offered, but Carly shook her head.
"Why don't you just get rid of her? It's obvious that you don't love her…" She knew by the look of fire in his eyes that she overstepped her bounds.
"What the hell do you know? You have never liked Elizabeth and would do anything to get her out of my life." He exploded getting up out of the chair. Any other person would have backed off, the wrath of Jason Morgan was not something that one wanted to endure, but not Carly. She held her head high and didn't move an inch from her position in front of him.
"You're damn right I never liked the broad. She is sneaky and underhanded. The only reason why you don't see it is because you are blinded by her looks," Carly yelled getting in Jason's face.
"She reminds me of you," he shot back with a proud look on his face. The smirk was washed away by Carly's hand as it came across his face.
"I am nothing like her. I would never try and destroy someone's life by telling her fiancé that she was cheating on him with his enemy," Carly growled referring to an incident that happened a few months ago.
"When did you get so violent?" Jason asked rubbing his cheek tenderly. "She said that it was a mistake and apologized. When are you going to let it go?"
"I almost lost everything because of her "mistake"," Carly looked at him incredulously. She could see him softening a bit and decided to go in for the kill. "You know that you still have feelings for Courtney. Why not act on them?"
"Stop it." His voice grew low.
"I will do nothing of the sort. If you two weren't so stubborn than maybe I wouldn't have to be involved."
"My marriage has been over for a very long time and you need to accept that. Courtney already has." The agitation in his eyes was evident and Carly was going to push a little harder, but the door of the Penthouse flew open. Soft giggles invaded the room as Courtney and Sonny entered the room.
"I never said that!" The younger woman screeched poking her brother in the arm.
"Oh you most certainly did," he replied trying to keep a straight face, but failed. His hearty chuckle soon elicited even more giggles from the young woman at his side.
"Did we just enter the twilight zone?" Carly whispered to Jason.
"I think we may have," he mumbled back as kept his gaze on the brother and sister that were in absolute hysterics.
"You think that they're drunk?" Carly wondered.
"After last night, I don't think Courtney will be drinking for awhile," Jason replied.
"Hey guys…" Carly greeted slightly unsure of the pair in front of her. Two days ago, they didn't even want to be in the same room as each other, but now they were best buddies? "How was lunch?"
"Oh, it was good…" Courtney managed to get out between giggles.
"Yeah, besides the fact that Courtney made the hostess cry on our way out," Sonny chuckled.
"She was not crying!" Sonny just looked at her shaking his head. "She started it!"
"Oh that's weak."
"What happened?" Carly asked with curiosity. She watched her best friend take a deep breath to regain her composure before launching into the story.
"She was staring at us when we walked out, so I told her to take a picture because it lasts longer. That's it." Courtney answered innocently.
"Umm, you forgot the part where you flipped the girl off…and I think you said something about her hair," Sonny added in.
"She gave me a dirty look. And her hair did look like a pigeon nested itself in it!" Courtney finished as she made her way across the room and took a seat on the couch. Carly snorted as she sat down next to her best friend
"I can't take either of them in public," Sonny told Jason pointing to the two women who were now in deep conversation on the couch. Jason nodded, before mumbling something about going home. He was almost out the door when Carly's voice rang out.
"Don't forget what we talked about, Jase!"
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled before shutting the door.
He found Liz sitting on the leather couch in his living room. She was aimlessly flipping through a magazine before turning her complete attention to him when she heard the door open.
"Hey babe," she smiled sweetly at him. "I was thinking that we should go away this weekend. You know—maybe Paris?"
"Sonny and Carly's wedding is this weekend," he mumbled with annoyance.
"Oh yeah…I forgot," she grumbled. "Well, maybe next week. I've heard so much about the vineyards, maybe we can visit them." He felt a pang in his heart. His wedding to Courtney was in a vineyard in Paris. He couldn't share something like that with Liz, not something that was so special to him.
"What happened with Carly and Courtney this morning?" He asked and watched worry cloud her eyes.
"Nothing," she averted his unrelenting gaze. "Ok…I was a little upset and I may have taken it out on your ex wife."
"Why?"
"You were out with her almost all night!" She yelled.
"So?" He remained calm. It was how their fights normally worked; she would get upset and scream while he remained calm and collected.
"So?" Liz looked at him dumbfounded. "I know the connection that you two shared and I don't want her using that to get you back. She's very manipulative…I know. She snaked you from meonce and I'm not going to let her do it again."
"Courtney and I are just friends. If we break up, it will be because of you not her." His replied, raising his voice slightly.
"Are you dumping me?" Her voice trembled and her doe brown eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
"I think that we may need some time apart…" he looked her directly in the eye trying to get his point across with hurting her.
"You promised me that you weren't going to leave me," it came out as a whisper.
"I can't keep on going with the way things are. You say you trust me, but the second you find out I was with Courtney…well you flip out."
"I'll be better, I promise." She was pleading through her tears and Jason felt his heartbreak a little. What he had with Liz wasn't exactly love, but he never wanted to see her hurting because of him. It would be so much easier if she would just let go, but he didn't see that happening in the near future.
"I think that you should leave now," his voice was soft but firm at the same time when he gestured to the door.
"You really are damaged, you know that? I would do anything for you and now you're just going to throw it away?" She was screaming now. "I love you with everything I have, but that isn't enough is it? Maybe I should be bossier, like Carly. Or maybe I could act all sweet and virginal, like Courtney…"
"Shut up, Liz." He growled.
"Oh did I touch a nerve? Heaven forbid someone disrespects St. Courtney in front of you," she taunted.
"This has nothing to do with her and you know it!" He finally lost his cool. "Our relationship has been anything, but perfect for the last few months. If we aren't fighting about my career than we are fighting about Carly. I can't do it anymore. We're only hurting each other by staying together."
"How very noble of you, Jason Morgan...sacraficing our relationship for the greater good." Liz replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "You're so pretentious that it makes me sick. You can make up all the excuses that you want, but I know the truth. Jason, you are still in love with Courtney and are willing to do anything to get her back. It's a little pathetic, to say the least. When she breaks your heart, which I'm sure she will, don't come running back to me, because I am done. I won't live in her shadow any longer; I deserve better." Before Jason could respond, the slam of the door signaled Liz's departure.
A/N: So what did you think? Awful? Probably. I'm sorry, but I really am stuck on this story...so if you want to read more, please give me some ideas. Thanks.
