Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own any of these characters. That would be cool, but I don't.

Carly turned around. "Excuse me?"

"You are not living at Sonny's and I'll make sure of it," Alexis said, jealous as hell and trying not to wear it right on her sleeve.

"Just how are you going to do that?"

"I know ways to persuade Sonny that you would never even think of, honey," Alexis told her.

"Obviously, so do I since he invited me and practically insisted that I live at the penthouse with him. Now I'm sure you're pissed off about this for some reason that I don't know, but you need to get over it and stop fighting with me in front of your daughter. All this is just going to confuse her," Carly replied, trying to sound like the mature one because she was in public.

"I am not confused. I just think that you shouldn't be living with my daddy. You aren't his daughter, I am," Kristina said, tears in her eyes.

"Kristina, if you have a problem with me living at your dad's place, you need to talk to him. He invited me, I just accepted," Carly said gently, not wanting to upset her any more.

Kristina looked up at her mother. "Can we go to daddy's tonight?"

"No, sweetie, mommy has too much to do. I'll bring you tomorrow after school," Alexis replied.

"I have to go. Mom, I hope you'll think about what I said, and maybe listen to me about AJ. This is really better for Michael," Carly said. "Bye, Alexis. Bye, Kristina."

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"That was quick," Sonny said as Max let Carly in.

"Well, I never got to eat. I was in Kelly's telling my mom about how I was moving in with you," Carly explained, mouth going a mile a minute. "She got really mad, and then I guess Kristina and Alexis heard. I had no idea they were even in there. Kristina was really upset, and Alexis was flipping mad. Expect a visit from them tomorrow. And don't worry, I didn't fight with Alexis. I mean, for like two minutes, but I just told her to stop because it would worry Kristina. And now I have to eat whatever health food you made, if you didn't throw it away, and it's going to be cold."

"Well, I appreciate you keeping it cool in front of my daughter. But about that food, I saved it. I just don't know if I should give it to you now," Sonny teased.

"Sonny, please. I'm starving. I slept through lunch, you know that. My body can't handle this starvation," Carly whined.

He laughed at her. "It's so amusing to watch you beg."

"I could think of something much better to beg you for, and I don't think you'd be laughing then," she thought.

"Fine, I'll just order in," Carly said.

Sonny laughed again, and then handed her the plate. "Here, you can have it."

"Thank you. Will you heat it up for me while I bring Michael to his room? He fell asleep on the way here."

"I'll bring Michael upstairs, you heat up the food," Sonny replied.

Carly grabbed the plate and took the plastic wrap off it. She found what appeared to be tofu, a dry salad, and what she classified as mashed potatoes turned orange. She put the whole thing in the microwave. When it was done, Carly took two bites of everything and threw the rest away. She was hungry, but not that hungry.

Sonny walked downstairs and told her, "I left some pajamas on your bed. They're big, but they'll be comfortable."

"Awesome, thanks," Carly started, but then finished, "I take that back. They could be the most amazing sleep clothes in the world and it still wouldn't make a difference because you are making me wear Robin's clothes tomorrow.

Sonny rolled his eyes. "What do you have against her?"

"She's a twit, she wasn't good enough for Jason, and she told AJ he was Michael's father, which alone is enough to hate her," she responded.

"Yes, that is reason enough, but unless you would like to wear one of my suits to school, you're wearing her clothes."

"No thank you."

"Well, I'm going to bed, Carly. Goodnight," Sonny said as he walked toward the couch where Carly was sitting, and then kissed her forehead. "Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Sonny. Sweet dreams," Carly said, a huge grin on her face.

Sonny had kissed her! Whether or not it was just a goodnight kiss, Carly had loved all five seconds of it. He might never know it, but that small kiss meant so much more to her than just that.

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(The next morning, 6am.)

"Carly, it's time to wake up," Sonny said, tapping her shoulder.

"Go away. I was up all night with Michael. And he just started sleeping through the night, too," Carly said, not opening her eyes the whole time.

"Carly, come on, get up."

"I don't have to be awake for another thirty minutes. Leave me alone. Just because you like to be up at the crack of dawn, doesn't mean I do."

Sonny sighed and the picked Carly up and put her over his shoulder.

"Sonny!" she screamed. "What the hell are you doing? Put me down!"

"Are you awake?"

"Yes," she answered, "just put me down."

He obliged, and Carly ran back to her room and locked the door behind her.

"Carly. Please come downstairs. I made pancakes, and I even bought the syrup that's not fat-free, just for you," Sonny yelled from the hall.

"I'll be down in one minute," she shouted back.

Carly waited for Sonny to walk back downstairs, and then snuck into the bathroom where she brushed her hair, washed her face, and brushed her teeth. There was no point in letting Sonny see her a mess, or to let him smell her nasty morning breath.

When she was satisfied, she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen slowly. "Good morning, Michael," she said sleepily, but smiling at her son. "Uncle Sonny decided to wake me up early this morning."

Sonny turned around from his place at the stove and said to Michael, "And mommy only came downstairs for pancakes." He turned around to continue cooking the pancakes and smiled at how cute she looked in his too big pajamas.

"Did Michael have his bottle yet?" Carly asked.

"No. He didn't seem hungry, so I decided to let you do it. There's one in the fridge. Just heat it up. And don't forget to go to Jason's for some clothes."

Carly groaned. "I'm going to put that off for as long as possible."

She got a bottle out of the fridge and put a pan of water on the stove to heat it up.

"I'll watch that. I'm here anyway. You can go to Jason's and find some clothes. I know how long that will take you, which is precisely why I got you up so early."

"Thanks," she said to Sonny, and then to Michael, "Come on, buddy. We're gonna take a walk over to Jason's to see if mommy can actually find some clothes that look normal." She picked Michael up and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

She walked across the hall and knocked on Jason's door.

"Good morning, Carly," Jason greeted her.

"Hmph. What's so good about it?"

"Let me take Michael while you go pick out some lovely clothes in my room. They're in the closet on the left," Jason informed her.

"Great," Carly said sarcastically. She walked up the stairs and went into Jason's bedroom, wanting to find something to wear and get out of there.

She opened Jason's closet, looked at the clothes, and sighed. "There really is no hope in here," she said to no one in particular.

Carly browsed through the clothing, searching for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, wanting to look as plain as possible, hopeful that no one would be able to tell she was wearing Robin's clothes, but she was finding nothing. Finally she found jeans and a black shirt and decided that was what she would wear.

"It's the best I can get from this wardrobe," she murmured as she started to change.

Downstairs, Sonny entered Jason's penthouse. "Is Carly still picking out clothes?" Carly heard him say to Jason.

She thought nothing of it as she undressed, until the door opened and Sonny walked in. "Carly, are you almost ready?" he asked, and then he saw her. He had to look at the ground to stop from staring at her. He had never seen anyone so beautiful.

"I'm really sorry. I should have knocked," he said as she rushed to cover herself up.

"Yeah, you should have," Carly said annoyed, but inside she didn't care. It just gave Sonny one more image of her to think about.

He shut the door and Carly smiled. She couldn't have planned that better herself. She quickly got dressed and then went downstairs, putting her annoyed act back on. She didn't want Sonny to know that she liked what had happened.

"I'm going back to feed Michael. I'll see you guys later," Carly said, rolling her eyes at them.

"Your pancakes are on the counter," Sonny called after her.

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Carly walked into the penthouse and yelled, "I'm home!"

She was greeted by silence, and she looked around the living room to find Sonny smiling at her and Kristina and Alexis giving her evil looks.

"You know what, I think I'm just gonna go back to Marissa's house," Carly said quickly. "Do you need me to take Michael?"

"No, he's fine. I'll see you later, okay?"

Carly left and Alexis went back to arguing with Sonny.

"You cannot honestly tell me you think it is a good idea to have her living here," Alexis said, eyes bugging out of her head.

Kristina looked at her father, waiting to see what he would say.

"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea, although yes, I do think it is one. The point is, I'm trying to help a child here. You would want the same thing for Kristina. And Carly deserves it more than anything. She's put up with so much, and dealt with it all so well. I just want to give her a break," Sonny construed.

"Sonny, you know it's about a lot more than that."

"Kristina, please go upstairs in your room," Sonny said quietly. He didn't know what he was going to say about his feelings for Carly, but whatever they were he didn't want his daughter to hear it. He was still having trouble getting the picture of her undressed out of his head.

"But, daddy," Kristina whined.

"Kristina," Sonny warned.

She walked up the stairs pouting and upset with her father. It always seemed like he didn't want her around. "Why is Carly more important to him than I am?" she wondered.

"So, what were you going to say? Were you finally going to admit that you are in love with Carly?" Alexis asked, fuming.

"I'm not in love with her," Sonny shouted, unconvincingly.

"Right, Sonny. That's bull shit, because you know the only reason you asked her to live with you is for your own agenda. It has nothing to do with Michael, because if it did, you would just put them up in some apartment across town and check on her once a week. If you don't love her, then what is it about her? I'm dying to know, Sonny, because you're the only one who sees it."

"I asked her to live here because we're friends. I knew she didn't need my help, but I saw that she sure could use it. And I wanted her to live here because there's something amazing and special about Carly. She's so strong, and beautiful, and she is such a good mother. She makes me laugh, and we just have a good time together. A good time as friends."

Kristina ran into the living room, tears in her eyes. "I hate you, daddy. I hate you."

The song Carly sings in Chap.2 belongs to the Goo Goo Dolls.