Disclaimer: I don't own anything…
A/N 2: Alright, here we go…This fic is AU and set in the future. It contains an OC, which I've never used before, but is necessary for the story. Everything that has happened with Journey has occurred in this fic right up to the anniversary of the miscarriage.Summary: Things aren't always what they appear to be. Sometimes, the "perfect" marriage isn't perfect. Who do you turn to when the world collapses around you?
She Will Be Loved Ch. 9:
Step by step, heart to heart, left right left. We all fall down like toy soldiers
Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win. But the battle wages on for toy soldiers
"What kind of problem?" Courtney shrieked. Jason didn't say anything instead chose to look to the floor. How was he going to do this? "Jason?"
"Doug filed some papers…"
"What kind of "papers"?"
"Custody papers," Jason whispered and watched as Courtney slid out of bed and began pacing the area. She was mumbling incoherently to herself. He went to comfort her, but was shoved away with a sigh.
"Does he have a good case?" She asked with her back still turned away from him.
"I'm not sure."
"What does Justus think?"
"I'm not sure."
"Are you sure of anything, Jase?" She practically screamed at him and was met with a frustrated glare.
"What do you want me to say, Courtney?" He threw back in annoyance. "It's hard to prove a guy is an abuser without a shred of evidence."
"You think I'm lying?" Her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
"No."
"But you think it's my fault for never reporting anything," she elaborated.
"I think you did what most people would do if they were in your position" He tried to smooth over, but his ex wife was far past making pleasantries.
"Yeah, but not what you would have done, right?" She growled.
"Courtney…"
"Forget it, Jason." She pushed past him out the door. He watched as she went, knowing it was useless to try and follow her.
Carly breathed in the scent of Sonny's expensive cologne. It reminded her of happy times when all she needed was him to be okay. Those times were long gone she had come to realize, but did it mean that they couldn't be again? Could she really walk away from Sonny to give Steven a chance? So what if her husband didn't make her heart skip a beat or breath catch in her throat? He offered her comfort and fought away all her fears. Shouldn't that be enough?
"Tell me what's going on," his voice was low and brought her back into reality. Taking a deep breathshe found herself in a moral dilemma. Honesty or lies? Honesty would probably hurt Sonny and therefore hurt herself in the process. Lying, while not the most valiant way out, would save her husband the heartache. After all, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"Nothing is going on. I just had a rough night. You know the reopening is starting to get really stressful," she lied easily. He nodded in agreement, but had a hard time completely believing her story. Carly was never really that great of a liar, her eyes gave her away. He could see everything in her dark chocolate orbs, but decided not press. She would come around eventually. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.
"Let's just go to bed," he replied ushering her towards the penthouse. She didn't say anything, just nodded in agreement. "Carly?"
"Sonny."
"I love you," he whispered placing a soft kiss on her cheek. Shame came over the brunette when she realized that she could not force the same words out of her own pursed lips.
"I know you do, baby." She replied after a beat and headed towards the bathroom to get changed into her pajamas. Sonny was left alone in the center of the parlor somewhat disheartened.
Courtney padded out into the small galley kitchen. She had spent the better part of her night tossing and turning with worries burdening her mind. She lashed out at Jason because she was scared and he did nothing but add on to her fright. His lack of direct answers led her to think that Doug may actually have a chance of taking Hannah and Olivia from her. What would she do if that happened? Could she really function without her daughters?
"Ma!" Her thoughts were shattered by Olivia's call.
"What's up, baby?" Courtney asked as she turned to find her daughter tapping her foot impatiently in the entrance of the kitchen.
"Do you know where Jason is? He said that he was going to take me to school today." The little girl readjusted the strap of her pale blue messenger bag that matched perfectly with her school uniform.
"Did you check his room, sweetheart?"
"Yeah. It was empty." She replied quietly and Courtney felt her stomach churn slightly. A knock at the door caught both females attention.
"Miss Matthews." Johnny greeted. Courtney let a small smile come across her face.
"What's up?"
"Mr. Morgan called." He answered and watched as the blonde's disposition eased slightly. "Told me that I have the privilege of taking Miss Olivia to school." Johnny had a soft spot for all the kids that took up residence in Harborview Towers. Carly and Courtney liked to believe it was Leticia's influence on him and Sonny and Jason usually tended to agree.
"You hear that, babe?" Courtney asked Olivia with a grin. "Uncle Johnny is going to take you to school."
"What about Jason?" The young girl asked somewhat disappointed.
"I'm sure he has a very good reason why he can't."
"Whatever," Olivia mumbled and her mother's heart broke a little.
"Hey come on, I betcha if you ask nicely Johnny will stop and get you a donut."
"With sprinkles?" A hopeful look came across the child's face.
"As long as there's chocolate underneath those sprinkles," Johnny jumped in and watched as the girl's face lit up.
"There ya go." Courtney leaned down to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "Have a good day." She waited until Olivia was half way down the hall before turning her attention to Jason's head guard.
"Where is he?"
"I have no idea." He answered.
"Bullshit." Courtney bit back and watched as the man shook his head in response. "He doesn't go anywhere without you knowing."
"Alls I know is that he called me about a half and hour ago and asked me to take Olivia to school. Said he was handling some business and wouldn't be home in time." The blonde sighed in return. "I'm sure he's fine. Mr. Morgan is a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them."
"Thanks, Johnny." Courtney smiled. "Make sure she only has one donut."
"I'm not responsible for what she eats behind my back." He returned with a grin and left to meet Olivia at the elevator.
Jason wandered through the residential streets that made up sunny Eureka, California. He wasn't quite sure why exactly he felt the unwavering need to investigate the place where Courtney and her daughters called home for the last seven years, but hoped that his search wouldn't come up empty. It was his experience that in small towns (such as this one) everyone knew each other's business. Port Charles was a shining example of that fact. Someone had to have heard something, anything that could help strengthen Courtney's case that Doug was indeed a bad man.
He came across a small coffee shop located in the center of town. Letting out a sigh, he pushed open the door. Maybe he should have waited until he had a full night's rest before embarking on his detective mission. He took a seat at the counter. The worn out stool was less than comfortable under his bottom, but it did offer his feet some relief.
"What can I get for ya, dear?" He looked up to find a waitress a few years past forty grinning wildly at him.
"Uh…Can I just get a cup of coffee?" He was slightly taken aback by the brightness of her deep red lipstick coupled with enough foundation to spackle a home. The woman looked as if she was ran over by Mary Kay's pink convertible.
"Sure ya can." She returned pouring the steaming black liquid into the mug set before him. "I've never seen you here before. New?"
"Yeah, I'm just passing through…" He didn't offer any details and she didn't ask. Instead the waitress's attention was taken by a group of men entering. Their laughter rang through the otherwise quiet diner.
"Hey Bridgett. How about a couple of coffee's over here." A tall man greeted as the rest of his companions took seats at a nearby table.
"How about a "please", Dale?" The waitress returned with a grin.
"Now."
"Well since you put it so nicely…" Bridgett mumbled. "Hey aren't you missing someone today?"
"Oh yeah, Dougie." Dale answered, which caught Jason's attention. "He's off chasing down that wife of his."
"Poor girl." Bridgett groaned. "Hasn't he done enough to her already?"
"Oh come on, Bridge. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think." Another man spoke up and Jason watched as the waitress shook her head enthusiastically.
"Do you know what their neighbor, Miss Potter, told me?"
"You can't believe anything that old bat says. She wants everyone to be as miserable as she is." Dale replied.
"She told me that she used hear Courtney crying and Doug screaming at her. Even called the cops once." Bridgett continued on, ignoring Dale's remark. Jason didn't wait to hear the rest of the conversation before dropping some bills on the counter next to his half empty coffee cup.
"Oh sweetheart, the coffee is free here." Bridgett went to hand him his money back, but he refused.
"Just keep it for yourself then."
"There's like thirty dollars here. I can't accept that. All I did was pour you a cup of coffee."
"That's not all you did, " Jason replied quietly before exiting the diner.
Carly entered Jason and Courtney's Penthouse without even knocking. She found Courtney seated on the couch reading the morning paper and Hannah crawling around the floor in search of her favorite stuffed animal.
"Thank God you're here." Carly exclaimed, crossing the room to join her best friend on the sofa.
"What's up?" Courtney greeted without looking up from the paper.
"I'm in big trouble, Court."
"Whatever you did I'm sure Sonny can fix it." The blonde answered absentmindedly.
"Okay can you focus on me for a second?" Carly ripped the paper out of the other woman's hand.
"Fine, I'm focusing."
"Steven's back." The brunette blurted out.
"What?"
"He showed up at the Cellar yesterday and he kissed me!" Courtney watched as her best friend rose and began pacing the room.
"Okay. So did you tell him that you were married?"
"Of course I did!"
"What did he say?" The blonde pried and noticed that her friend carefully avoided her gaze.
"I don't know…"
"Carly, I can't help you if you're not going to give me anything to work with."
"He told me what I already know."
"What's that?"
"That eventually every road will lead back to him…" Carly confessed before collapsing on the couch next to her stunned best friend.
Sonny entered his office with a sense of worry. Jason had called an informed him that he wouldn't be in today and when asked for an explanation he didn't offer one. Not that he didn't have complete faith in Jason, but things were very tense these days and he couldn't risk something happening to his best friend. It was suppose to be a slow day with only a few shipments coming in, which meant he would have plenty of time to analyze what was going on with Carly.
His wife was a very complex woman and until last night, he was sure that he had finally figured her out. But now he wasn't so sure. She was hiding something from him, that much was obvious. But what could she possibly keep from him? They were finally at a point in there relationship where everything was out open and it was like Carly wanted to close all the doors that had taken years to open. It was disturbing to say the least and he felt helpless. Losing her was not an option and ifhe made her feel even the least bit alienated, that's exactly what would happen. The years had transformed his wife into a stronger woman than he ever imagined she could be. A woman that would have no problem walking away from him if it came down to that. A tap at the door caught his attention and looked up to find Max standing uncomfortably in the entranceway.
"Boss?"
"What's up?"
"There's someone here to see you." Max replied.
"Who?"
"Steven Webber…" The guard answered nervously. Sonny felt his blood run cold at the name. So this is what Carly was hiding.
"Send him in." Just as the words escaped his lips, Steven was in the office. He stood confident, but Sonny could smell the fear that emanated from his body. If there was one thing he was good at it was sniffing out cowards and right now Dr. Webber reeked.
"Corinthos…" He greeted as he tried in vain to sound authoritative.
"What are you doing here?"
"I think you know why I'm here." He shifted his weight and looked Sonny square in the eyes.
"You better watch your step, Doc." Sonny replied with a grin. "You won't talk down to me in my place of work."
"I didn't come here to fight with you."
"I'm not sure why you're here in the first place, but I do know that this is private property and you're trespassing." The dark haired man taunted.
"You going to call the cops?"
"Only if you make me."
"Well then let me cut to the chase." Steven ran a shaky hand through his curly locks.
"Please do." Sonny prompted with a roll of the eyes.
"Carly is a good woman, Sonny. And I will have her again whether or not you like it."
"What makes you so sure about that?"
"Because she loves me. I know you can feel it as well." He replied with confidence.
"You're delusional." Sonny tried to dismiss him.
"Come on, you know there's something off. Her kisses aren't as passionate as they used to be." Steven took a moment to take in the other man's facial expression. "I'm right aren't I?" No response, which led him to continue one. "Well guess what, Corinthos."
"What?" He growled.
"That thing that's holding her back…it's me."
A/N: So my Steven is a little character, but I felt that I had to make him a little more aggressive and devious in order to fit the triangle that I'm trying to build. Don't worry, I'm not going to make him into a villain. Just a little darker than he is portrayed on the show. Also, I don't know the first thing about Eureka, California. So if I'm describing it wrong, Sorry. Song credit goes out to Eminem and his song Toy Soldiers