I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've just been so busy with the holidays and all. Please forgive me. lol Anyways I was writing this and it was pretty long so I divided it into two chapters. Here is the first part and the second part will be up soon. Again, please forgive me for taking so long.

CHAPTER 2

Courtney and Kyle continued walking down the stairs when Courtney spotted Carly in the crowd. Her heart began to quicken as she saw Jason's eyes. She didn't know what he would feel like about her being with another guy. But he was with Sam she thought. So why would me being with another guy be any different.

"Hey Courtney." Carly said when they made their way through the crown to them, enveloping her in a hug.

"Hey Carly." She said, pulling away.

"And who's this?" Carly asked, looking in Kyle's direction.

Courtney mentally reminded herself to kick Carly later because Carly knew who he was. She had practically stayed up till one in the morning trying to squeeze all of the details of their dinner out of her. "Carly this is Kyle. Kyle this is Carly, my brother Sonny, Sam, and Jason."

Kyle nodded and said hello. Courtney could feel Jason's eyes on her. His stare was so intense she had to try as hard as she could not to look at him. "Um, could you excuse me for a minute. I have to go to the ladies room?" Courtney said and walked away.

Jason watched her retreating form. He didn't know why but he felt so enraged seeing Courtney with another guy. Looking at Kyle he just wanted to punch that grin right off his face. He knew Courtney wasn't a possession and she definitely wasn't his but for some reason he felt like they would always be connected.

"Jason, will you dance with me?" Sam asked putting her hand on his arm. Jason nodded his head and they moved onto the dance floor.

"I'm going to go check on the backroom and make sure everything's running smoothly." Carly said and walked away, leaving Sonny and Kyle standing there.

"Have a seat." Sonny said, motioning towards the bar. "What are you drinking?"

"Scotch."

Sonny got the attention of the bar tender and ordered their drinks. "So, how long have you been seeing Courtney?"

Carly walked into the women's restroom and saw Courtney standing by the mirror. "What's wrong?" Carly asked.

"What do you mean 'what's wrong'? Nothing's wrong. I mean I'm here with Kyle..who is a great man by the way and he treats me with respect and he is so kind and he takes my feelings into consideration, so I mean why would something be wrong?" Courtney rambled on.

"Oh I don't know, call this a crazy idea, maybe it's because your ex husband aka love of your life is with another woman while watching you go on a date with another man!"

Courtney sighed and sat down on the small couch near the wall. "Carly, how do our lives end up like this? I mean whatever happened to those happily ever after stories we read about in those fairy tales?"

"Fairy tale, Courtney. It's a fairy tale. That's why it's not real. But you and Jason, you're real….your love is real. And that's what's worth fighting for."

"It's so hard though." Courtney said, trying to suppress the tears that threatened to fall.

"And you think me and Sonny are easy?" Carly laughed. "Please! Love is hard Courtney. If it wasn't it wouldn't be as great as it is during the good times."

"But how do you get past the bad times?"

"If your love is strong enough it will. You can't deny love Courtney. It's there whether you like it or not. And I believe your and Jason's love is strong enough."

"But maybe love isn't enough…"

Kyle looked at Sonny's intense gaze. "Uh, we met two weeks ago, but this is our first date." Kyle answered.

Sonny nodded, taking another drink of his scotch. "Have you ever been married? Engaged?"

Kyle shook his head. "No, I've just haven't found the right person yet, I guess."

"Have you ever gone to prison or committed a crime?"

"Look, I hear one of those 'Big Brother' conversations coming on, but I can assure you, Sonny, Courtney is safe with me. I'm not going to hurt her."

"Well, I'll be the judge of that."

"Judge of what?" Courtney asked, walking up to Sonny and Kyle at the bar.

"Nothing." Sonny said, "Just getting to know Kyle over here."

Courtney smiled and looked over at Kyle. "Wanna dance?"

Kyle nodded, taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor.

Carly walked up to Sonny at the bar. "What were you guys doing?"

"Nothing, just talking to Kyle."

"Sonny! You were interrogating him, weren't you! Do you want to embarrass your sister?"

"Relax, I just asked him a few questions. You know, get him a little scared…so he won't mess with Courtney."

"So making your ego bigger by acting all macho and scaring another man from dating your sister has nothing to do with it?"

Sonny smiled, flashing his dimples. "Nope, just an added bonus." He said, pulling his wife closer to himself. "Besides, I don't need to act like I'm macho, I am."

Carly laughed. "Sure you are." She said, leaning in and giving him a kiss.

Jason watched as Kyle led Courtney to the dance floor. He saw him pull her close to him as Courtney put her hands around his neck. He also saw Kyle's hand wander down her back. Each time they slid further, the angrier he got.

Courtney felt a little strange with Kyle's arms around her. For so long it had been Jason's arms that enveloped her, making her feel safe. As they turned, Courtney looked up and saw Jason and Sam dancing. His eyes connected with hers and she got lost in them. She saw a mixture of emotions cross over his face.

Courtney looked away, afraid of what she was feeling, and realizing the song was over. Pulling apart from Kyle, she was about to head off the dance floor when Sonny came up to her. "May I have this dance?"

Courtney smiled, "Of course." The two of them began slowly swaying to the music.

"So, how are things with you and Kyle? Anything serious?"

"No, not really. He's a nice guy and all but I just don't know yet. Everything's so confusing."

"Well you know, If you ever need anything I'm always here for you."

"Thank you Sonny." Courtney said, resting her head on his shoulder.

Carly watched Sonny and Courtney dancing and got an idea. She hurried over to Jason and Sam, who were standing by the bar. "Jason will you dance with me?"

"Carly I just got done dancing besides, you know I don't like to dance."

"Jason, please! I really want to dance."

Jason sighed. "Only once."

Carly smiled and grabbed Jason's hand, dragging him over to the dance floor. They were dancing for about 30 seconds when Carly and Jason got close to Sonny and Courtney. "Oh, look! There's Sonny." Carly said, overdramatized. Dancing over to Sonny and Courtney, Carly leaned over. "Mind if I cut in." Courtney looked over at Carly and saw Jason.

Jason silently yelled at himself for getting sucked into one of Carly's stupid plans.

"He is my husband after all." Carly added in. Sonny looked at his wife in disbelief. He couldn't believe her. She was definetly not one to give up.

Courtney nodded and Carly joined Sonny, moving to a different part of the floor. Courtney looked up at Jason. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"No, it's ok." Jason said, joining hands with Courtney. Courtney felt a spark travel through her body at Jason's touch. She stepped in, closing some of the distance between them. Jason put his hand on the small of Courtney's back. An akward silence enveloped them.

"So…uh, Michael made the soccer team." Courtney said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, I know. He was so excited about it." Jason replied.

"Yeah, I'm proud of him."

Another akward silence fell over them. Courtney knew that they weren't together anymore, but she thought that they would be able to be friends and have a real conversation.

Suddenly Jason spoke up. "Did you have Kyle checked out?" Jason asked.

"Checked out?" Courtney questioned.

"Yea, did you have Sonny run a background check?"

"No." Courtney answered, obviously annoyed at the question.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean I didn't have Sonny run a background check."

"Why not?"

"Because, Jason, I trust him."

"Courtney, you know how dangerous that can be. He could be working for anyone-"

Courtney cut him off. "I don't need your help on this one Jase."

Jason couldn't believe how naive Courtney was being. If anything ever happened to her Sonny, Carly, and the boys would be devastated. Looking into her eyes in that moment and feeling her in his arms though, he knew he would be too. Lowering his voice he began again, "Courtney, please, let me do this for you."

"Why does it matter so much?"

Jason looked deep within her, his eyes a soft blue. "Because I…I—"

"Sorry to interrupt. But Jason I really need your help at the table." Sam said.

Courtney looked from Jason to Sam and then back to Jason. Was he just going to say what she thought he was?