Chapter 14

Jason woke up early, having to go to work for Sonny that morning, but really regretting it, knowing he had to leave Courtney. God, he loved her so much, but sometimes he felt like he took her for granted, and he hated himself for it. He knew Courtney deserved a hell of a lot better than how he was treating her. Even though he apologized to her last night, and they certeinly made up for their fight yesterday, he still didn't like that she felt like she wasn't important to him. So tonight, he swore to himself, that he was going to make it up to her.

He smiled at her, as she was still sleeping with her soft blonde hair cascaded around her on her pillow. He so badly did NOT want to go to work, because he wanted to stay in bed with her so bad, but Sonny wanted him to tell Jack what to do for his job.

God, he so badly wanted to kill him. He just knew that he was bad news, and he really didn't trust him around Courtney. He knew that this Jack guy wanted Courtney, but he would die before he lost her. He couldn't lose her again, and he was going to make sure he didn't. He knew he couldn't control Courtney and who she wanted to see, but he loved her, and he wanted to protect her. Or did he just want to protect himself? He thought to himself. Well, either way, he wanted everything to go right with them again, and tonight he was going to do that for her. So with that final thought, and a final kiss on her forehead, he turned, and left.

Jack had just woken up to the bright rays of the sunlight, and stretched. He got up, and took a quick shower, but while he was in there, all he could think about was Courtney. He couldn't get her out of his head no matter what he did. God, why did it always have to be so damn confusing? Why couldn't he just let her go. He knew it was so hard last time but...

He quickly shook of the thoughts. Just thinking about their past made him shiver. He hated what happened, and he hated what he did, but he knew it was for the best. He quickly got out, and got dressed, and walked out to go to work.

He sighed, knowing that working for Courtney's brother was going to be tough, but anything was better than working for who he used to. He knew all about his reptutation, and that of Jason Morgan's, but he never knew he would be near Courtney again. He shook his head, and vowed to himself that he wasn't going to think of the beautiful blonde woman who haunts his dreams every single night, since the day they broke up...

Across town, Sonny was nursing a scotch in his hands, and waiting for Carly to come downstairs, and to leave! God this woman would do anything just to stall so she could listen in on his meetings. And it was a hell of a whole lot more interesting now that this Jack Ramsey guy knew Courtney, and if anyone knew Carly, they knew she would just NOT let this go!

He suddenly felt a small arm wrap around his mid section, and another one reaching for his scotch, and placing it on the bar before him. "Hey baby." Sonny said to his wife, as he smiled one of his famouse dimpled smiles.

"Oh don't you go all dimple attack on me Mr. Corinthos. You can not be drinking at this time in the day!" Carly scolded him, as he turned around in her arms.

"Well, why not?" He demanded.

"It's nine fucking a' clock in the morning that's why!" She yelled.

"So." He said with raised eyebrows. All she could do was shake her head and laugh. He smiled down at her, and gave her kiss on the lips. It would've probaly turned into more, if they hadn't been interupted by Jason walking through the door.

"Hey Sonny, I- Whoa!" Jason started to say before getting cut off as he saw what he was about to interupt.

"Oh, hey Jase, but would you mind if you..."Carly said while gesturing to the door, while Sonny just stood and laughed.

"No, hey Jason, Carly was just leaving." Sonny said as he let go of his wife.

"Well, can't I just stay for a little while..." She started to ask.

"No!" Sonny and Jason both yelled in unsion.

"Okay, okay, I can see when I'm not wanted!" Carly said as she put up her hands in mock surrender. She walked over to grab her coat and purse, and then walked over to Sonny to give him quick kiss before she left to go to Courtney and Jason's.

Jason just shook his head while Sonny just laughed slightly. "Only Carly." He muttered, while Jason just shook his head with a smile.

"Okay, well back to buisness." Sonny said.

"Yeah, um, I got the shipment orders for the next one that's coming in next week, so here." Jason said before handing over the folder over to Sonny. Sonny nodded his head, and put it on the desk.

"Okay, thanks. Um, Ramsey's coming in today, so I have his new job for him. Um, I'm going to have him guard Courtney for a couple weeks to see how he is, and we'll go from there..."

Jason looked up immediatly, blue eyes flaring, and said, "No way in hell."

Courtney had woken up to the beautiful sunlit room, and stretched. She was still a little tired from last night, smiling as she remembered, she got up and took a quick shower. She got out ten minutes later, and quickly got dressed, when she heard the knocking on the door. "I'm coming!" She yelled as she ran down the stairs. Before she got to the door though, it flung open to reveal her best friend.

"Hey!" Carly said enthusiastically.

"Hey! What's up?" Courtney asked as she gave her friend a quick hug.

"Well, Sonny and Jason are having one of their "official buisness meetings that god forbid Carly EVER hear!" She said as she held up little air quotes. Courtney just shook her head and laughed at her friend.

"Well, I actually did come here for a reason." Carly said as she hesitated a little.

"Ok, what'd you come over for?" Courtney asked.

"I want to know all about this Jack guy." Carly said, with determination. She still remembered their little conversation outside last night...

FLASHBACK

"Wait!" Carly yelled as she rushed out the door into the cold, and rushed up to Jack.

Jack turned towards Carly, and said "Yeah"

Once Carly caught up to him, she breathed out a sigh, and said, "You like Courtney, don't you?"

Jack just looked at her like she was crazy! "What?" He asked incredeously.

"Oh, come on, I'm not blind! I saw the way you were looking at her! You like her." Carly said. She knew she shouldn't pry, she had to find out what the deal was with him.

"I don't know what your talking about-"

"Look, you don't look at your "friend" like that, and in that way. I would know!" Carly said, as she continued to eye the man cautiously.

"Look, Carly, Courtney and I, were, complicated. Okay, but I don't feel like talking about it with you or anyone else okay. Are me and Courtney friends, yes. But that's it. Okay. I hope I cleared things up for you. Have a nice day." Jack said calmly before turning, and walking away.

"Not by a long shot buddy." Carly said quietly before walking back into the house, silently vowing to figure out what he was all about.

End Flashback

Courtney just stood there, staring at her friend. Oh, god, how am I going to get out of this! She thought to herself. Carly was never going to go away, unless she had something, so I'm just going to give her something, and pray she leaves it alone. Oh, god, who am I kidding, it's Carly!

"Look, Carly, me and Jack are friends. That's it." She said, before walking over to the couch, and sat down, while Carly followed suit.

"Look, sweety, the man's hot! Okay, and I'm not going to deny it. So, I know, with the way he was looking at you yesterday, that something more was with you guys, so tell me." Carly asked, as she eyed her friend. She saw the hesitant look in her blue eyes, and added, "I won't tell Jason." Courtney's eyes changed at the mention of his name, and Carly smiled. She knew how much she loved Jason, and she knew she didn't want to mess up what they had, so Carly wasn't going to say anything to him.

Famous last words.

"Jason, why don't you want him guard-"

"Because I don't alright!" Jason yelled, before walking over to the bar next to the window, and pouring himself a drink. Sonny just stared at him. What the hell was up with him?

"Jason, she trusts him, and I get the feeling, he'd be a good guard for her. I mean they're friends, right. So, I'm guessing he would protect her, so why not let him?" Sonny asked.

"Because I don't want someone who obviously likes her a little too much, guarding Courtney!" Jason bellowed, as he finished off his drink.

"Okay, Jason, all I'm saying is give him a chance. If he gets a little to close to Courtney, then will have him guard Carly, or have him do something else." Sonny said. He needed to see what this Jack guy was capable of.

Jason sighed heavily, obviously uphappy with the arrangement, but agreed anyway. He nodded, and said, "Alright." Sonny nodded, and they exchanged a few more words, until Max announced that Jack Ramsey was here. Jason just sighed, as he place the empty glass down, and turned around. He was really not looking forward to this meeting, but he was going to have to suck it up and deal with it, and try not to want to kill the man who had just walked in right now.

Courtney just stared at Carly. How could she tell her that Jack was so much more than her friend. And how at one point, he was the man she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with! Even though that man is Jason now, she will never be able to erase what Jack gave to her, and how they were together. She will never forget about him. How could she? He was the man who... Stop! She needed to stop thinking about him!

"Carly, could you just leave it alone please!" Courtney begged, or at least tried, but she knew Carly, and she was not going to let this go.

"Courtney, come on, we're best friends! We tell each other everything! You can tell me about this too." Carly said. She was really curious now. Why was Courtney so insistent on dropping this.

Courtney sighed, and gave in. "Okay." The two friends sat down, as Courtney started to explain from the begininng.

Jack stood there, in front of Sonny, shaking hands with him as they discussed the latest assignment he had. Sonny explained to him that he would be guarding Courtney, and that if anything happened to her on his hands, he'd basically kill him for it. He assured him that no matter what, he would protect Courtney with his life.

Jason just shook his head slightly, and looked away, not even able to watch as this guy's expression totally changed when he talked about Courtney. His Courtney. He was not going to let this man in front of him take what was his. He knew he shouldn't think of Courtney as a possesion, because he hated feeling like he "owned" her, and he never wanted her to feel like just because he thought of her as his doesn't mean she didn't have the right to do what she wanted. He loved, and respected her too damn much to treat her like that bastard Eddie Garcia did to her.

Then it hit him. This guy knew Garcia, and there he was, just strolling into town right after Garcia did. He never believed in coinsedenses, and wasn't going to start now, especially one like this.

When the meeting was finally over, Sonny told him he started tomorrow, and sent him on his way. Jason walked out after him, and grabbed his arm to turn him around to stop him from leaving.

Jack turned around, and eyed the blue eyed mobster in front of him and asked, "What?"

"What do you know about Eddie Garcia." Jason asked.

"Oh my god! What a bastard! I can't believe he did that to you! Courtney, honey I'm so sorry." Carly said, as she let her tears free, as she heard the story Courtney just told her about that bastard Eddie-whatever, and how he killed her little baby girl. She held her friend, and she felt Courtney's warm tears fall free from her eyes. She knew this must've been hard for her, and for her having to retell it again must've made it harder. Now Carly felt really bad.

"Honey, I'm sorry.."

"No, it's okay. Really. I'm glad you know. It was just, really hard to talk about." Courtney said as she wiped away the stray tears that fell on her face.

"But, that didn't explain Jack." Carly said. "But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to okay." Carly said.

"No, it's okay. That was the hard part of the story." Courtney said. Carly motioned for her to continue, but allowed her some space to tell her.

"Well, Jack was there for me. Through the whole thing, and the funeral. It was hard for me. But we were just friends. Then, but before..."

"What was before?" Carly asked, now really wanting to know again.

"It was before I got pregnant, and before I met Eddie. I was a junior in high school, and that's when we started dating. We actually first met in the sixth grade, right after my dad left. And we were best friends ever since. But in high school, I started to like him as more than a friend. And I heard that so did he. So, we officially started going out when I was 16, and was a junior. Anyway, things were great, and since we already knew each other, we also trusted each other completely. And, we loved each other. He was my first love." Courtney said, as she remembered the good times they had, and smiled.

"Go on." Carly urged, so wanting to know what else happened.

"Well, it was about a year and a half later, and it was our senior prom, and we had like a beach type of prom. We had a big bonfire, and music, and the beach, it was just so much fun. Later on that night, me and my friend, and their boyfriends had a party. We just hung out, and had fun. Jack and I later on just hung out together. We loved it when we were just together, and it was just us, and nobody else. We didn't have to worry about anything, or anyone trying to ruin us, and what we had together, because let me tell you, nobody made it easy for us, especially my mom." Carly rolled her eyes at the mention of Janaine, and knew that she would have something to do with messing up Courtney and Jack. "Anyways, we just sat on the beach, and watched the sunset. Jack was alway private with his feelings, and never expressed them to just anyone, only the people he really cared about. We ended up making out, just us, alone, on the beach. Then it started to become more, and he just, asked me if I was sure, if I was really sure, because he would wait if I wasn't ready. I just looked into his eyes, and I saw how honest he was, and how much he loved me, and I just couldn't resist him. Then, before I knew it, we were making love, right there, on the beach, and Carly, I was never felt so safe, and so happy, then I was with Jack, right there. He was so loving, and caring, and he treated me with so much respect. He made my first time, really special." Courtney said, as she smiled, and looked down. When she looked up, she saw Carly's face filled with awe, and astonishment.

"Oh my god! So he-"

"Yeah. That's right. He's the man I lost my virginity too." Courtney said as she smiled.

A/N So... how was it? Believe me, this is sooo Journey, and I would never break them apart in my stories! Ever! But, I have to have a little angst, and other people who are going to try and mess up our Journey! But I was a little worried about how this chapter turned out. So review, and tell me how it was!