Silence fell throughout the Quartermaine estate, as Ned stood determinedly in the doorway, Edward wore an expression of mortification as another one of his grandsons fell under the spell of Carly Benson, next to him stood AJ, who's expression morphed from shock, to anger and then finally to that of mock disgust.

Another Quartermaine stood silently, his head hung, cocking it sideways he took a long hard look at Carly, who stood next to him smugly gazing at Ned, it was only when she caught the apparent disappointment in Jason's eyes that her smile fell.

Brenda glared at Jax and swept past Ned and out of the room, Jax following right behind her.

Courtney had entered the room just as Ned made his announcement, she glanced over at her husband and noticed the disgust etched into his handsome features, her blood began to boil, approaching Carly she grabbed her by the elbow and swung her around to face her.

"Who do you think you are, haven't you ruined enough people's lives?"

Carly pulled her arm away and pushed her index finger into the younger girls chest, "look here little girl, you haven't lived in Port Charles long enough to know the hell these people have put me through, if your smart you'll watch closely, cause sooner of later you'll be where I'm standing now… In the mean time, keep your nose and your hands out of my business, okay?"

"No it's not okay, I know enough about you… you used AJ, you got pregnant and when you decided he didn't fit your agenda, you got his brother to side with you, and then when that wasn't enough you used my brother to keep myAJ away from his son!"

"He's a drunk honey, or haven't you witnessed him tipping the bottle yet, oh well you will soon enough," Carly smirked, and then added, "and your bother would've done anything to keep me tied to him,adopting Michael wasn't my idea… it was his."

"My brother might've played dirty, but you're the one that used every manipulation to turn people against AJ, poor misunderstood Carly always the victim!" Courtney's voice dripped with venom, her fist itching to meet her jaw.

"You know what, I don't need this."

"What is it Carly, the truth hurt?" AJ retorted.

Jason's first instinct was to protect Carly, he knew she was waiting for him to ride to her rescue, but for the first time in forever, he remained silent.

"That's enough Junior or didn't I make myself clear the first time?"

Edward stamped his foot, " this is preposterous, I'm putting my foot down, this man-eater is not welcome in my home!"

Carly was at her limit, turning on her heel she stomped out of the room and onto the terrace.

"You've been awfully quiet little brother, what happened, you finally see Carly for who she really is?" AJ goaded.

Jason shook his head and walked out on the terrace.

Courtney left to check on Michael, AJ waited until she was out of earshot before approaching Ned, grinning he slapped Ned on the back, "I've got to hand it to you cousin, I didn't think you had it in you, but you've proved to be your Mother's son after all.

Edward guffawed, " what are you blabbering about?"

"Don't you see Grandfather, Ned's using Carly to get Michael back."

Edward glanced at Ned and reached up to rub his chin, " Carly's not that giving, what's the barracuda want?"

"While she's under my roof and a guest in this house, you'll refrain from name calling, both of you… and AJ you might want to keep your wife in check."

"Or what?"

"Or it could cost you Michael."

"Ned, you haven't answered my question." Edward said, anticipating the worst.

Walking toward the bar, Ned poured himself a brandy and raised the glass to his lips, pausing he looked toward the terrace and then back towards his expectant relatives, "it's really rather clever, she gives us Michael and we destroy Sonny… once and for all."

Rose Garden

Carly stood in the rose garden, the evening breeze blowing in from the Port Charles Bay made her shiver, it was Jason's leather jacket covering her chilled shoulders that brought both tears to her eyes, and anger to her soul.

She glanced his way as he stepped away from her, and looked toward the sky as if searching for answers himself.

"I could've used your support in there."

Jason sighed, hanging his head momentarily, he looked at her, " and I could've used the truth from you."

"I've never lied to you Jase."

Jason shook his head and rested his hand on his hip, "you've been lying to me since day one Carly."

"And you loved me anyway, faults and all…you always saw through me, I never lied to you for long… you could always get me to tell the truth!"

"When will it be enough Carly?" Jason asked, his voice steely," why should it take me to make you tell the truth, why can't you do it on your own?"

"I don't know okay!" Carly wailed, " I don't know how to be anyone but a fighter, someone who'd rather hurt other people than be hurt herself… the only problem is, I usually end up hurting anyway… but you Jason… you always got me to fess up, you saw the real me and that made me want to be straight with you."

"And now?" Jason asked, "what are you doing, you think by siding with Ned your going to back Sonny into a corner and then what, he'll leave Alexis and come back to you."

"I'm doing what's best for my son."

"No Carly, your doing what's best for you!" Jason shouted, "If I'd only know then what I know now… I would've taken Michael and run."

Carly sneered, " like the great Alexis David told you too, she's a hypocrite and you know it, she walks around so smugly spouting her truths, it's all an act!"

"We're not talking about Alexis, we're talking about you… what's in this for you Carly, what are you gaining by bargaining with Michael's life?"

Carly began to weep," when did it happen, when did I lose you… I didn't even see it ya know… can't you see that I need you? Jason, I need your strength… but most of all I need your friendship."

"Then give up this plan of yours."

"And if I don't… if I go through with it, what? You'll walk out on me again, pretend our life together never existed?"

"What choice are you leaving me with? I've defended you to my family, to Robin, to Brenda, to Sonny and everyone else in Port Charles… and what have I accomplished by doing that? Maybe, I'm just as much to blame for the pain you've caused."

"Don't say that… please don't say that, I need you to see the good in me… if you don't, then I won't see it either… I can't lose that."

"Then tell me you won't do this."

Tears fell from Carly's eyes, she bit her lip in hesitation, her eyes bouncing around the garden until her gaze traveled back to Jason, her eyes full of desperation and pleading, when she got nothing back, she faltered, her voice no more than whisper, "I can't."

Jason felt his heart break in that moment, " then I can't be your protector anymore."

Apartment Bound…

Jax and Brenda rode back to the apartment in silence, she was angry at his accusations, and as the limo stopped in front of the apartments, she jumped out and marched to the front of the building.

"Brenda would you wait?"

Brenda stopped mid stride, and turned abruptly causing her and Jax to collide, he chuckled and tried to touch her, while she glared and dodged his hands.

"I don't remember asking you to follow me."

"Don't you think we need to talk about this?"

"This… exactly what is "this" your talking about? I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal for going to see a friend."

"Since when is Jason your friend?"

Brenda threw her hands in the air, " what is this thing you have with Jason, we were at the towers, we knew Sonny and Alexis needed to talk, I mentioned that I was excited about seeing Lila and he offered me a ride over to the Quartermaine's…end of story."

Jax nodded and then smiled, " So why not just tell me that in the first place, instead of giving me the silent treatment?"

"I don't know what's more infuriating, the fact that you barged into the Quartermaine home and began interrogating me… or the fact that you can stand there so nonchalantly as if you didn't just accuse me of having an affair behind your back."

"Come on Bren, your making more out of it than it was… I just wanted to know what was going on between you and Morgan."

"See that's just it Jax, I shouldn't have to tell you, you should trust me enough to live my life the way I want."

Jax was growing impatient, " Is Morgan apart of this said life?"

"You know, this conversation is over." Brenda shook her head and opened the door to building," until you can trust me, we've got nothing left to say to each other."

Knock three times...

"Would you get that away from me, now!'" Alexis winced as Skye pulled her hair up for the umpteenth time.

"Will you relax, I know what I'm doing. " Skye replied, rolling her eyes.

"I saw that."

Skye grinned and kept working, " I never realized you had wavy hair, it's really rather pretty."

"You like it? You can have it, " Alexis muttered, " my hair's been a nightmare since my boarding school days."

"Boarding school, huh?"

"Yep, Briarton-Griggs, I used to wear it up until… well, it doesn't really matter."

"Oh no you don't, until what?" Skye pushed on, " come on, I promise it doesn't go beyond this room."

Alexis remained silent a moment, her memories traveling back to a different time, to a different person, she sighed, " Fine, it was a million years ago anyway… when I was sixteen, I met someone and he liked my hair down and wavy, end of story… happy?"

"Why Alexis Davis, have you been holding out on us?"

"I don't like to dwell on the past."

"I know what you mean, I have years that I would like to erase from my memory, but maybe they stay with us in order to keep us from making the same mistakes again, " Alexis turned her head and gave Skye a knowing look, " alright, so maybe I'm pushing it… but it's a great idea."

Alexis turned back toward the mirror, " are you sure the curls are going to work?"

"As sure as that young man was… by the way, whatever happened to him?"

"Who?" Alexis asked, looking over her appearance, " oh you mean… things didn't work out that's all."

"Do you ever think about him?"

"Can we get back to my appearance and forget about my adolescence?" Alexis asked irritably, " I'm not sure I can pull of this dress."

"Honey, you're pulling it off just fine… Sonny's eyes won't be anywhere but on you in that dress."

"It's awfully revealing… it didn't look that revealing in the box."

"Funny how those things work."

"Is there enough covering?"

"It's covering just the right spots, and revealing enough to make a man putty in your hands."

"Well, that has definite possibilities."

"I thought you'd like that… hey, did you ever think, that with your waves and Sonny's curls, your baby could…"

"Are you trying to help me or send me into a panic attack?"

"Listen, I have curls too, there's nothing wrong with having curls."

"If you like them so much, then why don't you have them now?"

"Maybe because I didn't have anyone ever tell me he liked them."

"Would you quit with that!"

"Finished."

"Good!"

"Not about that… I'm finished, take a look."

Alexis stared at her reflection in amazement, " Skye did you ever think of opening a salon?"

"Not a chance… I don't have the patience."

"Come on, I was the worlds worst client, and you handled me like a pro… I'm just… wow."

"I don't know, I think something's missing."

"The rest of the material that's what's missing… you did an amazing job, what else is there?"

"These, " Skye said, reaching up to take off her diamond drop earrings, "here, try them on."

"I couldn't…these are yours."

"Consider it a loaner… now try them."

Alexis did as she was told and checked her reflection in the mirror, the rose colored silk clung to her in just the right spots, and though visible her round bell was hidden by the flow of the dress, her hair hung around her shoulders, only the sides pulled up in a knot at the top of her head, she'd dressed up before… but she'd never felt as beautiful as she did now."

"Thank you… I just don't know what else to say."

"You just said it… even if I don't approve of the company."

"Don't ruin a nice moment Skye."

The front door slamming caused both women to jump, grabbing her clutch off the armoire, they left her room and headed to the living room.

"Just who does he think he is, I can't believe the nerve of that jerk!" Brenda muttered to herself, as she headed for the kitchen.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Brenda stopped, turning toward the other women, " Sorry…I thought I was alone."

"Not a problem, is there anything I can do?"

Brenda began to say something but stopped when she saw Skye, "no, I'm fine."

"You didn't seem fine a minute ago." Alexis replied.

"I think I should go… I'm not exactly the right person to be listening to lovers quarrels."

"Maybe you are… how did you react to Jax's obvious trust issues?"

"Since I gave him a lot of reasons not to trust me, I'm probably not the right person to ask."

"So, you lied to him a lot?"

"I stretched the truth, just enough to think I was telling it…" Skye replied carefully.

"And he was okay with that?"

"Uh, I'm not sure where you're going with this."

"What I'm getting at, is Jax has trust issues… maybe that's because of you."

"Hey, don't blame me for your fights with Jax… if he has a problem with you, it's between you and him, leave me out of it!"

"I'm just speculating."

"Yeah well… speculate in someone else's direction… did you ever think it bothers him that your still hanging around Sonny, even if it's not in the romantic sense… you know he hates him, yet you continue to do it."

"Hey, Hey, I think we all need to calm down, " Alexis said, coming between the women who had gotten dangerously close to one another, " ding, ding, ding… Brenda to your corner, Skye to yours."

Brenda kicked the dining room chair, and flipped her hair back, " I was out of line, I'm frustrated and I took it out on you."

Skye sniffed, and smoothed her hair over, " and I'm just a little defensive when it comes to my past misdeeds."

Alexis smiled, " See, now isn't that better? You two stay and get better acquainted while I go have dinner."

"Don't forget romance, Alexis." Skye added.

"Right now, my appetite takes precedence over anything else."

Grabbing her satin wrap off the dining room chair she headed for the door, looking back once more she gave both women a nervous smile, " wish me luck?"

"Alexis you don't need any luck… Sonny loves you so much, he'd give you the sun, the moon, and the stars…but once he sees you in that dress, you'll need to give him CPR." Brenda laughed as Alexis blushed furiously and slammed the door behind her.

Elevator Bound

Alexis' rode down the elevator in silence, an older woman stood in front of her, occasionally glancing over shoulder.

" Normally I don't dress like this… I have a date."

The woman cleared her throat and lookeddown atAlexis' belly.

"With the father of my baby." Alexis cringed, that didn't come out right, "We're going to be living across the hall from each other." Oh, great she thought to herself as the woman straightened her shoulders, " you see it's like this, he was my client and he paid me a small fortune for my services, but then it got personal and we ended up falling for reach other and that didn't come out right either, did it?"

The ding of the doors opening sent the older woman rushing out of the compartment, as Alexis leaned back against the wall, "If this is your way of telling me how life will be from now on, I'll happily go put on my fuzzy socks and watch reruns of Knots Landing."

"Now why would he do that?"

Alexis lowered her eyes, "Sonny."

"The one and only."

"I thought I was meeting you at the club."

"I got impatient, and I think it's a good thing I did."

"It is?"

"Yeah, cause if I caught Max looking at you the way I'm looking at you now… I'd have to kill him."

"Ha, Ha, lets go have dinner."

"No, No, No… I want to look at you."

"And I want to eat, pregnant women get the majority vote."

"I'm sorry Alexis… dinners going to have to wait, cause my appetite is calling for something else… that dress well it…it should be illegal."

"It should?"

"But then again, you always did like playing with fire, didn't you Alexis… you like to be bad sometimes don't you?"

"I'm an upstanding citizen of this state, I'll have you know."

"Who loves a bad boy."

"There you go again presuming to know what I'm feeling."

"I heard you Alexis, loud and clear."

Alexis who'd been walking out of the compartment, felt herself pinned against the wall, " You what?"

"Earlier back at the club, you told me you loved me." Sonny whispered on her mouth, as he wrapped an index finger around a stray curl, " I waited a long time to hear those words from you and I gotta tell you, I want to show you my appreciation."

"I don't know what you're muttering about, but you don't need to show me appreciation, what you can do however is feed me… aren't you getting claustrophobic, because I'm beginning to feel caged."

"I can see you're determined to have dinner before we talk about our future, so let the evening begin."

Alexis gave Sonny a wary glance as they exited the apartment complex and into the awaiting future…

Nobody Love's You Montage

Watching the days slip by so fast
Knowing our fate has long been cast
Working our fingers to the bone
Cause nobody loves you when you're gone

Carly stood in the Rose Garden watching as Jason Morgan walked out on her for the last time, her eyes clung to the image of him as he took one last look at her, and disappeared through the doors and she was left alone.

She screamed out into the night air, crumpling to the ground, her eyes cast us the sky, memories flooding back over her past with Jason…

Coughing up feeling just for you
To find something real to hold on to
But there is a hole inside my heart
Where all of my love comes pouring out.

Jason stands in the Quartermaine foyer looking back, half of him willing himself back to protect her from the mess she was getting herself into, and the other half telling him to let go once and for all, turning toward the stairway he sees Ned watching him, Jason shakes his head and walks out the front door being followed by Michael, who stands in the doorway watching him leave.

You know you'll always be my man
But grab yourself sweetness where you can
Cause sooner or later we're going to die
Left to the dogs under the sky

AJ appears out of the shadows, spying Carly in her grief, a smug expression worn on his face, as he relishes her downfall.

I cracked a piece of broken glass

Carly uncurls her first and looks down at the item Jason had put in her hand, it's the first key-chain she ever gave him…her mind drifts back to that moment.

Coughing up feeling just for you
To find something real to hold on to
But there is a hole inside my heart
Where waves of my love come tumbling out.
You say that all the good is gone
That I have forgotten who I am

Jumping up she runs through the manor and out the front door just as Jason takes off on his bike.

"JASON!"

Split screen of Carly screaming his name, and tears in Jason's eyes as he drives off the Quartermaine property and out of Carly's life.

Free as a bird
Wild as the wind
But somehow I cannot let you in

(Song: Nobody Loves You, Music By: Garbage)