Jason sat at the corner of the bar, nursing the cup of coffee that Carly had poured him, watching his wife as she sat with her sisters at a table in the far corner of the MetroCourt Restaurant. They were engrossed in conversation, and he couldn't help observing that for someone who was less than a couple days away from marrying her new beau, she didn't seem overly happy just then. It struck him for the hundredth time that week, that maybe he wasn't doing the right thing afterall.

It had been a stressful week. He'd settled back into life with Elizabeth and the boys, getting to know Jake with renewed eyes, but even after celebrating the glorious, miraculous return of his son from the dead, something was missing from their happy little haven. As hard as he tried he hadn't quite been able to put his finger on it, and it drove him crazy that he even felt that way. It wasn't Elizabeth…she was as sweet and loving as she'd ever been…maybe even more so.

When he'd first found out he was married to Sam, he hadn't been able to go back to Elizabeth's bed - it had just felt wrong. But after the divorce went through, he no longer had a reason to hold her off and she had gone at it like she was making up for lost time. They made love constantly, and even though he tried to reassure her and show his love in every way he could think of, he knew that it was her way of trying to show him that he'd made the right decision by staying. He knew he had. He loved her very much…but something was still missing.

His head turned to the side when a hand rested on his shoulder. Carly smiled and sat on the stool next to him, reaching for the carafe to refill their coffee cups.

"Sorry that took so long - corporate guests can be the biggest pain in the ass to deal with."

"It's no problem. You weren't gone that long."

She turned to follow his line of sight to the gorgeous brunette in the red sweater and dark blue jeans, her hair pulled back in her favorite ponytail that showed off her high cheekbones and long neck. She was poring over binders with her sisters as they finalized wedding plans.

"Long enough to miss the arrival of our new brunch guests. When did Sam and the girls get here?" She didn't miss the way his shoulders went up in defense of being caught staring.

"They haven't been here long. Listen, I should take off - I have to go see Diane."

"No - stay. Please? I haven't seen you in days - I want to catch up with my best friend. I'm so happy you stopped by to have coffee with me."

He smiled as he looked at the blond who was obviously used to getting her way. "Fine, I'll stay a few more minutes, but then I have to go."

She smiled in triumph then patted his hand where it laid on the bar. "So tell me what's been going on? How're things with Elizabeth?"

Jason tried not to be offended by the dry tone she used to say his fiancé's name.

"Fine. She's busy planning our wedding. Things didn't go as planned last time but I'm going to make sure everything's perfect for her this go around." He looked over to Sam again, just in time to see Patrick Drake join them at the table, bending over to kiss her intimately. The sudden stab of piercing red anger that shot through him was as shocking as it was fiery.

"Mmm. I'd offer to help but you'd know I didn't mean it and so would she, so I won't be a hypocrite."

"Carly!"

"Don't Carly me, Jason! You're making the biggest mistake of your life and I wouldn't be your best friend if I didn't point it out to you. Sam, is the love of your life - Elizabeth knows it, everybody knows it. The fact that you can't remember that shouldn't force you into marriage. Why are you letting her drag you down the isle before the ink even dries on your divorce papers? I'll tell you why - it's because Elizabeth knows that once you remember, she won't stand a devil's chance in hell, that's why! She wants to hurry up and lock you down so by the time you remember Sam, it will already be too late…you will have already committed yourself to her and her boys and we all know, Jason Morgan won't go back on his word."

"Honestly, I'm getting really sick of you always talking bad about Elizabeth, Carly. It's making it so I'm finding it hard to be around you when you're like this!"

"Like what - truthful? You should be flattered, Jason - if you could remember everything you'd know that's not a normal state for me. Except for when it comes to you. I always tell you the truth, and the truth is that Elizabeth is not the woman for you. She never has been!"

Jason looked at his friend with skepticism. He couldn't remember a lot, but in the time he'd known Carly, he knew that 'always' was a bit much for her when it came to telling the truth.

"Always? Really?"

She slapped his hand really hard. "Shut up! When it counts, yes! And it counts now, when you're placing your life and that of your children on the line by marrying the wrong woman." She pointed in Sam's direction where she was smiling at something Patrick said. "See how you can't take your eyes off her? That's your soulmate! That's the woman who knows and understands you in a way that defies everything - including me! And that's saying a helluva lot, believe me. You live for her and to make her happy, and that little boy you have together is the child you've wanted with her almost since the day you met. You don't need to give up everything, Jason!"

"I'm not giving anything up! Sam is happy - look at her - she has a fiancé and a life that doesn't include me. She doesn't need me Carly."

He wasn't sure what he'd said to set off the lightbulb he saw appear in her eyes, until her next words.

"And Elizabeth and her boys do."

"That's not what I meant - it's not what I said."

"You didn't have to. I see it clearer now - you're being her knight in shining armor, riding to her rescue - again! At the expense of Sam's happiness and of your own - again!"

"What are you talking about? I'm not doing that."

"Yes you are! Just like you did when she got pregnant with Jake! You were convinced that you had to marry her to give your son a stable home, so you pushed aside your love for Sam and sacrificed yourself at the altar of Saint Elizabeth, and she let you! You're doing it again right now…you feel obligated to marry Elizabeth and give her boys a father."

"I love Elizabeth!"

"Yes, you always have…but you're in love with Sam! You've always been in love with Sam - she's it for you - and trust me, Elizabeth is quite aware of that fact. This whole damn town knows about your love for Sam!"

Jason stood up from the stool and pushed his coffee cup further onto the bar. This conversation was pointless and starting to make him angry.

"I'm not listening to any more of this. I need you to give Elizabeth the respect she deserves as the woman I'm going to marry and I'm not going to keep defending that to you or to anyone else. I gotta go."

Carly reached for his arm. "Oh, come on - don't leave angry. I'm your best friend and if I don't tell you these things, who will? I don't want to see you hurt by this woman, Jason - not anymore."

"Why would she hurt me? She doesn't have a malicious bone in her body."

Carly scoffed loudly at that. "She has quite a few of those actually, but I'm not gonna go there - you're already mad. All I ask is that you think about things some more, before you do something you can't take back Jason." She stood to face him, pleading with her eyes. "Before you give up everything for nothing, count to ten…please!"

Jason stood there for a full minute looking at his friend, hearing her words and hating every one of them, even as something she said rang true deep inside of him. Grudgingly, he dropped a peck on her cheek, still angry, but knowing in his gut that the brashness was her way of trying to look out for him. He could never understand the dislike she had for Elizabeth, but he relented that she may have her reasons that he just didn't remember.

"I'm good, Carly. I'll bring you your invitation in a couple days." He moved towards the elevator, unable to stop himself from looking over at the striking brunette, who's sweet, rich laugh echoed as it mocked his retreat. She sounded so happy. He was doing the right thing letting her go…so why did seeing her with another man cut him so life piercingly deep?

The hairs on the back of Sam's neck had been on alert since the moment she sat down, and she knew immediately from experience…he was there. She had refused to scan the room for him, afraid of meeting his eyes, afraid of seeing him with her…so she'd kept her attention on her sisters, catching up on what was happening in their lives and finding out their new interests.

Molly was excited about classes at PCU and a change in her major to PolyScience that she was considering. Kristina was less enthusiastic about her college experience, and wanted Sam to help her convince her parents to let her take a semester off from Wesleyan. Immediately smelling a rat, both Sam and Molly tried to get her to spill.

"Okay, what did you do?" When she tried to look innocent, Sam raised her brow in warning. "Spill!"

"There's nothing to spill really." They both weren't buying it so she sagged in her chair. "Okay, okay - there may have been a situation that got a little bit out of control and I may get suspended."

"What?" Molly was shocked, even as she knew how impulsive her sister could be. "Kristina - what happened?"

There was a moment of silence when she was obviously considering whether or not to tell them the full story.

"Alright, I'll tell you but you have to promise not to say anything to anybody - especially not to Mom or Dad."

"It's that bad, Krissy? I don't know if I'm comfortable keeping something serious from Alexis. Just how serious are we talking?" Sam was growing more concerned about her sister's welfare than the constant and persistent prickling at her nape.

She squeezed her eyes shut and ground through her teeth, "I may have come on to a professor and got in trouble for it, and there could be some consequences." She reopened her eyes to gauge their reactions. "Please you guys, Mom cannot find out."

"Kristina!"

Both Sam and Molly were reprimanding in the sounding of her name but neither were truly shocked. Kristina was impulsive and daring, she would always get in some trouble or other and then worry about the fallout afterwards.

"What? It's college - you're supposed to explore and experience new things."

"Yes, things - not professors who are in charge of your grade and your future. Seriously, what were you thinking?" Sam closed her eyes and pushed her head back against the chair, picturing Alexis' reaction to the news.

"She wasn't thinking, that's the point."

Just then Patrick got off the elevator and turned towards them, his face instantly transformed into a huge smile at spotting Sam. She waved in response then whispered, "We'll table this for now but we're going to talk more about it later."

Sam smiled in greeting and returned Patrick's kiss but the stab to her heart told her Jason was watching, and for some odd reason, she felt as though she was betraying their love. She knew she was being silly. They were divorced and with other people and she was sure he wasn't being a saint in Elizabeth's bed…but it didn't stop her from feeling unfaithful. Much like she'd felt in bed with Patrick, unable to make love to him until after she'd signed the divorce papers, and even then, it had taken some prodding and guilt laying on his part to get her to relent. She could count on one hand the number of times they'd been together since then, and each time, even though she enjoyed being with Patrick, it was all she could do to not call him by Jason's name. It almost slipped out once, and she'd had to quickly turn into it into saying, 'j-ust like that,' thankful that she'd caught herself in time. She loved Patrick and he was an attentive lover, but nobody made her feel like Jason did. Nobody reached the depths and took her to the heights that he'd sent her to, and Sam knew that she was in for an interesting time of getting her house in order to be able to spend a lifetime with someone other than the incredible lover and lifetime friend she'd found in Jason Morgan.

A lifetime. Whenever it hit her that was what she was promising Patrick, she'd come close to needing one of Alexis' brown paperbags. Could she really do it? Could she really spend the next fifty years loving someone else, while the truest part of her heart stayed hidden away forever? Whenever she looked at Patrick and Emma and Danny, she was able to put her doubts aside and remind herself why she'd be able to, to remind herself that they were worth it.

She knew when Jason left the restaurant, even though she hadn't looked at him once. The hairs were no longer standing on end and her heart was no longer pounding out of her chest. It proved true when Carly stopped by their table.

"Hi everyone. How's brunch - everything to your liking?"

"The smoked salmon frittata is delish, Carly. Best I've tasted." Molly returned Carly's warm, wide smile.

"The bottomless Bellinis are where it's at for me." Kristina held up an empty champagne glass and tapped it to get the waitress's attention.

"You go easy on those young lady. You're not the one driving, right?"

"Nope - that's me." Sam patted the pocket that held the car keys as she too returned Carly's smile. Unbelievable that they really had become friends after all the fights, and brawls, and mud slinging in their past.

"Good. Sam, can I borrow you for a minute?" Carly looked apologetically at Patrick, "I'll send her right back, I promise."

Sam got up and followed Carly to the bar where the blond gestured for her to sit. Sam knew she was about to meddle.

"Carly, it's none of your business."

"I didn't even say anything yet!"

"You don't need to. It's written all over your face…you disapprove of what Jason and I have decided and you want us to change our minds."

"Fine - you already know, so what's stopping you?"

"Look - everything is different, okay? Jason is not the same person who left us four years ago, and neither am I, for that matter. We want different things now, so let it go, okay?"

"Bullshit!" She crossed her arms and leant towards Sam, "You both make me so dam frustrated I want to shake the shit out of both of you. If you both weren't so stubborn you'd see that you need to take the time to reconnect, instead of rushing headlong into relationships with other people you both know damn well won't last!"

"Excuse me? I resent that…don't imply that my marriage to Patrick is doomed - you don't know anything of the sort!"

"Resent all you want - it doesn't change the fact that you and Jason are made for each other and you're just dragging other people into situations that have no way in hell of succeeding."

"That's enough, Carly! I'm committed to Patrick and our life together, and I fully intend to do my part to make it work between us. I really don't appreciate you projecting your fantasies about Jason and me onto us."

Carly brushed her hair back from her forehead in frustration. "Oh my gawd, you're both so damn stubborn! Sam, this is not the first time that Jason has forgotten his life…why can't you do what you did last time and be there, help him remember…help him remember you?"

"Because circumstances are different - just like we're different. He does't care to remember! Last time he asked questions and he tried like hell to remember me so he didn't have to leave. Jason now wants to be with Elizabeth and live his safe, happy little life with her…let him Carly. He's a grown man, he gets to do what he wants."

"But Jason doesn't know what he wants, Sam. Elizabeth is in his ear telling him her fairytale version of his life and choosing for him…we have to break him out from under her spell, don't you see that?"

"So we can be the ones choosing for him instead? Honestly, Carly, what I see is Jason living the life he's always wanted with the woman he missed out on. He's made his choice and he's happy where he is. Now, I have to get back to Patrick, I'm being rude standing over here talking about my ex-husband, when my fiancé is waiting for me. Bye, Carly."

Sam turned to walk back to her table, the word ex-husband echoing in her head and ripping a tear straight through her heart. That was never a word she'd ever wanted to use to describe Jason Morgan, but while they weren't looking, that's exactly who he'd become. Time to face and accept the inevitable.