Outside the Morgan Household-
Immediately she looked over to her side and looked at the door of her house, but she decided not to go inside. She wasn't ready to face them, not yet. She wasn't ready to tell Sonny the truth that was right there in front of them, no longer able to be denied. John Durant was her father. The man who wanted to destroy her husband and her best friend was also the man who had caused her to come into being. The weight that was on Carly's shoulders threatened to consume her whole, and it was only with great strength that she didn't even know she had that she was able to make it into the Harbor View Towers. Carly knew that what she did to Morgan was wrong and uncalled for. She knew that putting the baby in the care of his grandfather was not the right thing to do, that it was an insult to her love of both her son and her father-in-law, but she couldn't help it. Carly didn't know what she was going to do, and that was when she was at her most dangerous, when she didn't know what the next step in her plan was. When that happened, she did things that she needed help to fix, and sometimes the only person who could help was Jason.
That was why she was outside the house, because while John wanted to take down both Sonny and Jason one of them would take it better than the other. The one who would no doubt take the situation better was Jason, because he was always able to adjust without much of a problem. That was why she loved him so much, why she cared about him more than she cared about a lot of other people, even Sonny in some ways. That was why she depended on him. When Carly needed someone who could be there for her in all the ways that she needed she would turn to Jason and he would give her the support, no questions asked. Even when he didn't want to do it… he would.
Carly never needed to knock and see if Jason was home. His door was always open to her, and he was always there when she needed him. It was like he somehow knew when there was something that was going to bother her, and even though he couldn't really prepare for it, he found a way to make sure he was ready for something. Sucking up her fears, Carly opened the door immediately and walked in, speaking without looking to see if anyone was there, "Jason, I need you!"
"You know, I've always dreamed about being thought of as Jason in the back of my head… but I never dreamed about having it make me deal with you. I guess there's a bad side to everything."
"Dillon…" Carly had little patience for Dillon, even though he was rubbing off on her in some ways, and, when she was in panic mode, as she was at that moment, there was even less patience to deal with him. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I love here, remember? That's not something that you can say. I know you might be next door, but this isn't your home…"
"It shouldn't even be yours," she replied.
Dillon lowered his eyes. For all the times that people told him that they wanted him around it only took one moment for someone to say otherwise to make him think that maybe they were the ones that were telling the truth. For some reason, people didn't want to hurt his feelings.
Carly was expecting some sort of witty retort, as she had come to believe whenever she was around Dillon. It was like having a male version of Lois around, they would go back and forth without a single care at what they said. But, when something was said that hit a little too close to home they realized that they had gone too far. Carly may have been busy thinking about her own problems, but there were plenty of times when she knew that she had pressed the wrong button, "Look… Dillon…"
"Jason said he wanted me here, Carly."
"I know he did…"
"And is that good enough for you?" Dillon asked, some anger in his voice, "Because if it isn't then I don't know what to tell you. I didn't come here looking for support from everyone that was in Jason and Courtney's life. I came here because they cared enough about me and my situation to help me make it better. If you don't like that… then that's your problem, not mine. Not anyone else's. Stop trying to make your problems rub off on everyone. I honestly don't know how you manage to keep people around you as long as you do…"
"Hey, I don't deserve that!"
"And I didn't deserve to be belittled and degraded. Don't you think I know that I'm always going to be on the outside, no matter how long I'm here? Don't you think I worry about that every day? Don't you care about other people's feelings?"
"Yes, I do!"
"I don't think so."
Carly sighed, "What do I need to do in order to make you see that I'm sorry? Do you want me to beg? Do you want me to get down on my knees and ask for forgiveness? Because, if you do, you're going to be disappointed. I don't beg for anything, Dillon. I came up from nothing, I didn't have some famous last name to help me get by in life like you did."
"You think I wanted to be the person that I am? That I wanted to be in this family? Think about it for a moment, Carly. You've been a Quartermaine, if only for a little while, you've dealt with them time and time again… the way that they kill your spirit, the way that they make you feel like you're not worth the ground that you walk on? They don't reserve that for people who aren't born into the family… they'll accept Emily with open arms, love her like she was always a member of their family… but people like me, and Brook? We're screwed. But she had the support of a mother who loved her… I had my mother, but I was just some tagalong that she would have done without. I didn't even have a father, ever."
"Neither did I…"
"Then maybe you can understand what I'm going through, what I've always been going through. I'm not welcome into a lot of places, because of who I am, last name, personality, hairstyle, whatever the hell it is, there's almost always something that keeps me from being truly accepted by some group of people. Sometimes it doesn't bother me. I don't really want to be a Quartermaine... but I want to be a part of this group, of this family. I don't know why, but I do. Maybe it's because, no matter what, you people care about each other. That's something that I've always wanted. Can you understand that?"
"Can you understand that I have a father who I just met, one who wants to take down everything that I hold dear?" Carly blurted out the frustration because it had built to a point where if she didn't say anything she was going to burst. The stunned look on Dillon's face gave her the impression that she knew he would have. "Yeah, that's right, John Durant's my dad…"
"Carly… I…"
"Now the tables turned, haven't they? Now you don't know what to say to me, do you? I came here because I needed someone to talk with, and the only person I've ever been able to trust with my problems no matter how big they are is Jason. If you don't tell me where the hell he is…"
"I don't know where he is. He and Courtney went somewhere. They left a message on my phone while I was walking back here from school. They didn't say where they were going, just that they probably wouldn't be around for most of the night."
"Great… just great… the one time I need someone and they're not even here for me." Carly turned around and headed for the door, unsure of what she was going to do.
"Wait…"
"Another potshot at me?"
Dillon shook his head, "I want to help you, Carly. Come on, the Quartermaine's have always told each other that I reminded them too much of Jason, that I had too much of his drive and his passion… that's why they didn't want me here. At least my mother and my brother… so, if I'm compared to Jason so often, maybe…"
"Maybe you can give me the help that I'm looking for?"
"Exactly."
Carly scoffed, "I don't think so, junior. You must be x amount of years in order to tackle this problem, and you're still green around the gills."
"Carly, please. Don't you think I can help a little? We've both been raised without a father. Jason might not remember Alan being there for him, but he knows that he was, and Alan is still there in his life. Face it… I'm the best shot you have right now."
Carly thought about it for a moment, but then she realized that Dillon had a point. He was one of the best people that she could talk to about the problem, and he was probably the most objective… "Look, I don't know how much I can talk to you about this, because I don't know if I can trust you with all of it… but I'll try, all right? No promises other than that."
"That's all I want, a chance to make you see that I can be someone you can lean on…"
"My whole life I didn't know who my real parents were. And then I found out that Bobbie had left me, given me up because she couldn't give me the life she thought I deserved. I was so angry, you know that. You've heard about what I did to my mother. I regret everything that I did so much, Dillon, but I can't take it back. When we finally got through that, when we were finally able to become a family, I was so happy. But then Morgan got sick, remember? He almost died… and it was only because of Damian that he was able to survive. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the fact that he was there, more than he'll ever know. But Morgan is his brother by blood, Michael isn't. If something like that happened to Michael, Damian wouldn't be able to help."
"But Michael has all his relatives in the Quartermaine's, and they all care about him. I know they have a strange way of showing it, but they do."
"I know that, but what about my father? That was the only thing that I could think about when Morgan was sick, and when he got better. What if something happened and nobody matched the boys, and I had to depend on my father's family for help? I never had any clue who my father was, Dillon, ever. I didn't even think I really needed to know, I always thought that Bobbie would be enough for me, but I was wrong. I didn't think about how much I needed my father in my life until something happened that almost took some of that family away from me. So, I thought I could get my mother to give me some hints… and she didn't even give me any. She didn't want me to find out who my father was, and I never knew why…"
"And now you know…"
"She knew," Carly said softly. "She knew the whole time that John was my dad, and she kept it from me… and I don't know why."
"Because she cares about you, and she knows how much your family means to you. I don't know much about Durant, Carly, but I've read about him in the paper a few times. He wants to destroy the mob, any mob that he can get his hands on… I never thought about him coming here, but he did. Bobbie probably didn't think that he would ever come here, either, but she didn't want to tell you that there was a chance that he could come and destroy everything that you love. That's why she kept it from you."
"Doesn't make it right…"
"Sometimes people do things for reasons that they think are right, no matter what happens when the other people find out what happened." Dillon may have been known for his retorts, but there were times when he could be completely serious. Such was a time.
"I don't know what I'm going doing to do. My world seems like its crumbling around me, and nobody can help hold it up."
"Jason would help."
"Yeah… Jason would help."
"And so will I."
Carly snickered, "I don't know what you can do."
"Well, look at it this way, when you came into the house I saw that you were shaking with some sort of pent up rage and frustration. Now look at you. Are you shaking at all? I don't think you are, and if you are, I can't see it. It might be my ego talking, but I think that what I said to you helped you, even a little."
"I still don't know anything, Dillon. I don't know what my next plan of action is…"
"I've heard about these plans, my advice would be ignore them, don't do anything stupid…"
"What would you do?"
"What would I do if Paul Hornsby decided to come around and check up on me? Make sure that I was healthy and alive? I… I'd be happy beyond belief. Honestly. Do you know how many times I've thought about calling him up and telling him about me? And then I don't do it, because I'm afraid of what could happen. Afraid of being rejected by him. My father doesn't want to destroy my way of living, though. I know what I would do, Carly, but the only one who can tell you what to do is you…"
The older woman closed her eyes and thought about what she wanted. No matter how hard she tried to find an answer she couldn't. There was just too much going on, too many variables that she thought she wouldn't be able to handle. But, at least she had people that she could depend on.