Chapter Fifteen TRL

Jason pulled alongside the bus. "Was it a Catholic school, Milo?"

Milo was not sure if he should answer, since only moments before Jason decreed he not speak again until they hit the city limits.

Jason added, "It says Sacred Heart on the side. Carly, can you see her on there?"

"That bus is full of nuns, Jase. Just nuns. No kids."

"Damn!"

Carly called Milo's cell phone. Spinelli answered, "Hey," he laughed " is Stone Cold

like freaking or what?"

"Do you know what Jason does for a living?"

"Sure. Bang. Bang. They all fall down."

"And you still think this is funny?"

Spinelli sobered up. "Aww, Sunny D, I thought you would be on my side."

"Jason comes first for me, Baby Jack."

"I smell what you are cooking."

"Can I speak to my cousin now?"

Lulu came on the line. "Please no lectures. All I want to do is have some fun before I die. I'm sick of missing out on what I want!"

"I get that."

"You do?"

"Of course. But Jason is a little...stressed out over your stunt. Do you know where the bus is heading for in the city?"

"The Hilton on 42nd street. The band is staying there."

"I need you to meet us at the front desk. Right away. No detours, kid. Okay?"

"Just one detour," Lulu said "TRL."

Then Lulu hung up.

"Good job," Jason said. "You handled her perfectly. Now we just meet them at the hotel, gag them, handcuff them and go home."

"Jase..." Carly tried to call her back but Lulu didn't answer.

"Oh no. What?"

"We can do all that. Well minus the gagging and handcuffing part, but first we have to make one more stop."

Jason shook his head. He wouldn't ask. No, he did not even want to know.

"TRL." Carly said

Jason took the phone and called Stan, "I need some background information. Find out all you can about TRL in New York City."

"The TV show?"

Jason said "Hold on" and then spoke to Milo, "I need you to give me a precise answer. No more crazy talk. What is TRL- a person, place or thing?"

"A thing, sir."

"A tv show thing?"

"Yes, sir."

Jason said to Stan, "Yeah and I need to know where it tapes and how I can get tickets. Get back to me as soon as you can."

Jason hung up and tossed his phone in the console. "I can't believe she gave me the slip."

Carly said, "Don't worry so much. Lulu can take care of herself and she has Spinelli to help her... well, she can take care of Spinelli too if it comes to that. We could just go to the hotel and meet Lulu there later."

"How can I not worry?" Jason said as he weaved in and out of traffic, pressing the gas pedal down till they were flying at 90 miles an hour. "You watch the news! People disappear everyday never to be seen again. I should know. And she's so young..."

Carly thought of horror stories of teenage girls who vanish without a trace. "You are right about that."

"So you agree we need to go to TRL and find our girl?" Jason asked her

"Yeah, I think we better."

Milo tried not to let Jason's fear affect him but he was already doubting if he did the right thing by not stopping Lulu from getting on that bus. Still when she gave him that begging adorable little look of hers, and then touched his arm, there was no way he could deny her anything.

Stan called back and gave them the address of the building where the show took place. Unfortunately there was no way to get tickets before today's taping. They would have to search the crowd outside for Lulu.

IN TIMES SQUARE, Lulu and Spinelli bought a disposable camera, a poster board and markers. They made a sign that read

The Jackal's Bringing Sexy Back.

Lulu said, "I miss Milo already. Maybe I should call Jason and ask to talk to him."

"You call Stone Cold and he'll stick a homing bird on us."

"A homing bird? You mean a bug?"

"He'll track us down. That guy Stan is no Jackal but even he can execute a homing bird. Hell Grammy could do a homing bird."

" A real bird isn't involved in this, right?"

Spinelli looked at her like she was the odd one.

Lulu said, "So what do you want to do till the show starts?"

"Find the Naked dude!"

"Um... no. I'm not going to watch a naked anyone with you."

Spinelli started scanning the crowd. "He's always here."

Lulu looked around.

"There he is!" Spinelli called out.

She followed his gaze and lo and behold there was a naked dude. A naked cowboy playing a guitar.

Spinelli grabbed her hand and drug her toward him. "I want a picture of all of us together!"

Lulu protested but minutes later was saying "Fromage!" as French tourists snapped a photo of The Blonde One, The Jackal and The Naked Cowboy.

When she was right next to the long blond haired, boot wearing city cowboy, Lulu was relieved to discover he had underwear on.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Jason, Carly and Milo parked the car in a parking garage and headed off to search Times Square for Lulu.

But as soon as they got near the TRL studios a herd of teenage girls surrounded them, making walking impossible.

Jason said to Carly "She better be here."

He searched the crowd for her face.

He was frustrated but beneath that actually very worried about the teenage girl and her reckless ways. Carly held the title on driving him crazy but her cousin was certainly the next generation in that category. Doing insane things just for the ...fun.. in it.

None of this was fun to him.

But, he also, wouldn't have missed it for anything. Jason smiled as he remembered Carly saying "One day you might look back and think of this trip as the good old days. Our good old days."

Jason was so lost in his thoughts of how this Road Trip had changed his way of thinking, of how he would miss spending long hours with Carly just seeing her smile and joke, that when he snapped out of it, two teenage girls were standing next to him, giggling loudly and talking about some guy named "Timber Lake."

Jason had no clue who that was but they seemed to be very excited about seeing him.

Jason glanced to the other side and saw Carly but no Milo.

"Where'd he go? I swear if that boy ran off..." Jason started

"He's right over there. Getting a hot dog. I told him he could go." Carly said

"He's eating again. This whole trip all they want to do is eat and sing songs."

"It's called having fun. And when we find Lulu we need to stop for dinner too. They are growing children."

"You're overfeeding them," Jason said as he stumbled when the herd of teens started rushing forward to see who was in a limo that drove by.

They left Jason and Carly in their dust.

"You've only been feeding them twice a day," Carly countered.

"That is more than enough to keep them alive," Jason said.

Carly smiled at him. "Jase. You don't want them to keep calling you The Fun Nazi, do you?"

"I really don't care." Jason said. A moment passed, their eyes met, she moved closer to him, on instinct. " What? You don't think I'm a Fun Nazi, do you?"

"Me?" she laughed and wrapped her arms around his waist "The best times of my life were with you, Jase. I think you are a hell of a lot of fun.." her voice dropped.

Jason had the overwhelming urge to kiss her, right there on the sidewalk in New York City.

"We should look for her some more..." Jason said, not moving away. People passed by them but to both Jason and Carly they felt alone.

"You should kiss me," Carly said "And never stop."

Jason smiled.

"Oh? That didn't send you running?" Carly asked "Interesting."

"I don't know what I am doing..."

"What happens on the road trip stays on the road trip. If that is what you want." Carly waited for his answer but all before he could they heard singing.

They turned and saw a Naked Cowboy and Spinelli doing a duet.

LULU SPOTTED MILO at the hot dog stand. She ran up the street and gave him a excited hug, like she hadn't seen him in days instead of hours.

"Hey! Did you come looking for me?" she asked, happily.

"Jason insisted."

"Oh man, the warden is out to ruin TRL for me."

"He's quite worried."

"Were you?"

"I know you can handle yourself and you could always call me if you get in trouble. You know that right, Lulu?"

"I do now."

They smiled at each other.

"LESLEY LOU SPENCER!"

"The warden calls..." she said groaning "Want to make a run for it?"

"Better not."

"All right." She turned around to see Carly and The Naked Cowboy getting their picture taken by Spinelli. Jason stood next to them glaring at Lulu.

When Lulu and Milo made it back to him, the first thing Jason said was "You had Carly and I very worried."

"You sound like Monica," Lulu said

Jason's mouth dropped.

"Seriously, you have the guilt thing down perfectly. The I am so disappointed in you routine."

Jason said, "That was a low blow."

Lulu laughed.

Jason smiled. Gently he tried to broker a deal with her, " Don't run off again. Okay? Even once we are home. Next time I will listen to you and consider what you ask for. But if I say no, then Lulu, it is no. Understand?"

Lulu considered it for a moment. "Why are you being nice? Get some?"

Carly laughed. Spinelli snapped a picture of Jason's shocked face.

"Do we have a deal or not?" Jason asked

"Okay, deal." Lulu said

Milo smiled. "Now wasn't that easier than yelling at each other?"

For once Jason thought Milo was starting to make sense.

THEY ALL stood on the sidewalk in the screaming throng of teens during the whole TRL show, then all got back in the SUV and drove towards Port Charles.

Lulu fell asleep leaning on Milo's shoulder. He just watched her, falling more and more for this beautiful and sweet young woman as the minutes passed.

Spinelli listened to Milo's ipod, which kept him relatively quiet. Other than his occasional mumbling of the wrong lyrics.

Carly tried not to grow sad the closer they got to home, she did her best to believe that Jason would not go back to acting like they were simply very good friends.

Jason was stuck in his own head, driving by not really seeing the road, thinking of how to make this all right.

To give Carly what she deserved, to give them a chance to make more good old days.

IN PORT CHARLES, Jason dropped Carly off first.

She stared at him for a long moment, doing her very best to be strong and cope no matter what way the chips fell.

She turned to Spinelli and Milo and said, "Take care, guys."

"Bye, Sunny D."

"See you , ma'am."

"Ma'am?" Carly mouthed to Jason.

He said "I'll walk you to the door."

To the back seat he said, calmly, "This SUV moves and someone dies."

At her door Carly laughed, "Great. I am a ma'am."

Jason chuckled.

Carly said, "So, I'm going to change clothes and then head over to Sonny's and get the kids. You going home to Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Carly turned and started to unlock her door. Jason said softly, "Carly..."

"Hmmm?"

"That was a hell of a road trip, huh?"

She looked over her shoulder, gave him a sexy grin, and said "Hell of a road trip, Jase."

Carly was inside, with the door closed, leaning up against it, reliving the moments they were in bed together when Jason knocked. She opened the door and then his lips were on hers again. Jason hadn't been able to leave without having her in his arms another time.

She drug him inside and down onto the stairs, his familiar weight resting on her in a way that felt like heaven. Jason was kissing her neck, when she sighed, and he thought about how much he wanted to hear those sighs for all his days to come.

Which meant...he pulled away. "I have to go."

"For how long this time?" she asked softly as they stood back up.

"Get the kids and I'll be back by the time they go to sleep. We can... talk.. about all this." His eyes were on her lips. He forced them back to her eyes, which were dark with desire. Jason had to use all his will to turn toward the door.

"Jase? Do me one favor okay?"

He turned back around. She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, and pulled him into a kiss that scorched her love for him onto his lips.

When she leaned back she said, "Don't forget who we are when you leave here."

NOTE- Three chapters left. Not many laughs but lots of romance for at least one of these couples.

I will be updating often. The rest of the chapters should be posted sometime within the next week.

Happy reading,

Sara