Downstairs, Jason heard a knock at the door. Looking back at the staircase, Carly still hadn't come down and he shook his head, before walking over and opening it.

"Jason, we need to talk," Johnny declared, walking into the penthouse.

Lifting one eyebrow, Jason stepped aside. Looking out into the hallway, he saw Francis move to take position outside of Sonny's door and gave him a knowing nod. Jason acknowledged it with a nod of his own, before letting the door fall shut.

"Do I really want to know?" He asked dryly, tilting his head towards the staircase.

Getting the message, Johnny lowered his voice. "Just to give you the heads up, Ms Scorpio," the scorn in his voice was clearly evident, "is in there with him. She showed up first thing in the morning, talking shit about you and Carly, mostly Carly, of course. And he wants to see you ASAP. Whether or not you like it, you know as well as I do that he's going to make an issue out of this."

"Yeah I know. Sonny is nothing if not predictable." Jason stared off into the distance for a moment. "Just keep working on what we talked about and leave Sonny to me for now. Hopefully this will blow over, but if not, then we'll be ready for it, ok?"

Johnny looked slightly disgruntled and sighed. "Ok, man. You're the boss."

Jason looked at him, tilting his head to the side. "What happened to your nose?"

"The fucking twit . . . Don't even ask, 'cause trust me, you just don't want to know." The other man rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Cracking a smile, Jason smirked. "Whatever, it's your face, DeMarco. You'd better switch back with Francis before anyone notices. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"You got it." The guard made his exit.

Jason started towards the stairs when he saw Carly coming down.

"You know that I know you're late, right?"

"Yeah, so what?" She shrugged. "You were busy talking with Johnny and you both looked a little intent on whatever you were talking about so I left you two alone," she offered in her defense, grabbing a bowl and some cereal.

"Right . . . nice try, Carly." He smirked at her, before pulling up a chair next to her.

"You know, you could pretend to believe me once in awhile, just to change up the pace a bit," the tone in her voice told him just wasn't irritated as she would have liked him to believe and the way she moved her chair slightly father away ostensibly to reach the milk were enough to convince him that the last night was an aberration. Carly wasn't nearly as comfortable as she was trying desperately to pretend. The nightmare was the big indication, but the tenseness he was getting off of her merely confirmed it.

"Sure I could, but then again maybe you could realize that you don't have to lie to me." Jason watched her carefully and as a result saw her freeze up for the merest fraction of a second before recovering.

"Now you're just imaging things." She tried to laugh off his concern, studiously making sure to avoid looking him in the face. Why couldn't he just let this go, Carly was all but screaming in her mind? The little bit of calmness that she was clinging to felt all too brittle and if it cracked, she didn't know what would happen, but she wasn't going to go back to Fernwood. There was no way in hell that she could handle that again.

"Carly, don't do this . . . You don't even have to pretend with me. Whatever you're feeling, however you're feeling – it's fine. I won't push you or try and fix you or do anything you don't want me to do, but I'm here for you – for whatever you want or need."

"You want the truth?" She stared at him, seriously, watching as he nodded in agreement. "Fine. I need you to stop looking at me like that, like I'm going to fall apart, because I'm not. That shit happened years ago – I got over it and dealt. Yesterday wasn't fun, but it's not going to break me. I'm not a kid anymore, so stop treating me like one. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want or need your pity. It's all new for you and you've got to figure that out, I get it, but please just stop looking at me like I'm a victim."

Jason listened, but as much as he wanted to, he couldn't quite believe her. Carly might have believed what she was saying, but the look in her eyes didn't match what she said or more importantly how she said it. But at the same time, he remembered being in the hospital after the accident and the way the Quatermaines treated him. He remembered that out of control feeling, desperately saying whatever he had to get try and get away from them. He also remembered Carly's history of running when she felt trapped and could tell that she getting to that point.

"Ok, this is me backing off . . . for now." He raised his hands, palm up, in gesture of acquiescence. "But I don't think you're as over with this as you're saying. I promised you that I wouldn't push and I won't, but you have to promise me that you're not going to freak out and do something without telling me. Can you do that, Carly? Can you trust me enough?"

"When it comes to me fucking up? Yeah, I trust you. Before I fuck up . . . I don't know. That's harder, I generally do shit before thinking about it, but I can try, Jase – that's all I can promise. Can you handle that?"

"Yeah." He shrugged, reaching out to brush her hair out of her face. "Everything else, we'll figure it out. Are we cool?"

"Always." Carly smiled at him, it was weak but genuine enough that he was able to take a deep breath and return it.

While Carly went upstairs to wake up Michael, Jason got up and went across the hall to Sonny's apartment. Walking in, he saw Robin sitting on the couch, glaring at him through tears. His eyes glanced over her, scanning the apartment.

"If you're looking for Sonny, he's upstairs. He said that he'd be down in a minute or so." Robin sniffed as if trying to hold back a sob. When Jason turned to leave, she added. "He wanted you to wait here for him."

Running his hand through his hair, Jason turned back, with a blank expression that made her hands inch with the desire to strangle him.

"You can sit down you know. Even if we're not going out . . . we should still be friends. We were friends, long before she came into the picture and I can guarantee you that I'll be around long after her." She leaned a bit towards him as she spoke.

Jason stared at her for a moment, waiting for the other shoe to drop, because he knew that it was hanging somewhere over his head. There was no way, Robin would let go this easily. The silence grew between them as she fidgeted under his eyes. When it was clear that she was waiting for him to say something, he finally offered," we can try, I guess, but you're going to have to back off Carly. It wouldn't be fair to her otherwise."

"Oh god forbid, we not be fair to Carly." Robin bitterly laughed. "Well, I'll take what I can get, I suppose, but don't expect miracles." The words grated in her ears, but she forced herself to say them anyway.

As much as she hated it, Robin had to admit that Sonny was right. She was going to have to bide her time, between her and Sonny, not to mention the Quatermaines, Carly would be out of Jason's life soon enough and when that happened, she'd be right there to help put his life back together. Antagonizing him now, would achieve nothing but Jason cutting her out of his life, maybe permanently. She reminded herself that all she needed to do was to be patient.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he tilted his head. She was definitely up to something and he'd bet his motorcycle that Sonny was somehow involved. Luke might have actually been onto something when he said give someone enough rope and maybe they'd hang themselves in it. Jason was about to respond, when Sonny appeared on the staircase, so with a nod of assent to her, he walked upstairs to meet the older man.

"Hey Jason," Sonny greeted him, his voice sounding overly jovial, as he patted Jason on his back a bit heavier than necessary. "I heard that you had a rough night," Sonny commented with an obvious jerk of his head indicating Robin downstairs.

Jason gave him a noncommittal shrug, but resolved to pay careful attention - this whole scenario felt more 'off' by the second.

"Yeah, Robin's a little upset, but under the circumstances and all . . . what can you do?" Sonny felt unusually awkward under Jason's steady gaze and found himself giving more away than he ever expected to do. "I have to admit that the whole caught me by surprise too . . . I mean Carly, of all people?" He shook his head as if almost laughing at a private joke. "But it's your life, man."

"Yeah, it is." Jason's voice was level, with a slight hint of sarcasm that missed Sonny completely.

"I'm not going to tell you who to be with, but do you really think it's going to work out?" The obvious disbelief in his voice was clear.

"Who knows, but we're going to give it a try."

"Ok, if you're sure. I always thought that it'd be you and Robin given how long you've been together." Sonny watched him, interested in his response.

"Things change." Jason met his eyes, with a shrug.

"That they do . . . but just between you and me, when it falls apart –" Sonny caught the slight coil of tension radiating off the other man and quickly amended his statement, "if, I mean, of course. If it falls apart, you know Robin still cares and I think you might be able to get her back . . ." The half insult, half question hung between them for a moment.

There was a long and uncomfortable pause. Jason eyed him strangely, unsure of what sort of reaction Sonny was attempting to elicit from that remark. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind."

Sonny smiled at him as if they were in agreementseemingly unaware of the overlaying menace in Jason's response and they continued walking upstairs to discuss business without having to worry about Robin overhearing. Watching Sonny's back up the staircase, Jason's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

Carly was sprawled out on the floor, playing with Michael, when Francis knocked on the door to tell her that she had visitors. She sighed for a moment, before calling Leticia down to take Michael out to the park, the baby didn't need to be here for this discussion. Once they were ready to go out, Carly opened the door allowing Luke and Bobbie in.

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you want," she said, closing the door behind them.

"Carly," Bobbie began hesitantly, glancing awkwardly over to her brother for support, "I know how you must feel."

Carly stared at her before laughing. "Somehow I doubt that. It doesn't take long for news to get around town. Did you take an ad or something, Uncle Luke?" She asked sarcastically, sitting down on the couch.

"Now Caroline, you know I couldn't keep what you told me from your mom. Hell after the whole bit about telling her that you died, she would've killed me, but the ad idea isn't a bad one. I'll have to remember it." He threw in as if by afterthought, casually sitting down across from her.

This held the potential to turn into one helluva ugly argument, he could tell already, but it was pretty much what he expected. He warned Bobbie that she should wait a few days before approaching Carly, considering everything, but his little sister was intent on making this whole damn disaster right as soon as possible. He wanted that too, but Carly was a Spencer just as much as any of them and was spoiling for a fight. Luke knew that it was going to take time before she was going to be ready to forgive and even longer before she might trust them. Bobbie just wanted her daughter, so it fell to him to play the bad cop and try to draw some of Carly's anger. As much as it grated against his instincts, they needed to keep to the script or they would lose her.

"You would." She smirked at him, before directing her attention back to her mother, no Bobbie, she corrected herself. "So what do you want?"

Bobbie Spencer stared at her daughter for a long moment. Carly looked tired, bitterly so and she couldn't blame her. Not for the first time since she had learned that Carly was her daughter, she wondered how she could have missed it. Over the years when she imagined meeting her daughter, she had always believed that she would recognized her immediately, the fact that she hadn't had a clue for so long disturbed her more than she could express, shaking her belief in herself as mother. Her only biological child and she had failed her in so many ways.

"Carly, I know how everything went so terribly wrong between us," when Carly opened her mouth to cut her off, Bobbie held up a hand and continued. "But like it or not, I am your mother and you are my daughter. It won't be easy, but I'm willing to try again, if you are?"

"Try what . . . you hate me, remember? And to tell you the truth, I'm not too far away from hating you, either. Just because Luke here couldn't keep his big mouth shut and now you're feeling - I don't know what, seller's remorse? – you think it's all going to go away? Can you look me in the eye and tell me you're over what happened between me and Tony and that you're suddenly able to forgive and forget?" Carly demanded, rising to her feet, unable to sit there with them watching her like a bug under a microscope. She knew better, but the little girl she had buried deep inside of herself, wanted to hear Bobbie say yes, even if the older woman didn't mean it.

"Honestly, that would be asking for a lot right now," Bobbie felt herself falter, when Carly spun around, a wounded look in her eyes, before it was quickly masked by an brittle jaded expression that was all too familiar. "I could say all is forgiven and forgotten if you want, but it would be a lie and you wouldn't believe me anyway. We can't undo the past, Carly, as much as we might like to, but we can make a new future and I want you and Michael in my future."

"Michael is your grandson and you helped when I couldn't be there for him – I'm not going to cut you off from him now, but anything beyond that . . . would be asking for a lot, Bobbie."

"That's fine, but I want that chance, Carly." Bobbie walked up to Carly who had moved in an almost defensive position behind the couch and reached out to touch her daughter's arm.

Quickly pulling her arm back, Carly stepped back. "Everyone wants something . . . you've got your chance, but I'm not promising anything." When Bobbie moved forward as if to embrace her, Carly waved her back, "I think that's enough Spencer togetherness for me. I've got stuff to do today, so . . . " her voice drifted off, as she glanced at the door.

Getting the hint, Bobbie hauled Luke up to his feet, who promptly shook her off. "Little girl, you haven't seen Spencer togetherness yet, but don't worry – you'll know it when it happens." He slung an arm around his niece's shoulders,blatantly ignoringher attempt to pull away, one hand landing on her more distant shoulder, squeezing it tightly enough to make it apparent that it was deliberate.

"Yeah, well, I'll remember that, Uncle." Carly sarcastically remarked, lifting his hand high enough to squirm out from under his grip.

Glaring at him, Bobbie grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the door. "Ok, I'll be in touch, Carly."

"Me too, sweet Caroline," Luke smiled, giving her a mocking little wave, before the door slammed shut in his face.

Watching them leave, she fell into the couch, wondering idly if it was too late to go back to bed.

Outside in the hallway, Bobbie promptly smacked Luke across the stomach with the back of one hand. "What the hell was that about?" She hissed in frustration. "What happened to 'sticking to the plan'?" She demanded, keeping her voice quiet, so he wouldn't be overheard by Carly or the guards looking at them curiously.

"Well, you gotta take advantage where you can, Barbara Jean, and you have to admit, she was definitely offering one, consciously or not. Overall, that went much better than I had expected." Luke offered Bobbie an unrepentant grin.

"Yeah, with very little help from you, I might add." She hissed back, glaring at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Hey, it's your show, Bobbie. You're the one who's gotta convince her, the only one of us that she really wants to connect with. And as promised, I kept her in the room without running off and you got to be all protective momma bear against big bad Uncle Luke. What more could you have wanted?" He gave her a mock wounded look.

Turning towards him slightly, her face relaxed a bit. "True, but you really didn't have to be so obnoxious, you know."

Luke shrugged. "It's what she expects from me and you know how I hate to disappoint. Besides, if I had acted all sweetness and light, she never would have bought it and she wouldn't have been nearly as obliging."

"Obliging? Is that what we're calling distrust now?" Bobbie cracked a smile.

"Well, for a Spencer, you have to admit that she was very obliging under the circumstances,cutting us adamn sight more slack than you or I would have. You've made in an inroad, Carly'll come around to our way of thinking soon enough, once we've shown her the light."

The elevator dinged, signaling its arrival.

"I hope you're right, Luke." A somber tone entered her voice.

"Aren't I always?" He arched an eyebrow as if offended by the mere suggestion of doubt in her voice.

"You've just made it more difficult for yourself, you know." Bobbie warned, stepping inside.

"Don't even worry about it, Barbara Jean. The two of you will find your way and Carly and I will find ours. After all, what Spenser, and she is a Spencer if I ever met one, could resist me long enough? Besides if worse comes to worst, I'll just cook her up a pot of Spenser stew; no one especially not another Spenser is ever able to resist that."

Bobbie stared at him in abject horror for a moment, before laughing weakly as he stepped in next to her. "Well, let's hold off on the stew for awhile, Luke. Jason will kill you if you send her off to hospital with food poisoning."

"Food poisoning?" He questioned her, a blank and confused expression on his face. "What are you talking about, Bobbie?" The doors shut, as their voices faded off.

A few feet away, leaning against the wall outside of Sonny's door, Johnny shook his head, memories of eating at Luke's rushing back to him. Spenser stew was the stuff of nightmares and something he wouldn't even wish on the twit. He made a mental note to warn Jason to keep Carly out of the club on Claude's days off, 'cause Bobbie was right. Jason would kill someone if she ate that shit.

Sneaking back into her room successfully, Emily forced herself to go downstairs for breakfast. Meals with the Q's were never a particularly pleasant prospect, but she didn't dare miss it. She'd catch grief either way, of course, but making an appearance was infinitely better than skipping out, at least with everyone else there, there was a possibility of them finding a new target soon enough.

As usual, it was a madhouse . . . people yelling across the table, the insults flying fast and furious, she half expected them to break out into a full-blown food fight, ala a high school cafeteria. Finding her seat, Emily kept her movements to a bare minimum, eyes focused on her plate. It was stupid, she knew, but old habits died hard. She couldn't shake the idea that if she pretended not to be there, then maybe, just maybe no one would actively notice her.

It wasn't that Emily didn't love her family, because she really did, but they just made it so difficult to like them and even harder to be around them. If not for Reginald and Lila, she would've taken Lucky up on his offer to run away months ago. Caught up in her own private musings, she nearly knocked over a glass of tomato juice placed to her left. Although she was quick to recover, keeping it from spilling, her slight motion was enough to catch Monica's eagled-eyed attention. "And what about you, young lady?"

Emily turned a startled and blank expression on her face.

Monica sighed loudly. "Your plans for the day?"

"Ummm . . . " Think fast Em, she told herself. "I don't know. I figured that I'd hang around and maybe help grandmother with roses." Emily winced as she realized that what she intended as s statement came out more as a question and a weak one at that. Showing any kind of weakness in this house was tantamount to inviting attack.

Monica narrowed her eyes and gave Emily a long considering glance that had Emily all but squirming in her seat. "You were out with him again last night, weren't you?" Emily opened her mouth to protest, but never got the chance. "Don't bother lying to me and trying to deny it – you look exhausted and I know for a fact that you weren't in your bed." The older woman's voice was icy cold, her fork falling to the plate in a loud clatter.

"Who was she with?" A booming voice demanded from the far end of the table.

"Who else, Edward?" Monica rolled her eyes, before answering her own question, "Lucky Spenser, of course."

"Oh Emily, you weren't . . . " Next to her, Alan shook his head wearily. He reached into his pocket and opening a small bottle, swallowed two small pills.

Emily turned away from him in disgust just in time to catch a glare from her grandfather.

"Is this true, Emily?" He blustered, waving a knife erratically in her general direction. "Did you spend the night with young rapscallion?"

Already sick of the tirade that she knew was about to commence, stomach tied tightly in knots, Emily abruptly pushed herself from the table and stood up, heedless of the glass tipping over spilling red fluid across the pristine tablecloth. "It is too early in the morning for this shit!" She instantly clapped one hand over her mouth when she realized what she had just said and how loudly it reverberated through the room. In the immediate silence, Emily whispered, "Sorry grandmother."

"It's quite alright, my dear." Lila was quick to soothe her obviously distraught granddaughter. "You are perfectly within your rights under the circumstances and I can't fault you for saying nothing more that I've imagined upon occasion." She gently smiled at Emily, letting her know that all was forgiven.

"Lila, it is certainly not 'alright.' This is exactly the kind of behavior that I'd expect from someone who'd associate with that juvenile delinquent. Alan, Monica – if you can't keep your daughter from seeing that criminal in training, then I'll be forced to take more serious measures . . . like boarding school!" Edward stood up as well, now pointing his knife emphatically at Emily. "This is for your own good, girl."

"For my own good?" Emily repeated in disbelief. "What is wrong with you people? Even if I was with Lucky, not that I'm admitted to anything, he's not like that! He's my friend, why can't you understand that?" Emily looked at Alan, Monica and Edward in turn, but the expressions on their faces were more determined than ever. Near to tears, she turned back to Lila. "I'm sorry grandmother, but I just can't deal with them." Almost choking on her words, she turned and fled upstairs.

When it seemed like they were about to follow, Lila held up one hand, stopping them in their tracks. "All of you," she glanced at each of them. "Leave the child alone, I believe that you've upset her enough for one day." Lila's voice although soft, held a thread of steel that none of them dared to challenge and one by one, they sat back down.

Lucky eyes didn't even open as he fumbled clumsily for the phone off somewhere to his right. His hand finally discerning its shape, he snatched it up and dragged it towards his ear. "Yeah?"

"Lucky?"

Emily's distraught voice penetrated through his sleepy daze and opening his eyes, he sat up, sheets falling to the floor. Rubbing his forehead with his free hand, he glanced at the clock and realized that he had gotten less than an hour of sleep. "What's wrong, Em?"

Just the sound of his voice was enough to begin to calm her down. "I hate them so much . . . " Emily sighed loudly. "No, I don't really hate them, but I wish I could, it would make everything so much easier."

Leaning back his headboard, Lucky yawned. "Ok, let's back up a second and clue in those of us who just woke up, please. What did your family do this time?"

"Oh my god, I just woke you up? I am sooo sorry, Lucky. I can call back later."

He laughed, a low and infectious rumble over the phone, still rough with sleep. "As if I could just roll over and go back to sleep now. You know that you can and should call me whenever you want to and even if you hung up, I'd have to sneak over anyway. So since I am awake, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Just the usual bullshit, of course. I stupidly went down for breakfast because I'm a masochist and it was a free-for-all. Monica, Alan and grandfather were all over me." Emily lay on her bed, staring at her door, securely locked. She had no illusions that any one of them didn't have a key and wouldn't hesitate to use it at any time, but she hoped that Lila would keep them at bay for a little while longer.

"I'm guessing about me, right?" When Emily remained silent, he swore under his breath. Lucky cracked his neck, before he kicked his legs out. Sleep was going to be an impossibility at this point. "I'm sorry they're on your case because of me."

"Don't you dare apologize, Lucky Spenser!" Her voice came across the line fiercely defensive and although he felt a little guilty, he couldn't resist smiling when he heard it. "My family's fucked up issues are all their own. If they didn't complain have you to complain about, then you know that they'd find something else in a heartbeat. Either Jason or my clothes, the music I listen it . . . they'll always find something to criticize, something they need to control. You're the best thing in my life and the only thing keeping me sane, having to live in this damn house."

"So I take it that means that we're still on for the day?" Emily could hear the smile in his dryly teasing voice.

"You bet your sweet ass we are."

Even though he couldn't see it, Lucky knew she was blushing and he laughed again which sent shivers down her spine. "I knew you always liked me for my ass . . . " he said confidently, still laughing.

"Yeah, well, why else would I keep you around?" Emily teased him back, smiling.

"And they think that I'm the bad influence." He smirked. "So what time should I come by, beautiful?" He walked over to the window, wincing slightly at the bright sunlight that streamed through.

"Ummm," Emily glanced at her alarm clock, "give me two hours. Most everyone should be gone by then and I'll be able to sneak out without too much of a problem."

"Ok, see you in two hours then." Lucky walked back to his bed and still in his boxers, hung up the phone and crawled back into bed, he doubted that he'd get any real sleep, but any little bit would help at this point.

He'd just closed his eyes again, when he heard a knock at the door. "Get dressed, Cowboy. We've got plans to make and daylight is wasting." Lucky rolled over, shaking his head as he heard his father's voice.

Grumbling, he threw a pillow at the half-opened door, before pulling the sheets back over his head for a moment before tossing them aside. Yeah, sleep was definitely going to be an impossibility today. Between spending time with Em, whatever the fuck his father wanted and that job he was supposed to go with Jason later tonight, there just weren't enough hours in the day. Yawning, he ran a free hand through his tousled hair and wondered idly, if he could spare ten minutes to take a shower.

Yeah, fuck it. If his dad was going to wake him up at this ungodly hour, then he could afford to wait a bit.