AN - some explanation is needed. This is set in the past, I'm thinking 98-99. definitely before the Sonny/Carly hate sex, a little AU (I've cobbled together both Carly new (the incident with the 'real' Carly's dad and the old (i.e. Virginia) pasts - as best as I could remember) and it's sort of Jason/Carly - my first, last & always OTP (one true pairing), but only slightly. I need serious work regarding everyone's else reactions, but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head, so I had to type it up over the past two days & unfortunately unbetaed.

Chapter 5 - The Question of Jason Morgan

Despite every temptation Emily forced herself to calmly stroll out through the French doors, leading into the garden. Once out of sight, she retrieved the backpack she had stashed away earlier and made her way down to the gatehouse. She was running slightly later than expected and hoped that Lucky'd be waiting and not sneaking around the main house. The last thing she needed was to get busted now and knew better than to pretend that she'd be able to control her temper if confronted by anyone in the family.

"And here I was beginning to wonder if you were planning on standing me up?"

Lucky came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and Emily's fist rose automatically him in surprise nearly landing the blow, before she heard his more than welcome voice. Twisting in his arms, she hugged him, burying her head in his shoulder as if seeking comfort.

"Thank God, you're here. We've got to get out now, before anyone sees us." She squeezed him tightly, before breaking free and grabbing his hand as she began rushing across the grounds.

"Hey, what's up?" Lucky tilted his head curiously, as he gave in and followed her lead.

"Seriously Lucky, we need to be gone, like five minutes ago." Emily sounded on edge and if there was any doubt left that something more than usual was going on, the way she intently scanned the area would have been enough to tip him off.

He glanced at her, taking in her tension and general sense of urgency, in sharp contrast to her earlier mood and old habits easily fell back into place. Lucky drew her back against the wall of the gatehouse, in the shadows cast by the overhanging roof, murmuring a faint shushing noise as he pointed at a nearby guard just passing in their line of sight.

"If you want to stay out of sight, we need to wait until he passes."

In the same low tones, she asked, "Where are the other ones?"

Standing so close to him, she felt more than saw his shrug. "At a guess? I'd say they're patrolling the other side of the property. They seemed to have changed the schedule a bit, because no one should be here now, except for the guy at the gate itself. Once this guy's gone, I figure that we'll have 15 minutes to get out. But good for us, they're lazy bastards so no one's discovered our way out," he grew silent as the guard passed within 10 feet of them.

Once the rent-a-cop began moving away, Lucky kept his eye on the guy's back, as he led Emily towards a large Hydrangea bush. He held the plant, so she could make her way behind it, before following her. They each squeezed through the narrow gap in the gleaming fence. On the other side, he held her hand as they began walking away from the Q's. "So wanna tell me what's going on?" He asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

Emily sighed. "Oh, you're going to love this one."

Jason leaned up against a tree, sitting on the blanket Carly had insisted they bring along, a faint smile on his face as he watched her playing with Micheal on the slide, not sure which of them was having more fun – Carly or the baby.

His attention was distracted by the insistent vibrating of his cell phone. He ignored it for awhile and it stopped. Seconds later it began again and he caved before wishing that he hadn't bothered when he saw who was calling.

"Luke, whatever it is, this isn't a good time." Jason kept his voice low, not wanting to attract Carly's attention. He had promised her a few hours for just the three of them together.

"Yeah, I hear that, but I've just gotten some news that you can't afford to ignore." The serious tone in Luke's words hung for a moment and Jason closed his eyes.

"If this is about the business . . . " His voice drifting off, the point clearly made.

"I only wish. Whatever you said last night to your little girlfriend, sent her into a one helluva tizzy and she couldn't wait to run all over town with it. Your sister happened to overhear her spinning a nice little story to Junior, something about him being the father of Micheal, which as you can imagine didn't go overtoo well. So now to recap - I've got Emily here with Lucky refusing to ever go home again and your brother and that nest of vultures known as the rest of your family gunning for my niece and grand-nephew and I want to know what the fuck you're planning to do about all of this!"

By the time Luke reached the end of his speech, all pretense of calmness had long since been lost and he was demanding answers Jason didn't have at that moment. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Jason sighed. He opened his eyes and saw Carly catch Michael at the bottom of the slide and swinging him around in a wide circle.

"Don't fall asleep on me, Morgan, because it's like there isn't a crises going on or anything." Luke's sarcasm suddenly demanded his attention again.

"Ok, I'll be over around 9."

"9 as in . . .six hours from now? Did you not understand what I just said?" Luke exploded.

"What do you want me say? You're pissed off? Yeah, I get that . . . you think I'm not? Carly's playing with Micheal, she wants a family day. If Robin told AJ what I'm guessing she did, you think he's not going to act on it? Let Carly have a few more hours, without this hanging over her head. Tonight will be soon enough to tell her. Let Emily hang out with Lucky, but make sure she stays off the radar, until we get there, ok?"

"You're a real asshole, you know that Morgan."

"Look who's talking, Spencer."

"Don't be late." Jason pulled the phone away from his ear as it slammed down. He waited a moment, before hitting a number on speed dial. "Yeah, Alexis? Remember our conversation about Michael, I need you to be ready to move on it. I know . . . yeah, whatever you need." He abruptly hung up and called Johnny.

"Drop whatever you're doing. Tell Rick keep the Quatermaines away from Emily until further notice. Change whoever is on Robin to one of our guys. I want to know where she's been, who's she's been talking to, names, dates– everything. And when I'm not around, I want you with Carly andmove Francison Michael."

Johnny's eyebrows rose slightly. Jason's usually impassive voice was tense and as enraged as the other man had ever heard it, the calm and steady delivery made it seem that much more menacing. "Ahhh . . . ok, Jason. Might take some doing as far as Sonny is concerned . . . "

"Don't worry about Sonny," Jason cut him off ruthlessly. "Just leave him to me and take care of anyone else who gives you grief. Carly, Michael and I are going to be out for the most day, so I need you to take care of business. Robin ran to AJ and told him he's Michael's father, so contact our guy at the lab and make sure he knows what to do if it comes down a blood test. Hopefully we won't need him, but we need to be prepared. Talk to Benny, make sure he's got our priorities straight and find out who's our best bet as far as judges. Any problems or anything else comes up, you call me"

"You got it, boss." Hearing the click and then the dial tone, Johnny shrugged. Glancing at his watch, he winced realizing it wasn't even time for lunch yet. He sighed before making a series of his own calls. It was going to be a long day, but with any luck, someone would piss him off and give him a chance to work off some frustration.

At the playground, Carly narrowed her eyes, seeing Jason on the phone again. Picking up Michael, she asked him, "Wanna go see what Daddy's doing?"

A smile crossed her face, as Michael excitedly agreed. "Daddy, Daddy . . ." and little arms tightly coiled trustingly around her neck.

"Good idea, Mister Man . . . let's go and make Daddy play with us."

"Ok, Jase. What gives?" Carly gave him a quick sidelong glance.

"What gives?" He repeated with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, what gives? Don't even try to bullshit me, Jason Morgan. I can tell when something's up – extra guards on me and Michael, your mood since the park, the whole 'I'm here physically, but really I'm somewhere else' mode you've been in for hours, and now we're going to Luke's of all places? If you're trying to be discreet, than trust me when I say that you failed, miserably. You going to tell me or what?" Carly tilted her head to look him in the eye.

"Carly . . . "

"Oh, don't Carly me . . . " She walked up to him trapping him between her and the elevator wall and poked a finger in his chest. "This involves me or you wouldn't be bringing me, so spill."

Jason sighed. This wasn't how he wanted to do this, but he hadn't figured out a better way to tell her and if let Luke do, she'd definitely freak and then she'd hold that against him for at least a week. "Fine, but you're not going to like it." He warned her and shook his head when she rolled her eyes at him.

"And what else is new? Stop avoiding the subject."

"Robin went to see AJ today." His words were flat, emotionless. The only hint of how tightly leashed his temper really was could be found in the hardening of his icy blue eyes.

Carly felt her stomach literally drop. "What?" The question was more of a release of air than an actual word. She felt like she had just tumbled over a precipice and was free-falling into nothing. Despite everything Jason had said, despite everything she had wanted to believe, she always knew this day was coming . . . the day Robin wouldn't be able to resist.

This was it - the beginning of the end.

"This isn't the end. Do you understand me?"

This was when she lost everything.

"You're not going to lose a damn thing, Carly. Carly!"

She'd was somewhere deep inside where he couldn't reach, so Jason stopped trying to reason with her and grabbed her by her arms, shaking her, holding her gently enough not to leave bruises but hard enough to get her attention. Wide glassy brown eyes met determined blue. "Listen to me. Whatever Robin said to AJ, whatever he's planning doesn't the hell matter."

"You don't believe that. You don't."

"Carly, damnit you can't freak out now." His words had all the impact of a slap in the face and she flinched slightly, before he continued in a softer voice. "So Robin went to AJ. So the fuck what? We knew that was going to happen, we talked about it, remember?. I'm already working on this. I've got a guy ready to doctor the DNA test, Robin's being tailed, AJ is being watched, Alexis is already working to stop this now if she can otherwise we'll go court and win, and even if all that fails, which it won't . . . Carly, we'll leave Port Charles. You, me and Michael. We don't have to stay here, we can go anywhere you want! I promised you, it would be ok and I meant it."

Carly took a deep breath, visibly pulling herself together. "So if everything's fine, why are we going to Luke's?" There was a vaguely accusing tone in her voice and hearing it, Jason smiled slightly, his hands now rubbing her arms instead of holding them.

"Emily heard what went down at the Q's and ran off there with Lucky. We're going to find out the details and because your family wants to help."

Carly's expression twisted slightly hearing Emily's name, but her eyes darkened upon hearing the rest. "You and Michael are my family, my only family, not them!"

"Sure, Carly. And that why you're so pissed." He stared her down, one eye brow raised.

"I mean it, Jase. Don't push me on this one." She warned him, eyes narrowed.

Jason laughed softly, hands held palm up. "No pushing here. But like it or not, they consider you family and they aren't going to back off. They wanna help, so why not let them. Even you have to admit, no one knows Port Charles quite like the Spencers."

"Oh right, just because you like them, doesn't mean I have do. You don't see me saying let's visit the Quatermaines, do you?"

"The difference is that I don't want them in my life, admit it or not youdo want them in yours."

Carly rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, I'm just dying to be accepted."

"Hey, I call them as I see them. You're the one who came here and when they didn't see you, made it impossible for them to ignore you."

"That just happened, I didn't mean it!" She retorted, clearly annoyed.

"Right. Who are you talking to here, hmm? I know how your mind works Carly. You are the most stubborn person I know and you never back down when you want something. I know you're angry with them, you've more than got your reasons, but it's there is more going on here than just anger. This isthat second chance that you came here for."

"I'm not saying to forgive them, but they not exactly going away. See how it goes. You wanted their attention and now you've got it. Don't you want to see what they're going to do about it?" He shrugged. "If you decide that you really don't want this, it's your call and I'll back you either way, but I think that you should at least see what they've got to offer."

"Luke's is going to try something, Jason, you know he will. He doesn't forgive just like that." Carly snapped her fingers.

"Neither do you and neither do I, but you laid a lot on him last night and I know he and Bobbie came by today. Did he threaten you in any way? You know that you just have to say the word. . ." He drifted off, looking at her seriously.

"Well, no, but he's not going to be that obvious, Jase. At least not with Bobbie standing there, anyway. He's got it in for me, always has, always will." Her voice rose slightly.

Jason sighed. Johnny had reported back Bobbie's conversation with Luke and from his own experience with the man, Jason knew he wasn't as bad as all that, but Carly and Luke had a . . . complicated relationship. In a strange way, they were very similar, but he knew that he couldn't say that to Carly without starting world war three. Hell, Luke would pick a fight with him over it too.

At the same time, Luke was more than confident in anything he set out to do or at least he had mastered the ability to appear so, whereas Carly went through life with her heart on her sleeve. And as anxious as she was right now, he knew it was at least ten times worse in her head. Although he didn't think for one moment she really believed what she was saying completely, he also knew that a small enoughpart of her did and scared the hell out of her.

He walked up to her and pulled her into arms. "You know he isn't going to do shit. But if you go there like this, it's going to be like waxing a red flag in front of a bull, you know that. You're not going to let Luke Spenser bully you around, are you?"

"Yeah, in his fucking dreams, maybe." Her voice was muffled against his chest, but he heard enough to smirk over her head. Carly pulled away from him, composed and if not her usual self, cocky enough that he relaxed. "And don't think you're off the hook on Alexis as our lawyer either. We'll be talking about that later." The bell rang as the doors opened and she walked out, before looking back at him. "So are we going to do this or what?"

Standing in the doorway, Carly took a deep breath, her hand instinctively reaching out for his.

Jason watched her out of the corner of his eye. "Just remember if he offers you anything to eat, no matter what say no, ok?"

Carly looked back at him like he was crazy, before resolutely pushing open the door and walking inside. Next to her, Jason laughed softly.

Emily and Lucky sitting a little closely for his comfort, suddenly broke apart. Lucky just shrugged, while Emily looked a bit guilty. Jason shook his head, making a mental note to talk to both of them separately later. Nodding to Rick, his attention flickered back to Carly who visibly stiffened as Luke walked in from the back office.

"Running a little late, are we?" He asked caustically, lighting up a cigar as he moved past the bar to grab a seat. Luke smirked as he watched Carly's expression turn belligerent.

She shook off Jason's hand and stalked towards him, on the attack for all intents and purpose. "Should I expect Bobbie to pop out from a corner or something?"

Emily made a small production out of looking away, avoiding the impeding scene and Jason. Lucky rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat as if to watch the show. Jason cracked a smile, strolling behind Carly to rest a hand in the small of her back.

Neither Carly nor Luke paid any of them any attention.

"Wasn't on the schedule for tonight, darling. But if you really want her to make an appearance, I could always call her." He offered, as if thinking it over, while blowing smoke in her direction.

Carly's eyes narrowed as she smiled, baring her teeth at him. "Not like you to miss an opportunity. Old age must be catching up with you."

"Watch it little girl. Just 'cause you've got a kid of your own, doesn't make you too old to put over my knee."

Her jaw fell open for amoment and just when he thought she might launch across the table for his throat, Jason's hand rose to her shoulder, barely there, but restraining her nonetheless. Luke stared at her, resisting the impulse to smile broadly.

This was the Carly he was used to seeing, not that broken little girl from last nightthat henever wanted to see again. Even now, he could close his eyes and see the emptiness in her eyes, an emptiness born out of the kind of pain Bobbie and he had tried and failed to spare her. Just thinking about it was enough to reignite his temper that had already cost a small fortune in glassware to take the edge off. And he knew it was time to bring the sparring to an end, because as much fun as it was for both of them, they did have some serious thing to discuss. He stopped to ash his cigar, nodding to Lucky, who was quick to take the lead.

"Not to interrupt, but you both need to hear what Emily's got to say." Lucky deftly interjected into the abrupt silence.

Jason guided Carly to a seat, which she made a point of pulling away from Luke's table and moving to where she could face the younger girl and Jason also took a seat, reversing it to rest his one arm along the back, the other hung at his side, just brushing up against Carly. Looking a bit surprised and even a little put out, Emily began repeating her story.

While she talked, Luke focused his attention on Carly, analyzing her reactions. She clearly wasn't surprised at what she was hearing and he figured Jason must have given her a heads-up before they arrived.

Jason Morgan and his niece – now there was a relationship he didn't understand, or maybe more to the point, one he wished that he didn't understand. And yet another complicated issue, he and Bobbie had discussed last night.

Before, he hadn't really cared. He'd been more than pissed by her coming to town without revealing herself and then with that shit she pulled with Tony? He'd just wanted her gone, but how much of that was out of anger and how much was out of guilt? Luke didn't know anymore. So what if she moved on from Tony to a mobster-in-training? Big fucking deal, at least this time she was only hurting herself. He had done his best to cut her out of his mind, because if he ignored the situation, then he wouldn't have to deal with it. Yeah, that really worked.

And now?

He finally admitted to himself that he couldn't walk away, even if he wanted to – not for Michael or even for Barbara Jean, but because he knew that he'd fucked up.

The adoption was a mistake on everyone's part, made with the best of intentions, but he still couldn't see a way around it. He was the one who had talked Bobbie into it, he was the one who handed her off without hesitation, but he should have followed up, should have made sure she was ok. When she came to town, he had known something was up from that first minute that he saw her, even before he know who she was and when he did find out, he didn't act soon enough.

Carly had fucked up a lot on her own, but she wasn't the only one at fault, not by a fucking long shot – there was blame enough to go all the way around and most of it stopped with him. She was still just a kid and the shit she pulled, considering her past was nothing even close to the damage he had wrought before he was Lucky's age, never mind by his twenties and for far less reason. But like everyone else, he condemned her without question.

You didn't treat family like that, no matter what they did. It was something Ruby had engrained in him, something he taught his children, but when it came down to it, he'd thrown that belief out the window with Caroline. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. Once this custody thing was straightened out and over and done with . . . he had amends to make and wasn't sure where to start, which brought him back to the question of Jason Morgan and where he fit into this.

The problem was, of course, that she trusted him, more than she trusted anyone else. And as long as he was in the picture, Carly would always have the protection, which in the case of Junior was a good thing, but at the same Jason would just as easily stand between her and and the rest of the family, if she asked him to. And Luke knew she would, after all he'd do the same thing in her place.

That was what really sucked about all of this.Luke liked the kid, always had, but from years of personal experience had no illusions left about the life. Carly had been through enough grief and getting involved with a mobster was only daring fate. Bobbie had disagreed with him on that one, going off on a tear about how Morgan was good for her, stabilized her, protected her . . . blah, blah, blah. And maybe Morgan did, but in Luke's mind that was a job for family, which Carly had, even if she thought that she hated them at the moment.

After all, it wasn't like Morgan was exactly what anyone would call a paragon of virtue. Luke wasn't blind or stupid. Robin had gotten her information from someone and it sure as hell wasn't Carly. Not to mention the way he had jerked Carly around for what, two years now? Even when Luke was forcing himself to ignore her existence, he couldn't help get pissed off about it. So now he was committed? Luke cynically wondered how long that was going to last. He hadn't really interfered when the whole thing was going on with Tony, but he'd be damned before he sat idly by while it happened again.

Sitting there, Jason could feel the warmth radiating off Carly. Em's story was winding down, it was nothing less than he expected. Robin had come by, had betrayed him and in turn both Carly and Michael. Vindictiveness was never something he had associated with her before, but there was no other word to describe what she had deliberately done. Jason knew that she'd have a host of reasons to justify telling AJ, but he couldn't bring himself to care and forgiveness was out of the question.

Lashing out at Carly was cruel enough, running to Sonny predictable, but this was beyond vicious. Robin knew better than most how AJ would react, hell she was counting on it. She forget who he was, or maybe never understood in the first place, whatever her rational was at the time, it was irrelevant. In the end, this wouldn't achieve anything other than to hurt Carly. From what Emily had said, Edward and AJ had already began talking to lawyers and planning to capitalize on the information. While he already was working to limit it, chances were they'd be going to court, so retaliation was going to have to wait. Jason knew that, even as he forced himself into a state of icy calmness.

The hair on the back of his neck rose slightly and he half turned to find Luke staring at him. Shifting his weight, he moved fractionally closer to Carly and wasn't surprised to see the older man's eyes narrow. Jason stared back at him evenly, his expression betraying nothing. Great, this was all he fucking needed.

TBC

Well, I've some reviews & I love them dearly, lol. anyone else out there want to say something . . . anything . . . I'm surprised no one asked about the mysterious (or maybe not so mysterious) figure from the end of chapter 3. Poor Carly, things are going to get a lot more complicated & interesting pretty soon. I've got lots of ideas for this story so if you've gotten this far, leave me a review. It's good karma, you know :D