If Only...

Chapter 4

The sunlight filtering through the windows reached the bed. Carly opened her eyes slowly not used to the light. She knew she wasn't at the Q mansion because her bed faced away from the French doors. She stared at the room around her, having a hard time remembering where she was. Sitting up, she winced as a sharp pain went through her ribs. It came back to her. Sonny.

She turned to look at the pillow next to hers. The indentation of his head was still there. She reached over, smoothing the pillow away. He'd stayed the night it had seemed. She smiled, the effort hurting her face. Looking at the mirror with trepidation, she sighed deeply, and finding strength climbed out of the bed to face her reflection. Moving slowly, she kept her gaze to the floor until she was standing directly in front of the mirror. Come on, Carly. She shook her head at herself and forced her eyes to move up. She froze wishing she hadn't.

Both of her eyes were blue, her right one almost swollen shut. Her cheeks were puffed out and she had a cut above her lips, which were also swollen. Scratches and bruises covered her face and neck. She was red where she wasn't black and blue and vice versa. She heard the door to her room open and turned, bringing tear-filled eyes up to meet Sonny's.

Sonny stood rigid, seeing her face for the first time since the previous night. He'd gotten out of bed early before dawn to make arrangements for her to see a physician and to make sure his orders to find the man that did this to her was found. It had been dark and he hadn't been able to make out her face then. He could make it out just fine now.

They stood staring at each other from across the room. Carly looked away from him, fiddling with the shirt he's lent her to sleep in. "I'm sorry, Sonny."

"For what?" Sonny watched her, confused.

"That you have to see me like this."

Sonny's face softened and he moved closer, reaching her side but not touching. "Carly, look at me." She shook her head and he reached out, taking her chin and raising it to meet his eyes. "You have nothing…no, listen." He demanded when she began to protest. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You have nothing to be ashamed of. " He moved his hands to her shoulders. "This isn't your fault."

Carly fought the urge to lean her head in, to take the comfort he was offering. Instead she pulled her self up, looking him directly in his eyes. "Thank you." Sonny smiled proudly at her. Carly caught the look and tilted her head up. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Nothing. I always knew you were tough, is all." Sonny played with a strand of her hair. "And brave. And beautiful."

Carly snorted, waving absently to the mirror, "Oh yea. I'm a regular Cindy Crawford." She moved away from Sonny, heading for the door, needing space from those brown eyes.

"Nah. She's got nothin on you, baby." Sonny joked, trying his hardest to ignore the desire running through his body, following her out the door and down the stairs.

Carly laughed for the first time in a long time. "Says you."

"Exactly. I should know."

"Cute, Corinthos." Carly walked over the dining room table, shocked at the spread in front of her. "Jesus, Sonny. Are we feeding an army or something?"

"Feeding you aren't we? Same thing." He laughed when Carly flipped him the finger. "I figured you were hungry." He glanced at her bruised lips. "Can you eat?"

"We'll have to see." She reached out and piled some food on her plate. Sonny was watching her from the sofa. "You going to stare at me or are you going to join in?" Carly said, not looking up from her plate.

Sonny joined her at the table, taking the seat to her right. He poured a cup of coffee and sat back to watch her. He needed to ask her a few questions about her attack.

"Go ahead. Shoot."

"What?"

Carly glanced at Sonny, before turning back to her plate. "You're dying to ask me some questions, so go ahead." She wiped her mouth on her napkin, dropping it on the plate. She shifted slightly, so that she faced him and nodded.

Sonny stared at her for a moment. "You reading my mind now?" Carly simply shrugged and waited for him to start. "Alright. Do you remember what he looked like?"

"They."

"They?"

Carly placed her hands on the table, not looking at him directly. "There were two of them. One, I couldn't see very well. I think he was medium built, light hair. He had a tattoo on his shoulder though. It was a heart with a knife through it. "

"Are you sure?"

"Got a pretty clear view when he was holding me down… yeah, Son, I'm sure." Carly picked up her coffee, taking a long sip to clear her throat. She caught Sonny staring at her funny. "What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head as he stood up to change seats. She's called him 'Son' like it was the most natural thing in the world. She hadn't even noticed. It was the most trivial thing she'd said but it was the one that made him realize she trusted him. He stored away the feelings that thought gave him for later when he could look at them a little more clearly. "Okay. How about the other guy?" Carly shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "What?" Sonny noticed that she was avoiding eye contact with him. "What, Carly?"

"You're going to be mad."

Sonny closed his eyes briefly. "Why?"

Carly pulled her feet up under her, wincing slightly at the pain. She placed her head on her knees. "Well, you still haven't asked me what I was doing in that alley?"

"What were you doing?"

"Following someone."

Sonny's gut knotted at her small voiced admission. There was only one person she had a habit of following. "You were following Hannah."

"Actually, not exactly."

Sonny turned surprised eyes to her, his eyebrow raised in question.

"I was following her ex."

Sonny rubbed his face roughly, tamping down the urge to strangle her. "Carly…"

"Listen to me, Sonny, okay. Just listen." Carly pleaded, coming to stand in front of him. "I know Hannah's your lady." Sonny would have laughed at the way she choked 'lady' if he hadn't been so damn angry. "I know that but I've got this gut feeling, man. Something just doesn't jive with her."

Sonny moved away from her, needing some room to breath and think. If he were honest, he'd admit she was right. Something was off about Hannah. He walked over to the French doors, staring out of them intently. "I know you hate Hannah but this… this thing you've got against her has to stop Carly. It almost got you killed last night." He made a mental note to find the dear professor and teach him a lesson about hurting women. Especially woman he cared about. The thought jarred him to his core. When the hell did he start caring about Carly?

"I know that and trust me I'm not doing something like that without back-up…"

Sonny whirled around, taking a step towards her. "Excuse me? You're not doing something like that ever again. Period." He rushed past her to his desk, picking up his paperwork.

Carly bit her lip as her mid whirled with another way to approach this. "Sonny." She came to stand directly behind him. She brought her hand up to his shoulder and felt him tense. "I'm fine. Really. A little shook up and a whole lot more cautious but fine." He relaxed a little as she rubbed his back comfortingly. He doubted she even noticed. "The thing with Hannah is… it's complicated. It started cause I was jealous." Carly leaned her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him. "She walked into your life and you trusted her like that." She snapped her fingers for emphasis. "And here you hated me and trusted me as far as you could throw me. Not that I gave you a lot of choice. Not to mention the fact that she was running after Jason first. That definitely didn't endear her to me. Then, she jumped on you like rice on white. But the main reason was this gut feeling, Sonny. A feeling that told me to keep my guard up, you know?"

Sonny had listened quietly, trying to forget her face was so close to his. They'd never allowed themselves to be this close. Except for that night… Sonny sighed, running his hands through his hair as he turned around. "You got a name for this feeling, Carly?"

"Uh-huh. You know what TGIC is?"

Sonny looked pensive for a second. "Ahhh… thank God it's Carly?" He smiled slightly as she laughed at him, pointing her finger at him.

"That… that, too. No, it means trust gut instinct and confidence. This isn't about hurting you or hurting her for that matter." Sonny sent her an incredulous look. "Okay, maybe hurt her a little, but when it comes down to it Sonny, I consider you one of the five people I give a damn about, I consider you my friend even if you don't feel the same and I'll be damned if you get hurt again. Not when I'm around."

Carly realized she revealed a little too much and felt her face start to get warm. Sonny was watching her with that look again. "What?"

He shook his head at her, placed his papers on the desk and walked to her. Reaching out his hand, he took hers in his and brought it up for a small kiss. "Thank you." Carly could only nod, the lump that had formed in her throat preventing her from saying anything at all. He let go of her hand and smirked down at her, "TGIC, huh?"

"You got it."

"Okay. I'll listen. Start from the beginning and don't leave anything out. "

Carly face beamed at him and he saw her beauty shine through. "No yelling? No name calling? You believe that I'm right."

Sonny smiled back at her. "I believe that you trust your instincts. The rest you'll have to convince me…" He was caught off guard when she ran to him and threw her arms around him. "Thanks, Sonny."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Sonny heard the front door slam shut and turned to see a furious Jason standing behind him. He looked down at Carly who stared back at him. They both realized she was still wearing Sonny's shirt and that Sonny's hands were still around her waist.

"Which one of you wants to explain what the hell is going on?"