Part II

Carly lightly ran her finger along Michael's face, "I love you," Carly whispered. She leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead, then carefully lifted Morgan out of Michael's bed. "Go back to sleep." Carly carried Morgan to his room and tucked him in bed. "Sweet dreams." Carly went downstairs and sat down on the couch.

"So how long are we stuck here?" Carly asked. She walked over to the window and watched the rain pour down.

Jason walked up to the window, "Until the storm passes," Jason said. It hadn't stopped raining since they'd left the courthouse earlier that day. The only problem with that was, the rainstorm turned into an electrical storm and it wasn't safe to fly. "The pilot said he'd call if it clears in the next few hours otherwise we can't leave until the morning."

Carly frowned, "I wanted to see the boys tonight," Carly said. She needed to reassure them, especially Michael, that just because things were changing with her and Sonny, again, it wasn't going to change things for them. Her latest marriage to Sonny had been for all the right reasons, to keep him out of jail, but just because Sonny wanted to make things work didn't mean she wanted the same thing. Jason had promised her the moment she could get a divorce, he'd personally take her to the Dominican Republic to get one. True to his word, he did.

Jason rested his hand on her shoulder, "You'll be home tomorrow," Jason said.

Carly turned around and smiled, "I know, I just – "

"Miss them?" Jason asked.

Carly nodded, "Yeah," Carly said and shook her head. "Okay, enough of that. We're celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" Jason asked. He knew it should amaze him how Carly could jump from one emotion to the next, but it didn't, not anymore.

"The end of marriage number - " Carly paused and quickly counted. "Six. The end of marriage number six. You know, it doesn't seem right that I was married six times and you were married twice. Well, technically you were only married once, but we never got married."

"Carly - "

"Okay, okay - I'm not going to mention it again," Carly said. She knew that her what-ifs made Jason uncomfortable, he didn't like rehashing the past. "But just so you know, I'd marry you to keep you out of jail, you know that right?" She'd do anything for Jason. She'd walk through fire to save him.

"I know," Jason said. If there was one thing that was a constant in his life, it was that Carly was by his side - always. No matter how tough things got, she was always there for him, fighting for him. "Hopefully, it won't come to that. But if it does, I'll call you, okay?"

Carly smiled, "Good." So maybe she and Jason never got the fairytale and she never got the roses, but they had each other. When things were bad, they could always count on each other. "Okay, back to our celebration." Carly walked over to the liquor cabinet in the room and pulled out a bottle of rum and a bottle of wine. "Think this is any good?" Carly asked as she held up the wine.

"It's wine," Jason said.

"Right," Carly said and handed to the bottle to Jason so he could open it and took out two glasses.

Jason poured each of them a glass, "So what are we drinking to?" Jason asked.

"My freedom," Carly said and raised her glass to meet Jason's. She took a sip of her wine and once she decided it was drinkable she took another drink.

Jason took a few sips and set his glass on the table. He then reached forward to brush a lock of hair off Carly's face and she closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened her eyes, Jason was intently staring into her eyes and gently running his thumb along her jaw. "Jase – "

"Shh," Jason whispered. He'd wanted to kiss her for so long, but he hadn't. And right now, he couldn't remember why he shouldn't. All the reasons standing in his way before weren't there. Even though Carly's divorce wouldn't be finalized for six months, technically both of them were single. He reached for Carly's wineglass and set it next to his.

Carly licked her lips in anticipation, "What is this?" Carly asked. She wanted to kiss him, she'd never stopped wanting to kiss him. But she wasn't going to kiss him if that's all it was going to be.

"This – this is tonight," Jason said, reaching for Carly and pulling her against him. Carly had once told him that he needed to live in the moment, that he needed to stop over thinking things and just do what he wanted. That he didn't need to think about consequences or the fallout, that the world wouldn't come to an end if he gave into her. Carly wasn't a temptation, because he had always wanted her as much as she wanted him. But as much as he was giving into her, he wasn't - he was giving into himself.

"And tomorrow?" Carly asked.

"Tomorrow doesn't matter, tonight does," Jason said. "Tomorrow reality hits." Jason lowered his mouth to Carly's, but waited for her to kiss him. This was her choice, just as much as it was his.

"Works for me," Carly whispered and kissed Jason.

She tasted sweet. Sweet like the wine. He could kiss her forever and tonight he would. He was going to do all the things that he'd been waiting years to do. "Good," Jason said . He wanted to feel her lips on his skin, her hair tickling his chest, her nails on his back and her body next to his.

"Call the pilot," Carly breathlessly said. If they were only going to have one night together, she didn't want it interrupted by the pilot letting them know it was safe to fly. She wanted to spend every second of it in Jason's arms.

"Later," Jason whispered as he backed Carly up to the bedroom, never breaking their kiss.

"It wasn't supposed to turn out like this," Carly whispered. She hated that Jason was in jail and that she couldn't get him out, because he was protecting her. He was trying to shield her from the inevitable fallout that would take place once Sonny found out they were sleeping together again. She wasn't sure if it would happen again, but it had happened twice. Once, when they were stranded in the Dominican Republic and again the night Lorenzo was killed. "Leticia?"

Leticia walked out of the kitchen, "Do you need something?" Leticia asked.

"I'm going to head out, I have something to take care of," Carly said. Jason told her not to tell anyone about what happened between the two of them, but he hadn't made her promise not to help. Maybe she couldn't help him, but she knew someone that could. "I'll be back in an hour."


Carly pounded on Johnny's door, "I know you're in there," Carly shouted. "Open this door. Don't you dare try to pretend you're asleep or not home!" She didn't care who Johnny was with or what he was doing, he had 10 seconds to open this door or she would grab Milo's gun and shoot it open. "Ten seconds Marciano or I'm going to shoot it open!"

Johnny pulled open the door, tightening the towel around his waist. "Did something happen?" Johnny asked.

Carly pushed past Johnny, taking a quick glance at the beads of water clinging to his abs. "Focus, focus," Carly muttered. "Yes, something happened. Jason's been in jail for three days!" The PCPD had never been able to keep Jason in jail longer than one day, two at the most.

Johnny sighed, "Carly, I'm working on it," Johnny said. "Did you see him today?" Carly glared at Johnny. "Of course you did. I have people working on it around the clock. Stan's looking Alcazar's financial records and Spinelli is digging in his background. Something is going to turn up. I'm not going to let Jason to go jail for this."

Carly sat down and picked up one of the wine glasses on the table, she tapped the lipstick stain on the glass, "What's her name?" Carly asked.

"Carly - " Johnny said. "Not now."

"Come on, Johnny - what's her name?" Carly asked. "She's here right now, isn't she?"

"Carly, I just got out of the shower - "

"I've seen your shower, it's big enough for two or even three people," Carly said. "But I only see two glasses, so what's her name? I want to meet her."

"Didn't you come over here to harass me, not my girlfriend?" Johnny asked. Carly was worse than his older sisters when it came to meeting his girlfriends. As far as she was concerned no woman was good enough for him, except for her - but being more than friends wasn't something either of them wanted.

"So, she's your girlfriend?" Carly asked. Johnny groaned and walked into the bedroom to get dressed. "I'm not leaving until I meet her!" She walked over to Johnny's desk and picked up a stack of surveillance photos. Some of them were from Alcazar's house and the rest were from the nearest intersection.

"Should you be going through those?" Leyla asked as she walked out of the bedroom, followed by Johnny.

Johnny groaned, it was never a good idea for anyone to question Carly right off the bat. "Honey, I'd like to introduce you to Carly," Johnny said, mouthing be nice to Carly. "Carly, this is Leyla."

"Hi," Carly said. She handed the photos to Johnny and glared at him before smiling at Leyla. "If Johnny didn't want me going through them, they wouldn't be out. Anything useful?"

"No," Johnny said.

Carly slowly nodded, blinking back tears. If Johnny couldn't find something, there wasn't something to be found. She walked over to the mantle and picked up a picture of Johnny's godson.

Johnny turned to Leyla, "Can you give us a minute?" he asked. Leyla's eyes quickly darted to Carly and started to say something but changed her mind, and went back into the bedroom. Johnny walked over to Carly, "I'm going to get him out."

"What if you can't?" Carly asked. Her head was telling her that Jason would get out. If Johnny couldn't find the information he was looking for, then she would just have to come forward as Jason's alibi. She knew it would put the boys through another custody trial and that this could irrevocably sever Sonny and Jason's relationship, but if the payoff was Jason's freedom - she'd do it in a heartbeat.

"I will," Johnny promised. "Everyone is working on this. As soon as I find anything out, I'll call you."

"What do you think about Diane?" Carly asked. "Do you think she's good enough?"

"Jason thinks so," Johnny said. "I do too."

"Justus never would've let Jason sit in jail for three days," Carly said.

"Justus isn't here," Johnny said. Saying he and Jason parted on the best of terms was an understatement. Jason held Justus partially responsible for helping out Faith prior to Michael's kid napping. The only reason Jason hadn't killed Faith was because Justus asked him not to.

Carly frowned, "You're right, he's not," Carly said. She gestured towards the bedroom, "So what's her story? Does she ease your worried mind?"

"It's with an e, not an a," Johnny clarified. "She's one of the new nurses."

"How old is she?" Carly asked. "She barely looks legal."

"She's 27," Johnny said. "After Jason's out, you can give her the third degree." Johnny pulled Carly into a hug. "Just - stay positive, focus on your boys."

"She's pretty," Carly said. "I'll give you that."

Johnny laughed and kissed Carly's forehead, "Call me if you need anything, okay?" Johnny asked.

"I did call," Carly pointed out. She pulled back from Johnny and poked his chest accusingly, "You didn't answer the phone."

"I was in the shower," Johnny said. "What you want me to answer the phone while I'm in the shower?"

"Yes," Carly said. "Call me if you find something out, okay?"

Johnny nodded as he showed Carly out, "I will," Johnny said. "Bye." Carly waved as he shut the door. "Leyla?"

Leyla into the living room and picked up her purse, "I should probably get going," Leyla said.

"You don't have to leave," Johnny said and walked over to her. "You don't work tomorrow."

"So, what's the deal with you and Carly?" Leyla asked. She'd just met Johnny a few weeks ago and things were going great between the two of them. She just wanted to know how often his ex was going to be stopping by or if she should just cut her losses now.

"She's a friend, a good friend," Johnny said. "Her - " Johnny paused for a second, not sure he could explain everything Jason was to Carly in one word. "Her best friend is in jail for something he didn't do and she' a little on edge."

"Oh," Leyla said. "So you and she never - "

"No," Johnny said. "Come here." He reached for Leyla and kissed her. "You're cute when you're jealous." He reached up and took the clip out of Leyla's hair. "Really cute."