Part VI
"So now what?" Carly asked as she led Jason into her house.
Jason shut the door and pushed Carly against the wall and kissed her. Carly's arms automatically wrapped around Jason's neck and she pulled him closer to her. Jason groaned and trailed kisses along Carly's throat until landing on her mouth again. "God, I've missed you. I've been waiting all week to do that," Jason said and stepped back. He knew that he and Carly hadn't made any decisions about their future the last time they slept together, but not being together was not an option.
Carly playfully slapped Jason's arm, "All week? I've been waiting 11 years," Carly said.
Jason quickly kissed Carly, "Forgive me?" Jason asked, leading Carly to the sofa.
"Jase, we've both made mistakes - especially me - "
"Not especially you, both of us - we both messed things up, if I had been honest with you - " Jason paused and shook his head. All those years ago, if he'd only told her how he'd felt they wouldn't be in this situation now.
Carly shook her head, "I don't want to get caught up in the past," Carly said. It killed her to think how much time they wasted and how screwed up their lives got and how it could all be traced back to one night. "We're here - together, that's all that matters, right?"
Jason smiled and tucked a lock of her hair behind Carly's ear, "Yeah," Jason said. In the grand scheme of things, that was all that mattered. He was cleared of Alcazar's murder and he was here with Carly. "As for everything else - "
"At least he knows," Carly said. She hadn't set out to hurt Sonny, neither of them had. But intent didn't matter, not only was he hurt - he was embarrassed and in his mind, betrayed. Coupled with jealousy, that was a lethal combination and the last thing she wanted was for her boys to be caught in another custody battle.
"He's not taking your boys," Jason promised. "I'm not going to let him." In spite of all his faults, Sonny was a good father. There was no reason for the boys not to have both of their parents in their lives. But if Sonny tried to take the kids from Carly, he'd make sure Sonny was never left with them unsupervised.
"I trust you," Carly said. She trusted Jason more than she trusted herself and if he said she wasn't losing her boys, she wouldn't. "So - about us - "
"What about us?" Jason asked.
"You know that talk you've avoided for the past eight years?" Carly asked. "If we're gonna work, we need to have it." She was almost positive that they were on the same page about things, but she'd made assumptions before and she wasn't about to make them again.
Jason smiled, he knew what Carly wanted to hear - what she needed to hear. He could finally admit it with no reservations or qualifiers. Jason cupped Carly's face in his hand and looked into her eyes, "I love you," Jason said, brushing his thumb along her jaw. "I'm in love with you." Jason brushed his lips over Carly's, "I want to be with you." Jason gently wiped the tears from Carly's face and lowered his voice, smiling slightly, "I want to be the main dish."
Carly laughed, "Are you ever going to let me forget that?" Carly asked. She wondered how different their lives would be if she hadn't insisted on no-names from the get-go. Would they have wasted all this time or would they be somewhere different? Carly shook her head, it didn't matter - they were here now, that's all that mattered. "I want that - I want all of that. I love you so much." Carly smiled and softly kissed Jason, "But how do we do that?" She and Jason had been through hell and back, he was the one constant in her life all these years. They'd been everything to each other, but they'd never dated.
"We just do," Jason said. "Don't make this more difficult - "
"We've never even been on a date," Carly said. Sure, they'd gone places together - restaurants, events, trips - but never with the intention of it being a date.
"I thought dating was to get to know a person," Jason said. "I know you - you know me."
"True, but it's a transition," Carly said. "An important one. Jase, I don't want to mess this up."
"We're not going to mess it up," Jason said. "I'm going to get Sonny to sign the divorce papers and convince him to keep the custody agreement how it is now."
"And - "
Jason smiled, "And, there's this amazing woman that I'm going to take on a date," Jason said. "She's this really hot divorcee and I'm hoping I can make my move before she gets married again. She's been married six times."
"Maybe you'll just have to marry her," Carly teased.
"Maybe I will," Jason whispered, closing the distance between them and capturing her mouth in a kiss.
"Where do you want to go to dinner?" Johnny asked. "We are going to celebrate - Jason's freedom and your brilliance."
Her brilliance, all she'd done was be in the right place at the right time. She'd overheard DA Lansing on the phone with the coroner, and he'd paid the coroner to falsify Lorenzo Alcazar's autopsy report. Lelya turned to look at Johnny, "Don't you want to go celebrate with Jason?" Leyla asked. "I'm sure he's glad to be out of jail, maybe the two of you should go out."
Johnny laughed softly, "Carly's with Jason," Johnny said. Carly filled him in on what happened at the police station and the night Alcazar was killed. He wasn't sure if Alcazar was really dead or not, so he had someone looking into it. "They have a few things to sort out, and I'm sure they're going to celebrate on their own." He knew the last thing either of them wanted was company.
"Oh - okay," Leyla said. She'd been working the night Lorenzo Alcazar supposedly died. It had been a quiet night in the ER, so Epiphany sent the student nurses home. She'd volunteered to stay because she wanted to make sure she stayed on Epiphany's good side. Aside from Epiphany, there were three other nurses on duty.
"Last night I told you that Jason is Carly's best friend, and he is. But they're more than friends, and now the only thing standing in their way is a paper marriage," Johnny explained.
"So now I get your undivided attention?" Leyla asked. There was hardly any activity that night. There was a minor car accident, a birth and an emergency appendectomy. She spent most of her time doing charts at the nurses' station.
"Something like that," Johnny said, sitting down and motioning Leyla over to him. He pulled her onto his lap and she turned so she was facing him. "So we can go out." Johnny pulled Leyla closer for a kiss. "Or we can stay in." He groaned when Leyla pulled back. "Or not."
"Whatever is fine," Leyla said. Epiphany had patched up the woman who'd gotten into a car accident, she had a few cuts and bruises - nothing major. The woman in labor hadn't had her baby by the time she finished her shift, and Bobbie had been the one who checked on her throughout the night. Nadine scrubbed in for the emergency appendectomy.
Johnny brushed his hand over Leyla's face and softly kissed her, "Let's stay in," Johnny suggested and kissed Leyla again. His hand slid down her back and he pulled her closer.
Leyla broke off their kiss, "Something's off," Leyla said.
"Obviously," Johnny said, leaning back. "Your mind is somewhere else."
Leyla leaned forward and kissed Johnny, "Sorry," Leyla apologized. "It's hard to think when you kiss me - "
"Baby, you don't need to think right now," Johnny insisted, framing Leyla's face with his hands. He slid one hand behind her neck and kissed her, "Just focus on us, no more thinking." He teased her with short kisses and started unbuttoning her shirt, groaning when she pulled away.
Leyla reluctantly pulled away and stood up, "Actually, I do," Leyla said, buttoning her shirt. "I was working the night Lorenzo Alcazar was killed or wasn't killed or whatever. It wasn't busy in the ER and I was the only student nurse on duty."
"Okay," Johnny said.
"Everyone was at the nurses' station for most of the night, except Nadine - she was in surgery," Leyla said. "And - " Leyla paused. "Epiphany went on break and DA Lansing showed up and he left about five minutes later. Then Elizabeth took another break - " Leyla's eyes grew wide, "Johnny, what do you know about Elizabeth?"
Johnny shrugged, "Not much, she used to date Lucky Spencer - she's been hung up on Jason for years, but he's not interested," Johnny said.
"Remember how I told you that you can't delete a duplicate record?" Leyla asked. Johnny nodded and she continued, "Well, unless someone is currently a patient the autopsy report has to go into a new record. Only nurses can create new record, the coroner can't do it."
"You're sure about this?" Johnny asked. It didn't surprise him at all that Ric tried to frame Jason. As for the coroner - he obviously had a price and Ric named it. As for the nurse that helped Ric - he wondered what her price was.
"Positive," Leyla said. "Elizabeth took a dinner break around midnight, when she came back she was upset about something but she wouldn't say what. DA Lansing showed up a few hours later and she went on break again, and she was gone for a while. Johnny, the ER wasn't busy - I can tell you where everyone was the whole night except her."
Johnny grabbed his phone and dialed, "Max - hey, I want someone following Elizabeth Webber. Make sure it's someone she won't recognize and have them call me the moment she makes contact with Ric. Get me her phone records and bank statements and see if Spinelli can hack into the surveillance of the gas station across the street from Jake's. I want to know if she was there the night Alcazar was killed - sometime around midnight." He wasn't sure if money was her price, but revenge might be her price. If Elizabeth saw Jason with Carly that night, jealousy might have pushed her over the edge and left her in a vulnerable place when Ric showed up at the hospital that night looking to frame Jason.
"They both asleep?" Jason asked and shut off the TV.
Carly gently ran her hand over Morgan's back, then looked at her oldest son, "Michael," Carly softly said. He stirred, but didn't awaken. Carly lifted her head from Jason's shoulder, being careful not to disturb the boys. "You know - when I pictured this night, I have to admit I didn't picture this."
Jason laughed softly, "Me either," Jason said, wrapping his arm around Carly. "But it's perfect." It felt right to be here with Carly and her boys. For the first time in a long time he was content, and it was because of Carly.
"It is, isn't it?" Carly asked, resting her head on Jason's shoulder. "You - you know what would make it even more perfect?"
"You always want more, don't you?" Jason said.
"Yeah, but this is something I've wanted for a while," Carly said. She'd wanted this for as long as she could remember and maybe soon it could be a reality.
"What?" Jason asked, touching Carly's chin so she was looking up at him.
"A little girl sleeping upstairs," Carly said, her voice as soft as a whisper. "Our little girl." She loved her boys, he did too. Having Jason's baby wasn't going to change the way any of them felt about the boys, they wouldn't love her more because she was Jason's biologically. It wasn't about biology, it was about creating a life together, not just a life, but their life.
Jason kissed Carly's forehead, "We'll have her," Jason promised, brushing the tears from Carly's face. "We're going to have our little girl."
Leyla kissed Johnny one last time and grabbed his shirt, slipping it on. "You never told me who that woman was at the police station," Leyla said. Johnny pulled at the buttons and she playfully slapped his hand away and kissed him again. She got up and walked into the kitchen and grabbed a few bottles of water. She sat down on the edge of the couch and offered Johnny a bottle.
"Brenda is Jason's ex-wife," Johnny said, sitting up. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't exactly telling the truth either. He was hoping that Leyla would've forgotten about Brenda by now. But who was he kidding? Leyla had a photographic memory, she remembered every detail. Lucky for him, it included remembering everything that happened the night Alcazar supposedly died. "She's never gotten along with Carly." Hoping to distract her, he brushed his hand over her bare leg.
Leyla smirked at Johnny, reached down and tossed him his boxers. "What were you doing with her?" Leyla asked.
"I ran into her at the police station," Johnny said and started to get dressed. "She was there to see Jason, visiting hours hadn't started yet so I took her to lunch."
"Carly mentioned something about her staying away from you," Leyla said.
"She did," Johnny said. "A few years back - Brenda and I, we had a thing. It didn't work out. It ended badly, but it's over. Honestly, I haven't thought about her in a while." He hadn't thought about Brenda in months. What they had, while it wasn't what he thought it was, it was good. But, he couldn't be with someone he couldn't trust - and that list included Brenda. Johnny walked over to Leyla, "Now you, I can't get you out of mind." Johnny lowered his mouth to hers and pulled his shirt over her head, "Never should've gotten dressed."
"What are you doing here?" Sonny demanded as Jason walked into his office.
"She doesn't love you," Jason said. He knew that Sonny had been holding out on the divorce because he wanted Carly to fall in love with him again, but that wasn't going to happen. Not now - not ever, and the sooner Sonny accepted it the sooner all of them could move on with their lives. "I'm sorry you had to find out that way." He wouldn't apologize to Sonny for sleeping with Carly, not when she was his wife in name only. Sonny slept with Carly, knowing exactly what she meant to him but he didn't care. But he also knew more than he wanted to know about finding out the woman you loved was with someone else by walking in on the wrong moment. That was the only thing Sonny was going to get an apology for.
Sonny glared at Jason, "How long?" Sonny asked. "Before we got married or after? How long has my wife been unfaithful to me?"
"It doesn't matter," Jason said. "Carly married you to keep you out of jail, that's what she did - that's all she owed you." Jason tossed a set of divorce papers on Sonny's desk, "Don't drag this out longer than necessary. Don't even think about trying to take the boys from her, or you'll regret it."
"You're threatening me?" Sonny asked. For years, the three of them operated on a delicate balance. For the most part, Jason stayed out of his relationship with Carly unless one of them asked him to intervene. Sonny learned early on to stay out of Carly's relationship with Jason. Carly had no reason to intervene with his relationship with Jason, since it was based on business. But there were two unspoken rules that were now coming into fruition. If he and Carly were at odds, Jason was going to take her side. If Jason ever got back together with Carly, he was going to be the odd man out.
"No," Jason said. "I'm reminding you that you don't own Carly. She's the mother of your children and that's all she is to you. She doesn't love you, she's not in love with you and you're not going to use me as an excuse to hurt her because you feel betrayed."
"I don't own her, but you speak for her?" Sonny asked.
Jason laughed softly, wondering if Sonny ever thought before speaking. Carly had never had a problem with him speaking for her. Jason decided not to bait Sonny, "She doesn't want to fight with you," Jason said. "She knows you're the boys' father, she doesn't want you to take them away from her anymore than you want her to take them away from you. There's no reason for the custody agreement to change." They shared joint custody, but the boys mainly stayed with Carly, while Sonny had liberal visitation.
"I'll think about it," Sonny said. He'd sign the papers, he'd have to play by Carly's rules if he wanted to keep the boys in his life. Because if there was one person that could make his life hell, it was Jason. He didn't doubt that Jason would do it, if he turned on Carly.
"Think quickly," Jason said. "You have one week to sign everything or Carly's dragging you to court for sole custody." Considering Sonny's recent outburst at the PCPD, he wasn't going to want a custody battle.
"Hi," Brenda said. "When I called, I wasn't sure you'd show up."
Johnny shrugged and motioned for the waitress to bring him a cup of coffee, "What do you want?" Johnny asked.
"Why are we here?" Brenda asked. "Couldn't we have gone to Kelly's or something?" She hated the coffee shops downtown, the ones on the pier were so much better.
"After I'm done here, I have to meet Jason," Johnny said.
"Why on earth would Jason want to meet you downtown?" Brenda asked. "Jason hates downtown." The only thing that was good downtown was shopping and Jason hated shopping. She glanced out the window and the first store she saw was a jewelry store. Brenda groaned, "He's gonna do it, isn't he? He's gonna marry her?"
"He loves her," Johnny said. "He trusts her."
Brenda nodded, "Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it - he does," Brenda said. She wasn't sure if she'd ever really understand Jason's relationship with Carly. After everything that happened between them, she was surprised their friendship not only survived intact but that they actually found their way back to each other. "But you don't trust me."
"You're right, I don't," Johnny said.
"We used to be friends," Brenda said. She wasn't sure why she'd messed things up with Johnny. They'd had a good thing going, then her ex who had tossed her aside wanted her back and she saw an opportunity to make him jealous, so she did. She never would've guessed that he would've pulled on a gun on Johnny. Needless to say, Johnny wasn't too thrilled with either of them. After that day, she never saw Antonio again - she didn't doubt that Johnny killed him, she didn't blame him. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Johnny asked.
"Everything," Brenda said. "For using you." When she was with Sonny, she knew that Johnny had a thing for her. She was mad at her ex and wanted to make him jealous and used Johnny to do that. "For messing things up between us." What started as a way to get back at Antonio could've been something more, but it started on a lie. "For lying to you."
Johnny waited a few moments before answering, "I'm over it," Johnny said. "I mean - yeah, it pisses me off when I think about it. But, Brenda - I can't hang onto the past like that. I moved on."
"Do you love her?" Brenda asked.
"No," Johnny said.
"But you like her, a lot don't you?" Brenda asked.
Johnny nodded, "Yeah, I do," Johnny said. He hadn't been dating Leyla that long, but from what he knew about her so far he liked. She was smart, funny, sexy as hell and most importantly - trustworthy. "We have fun together."
"I bet Carly doesn't like her," Brenda said. She wasn't sure why Johnny let Carly interfere with his love life as much as she did, but he did.
"They're only met a few times," Johnny said. "They didn't exactly get along."
Brenda laughed, "Well, she's not me - so that's a plus," Brenda said. "And since she just helped get Jason out of jail, I'm sure she'll be her new best friend."
Johnny laughed, "Let's see how long that lasts," Johnny said. He felt his phone vibrate and he glanced at the caller ID before answering, "Yeah." Johnny closed his eyes for a few seconds, "No - don't worry about it, I'll handle it. Thanks." Leyla was right. Elizabeth had been at Jake's around the time Jason and Carly were there, he bet that she saw more than she wanted to see. He wondered if Ric was going to turn on her and how Jason wanted this handled. "Bren?"
"Let me guess - you have to go," Brenda said.
"Yeah - there's a few loose ends to take care of," Johnny said. He dropped some bills on the table and stood, "Take care Brenda."
"You too," Brenda said. "Johnny?" Johnny paused and waited for Brenda to continue. "Are - are we okay?" She knew that she'd never have a chance with Johnny, but maybe they could salvage their friendship.
Johnny slowly nodded, "Yeah - I'll give you a call next time I'm in Rome," Johnny said.
Carly looked up when she heard the door open, "You're early," Carly said, lighting a few more candles.
"What's all this?" Jason asked, gesturing around the living room.
Carly smiled and walked over to Jason, wrapping her arms around his neck. "This is your celebration," Carly whispered and quickly kissed Jason. She started to pull away and he pulled her closer. "Your private celebration."
"We can skip all this - " Jason softly kissed Carly. "And just go upstairs. Where are the boys?"
"At Bobbie's," Carly said. "So we have the house all to ourselves." Carly brushed her lips over Jason's, moaning softly when he started kissing her neck. "Later. I wanted us to have dinner, I need to change - "
"You look good," Jason quietly said. Carly looked good no matter what she was wearing, he didn't care if she was wearing some expensive dress or just jeans and a t-shirt, either way she looked good. "I love you. I love that you want to do all this - but I don't need any of this. I just need you."
Carly smiled, "I love you too," Carly whispered. "So much - for so long, and if this is you trying to get out of a date, I'll shoot you."
Jason brushed the tears from Carly's face, "Is your schedule clear?" Jason asked. "Because tomorrow - you and me, we're going on a date." Jason kissed Carly before she could answer him, "Do you think your mom can watch the boys for a few days?" He knew that Carly wanted to date, to ease into this transition. But there was no question for him that he wanted to marry her. He wasn't going to wait around while they dated, so tomorrow he was going to ask her to marry him.
"A few days?" Carly asked. "I know there's a lot going on right now - " Carly paused, the last thing she wanted to do was put her relationship with Jason on the back burner, but so many other things were going on.
"Everything's been taken care of," Jason said. "Johnny confirmed that Alcazar is dead. Ric was involved - Ric, he had help. Anyone that helped Ric, they're going to be dealt with - including Elizabeth."
"She what?" Carly asked. "I'm going to kill her. I'm going to wrap my hands around her scrawny little neck and strangle her. What the hell was she thinking? Helping Ric frame you?"
Jason ran his hands up and down Carly's arms to calm her down, "It doesn't matter what she was thinking, as soon as things settle down, Johnny and I will handle her. I need you not to provoke her. I want her to think no one knows. Then, when the timing is right - we're gonna handle her." It would be easy enough to keep Ric quiet, he wasn't going to say a word about her. And in a few days, Ric would be dead. It'd be easy enough to frame Ric's death on any number of the people he'd locked up over the years or someone from the Alcazar Organization. Either way, Ric wouldn't live until his next birthday. Elizabeth wouldn't either.
Carly nodded, "Whatever you want," Carly promised. She wasn't going to interfere, she was going to let Jason handle this. "We can do this your way."
"We're gonna be okay. We're gonna do this our way," Jason promised. "You, me, the boys - " Jason paused and softly kissed Carly. "Our little girl." Jason kissed Carly again, "We're gonna have everything we always wanted and no one can ever take it away from us."
THE END
