Chapter 4

A few weeks had passed since Jason and Carly almost kissed. Neither one said anything about the incident but both had thought about it.

Carly had been busy planning Morgan's birthday, especially since she usually had the help of Sonny and Jax. She hated that she had to keep Sonny away from Morgan, but that was the way it had to be. Jason hadn't come to Morgan's birthday because other parents didn't want their kids around someone who worked in the mob. She understood, even though she loved Jason and wanted him around Morgan, especially since every other father figure in Morgan's life was gone.

The night of Morgan's birthday, after the party was over, Jason stopped by Carly's house, his arms full of presents. He knew that this day might be hard for Carly without Michael or Jax, so he wanted to help.

When Carly opened the door, her face immediately lit up. Seeing her best friend always made her day better, and all the presents in his arms meant that he wanted to make her son happy. That made her happy.

"I thought I'd stop by and wish Morgan a happy birthday and drop off his presents."

"That was sweet of you. Morgan just finished opening his presents from me, and we were about to have some cake, like we haven't had enough already. Do you want to join us?"

"Sure."

Jason and Carly watched Morgan open all of his presents, and ate cake, and had a good time. Eventually, Morgan became sleepy and he went off to bed, but not before telling Carly and Jason how much he loved them.

After Carly tucked Morgan in, she came back downstairs. "He's really happy," she said. "Thank you."

"It wasn't any trouble."

"Not just for the presents. You've been such a big help the last few weeks."

"I just figured that you could use a friend. And I thought today might be a little harder than usual."

"It was hard. Michael always loved Morgan's birthday. And Jax…" she wiped the tear off her face. "I'm not going to cry."

"I almost forgot… here," he said, handing her small, wrapped box.

"You bought me a gift? Jase, you didn't need to."

"Open it."

She tore the paper off the box and pulled out a beautiful, silver locket.

"Oh, Jason. It's gorgeous." She opened the locket and it had a picture of Michael and Morgan in it. Tears started flowing down her face; she couldn't help it. She pulled Jason into a hug.

"Thank you so much, but you really didn't have to."

"I wanted to. You've done so much for me, and I just wanted to do something nice for you."

"Will you put it on me?"

He nodded. She turned and pulled her hair up. Jason pulled the locket around her neck, and fastened it.

Carly could feel his hands on her neck, and it made her want to kiss him. Jason felt the same way.

Carly turned around; her face merely inches away from his. "How does it look?"

"Perfect." They leaned into each other and kissed.

Carly broke away for a second, and they looked at each other. She leaned back in for another kiss. Neither one realized what was happening. Then, Carly leaned away.

"Oh, God," she said. She jumped up from the couch, and started panicking. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Jason. I just-"

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too." The truth was, he didn't know what had just happened either. He didn't know what was going on between him and Carly.

"Jase, what's happening to us?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. The kiss just now. The almost-kiss earlier when Morgan interrupted us. We spend almost every waking moment together. I don't know what I'm supposed to think or how I'm supposed to feel."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. This is a bad idea."

"Yeah, it is. Except, maybe it's not. We could be great together. I love you, and you love me. But, what if I do what I always do? What if I pushed you away?"

"You wouldn't push me away."

"That's why we're just friends. The one time we were more than that, I slept with Sonny. I did push you away. I couldn't lose you again."

"Carly, that was nine years ago. You're not the same person you were then."

"Yes, I am, Jason. I slept with Sonny when I was married to Jax. I pushed Jax away. I'm the reason my son is in a coma-"

"Stop. You're Carly. Have you made mistakes? Yes, but we all have. You are Carly, and I love you."

"I love you, too. But I need time to think."

"Since when do you think things through?"

"Since it involved my best friend in the entire world."

Jason smiled. "I think that that sounds like a good idea. You can think about things as long as you need, but promise me something?"

"What?"

"That you will call me if you need anything. Because no matter if we decide to be together, you're still my best friend, and I'm still yours."

Now Carly smiled. "I will call you if I need anything."

For the next week, Carly thought long and hard about her relationship with Jason. She had decided that she couldn't help how she felt. She was in love with Jason Morgan and probably always had been.

She and Jason were going to have to take this very slow. That way, if something went wrong, they could stop and go back to just being friends. She was being very cautious because was scared out of her mind and wanted to protect her heart.

Jason was at home getting ready to do some work, when someone knocked on his door. It was Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing here?"

"I can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Lying. I hate lying. I want to tell the world that I love you and that we're together. I want the world to know that you're Jake's father."

"I don't know. This is too much-"

"Don't you want to be a father to your son?"

"Of course, but-"

"Don't you want to be with me?"

"I don't-"

"I want to be with you. Jason, I'm in love with you. I love you so much."

Before he knew what was happening, her lips were on his. Then, he heard the door open. He turned around to see who it was. It was Carly; standing at the doorway with tears flowing down her face.