Chapter 8

He'd made the biggest mistake of his life. This was the third time he'd let Carly out of his grasp; the first and third time because he was a fool, the second time thanks to Lawrence and, to a much larger extent, Vivian. Before Carly had been buried alive, they'd been fighting over Nicky; Bo had felt she was making too much allowances at his expense and Shawn D's. Much later, he'd found out from a repentant Nicky that he'd been driving a wedge between them because he didn't want to share his loving mother with them and that had only added to his grief at the loss of his princess. When Carly had stumbled back alive and kicking; the initial shock had turned to anger and despair on discovering she had amnesia and Lawrence had taken advantage of her condition by re-enacting the period they were Katarina and James; nothing he or Marlena said made her remember. But thanks to Billie, who forcibly dragged Nicky to her, her memories of him had returned but because of Lawrence's brainwashing, they'd become a distant memory. Carly, who had put her time as Katarina long behind her, was Katarina once again.

Even Bo had noticed something was different about her the day she'd come looking for him in the boat but was sure he could bring back Carly soon enough because his love for her was still the same. He'd played their song and they'd danced to it and Carly had kissed him but not the way she used to, all the while looking at him sadly. After they'd made a futile attempt at making love they both knew it was pointless. Lawrence had lured her back to him, albeit deceitfully but she now belonged to him and their son. After she'd climbed out of the boat and out of his life forever, Bo had bitterly thought of the irony, that he and Larry's roles had been reversed; now he was the one she'd left behind; all thanks to Larry and that witch.

For years he'd put her out of his mind, mostly not to think of her happy with Lawrence who had stolen her from him in the first place and concentrate on what he had. But then Carly returned... those crystalline eyes, more beautiful than he remembered staring up at him, when he'd pinned her on his living room floor mistaking her for a burglar. The whole night they'd spent talking about her abusive years with Lawrence, who'd once again showed his true colours after only one month of marital bliss, Bo realised the bond they'd had was still there and he couldn't handle it at the time; still hurting over Hope and her unfair behaviour. He didn't want to complicate the situation by giving in to old feelings but it proved impossible, this Carly was the one who'd belonged to him before Larry's interference; the same Carly he'd fallen in love with and he fell in love with her again, more passionately than before.

Who does that son-of-a bitch think he is? Bo now thought savagely as he drove towards home. He remembered his name because he'd made a statement at the station the day of the accident; Tony Delfino. Was it serious between them? They couldn't be going out long; he'd had found out about it before now. No, no... Carly was on the rebound; trying to forget him by finding an escape. Just like with Victor.

'No.' He gritted his teeth, shaking his head. 'I can't let that happen again. I won't let that happen again!'

Carly belonged to him and he was going to get her back. And Tony Delfino better not even attempt to stand in his way. In the meantime, he was going to run a thorough background check on him. The last thing he needed besides losing Carly forever was her getting involved with some mobster or worse.

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Stepping off the elevator the next afternoon, he immediately spotted Carly by the nurse's station, writing something in a chart. In her surgical greens, hair pulled back in a ponytail and no makeup she never looked more beautiful, although she looked like she'd lost some pounds. Walking up to her, Bo touched her shoulder. 'Carly.'

Carly jumped at the sound of his voice, turned and shrank away as though his touch burned her. 'What do you want?' she asked curtly.

'I really need to talk to you, it's important.'

'What you really need to do is leave me alone; I told you already I have nothing to say to you.'

Bo grabbed her arm before she could walk away from him. 'We're going to talk,' he said, equally curtly, 'whether you like it or not, lady.'

'Let go of me!' Carly struggled as he dragged her off but she should've remembered it was pointless to struggle with a man with Bo's strength; his grip was like steel. She was forced to follow him, Maxine and a few nurses staring after them in amazement.

Opening the door of her office, Bo pushed her in before slamming the door behind her.

'Just what gives you the right to manhandle me, are you crazy?!' she shouted at him, really angry. 'I will not be treated this way!'

'I won't be ignored this way!' Bo snapped back. 'Not until I have my say.'

'What exactly have you got to say to me now; "I'm sorry, don't hate me Carly?"' she demanded.

'I'm saying,' Bo said deliberately. 'I want you back.'

She was suddenly hearing things, hallucinating or both. 'Excuse me?'

'I can't get you out of my mind.' Bo said softly, taking her hands and squeezing them. 'I miss you; I miss what we had. I'm so sorry about everything; I should never have let you go again. Let's try again... it will be better this time, I promise.'

Carly yanked her hands away from his; incredulous at what she was hearing. He must be absolutely dense if he actually thought she'll ever believe anything he said again. 'You've got to be kidding. What about Hope, your wife? Who you were still in love with all along?'

This was going to be more difficult than he thought but Bo has always been a fighter and the woman in front of him was the ultimate prize he was bent on winning back.

'Of course I'm going to file for a divorce and I'm going to talk to her about this. Look, I know you're finding this all hard to believe but I've realised how much you mean to me. There's still something between us, something very strong and we both know what that is.' Touching her hair, he cupped her cheek, drawing his face close to his only for Carly to move away immediately.

'I can't do this, we can't do this; not again. How can you think that kissing me will make it all go away, or that I'll fall for this nonsense?'

'It's not nonsense; it's the way I feel. You think it was easy for me seeing you last night with that fancy dressed Italian...'

'Whoa, whoa... stop!' Carly interrupted swiftly. 'So that's it. You see me with another man and all of a sudden, I'm the one you want after all, the unattainable!'

'No princess, it's not like that...'

'Oh my God!' Carly snapped. 'Look...I don't know if this is guilt or just jealousy behind all this but I'm not playing this game with you. I don't want to be around you Bo; I don't want to have anything to do with you.'

'That's not true.' Bo glared at her. 'I know you, you still love me. If you didn't, you would say it out loud.'

'No matter what you say, you and Hope will always be connected, and you belong to two close-knit families who made it clear that I'm an interloper and a nobody. Caroline was like a mother to me, Roman like a brother and neither of them cared enough to even visit me after the accident.' Carly shook her head, fighting back tears. 'Kayla treated me like an enemy and you... you... I don't even know who you are anymore. After everybody's attitude and everything that's happened, loving you is a burden.'

'Carly...' Bo was stung to the core by her words.

'No, no, no!' she refused to give in to those brown eyes. 'When we were together, all I cared about was you because I thought you loved me like I loved you; nobody's opinion mattered.'

'I loved you, I still...'

'Don't even think about insulting my intelligence again, okay?' She cut in. 'Every time I look at you now, I keep asking "will the real Bo Brady please stand up"! I will not be hurt again, Bo; not by you or anyone else. No more lies, no more fake promises.'

'Carly, why is it so hard for you to forgive me and give me another chance?' Bo demanded, very upset. 'I made a mistake and I want us to have a fresh start.

'It's hard for me because I'm realistic. Hope's your soul mate; not me because you'll always run back to her whenever she needs you. You don't love me; you just want something you can't have. And as for your mistake, it caused me a lot and I can never get past that!' Carly stood firm. 'Get it through your head Bo, it's over. Focus on your wife and daughter and leave me in peace.' She opened the door. 'Goodbye.'

'Carly, don't do this. We're meant to be together.' He pleaded.

'If you really felt that way, you wouldn't have reconnected with Hope in the first place.' Carly replied coldly, without looking at him. 'In a split second you forgot all about me and all of a sudden you're saying this now. Tomorrow you'll forget again, once she snaps her fingers.'

'I don't love her the way I love you.' He insisted. 'You have to believe me.'

The only trouble was she didn't. He'd seen her with Tony which had triggered off the feeling of jealousy, just like before when she got involved with Victor. But he had loved her then and he'd belonged to her. 16 years later and everything was way too different. So was she.

'Goodbye Bo.' She said quietly.

Bo stared at her hard before walking away. If she thought he was beaten, she was the one being delusional. Okay, he handled it the wrong way but only because he was desperate to get through to her before she climbed into Tony Delfino's bed. Somehow or other, he was going to get Carly back.

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'How dare he?' Melanie exclaimed angrily. 'I hope you punched him in the face, Mum.'

'Mel, trust me, she's too much of a Lady to punch anyone.' Adrienne said dryly. After Bo left, Carly had called Adrienne, asking her to meet her and Melanie at The Java. 'Let me get this straight... Bo asked you to get back together with him?'

'Yes.' Carly mumbled.

'He's still in love with you?'

Melanie snorted in disgust. 'He saw her with Tony last night, do the math.'

'Ah...'

'God, Adrienne; part of me wanted to just fall into his arms, kiss him and forget everything.' Carly confessed. 'But I just couldn't bring myself to believe anything he was saying. And he hasn't even talked to Hope about his so called feelings for me.'

'In other words, he doesn't even know what he wants. That guy's unbelievable; basically he wants to eat his cake and have it too.' Melanie said, filled with rage at Bo's presumption. 'If he really loved you, he would've filed for a divorce first.'

'Hold on a second, Mel. Carly, would you consider going back to Bo if he files for a divorce?'

Carly hesitated, then shook her head. 'No. I can't forgive Bo. Even if I manage to eventually, I can never trust him again. Hope will always come between us; he'll regret his decision and go back to her and I'll get hurt, again. I lost our baby and almost lost my mind after we broke up.' Melanie rubbed her arm. 'It's not just their connection and history; will Bo go against the family who will always side with Hope?' Wonderful, fragile Hope who could do no wrong; she thought bitterly. 'He's never going to leave her and break up their family.'

'She was ready to do the same and she got him back.' Melanie snorted again. 'Seriously, some things just don't make sense. For the record, I'm glad you said no. The hell with him.'

'You think it's just out of jealousy he's saying this, Carly?'

'Of course it is. I don't even care about the reason; he was so anxious to repair his marriage, now he says he loves me. The whole scene was so retro.'

'Like the time he realised he wanted to be with you after you said yes to Victor?'

'He was different then, I was sure of his love. But now Bo Brady is... sorry. He's not my sailor anymore, not the man I loved. Simply too different and I can't be around him.'

'And Tony? Do you feel anything for him?' asked Melanie.

Carly looked at her and at Adrienne. 'I don't know. It was just one dinner.'

'Yes, but you've been friends for three months now.' Adrienne reminded her. 'You think you could be more?'

'He wants us to be more than friends but I just don't know. I like him very much but I don't want to go down that road again; wondering whether it will work out between us or not.' Carly sighed. 'And I don't want to use him to forget Bo.'

'Mum, you won't be using him, you'll be moving on!' Mel said. 'I wanted to move on, and I did; with Dario. And we're in love now.'

'You weren't really in love with Phillip, Mel; sorry but it's true.' said Adrienne. 'Carly's been in love with Bo forever; this is going to take time.'

'I know it's going to take time... and effort.' Carly agreed, sadly. 'I still love Bo in spite of everything but I'm sure I'll get over it. I'll keep dating Tony but I'm not going to make any promises to him.'

As she spoke she thought, would she come to love Tony eventually? He was handsome, sweet and very kind to her and she was fond of him. Maybe, just maybe he might heal her broken heart after all.

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Hope could tell something was wrong with Bo. These days he responded to her loving overtures with barely concealed lack of interest, as if he was thinking of something. Or rather somebody; Carly Manning. Last night she was fully convinced when he'd gotten into bed and turned over to his side after a curt goodnight to her. She should have known it was too good to be true; that Carly meant what she said about letting Bo go for the chance for them to be a family again. How did she expect Carly, another ex, to keep her word? Or was it Bo having second thoughts? Surely not, not after their reconnection while on the run and his joy at been together again. They'd been so happy all this while and now things were slowly going down again. That's why she was going to confront Carly face to face and let her know she wasn't going to ruin her marriage by making Bo feel guilty in any way. At least Billie and Chelsea's manoeuvres had been open; Carly's methods on the other hand were sly which made her even more devious than Billie.

Bo was her husband and she wasn't prepared to let him go without a fight, if that's what Carly wanted.