Charles's Safehouse
Once Kellie showered and changed clothes, she made her way to the living room where she found Johnny finishing starting a fire in the fire place.
Johnny looked over at Kellie and stood up.
"Charles said to tell you to wait in here for him," Johnny said.
"Johnny, I can't impose on Charles," Kellie said, "Not with this."
"Charles figured you would say that," Johnny said, "So he also told me I wasn't allowed to take you home or elsewhere until he gets the chance to talk to you. Before you think about sneaking out on your own, he put one of the macaroni and cheese casseroles Oliva left him in the oven for dinner. I've never known you to pass that up."
Kellie glared at Johnny before reluctantly sitting on the couch.
Johnny rolled his eyes at Kellie and then handed Kellie a blanket.
"After the soaking you took," Johnny said, "I'd prefer you stay as warm as possible right now, kid."
Kellie thought about protesting but thought the better of it and wrapped the blanket around her. Johnny left the room as Kellie stared daggers at him.
Kellie stayed curled up on the corner of the couch. That's where Charles found her when he came in the room with two mugs of hot chocolate.
He set one mug on the coffee table and then handed Kellie the second mug. Kellie looked away from Charles as she took the mug from him and sipped from it. Charles sat on the couch and drank from his mug.
"How are you?" Charles asked, setting his mug back on the coffee table.
"I don't know," Kellie answered.
Charles waited to see if Kellie would say anything.
When she didn't say anything more, Charles finally asked, "What happened?"
"Charles, I didn't actually intend to stop here," Kellie said, "To talk about this."
"But you are here," Charles said, "Maybe we can make some sense of whatever is going on."
"What have you heard?" Kellie asked.
"Other than you took off without telling anyone or taking your guards," Charles said, "A lot of rumors and speculation."
Kellie sighed and took a drink of her hot chocolate before setting her mug on the table.
"I came home early when one of my clients needed to reschedule," Kellie said, "Jason and Sonny were in the study discussing Carly's SEC case. I guess Ryan Lavery took a deal which isn't good for Carly or Michael. But then Sonny was going on about Carly turning in him and Jason to make a deal for herself to avoid prison."
"Then what happened?" Charles asked.
"I just left," Kellie said.
"Why did you leave?" Charles asked, "Instead of interrupting the conversation."
"Charles, I can't…this isn't….i" Kellie said.
"Kellie, it might just help to say whatever is out loud," Charles encouraged her.
Kellie closed her eyes as they teared.
"I don't know if my marriage will make it," Kellie's voice cracked, "If Jason does decide to let Carly give the feds info on him and he goes to prison."
"Whatever happens," Charles said, "Somehow it'll be alright."
Kellie didn't say anything, looking away from Charles.
"Now, you said Sonny was talking about the deal with the Feds," Charles said, "What did Jason have to say about it?"
"He didn't say anything," Kellie answered, "There was just silence. And that's when I left."
"So you didn't actually hear Jason agree to going to prison," Charles said.
"No, I just…when he didn't say anything," Kellie said, "All I could think was he'd probably agree to it. It's not like prison is never a possibility for Jason. But this way to choose it because of a mess Carly got herself into. Not that I didn't expect that something like could happen. But when he didn't immediately say no, I realized I wasn't ready to hear him agree to that."
"Until you talk to Jason, you're not going to know what he's thinking or actually planning to do," Charles said, "It's still possible he won't agree to it. Milo said didn't seem to think Jason was going to do that."
"I want to believe that," Kellie said, "But there's still a really good chance that he will agree. When he came back from the Russian clinic, he talked about being here for Danny and Jake and not allowing some of the demands for his attention from Sonny and Carly be more important than that. I had some bumps with Carly when Jason and I got married. But this is the first time where the stakes are our entire future. I didn't realize how much I would want Jason to choose our family over…."
"Kellie," Charles interrupted, "I really think you need to talk to Jason rather than spin your wheels over this. Figure out where things actually stand."
"I'm not ready," Kellie said, "I just don't know how I don't fall apart if…."
Kellie didn't finish the sentence and began to walk away.
"Then you fall apart and eventually you'll put yourself back together," Charles said, "And there's plenty of us here to help you do that."
"I wasn't supposed to feel like this if things didn't work out with Jason," Kellie said, "I knew what I was getting into."
"You've always tended to care more than you're ever actually willing to admit to yourself," Charles said.
Kellie thought for a moment.
"I can't do it, not yet," Kellie said.
"I know," Charles said, "Which is why you'll stay here tonight, have some dinner, get some sleep. We'll revisit talking to Jason in the morning."
"No, I'm not staying and getting in your way" Kellie said.
"You've already given everyone enough of a scare today when you took off like you did," Charles said, "It's still awful weather outside. Just stay put so we know you're safe. You won't be in the way and there's plenty of space."
