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“Thanks for breakfast,” Carly said, smiling warmly at her mother.
She
looked down suddenly, overcome by a bout of shyness.
Carly and Bobbie had spent a lot of time together as Jason recovered
in
the hospital. They shared an unspoken understanding that Bobbie
act as
a friend and not a mother to Carly. It was the only way Carly
could
handle it at this point. And she made no secret in letting Bobbie
know
that. Somehow, it was a savior of pride for Carly deep down inside.
To
prove to Bobbie that she’d been raised and was now grown. No
need for a
mother, but, as much as Carly wouldn’t admit it, in desperate need
of a
friend.
“Sure,” Bobbie replied, squeezing Carly’s arm briefly before picking
up
some charts from her inbox. “You better get over to the ICU,”
she said,
looking at her watch. “They should have the paperwork done for
Jason by
now.”
Carly rolled her eyes, looking at the large stack of charts at the
nurse’s station. “I doubt it,” she muttered, stifling a laugh.
*~*~*
“I wish you would have just took me back to my place,” Jason muttered,
as Sonny and Rinaldo helped him in the door of the penthouse.
Carly
followed close behind, clutching the bag of Jason’s clothes Sonny had
brought to the hospital a couple of weeks earlier.
Sonny chuckled a bit at Jason’s resistance to stay in the Penthouse
as
they helped him lower onto the couch. “What? No way am
I staying in
that dump to take care of you.”
Jason dropped his jaw in mock surprise. Carly giggled, putting
the bag
down next to the couch. “I second that emotion!” she announced, reaching
behind Jason to fix the pillows he was leaning on.
“I don’t need to be taken care of,” Jason lamented, sitting up slightly
to allow Carly to adjust the pillows.
“Oh please,” Sonny laughed, untucking his gun from the waistband of
his
pants and placing it in a desk drawer. “You can barely walk,
much less
make yourself dinner…”
“That’s why they deliver pizza,” Jason interjected, leaning back
again
on the pillows Carly had finally decided were sufficiently adjusted.
Sonny widened his eyes, letting himself fall into an armchair with a
graceful thud. “You are supposed to be trying to get *better*,”
he
reminded, pointing at Jason’s stomach. “I don’t think pizza is
going to
cut it right now.”
Jason lulled his head back, pretending to surrender. “Okay, so
I need
you to cook for me,” he conceded, pointing at Sonny. He
let his head
roll to the side so he was gazing at Carly. A playful grin crossed
his
face. “What exactly do I need *you* for?”
Carly widened her eyes, tilting her head in an expression that clearly
said, ‘you really have to ask?’ She answered anyway, licking
her lips
and rewarding both Sonny and Jason with a smoldering stare.
“You, my friend, need me to administer long and frequent sponge baths.”
Jason’s grin turned into a full-fledged smile. Sonny grinned,
letting
out a short laugh. He pushed himself up from the chair and stood
over
Jason, his hands on his hips. “Sounds like you got it made, kid,”
he
muttered, before disappearing into the kitchen.
*~*~*
“That was probably the best omelet I’ve ever had, Sonny,” Carly gushed,
gathering her purse together. She flipped her hair over her head
and
smoothed it out. “Okay, how do I look?”
Sonny nodded and smiled appreciatively, grabbing his glass of water
from
the bar and sitting in the chair next to the couch. “You look
fine,
where are you going? Off for your third breakfast of the morning?”
Jason chuckled at this, holding his injured stomach as he did so.
Carly
stuck out her tongue at both men and headed toward the door.
“For your
in-for-ma-tion,” she drawled, rolling her eyes. “I’m going to
find
myself a job. Us mere mortals do actually have to *work* for
a living
you know.”
“Hey,” Sonny said, winking at Jason. “Getting shot is harder work
than
you think.”
Carly let out a short guffaw at this as she flung open the door,
startling the guard out front. “Sorry,” she giggled, patting
Rinaldo on
the chest. She turned and gave Jason and Sonny a flirtatious
wave as
she sauntered out the door.
Sonny exhaled a sharp breath and turned back toward Jason. The
silence
in the house was suddenly suffocating. “She’s…um…”
Jason was nodding, smiling. “I know,” he muttered, tracing the
pattern
on the pillow with his finger. He had a slight smile playing
on his
lips. Carly certainly knew how to leave an impression on people.
Sonny swished the water around in his glass, causing the ice to clink
against the sides. He watched the liquid swirl around for a moment,
before directing his gaze back up to Jason.
“So what’s the story with you two anyway?” he asked, keeping his voice
low and casual. The truth was, it was the question on everyone’s
minds.
Carly had not left the hospital for any significant length of time
while
Jason was there, and it was obvious the dedication that she held for
him.
Jason shook his head, the smile on his face disappearing, it being
replaced with a look of introspection. He shook his head again,
as if
thinking about it didn’t make it any clearer for him either.
“I really don’t know, Sonny,” he finally said, looking up at his friend
and raising his eyebrows. “I can’t trust her not to take off
on me, so
I feel like I have to be careful, you know?”
Sonny nodded, understanding. “Yeah…” he said, a pained look crossing
his face for an instant before it dissipated and was replaced with
a
wide dimpled smile. “But she sure is something huh?”
Jason smiled too. “Yeah. She’s pretty tough even though
she doesn’t
think so half the time.”
Sonny nodded, thinking of the Quartermaine’s. “You know,” he drawled,
his lips twisting into an impish grin as he remembered the look on
Edward's face. “She laid into the Quartermaine’s pretty thick…all
they
did was question her being there and she told them off. I was
in with
you, the door was shut, and I could hear her screaming at them.
Every
word. She told them how she had more of a right to be there than
they
did cause they didn’t love you…not the way they should. It was
actually
pretty true, most of it.”
Jason nodded, watching Sonny thoughtfully. “Stuff like that, the
Q’s, I
don’t mind her getting into with. But her temper is out of control
sometimes. Like, she throws things all the time when she’s mad—“
“Who doesn’t?” Sonny interjected, grinning at his surroundings;
the
expensive vases, plush pillows…all good throwing material.
“Yeah but Sonny,” Jason said, leaning forward as best he could in the
position he was in. “She doesn’t just pick up the nearest thing
and
throws it. She *decides* on what to throw. The heavier
the better, the
more breakable the better.”
Sonny raised his eyebrows at this, leaning back in his chair and letting
out a soft whistle. “So she’s dramatic. That’s---“
Jason pushed out a sigh, shaking his head, which stopped Sonny in
midsentence. He got so worked up thinking about Carly, and he
didn’t
know why. She got to him in ways that no one else did.
She made him
madder than most people and happier than anyone.
“She gets to you, doesn’t she?” Sonny asked, grinning knowingly.
“Let
me ask you this. The things that frustrate you about her…they’re
probably the same things you wouldn’t want to change either.”
Jason nodded, his eyes drifting back down to the couch cushions beneath
him. “I don’t want to change one thing about her…as much as she
frustrates the hell out of me. That’s pretty crazy huh?”
Sonny shook his head, swirling the water around in his glass again.
“Nope, that’s cause you like her unconditionally. There may be
things
she does that make you mad, or that you would never do, but there’s
*nothing* about her that you would change. It’s the truest kind
of
love.”
Sonny leaned forward, watching Jason intently. There was no reaction
to
this. He looked down at his water glass again, picking his next
words
carefully. “Jason, I don’t know what you plan on doing with this
girl,
but if I can teach you anything, it’s going to be this: don’t take
the
feelings you have for her for granted. They don’t come along
that
often, and it’s even less often that the other person feels the same
about you. It’s a gift, Jason…don’t let it get away.”
Sonny sat for a few more moments where he was, then, when it was
apparent that Jason had no response, he pushed himself up from the
chair
and filled his water glass again. Taking a few gulps, he listened
to
the silence in the room, then cleared his throat.
“Alright, well, I gotta go meet with Carlos and settle this situation
once and for all. You gonna be okay?”
Jason nodded, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the pillows.
He definitely had a lot to think about and was grateful for the peace
and quiet he’d have to do it. Carly had just gotten back
to town when
he’d gotten shot, so he had been given that grace of time to forget
the
seriousness of their situation. The truth was, it couldn’t be
just fun
and games forever. Jason knew he had feelings for her still.
Strong
ones that weren’t just going to go away.
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Part
Innocence
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