The Story of Us ~* January *~ Penthouse: "Carly, what are you doing? What are you talking about? Would you just stand still for a minute and talk to me?" "I have to get out of here Jase. I can't-I'm going crazy. Sonny and Lorenzo are making me crazy and I can't just sit here and let them. I'm taking Michael and Morgan and we're leaving. Leticia's already upstairs packing for us." Jason freezes. "You're going to the island?" "No. I don't want to be anywhere Sonny can find me. At least not for a while." Carly's eyes were pleading with Jason for understanding. "I almost checked myself into Shadybrook Jason. That's how bad it is. I can't get anything sorted out and these fantasies are making everything so much worse. . ." "Checked yourself into SHADYBROOK?" Jason knows he's yelling but he can't seem to stop it. "Are you serious?" "YES! That's how messed up I've been. Between Lorenzo and Sonny I think I'm starting to lose my mind. Well I'm not sticking around for that. I'm taking my boys and we're leaving." She continues to throw Michael's favorite books and toys into a bag. "And you can't say I haven't tried to work all this out. I've tried until I'm worn down to nothing Jase and it's not getting any better. Sonny and I aren't getting any better." "But you think running away will make it better?" Jason reaches for Carly's hand forcing her to stop for a minute. Ever since he'd walked into the penthouse she'd been going and talking nonstop. "No. I don't even want to make things better. Things can go to hell Jason. But I do want to make me better. I want to stop questioning everything I'm doing. I want to be able to be with my sons and be happy. I want to get to know Morgan the way I didn't get to know Michael. And if I can't do it here then I need to find someplace I can." A variety of scenarios ran through Jason's mind -; none of them acceptable. If Carly was really starting to lose it- she wouldn't be any good to herself or the kids on her own. And whether she believed it or not being married to Sonny meant that she would always be a target for his enemies. Part of him knows he should convince her to stay. To work out whatever was going on in her head right there in Port Charles. He could do what Sonny should have done a year ago and arrange for Alcazar to die an ugly death. "Carly -; " "Jase- you told me, when we were in Paris that if I needed you all I had to do was call." Carly swallows nervously. "I'm calling now. I don't think I can do this alone." Looking down at their entwined fingers, Jason knows there's only one answer. "Can you give me an hour to get things settled?" When Carly nods, her eyes filled with tears, Jason mentally runs through a list of things that could slow them up. "Does Bobbie know you're leaving?" "Yeah. Mama knows. She doesn't like it, but she thinks it's the best thing for me. She said that once I get settled she'll use her vacation days and come visit me." "Any other goodbyes you need to say?" Carly shakes her head. "No. Mama will explain everything to Lucas." "Okay. I'm going to call the airport and get us first class tickets. Finish packing here and have Francis drive you to the airport." "Not Max?" "Sonny's going to need Max here. I can't just leave him without anyone to watch his back. And Francis is the best." When Carly bites her bottom lip, Jason sighs. "Carly. I told you if you needed me I'd be there and I am. I'll meet you at the airport in one hour." Haunted Star: "Justus." Laying a hand on Justus' shoulder, Jason effectively interrupts the conversation Justus and Skye had been having. "I need to talk to you now." He spares a curt glance in Skye's direction. "Privately." "Use my office. Second door on the left." Skye points down the hall. "What's going on? Has Sonny been arrested again?" Justus asks as they walk into Skye's office and Jason shuts the door. "I'm leaving Port Charles and I need you to take care of some things for me." "All right. When are you leaving and what do you need me to do?" "I'm leaving in about forty five minutes and I need you to cut all my ties with Port Charles." Jason declares flatly knowing there isn't much time. "Woah- Jason, what's going on? What's happened? Are you in danger?" "It doesn't matter right now." Jason rubs a hand over his face and begins pacing. "I need for someone to start divorce proceedings between me and Courtney." Jason ticks items off on his fingers. "I'll wire transfer money into her accounts when I can. Arrange for whatever alimony she needs. Whatever. And you can transfer my penthouse into Courtney's name too." Justus grabs a pad of paper and a pen from Skye's desk and begins writing out Jason's requests. "Then there's the coffee business. Give Sonny the chance to buy me out. I don't care what you get for it- just get rid of it. If he doesn't want to buy it then put it up for public auction." "You're getting out of business with Sonny?" Jason snorts. "That's one way of putting it. I'm leaving town with his wife and his kids." Justus expels a pent up breath. "Yeah, that'll end a partnership." "Will you do it?" Jason pressed. "Because I don't have a lot of time to convince you to help like I did last time." When Justus nods, Jason heads for the door. "I've got your number. I'll call you when we get where we're going." "Just one question. Are you sure you want to do this?" Looking back over his shoulder, Jason shrugs. "Carly needs me. I'm doing it." "I'll take care of things here. You take care out there." "Thanks." Airport: "But why are we leaving Mama?" Michael uses his foot to rock Morgan's stroller back and forth. "And why couldn't we wait for Daddy to come home?" "Hey Michael, you know what a tradition is?" Jason comes up behind them and lays a hand on Michael's shoulder. Looking over the top of Michael's head he speaks to Carly. "The plane's ready to board." "Jason! I didn't know you were coming!" Michael bounces up in his seat. "A tradition is something that you keep on doing right?" "Right. Well when you were very little your Mom and I took you to Florida. And before that your Mama took a little vacation. And now Morgan's really little -; so we're going to take another trip. And this time we're all going together." Jason ruffles Michael's hair. "Come on. Let's go." "Wait! Mama can I get some gum for the plane?" Michael asks his mother. "Sure honey." Digging into her purse Carly pulls out $10. "And get me a magazine too." "One of those big ones with all the houses in it?" "That'd be great. Stay with Francis okay?" Carly looks at Jason. "We're going to Florida? What if Sonny looks for me there?" "We're just going for a few days. After that we're going to Hilton Head. I've rented a house for us." Standing, Carly rocks Morgan's stroller back and forth slowly. "I know I always say this, but it just doesn't seem like enough. Thank you. Thank you for not thinking I'm crazy. Thank you for coming with me. Just- thank you for everything." Shifting the bags over one shoulder and into one hand, Jason slings his free arm around Carly, steering her towards the terminal. "When are you going to get it Carly? That's the difference between me and the rest of the world. I know you're crazy. I just don't care." Carly cocks her head to one side and looks up at Jason, a small smile playing over her lips. "I think I can live with that." Florida: "The boys are sound asleep. I think you wore Michael out. He was asleep even before his head hit the pillow." Carly steps out onto the patio of the small bungalow they'd rented across the street from Virginia's cemetery. She moves to the railing and leans into the warm breeze. "You know, I think if I never saw another flake of snow again as long as I lived I'd be okay with that." Turning back to the bungalow, Carly rests her elbows on the railing and looks to where Jason sits at the table with a laptop open. "What are you doing?" "Transferring money from one account to another. I want to make sure Courtney has what she needs before all my accounts are frozen." "Who. . ." Carly sinks down into a chair beside Jason and pulls her knees up to her chest and answers her own question. "Sonny." "He only has access to some of my accounts. Those are the ones I'm clearing out for Courtney." Sensing a minefield, Carly can't bring herself to say anything to Jason about Courtney. Instead she leans over his shoulder. "I never figured you for an online banking kind of guy." Looking at the screen her eyes widen. "Jason that's a hell of a lot of money!" "She can use it to buy her house and go back to school." Jason's fingers hover over the keyboard for a second. "Justus is going to serve her divorce papers tomorrow. It just seemed easier to put the money in this way. Otherwise she'd probably just throw it back in Justus' face and tell him she doesn't want anything from me. This way she has it if she needs it." "Oh Jason. . .look. Once we get to Hilton Head and get settled you can go back to Port Charles." Carly digs Jason's cell phone out of his shirt pocket. "Call Justus off. Tell him you want more time." Jason takes the phone from Carly's fingers and sets it on the other side of the table beside him. "Carly, my marriage is over, more time can't fix what's wrong with me and Courtney." "Okay- I can tell we can't talk about this." Carly laughs at Jason's skeptical expression. "And we both know I'm going to anyway. So here goes -; if you love Courtney you can't just give up. Sonny and I aren't going to make it but it's not because I didn't try." "You're right. We can't talk about this." Jason shuts down his laptop. "There's nothing for me to *do* Carly. She doesn't want me. She wants the person I could be if I didn't live the life. If I didn't do what I'm best at. Courtney would have loved Jason Quartermaine but he's dead. I'm what's left. I thought she could handle it. She told me it didn't matter but it does matter to her." Jason scrubs his hands over his face. "I couldn't change to make the Quartermaines happy and they were supposed to be my family. I did change for Robin because I loved her but it didn't work anyway. No matter how many $5,000 suits I put on I'm still the same person." Reaching up Carly touches the back of Jason's hand. "Then I'm sorry for her. She doesn't know what she's missing." When the sliding glass door slides shut after Jason, Carly sighs, wraps her arms around her knees and stares out at the water. Florida: Jason and Michael are coming in from the beach when they're met halfway by Francis who is running full speed towards them. "What is it?" "It's Carly. About ten minutes ago she was sitting at the kitchen table and she said her vision was getting blurred around the edges. She tried to stand up but her legs wouldn't hold her. Now she's saying the light hurts her eyes and she keeps holding her head. I can't get near her." Winded, Francis explains it all in one breath. "It sounds like a migraine but I've never seen one this bad before. Jason I think she needs an ambulance." "Michael, stay here with Francis I'm going to check on your Mom." Jason orders before taking off up the beach in a flat out run. Reaching the bungalow Jason steps through the open screen door and makes a beeline for the kitchen. "Carly?" Curled in the fetal position in a corner of the kitchen that's out of the direct sunlight there's a puddle of what had been her breakfast on the floor beside her. "Make it stop. Jason it hurts. I don't know what's wrong with me. They've never been this bad." "There's a hospital not far from here. Just a second. I'm going to make it better." Disappearing into the bathroom, Jason emerges with icy cold wash clothes one goes over Carly's eyes, the other behind her neck. Her entire body shivers with the cold before a tiny sigh escapes her lips. "Better?" "It hurts." "Mama?" Michael appears in the doorway with Francis. "It's going to be all right Michael. Your mom's just got a really bad headache. I need you to get Morgan out of his crib and Francis is going to bring the car around. We'll take your mom to the hospital and the doctors will make her feel better." As he speaks Jason grabs a blanket from the back of the couch in the living room and wrapping Carly in it scoops her up off the floor. "It's going to be okay Carly." "It feels like I'm dying." "I'm here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you." Reaching the front door at the same time as Michael, Jason opens the door. "Keep your eyes closed and we'll be at the hospital soon." "If-" When they step out into the hot sunlight, Carly flinches. "If something's wrong with me Jason you have to promise to take care of my boys." "You know I will." Jason puts Carly in the front seat while he straps Morgan into his car seat and buckles Michael's seat belt. Climbing in beside Francis, Jason pulls Carly onto his lap and turns the air conditioner on full blast. The look he gives Francis gives the guard all the encouragement he needs to make the 20 minute trip in 10 minutes. Carrying Carly into the E.R. Jason almost rethinks his decision. The lights, the heat, the sounds everything is compounded and Carly is almost twitching in his arms. Instead of going to the admitting desk, Jason grabs the first nurse that's passing by. "I think she's having a migraine. She's already thrown up twice. If she waits out here it'll kill her. She just got out of the hospital from being shot in the head. . ." The nurse nods and takes them back to an empty exam room, shutting off the overhead lights as she goes. "Poor thing. When did it start?" "About a half hour ago." "I'll get a doctor in here as soon as I can." The nurse pulls a wastebasket over beside the bed Jason's deposited Carly in. "In case she throws up again. Does she have any allergies?" "No." "We're going to need paperwork and if she's had a severe head injury we're going to need to see her medical records." Jason's expression is grim. "Stop the pain then I'll deal with the paperwork and get you her records." Jason strokes Carly's hair softly and makes sure to keep his voice low. "I'll get the doctor." Once the door is shut and they're alone, Jason lets go of Carly only long enough to take the wet towel from the back of her neck and rewet it in the sink with icy cold water. A few minutes later the door opens and a doctor in his early fifties enters, carrying a half filled in chart. "The young man out there in the waiting room filled this in for you as completely as he could." He pulls up a rolling metal stool and sits down beside Carly. "I'm Dr. Brewer. I know you're in a lot of pain Miss Morgan but I'm going to do what I can to make it stop." He takes a bare bones history from Jason and Carly then eases Carly over on her back with her head hanging off the end of the bed. "What are you going to do?" Hyper vigilant, Jason watches the doctor's every movement. Dr. Brewer talks as he works. "A 4% solution of lidocaine. It gets dripped up the nose. Now Carly, this isn't going to stop the pain for good but it's going to buy us some time. If it works it should take only a few minutes to kick in. It's not going to hurt but it'll feel funny and it will numb the back of your throat some." Donning gloves and drawing 5ccs of lidocaine into the syringe, Dr. Brewer places one hand on Carly's forehead to keep her still and begins to release the drug in a slow, careful stream. Jason watches as Carly coughs and gags a little but he holds her hand and rests the other hand on her stomach lightly holding her in place. Once the doctor is done, Jason wants to know. "How long?" "She should be feeling noticeably different in a matter of minutes. Now- you mentioned getting this young lady's records. I suggest you get to work on that right now while we wait. Because I can't treat her further until I know what sort of head injury she's had." "Am I going to get fined for using my cell phone in here?" "Not if it gets me those records." Ten minutes later Dr. Brewer is on the computer paging through Carly's entire medical history and Carly is sitting up in the bed leaning against Jason. "Better?" "Much." "Well there's good news and there's not so good news young lady. The good news is that this isn't a symptom of a larger problem. No intracranial bleeding, no other complications. The not so good news is that with any traumatic brain injury there is the chance that you'll have these types of headaches for the rest of your life." Dr. Brewer came to stand at the foot of the bed, already writing on a prescription pad. "You can do things to reduce the risk of them. You need to eat right. You need to sleep well. You need to be good to yourself and listen to your body. That means as little stress as possible. I'm writing you a prescription for migraine medicines. You inject yourself in either your arm or thigh. I'm also writing a prescription for some sedatives to help you sleep." "We can go?" "I think you should stay here and rest a little while longer while the shot takes effect. Then you can go home. You should check in with your physician when you get back home." The doctor excused himself, leaving Jason and Carly alone in the exam room. "The rest of my life? I didn't think I was going to make it through today. . ." Carly's body sags against Jason. Stroking Carly's hair, Jason cups her cheek. "It's gonna be okay Carly. I promise. I'm going to make it all right." Cemetery: "Aren't my boys beautiful Mama?" Kneeling beside Virginia's grave, Carly plucks a few stray weeds away from the headstone. "Michael's so big now and Morgan is growing every day. I've lost so much time. I know I can't get it back but I'm not going to lose another minute." She spreads a bouquet of flowers over the grave, resting them right up against Virginia's name. "I know you've probably been worried about me. Some things never change. But you don't have to be worried anymore Mama. My boys and I are going to be just fine." Carly stands up, puts her sunglasses back on. "I promise." Turning, she walks towards the curb where Jason waits with Michael beside him and Morgan in his arms. "Are you ready now Mama?" Michael asks impatiently. "Yeah baby. I think I am. Let's go." Ring out the old, ring in the new Ring happy bells across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson