Warehouse: Jason’s Office

Carly stood abruptly. “I have to go.”

“Wait, wait.” Jason stood and rounded the desk. “Carly, we need to talk about this.”

“I can’t talk–I need…” She didn’t know what she needed. The only thing she was absolutely positive of was that she needed to get out of there. The air was suffocating–her throat felt tight.

“I have to go,” she repeated. She rushed through the door, Jason was hot on her heels.

But she got to her car and had the door closed before he could reach her. She took off, her tires squealing.

Lorenzo’s Apartment: Bedroom

Sage pouted as her uncle continued to pack. “I wish you weren’t going away,” she complained. “I don’t want to stay with Carly.”

Lorenzo glanced at her. “Well, you are. Carly has two small children and this is going to be a tough week for her. I expect you to step up.”

“She’s your obsession not mine,” Sage said haughtily. She flopped on the bed and turned onto her back. “Can I enroll in school?”

“You don’t like your tutors?”

“Please, Uncle Zo. The tutors are dryer than dirt and they make me want to curl up and take a nap.” She gave him a charming smile. “I want to go to the high school. I want a normal life for once. You seem to be settling in here after all. Why don’t we really pretend like this is home?”

“This is home, Sage,” Lorenzo told her. He sat down and sighed. “I know you’re unhappy here.”

Sage sat up and shrugged. “It’s not that I’m unhappy,” she told him. “I just…I think I came on too strong with Dillon. And now he won’t even look at me.”

“He’s in love with his girlfriend, sweetheart,” Lorenzo informed her. “You won’t make him forget that.”

“I just…” She hesitated and glanced at him quickly–just long enough to see the sadness in the depths of her dark eyes. “I guess I’m just lonely. I’ve been at boarding schools for most of my life or I’ve had tutors. I’ve never really had a friend. Dad was always away working with Brenda,” Sage spat. “And you were always on business. So I thought if I could just go to the high school like all the other kids…I’ll meet someone new. You know?”

Lorenzo kissed her forehead. “Okay, baby. If it’s that important, I’ll ask Carly to take you to get enrolled. I’ll see that she has all the information. And I’ll even give you a credit card to do some shopping.”

Sage grinned and threw her arms around him. “Thanks, Uncle Zo. You won’t regret this.” Her eyes were dancing with excitement. “Can I decorate my room too? With furniture I pick out? And posters? You know…make it my own?”

“Well…” Lorenzo hesitated. “I’d hold off on that–in this place at least. It’s a good apartment but you need to have a real home base. A place you’re always sure of.”

“You mean an actual house?” Sage asked, surprised. “Like…what Dillon lives in? Or a normal place…like where Georgie and her sister live?”

“We can talk more about that when I come home next week. But until then, you are staying with Carly. Promise me you’ll be on your best behavior?”

“Do you love her?” Sage asked instead. “I mean, honest to God, from the top of head to the bottom of your feet love her?”

“Yes,” Lorenzo admitted.

“Then I’ll do my best,” she promised. She smirked. “But you know…this is still me we’re talking about here. My best is…well a lot of people’s worst.”

There was a knock on the open bedroom door–one of Lorenzo’s guards. “Senor Alcazar? Mrs. Corinthos is here. She looks upset.”

Lorenzo shot up and was out of the room almost before the guard had finished speaking. Sage just stood and shook her head, amused.

“Oh, yeah, he’s in love,” she said under her breath as she finished her uncle’s packing.

Carly was standing just inside the door when Lorenzo came into the room. Her face was pale, her hands were trembling and her cheeks were stained with tears. Alarmed, he went over to her and took her hands in his. “Carly, what’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“I…I remembered,” she said fearfully, her eyes wide and filled with a kind of hesitant fear.

“R-remembered what?” Lorenzo asked with a sense of dread. He took a deep breath. “Sonny?” he prompted.

She nodded. “I was talking to Jason–a-and I was trying to explain why I was siding with Courtney–because all of my feelings for her just came slamming into my head last night and now everything for Sonny a-and I just remembered the boys yesterday, Lorenzo. All these feelings are just swarming around in my head and I can’t make them stop.”

He pulled her into a hug, almost forcing her head into his chest. He’d known it would come to this–he’d hoped that she’d never remember but she did now.

And she wouldn’t need him anymore.

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, Lorenzo. I thought I had a handle on everything–I thought I was okay and…” She wrapped her arms around her waist and clung to him. “I don’t know anymore.”

“It’s okay,” he soothed. He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to calm the violent tremors she was experiencing. “You need to go see Dr. Lewis.”

She pulled away from him and clasped her hands together. “I-I should have gone straight there I guess b-but I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was just…talking and it all slammed back into me.”

Lorenzo nodded. “I understand. And I understand if you don’t want Sage to stay with you after all–”

Carly frowned and looked at him. “I–” She shook her head. “I’m not doing this right.” She licked her lips and looked up at him. “Yes, my feelings for Sonny came back but that’s not what’s scaring me.”

His mouth dry, his throat tight, Lorenzo swallowed hard. “What is then?”

“The fact that my feelings for you–which I thought were just part of a dream I hadn’t really woken up from–they’re still here,” she whispered. She pressed the heel of her hand to her chest, just above her heart. “And they’re real.” She took a shaky breath. “And they’re strong.”

He hesitated. “They are?” he asked. He couldn’t have heard her right.

She nodded. “They’re…stronger than what I feel for Sonny and I realized that it’s because these last few weeks…you’ve been…” Carly hesitated. Unable to find the words, she slid her hand around the back of his head to tug it towards her. She kissed him hungrily, giving into the feelings and the emotions that she’d been fighting for so long.

He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull him flush against him, devouring her and absorbing every inch of her delectable mouth.

Sage peeked around the corner into the living room and grinned. It was about time her uncle found a little slice of happiness.

Carly pulled away a few moments later, breathing heavily–her eyes just a little calmer. “I…probably shouldn’t have done that,” she remarked, her cheeks flushed. But the words were light and caused him no pain.

Lorenzo just smiled and shook his head. “You’ll never get rid of me,” he joked. He smoothed her hair off her forehead. “Now that I know how you taste.”

Her cheeks flushed even more deeply and she felt so warm. But she couldn’t keep the smile from her face. Gone was the confusion and fear of just a few moments ago. Feelings and emotions were still swarming inside her mind but she knew one thing now–one completely concrete and absolute thing.

She cared deeply for Lorenzo–maybe she even loved him. And for the first time since she woke up–she didn’t want to change that.

Kelly’s

Elizabeth sat down and sipped her hot chocolate. “I should be mad at you for calling Jason,” she told Emily.

“Be mad all you want,” Emily replied. “You needed someone and I couldn’t get there. I knew Jason would be interested in knowing that you were in a cold studio with no heat or electricity. So…you’re at the hotel?”

“Yeah. It’s temporary. He was going to ask Carly if I could stay with her but she played the Courtney card and really…that’s better in the end. We never would have survived in the same house.” Elizabeth sighed. “He’s coming over after work and we’re supposed to work out a plan for the future.”

“Elizabeth…I know you value your independence and believe me, I understand that you don’t want to give that up…but you have to bend a little.”

“I know. I know,” Elizabeth repeated, seeing Emily’s skepticism. “But how far am I supposed to go? Do you know what it would look like if I let Jason do what he obviously wants to do? Buy me a place to live, pay for me to live there?”

“It would look like a married man keeping a mistress,” Emily allowed. She shrugged. “So what? That’s not true. Jason and Courtney might be married but they’ve barely lived together since the wedding and while I certainly don’t condone your actions–or his, I might add–you’re not his mistress. It was a one night thing and you don’t have to be ashamed of it. He wasn’t married and you’re separated.”

“But I slept with my husband, my ex-boyfriend and your ex-husband all pretty much in the same span of time. That really doesn’t say much for my morals, does it?”

“No,” Emily allowed. “But it’s a unique situation, Elizabeth. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re only human. You get to make mistakes.”

“So what do you think I should let Jason do?” Elizabeth asked. “How far should I let him go with this?”

“I think you should let him pay for the rent on a decent apartment,” Emily told her. “You can probably afford utilities until you have to go on maternity leave and then Jason can take up those bills. You should also let him pay for the back medical bills from this summer so you don’t have any issues with your doctor’s care for the pregnancy.”

“You mean basically let him take care of me for the next year of my life.”

“Well…do you have a more realistic resolution?” Emily pressed.

“I’ll let you know,” Elizabeth said, with a tone of defeat in her voice.

Haye’s Landing

Courtney was just hanging up the phone in the kitchen when Brian entered through the back. He had two coffees in his hands. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She sat down, and chewed her thumbnail. “That’s the third time,” she said softly. “I get as far as his voice mail and hang up.”

Brian sat in the chair across from her. “Probably not a conversation you want to have over the phone.”

“I just…I ran out of there. I never gave him a chance to say anything or even come clean on his own. I just demanded to know the truth and took off.” She sighed and slumped in her chair. “I don’t know, Brian. I know I’m right to be angry but…”

“But what?” Brian asked. “Courtney…he cheated on you and he’s having a child with this woman.”

“She’s not just some tramp he picked off the street,” Courtney jumped in. “He has a history with her–”

“I’ve heard this all before,” Brian sighed. “You told me this yesterday. Since the day I met you, all you’ve done is sing his praises. Don’t give him an excuse–don’t give him this easy out. No matter how tempting it is–”

“The thing is,” Courtney interrupted, “that I don’t want to give him an out. I…” she chewed on her lower lip. “If I forgive him for this…I’ll never be able to trust him again. Every time he’s with her…I’m going to wonder. Every time I see them together with that baby, I’m going to want to curl up in a corner and cry.”

She took a deep breath. “I love him, Brian. But I won’t do that to myself. I can’t.”

He exhaled slowly. “I guess you’ve made up your mind.”

“Yeah.” She smiled at him–her eyes filled with tears, and her hands trembling. “Just as soon as I can get up the courage, I’m going to go back to Port Charles and file for divorce.”

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