Chapter Ten

Sonny came down the stairs in the middle of the father-daughter conversation, phone in hand. "So, what are we talking about?" he asked as he stood in front of the fire place. He looked at Mike for his answer.

"Oh, how close the two of you are, and how you have been since you were tlittle. I might've mentioned that I don't know how either of you survived Courtney being in Greece for two years because of it."

Courtney chuckled and nodded, looking at Sonny. "Yeah, he definitely did mention that."

Her older brother wasn't too happy with hearing that. Knowing Mike, he probably tried to fix things; things that weren't broken. The last thing Courtney and Jason needed was someone putting pressure on either of them before she'd even been in town a week. It was between them, and that was how Sonny thought it should stay.

Carly would have to get the same memo when she got home.

"Mike, could I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute? I've got to discuss something with you," the chocolate eyed mobster stated, giving the gray haired man on the couch a pointed stare.

"Sonny," Courtney said, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"I've got to talk to him about Carly." was the excuse he gave her. He wasn't completely lying, either. His younger sibling looked at him skeptically as Mike removed himself from the plush couch. He scowled back at her playfully, and grabbed a magazine off the top of the pile that stood on the coffee table. As he threw it to her, he said, "here, occupy yourself and don't worry about it."

~*~

Jason took another sip of coffee, as if that would help him digest the fact that Courtney had been inside this diner when he was downstairs, dealing with Carly's employees.

"So, have you seen Courtney since she got back?" Dilon asked, taking another bite of the food on his plate.

The blue eyed man shook his head. "No, I haven't. I know she got back yesterday, but I haven't seen her."

"You are going to see her, right?"

He wanted to wring his cousins' neck for asking so many questions, but doing so right there in the middle of Kelly's wouldn't be a good idea. He saw Marco walk in from the back entrance, and gladly took the chance to leave.

"Sorry guys, I've got to go. It looks like Marco's done with his job downstairs." He set his cup down and placed a ten dollar bill underneath it, and his younger cousins waved goodbye, their mouths full of food.

Marco and Jason walked out of the diner, heading towards the end of the alley. "So, did you get everything done? You followed Carly's directions exactly?"

The dark haired guard next to him noticed how tense he was. "All I had to do was watch them do what they already know how to do. It's really not that hard."

"Yeah, okay. If anything was done wrong and Carly comes after me for it, my finger is going to pointed completely in your direction."

"You're the one who told them what to do, what she told them to do, all I had to do was watch, so if anything's wrong, she can blame you for getting it wrong or herself for not giving the directions correctly."

Jason chuckled slightly. "Well, I think she gets back soon, so you can tell her that. Make sure you have your will made out before you do, though, because you may not survive that confrontation."

Marco shoved Jason as they approached the massive SUV. "If I have to, then you'd better, too, because she'll come blame you, before she ever admits that she made a mistake. We'll both be dead, and then maybe she'll admit that she was wrong."

Jason nodded and opened the driver's side door before getting in, as Marco did the same on the other side. "Yeah, that's true. Wish I thought I'd be alive to see it, but she'd never let that happen. She'd kill me just because she wouldn't want us to be able to remember her saying she was wrong, if she even admitted it in the first place. I doubt that would even happen."

"Carly wouldn't admit when she was wrong? Say it isn't so."

"Exactly. She hasn't come face to face with the fact that she's always wrong."

~*~

"Mike, do me a favor, and don't pressure Courtney about going to see him, or don't even metnion him to her."

"Why not, they need to see each other again."

"Maybe, but let the two of them work it out on their own, do whatever they want to do. I don't think either of them need to be pressured by this. You and Carly both need to understand this."

Mike leaned against the counter in the kitchen, crossing his eyes over his chest defensively. "You can't run their lives, Sonny. This is a small town, they're going to see each other eventually, and I'm just trying to help them along."

The darker man looked at his father as i f he'd suddenly grown another head. "I am not trying to run their lives, Mike, I'm trying to take the pressure and tension off of both of them, and I don't think you should try to push Courtney into seeing him. She'll do it on her own, I'm sure."

He shook his head in defeat. "Okay, fine. She could do without it, I guess."

Sonny nodded and then glared at him. "By the way, what in the hell did you bring into this house? Don't tell me it's a cake."

~*~

Courtney stayed in her chair, flipping through the magazine lazily, while her ears were tuned into the muffled voices coming from the kitchen. she couldn't really make out the words, but it did seem they were in disagreement about something. Not like that was anything new, but since that was the case, she knew their discussion wasn't about Carly. At least, she didn't think it was.

Five minutes later, Sonny walked out with Mike close behind. They looked pretty awkward for a moment until her brother looked at her pointedly. "You're taking that pie home with you, you know."

"What? I'm not, it's Carly's." she responded, looking up at him with her eyebrows raised.

"It may be Carly's, but there is no way she's keeping it. She'll pay for it, but you get to take it home," he said, completely serious when he took a seat in the other chair.

She laughed at his insistence, shaking her head. "No way. It's Carly's, she can keep it. Besides, I think we'd both wind up dead, you for giving it to me, and I would be for taking it."

"Eh, I don't think so. I have my ways of keeping her under control." Before he knew it, he had the magazine he'd tossed her in his face. "Hey!"

"Leave her alone and let her keep it. I'm sure that you've kept her junk food free since I was gone."

Mike chuckled from the couch. "Just about, Courtney."

"Hey, that stuff is unhealthy and nobody should be eating it. There's nothing wrong with wanting my wife to eat good food."

"Sonny, chocolate pie is good food to Carly," Courtney said, giving him a look that told him he was acting pathetic.

"Change the subject! I don't need to be ganged up on."

Mike looked at him incredulously. "You're the one who started all of this, Micheal."

"And I'm finishing it."

Courtney rolled her eyes. "So, when is Carly supposed to be home?"

"Sometime tonight, maybe. She called earlier with some directions for a couple of orders that were coming in for The Cellar, and she said she'd be home later. But, who knows, later to her could mean six weeks from now."

Chapter Eleven

Carly and Bobbie were five minutes from the edge of town, and the younger woman was very eager to get into it. She'd missed her sister-in-law a lot over the last two years, and there had been a couple of times where she'd been very close to buying herself a plane ticket to Greece. The only people who had stopped her were Sonny and Jason.

"I'm so glad she's back, Mama. We missed her so much." Carly sighed, looking almost like a child as she stared out the window.

Bobbie laughed at her. "I know. Two years seem so long when you look back on it, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. She missed Christmas with us, and birthday parties, especially Sonny's. Well, no, she sent him a gift, but she wasn't there."

"I know, but she is now, and you two can make up for that."

~*~

Jason and Marco walked into the warehouse, and found Meyer at one of the computers, typing lazily and looking at the screen. Marco went into another room, but his boss approached the desk.

"Found anything yet? Jason asked, sitting on the edge of the wood the computer was placed on.

The other man shook his head and leaned back in the chair. "Nope, I can't find a damn thing on the guy. We've heard of most of the higher level guys in the FBI for obvious reasons, and the CIA, I've heard of one or two. He's got to be lower level or something." Meyer yawned and punched a couple of keys on the keyboard in front of him. "You sure you've got the right guy? Or, sure he didn't lie?"

Jason shook his head. "No, Courtney would have been able to tell. There aren't very many people who could lie to her and her not know they were."

The man at the computer furrowed his eyebrows in curiosity. "Maybe that's why Sonny was pretty pissed off."

"What are you talking about?"

"He called me earlier, after I talked to you, and said that my main job right now it so find the guy, As I said, pretty pissed off."

It was Jason's turn to be confused. He knew that Sonny wanted to find the guy, for good reason, but he hadn't been so adamant about it when he'd talked to him. "That's interesting," he said, distracted by his own thoughts.

~*~

"Sonny, I understand why you'd want to find him, but seriously, it's not something where you need to send out all the troops," Courtney told her older brother, who stood next to the balcony doors. Mike had left to get back to Kelly's, and when Courtney had seen how tense Sonny really was, she'd told her father that she would meet up with him later.

Sonny shook his head slowly. "You may not care if he's found, but I do. I don't even care about the business, Court. I don't like what he did. It's wrong, and any man who has any respect for a woman's emotions wouldn't act like such a-" he let his sentence trail off.

"I'm over it, though."

"And I'm your big brother. That, and I want that guy to fear for his life. Not only did he mess with you, but he used my business to do it. I don't care about the business, but I care how he did it, under those completely false pretenses. That's not something I usually let people get away with, so I won't. But it's because of you."

Courtney rolled her eyes at him, behind his back, clearly somewhat annoyed. But, she shouldn't have expected anything less from him. Even so, she was getting tired of it already. Going after the guy for whatever wouldn't change anything that happened.

She didn't respond directly to his statement, but instead walked over to him, saying goodbye before walking out the door.

Chapter..Twelve

Carly walked in the door of her penthouse and threw the small bag onto the couch across the room. The living room was empty and the penthouse was very quiet. She squinted her eyes and looked around. She'd been hoping that Courtney would be there when she got home, but it didn't look like she was.

The brunette's ears picked up small, unidentifiable sounds coming from the kitchen, and she walked own the hallway towards them. Sonny was there, standing over the counter in the kitchen, and cutting up carrots before throwing them into a large bowl next to him. He must have been able to sense her there, because he looked up. "Hey, you're home."

"Yep, and I was hoping that Courtney would be here. What'd you do, suggest you were going to make dinner? I'm sure that would send her running in the other direction," Carly teased before kissing him quickly.

"Watch it. And no, she left before I even thought of making dinner."

"She was here? I didn't think she'd been here earlier, I was teasing."

Sonny nodded and put the tops of the carrots he'd been chopping in the trashcan behind her. "She and Mike were both here earlier. They dropped off that chocolate mouse pie in the refrigerator that you aren't going to eat." Carly looked at him as if she were going to smash his head into the refrigerator for that comment, but he continued before she could say anything. "They stayed and talked for a little while then Mike had to get back to Kelly's, so he left. Courtney stayed for a little while longer, then she left, too. I think she might have mentioned something about spending the day with him."

"Hmm, I guess I'm supposed to take that as a subtle hint to leave Courtney alone today, right?"

The curly haired man shrugged at her and wiped his hands on the towel sitting on the counter. Yes, it was a slight hint, but mainly because he wanted to talk to his wife before she took the chance to pounce on her sister-in-law. And, Courtney had already gotten it from her father, nobody would want a double dose of it, at least not from Carly.

"What's going on, Sonny?" the chocolate eyed woman asked, eyeing him warily. He was acting strange to her.

"What makes you think that something's going on?"

"Oh, come on, I know you, you're my husband, I can tell when something's up. You were acting like this after you talked to Courtney a couple weeks ago. Tell me."

He sighed and threw the remaining chopped up carrots into the bowl. "I'm worried about her. She keeps acting as if it's fine, telling me that I'm making it a bigger deal than it is, but I'm not sure. I've wanted to blow something up ever since she told me about it-"

Carly's face held a confused expression. "Sonny, you're losing me here. What is 'it'?"

"I can't tell you."

"What the hell? How am I supposed to know what you're talking about or how to help? If it has something to do with Courtney, I have a right to know, too."

Sonny shook his head gently. "Nevermind. It's not for me to tell. And don't pressure her about it, either." He walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway as she looked after him, completely confused in under ten minutes of being home.

~*~

The week went by, and it was about as uneventful as anything could possibly be. And, Courtney preferred it that way right now, since she was till trying to adjust to being home again, and being able to speak more English that Greek.

She had yet to stumble upon Jason, which she thought was odd, considering how small Port Charles really was. Or, perhaps it's bigger when you've been gone for an extended period of time. The blonde didn't want to presume to know any reason for why he hadn't sought her out. She knew he knew that she was home, he'd been there right before she'd entered the loft the day she returned, but she thought that it was slightly abnormal. But, then again, she hadn't chosen to find and talk to him, either.

As far as she knew, he knew nothing about happenings in Greece. She wanted it that way until they could talk. And they would, when either felt ready, he would come to her or she would find him. There was a lot to tell him, and she wanted to tell him about it before Sonny lost his self control and did that for her. He was already blowing it out of proportion, taking it a lot harder than he should. Jason needed to hear her first, Sonny later.

She'd talked to Carly for a few minutes on the phone, but that was it. They were planning to go out later, so they could have some girl time alone. Courtney knew that was going to be an interesting dinner, since she had a feeling Sonny had said something, nothing specific she hoped. Hopefully, she could get to both Carly and Jason before her brother took it upon himself share.

Chapter Thirteen

Carly took a small sip of wine and pursed her lips lightly as she swallowed, eyeing Courtney carefully. "You know, I do understand why your brother is upset about this. I'd actually be more surprised if he wasn't."

Courtney raised her eyebrows as she used a fork to take a bite of salad. Halfway through their meal, Carly had gotten around to asking what was going on, citing her husband as the source of her suspicion. Of curse, the younger woman had tried to evade her sister-in-law's question, but the brown haired woman hadn't let that pass. Finally, she'd told the entire story quietly as Carly listened. It wasn't exactly when or where she wanted to tell her, in a restaurant, but that was done now.

"Really? I don't. I just wish he would stop acting as if it's the end of the world because it's not. It happened, it's over, let's move on," she responded, exasperated just by the mention of her brother's actions.

"He can't, you should know that. You're his little sister, he loves you. He's lived through this before, and you should have known he would be upset."

"Are you?"

Carly pursed her lips again, and set her wine glass down on the table. She hesitated for a moment before answering. "Yes and no. You know how angry I was when Sonny went through this, hell, you were even hurt and upset then, and so yes, I hate that you had it happen to you, too. But,I see how well you're taking it, truly taking it, and it's okay. Things happen like this, at least in our lives. And, I also know that you've got love to see you through it."

Courtney jumped mentally at her last comment, and glared back at her, tentatively. She was surprised Carly would bring that up during this conversation. "Don't..."

"I'm not. And I won't" Silence surrounded them for a few seconds. "Does your father know?"

"Not yet, but he will"

"And..."

"I said don't, Carly."

The dark haired woman gave her an innocent smile. "Okay, then tell me about the good parts of Greece..."

Relief washed over the blue eyed woman's face. She didn't want the conversation to continue there, and the subject change was welcome.

~*~

Courtney dropped Carly off at the penthouse after dinner, and then made her way back to the loft, where she changed and went to bed. She didn't fall asleep, but instead lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling and recounting the evening she'd spent with her sister-in-law.

Carly was right, when she said that she should understand why Sonny was about ready to commit murder. He'd lived through it, only it was worse, and both Carly, who hadn't been around much then, but was there enough, and Courtney had seen it. Of course, it was hard for her, too, but it wasn't really the same as Sonny's hurt was. They were on completely different levels then, and now, it was more prominent for Courtney.

Looking at all the events since then, she could say that the incident was part of the reason she'd left. That, combined with Sonny's marriage to Carly later, listening to him say the same things he'd always said to Brenda, they'd made her so unsure.

And helped her make the choice to test those waters.

~*~

Jason was outside in the hallway, talking to Max quietly, when the elevator bell dinged, announcing that someone would be coming off the car any minute. The two men stopped their discussion and looked towards the elevator doors, waiting for whoever it was to make an appearance. Carly stepped off a few seconds later and saw the two of them standing near Jason's penthouse door.

"Hey, what's so interesting out here?" she asked, going up to Jason curiously.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Nothing. Where have you been, I thought you were inside with Sonny."

She scoffed and gave him a look. "I forgot I had to have clearance." She laughed and rolled her eyes. "I met Courtney for dinner."

I should have known he thought to himself as he nodded his head. His heart started beating a little faster as he tried to seem unfazed. If Carly sensed his reaction, she'd never get her to go away.

"How was it," Jason asked, followed by a small gulp of air in an attempt to slow his heartbeat down. He held her gaze, as if to tell her that they were only having this pseudo conversation because she'd walked over to them instead of going straight into the penthouse. He wished, for once, that she would keep walking whenever she saw him instead of feeling the need to stop and talk.

"It was nice. We talked, she caught me up on what's going on with her, how Greece was, and some other things." She stopped and nodded her head quickly, almost as a reminder that that was it, even though it wasn't. There was more, but she couldn't tell him that.

Jason nodded in return and threw a glance at Max. Carly caught the message, and looked at the guard, too, before she said goodnight to the two of them and walked towards the penthouse.

Max looked at her suspiciously, watching as she turned the handle of the door and looked back at Jason tentatively. After she'd shut the door behind her, the guard looked at his boss. "She's hiding something."

Jason knew that, just by the way she'd looked at him. But, his question was, whose secret was she hiding?