Chapter Three

Courtney’s small body melted in her brother’s arms, realizing at one how much she’d missed his comfort, both as a brother and a best friend. The dark, mysterious man had always had a way of making her feeling at home, since he and Jason had been a symbol of home for so many years

In spite of her already relaxed mindset, Sonny could feel a deep sense of relief. He felt the same; he hadn’t seen her in two years, the longest they’d ever been apart in years. She was the same as she had been then, he could tell, but now he sensed a growth in her, she was more mature and experienced than she had been. There were reasons for that, and he knew every one of them. Surprisingly, though, Courtney wasn’t upset or unhappy, which he would have expected her to be. He would have been, hell, he had been worse at one point in his life. But there was a deeper reason for that, and it was stronger than what she’d had and what had happened in Greece. And, it was the reason she’d gone to begin with.

Sonny let his little sister out of his arms and she moved away. “I missed you.”

A small grin spread across his face, revealing the dimples in his cheeks. “I missed you, too. Carly did, too, but she went upstate with Bobbie to some spa thing for her birthday. I told her to go ahead and go, since Bobbie had been out of town for awhile.”

“Oh, that’s fine, I’ll just see her when she gets back.”

Courtney walked over to sit on the plush sofa, and she was followed by Sonny, after he poured each of them a glass of water. He handed hers to her as he settled down into the couch. There was business and there was personal. He’d heard all of it before, and relayed the business matters to Jason while keeping the personal ones to himself. Not even Carly knew, unless the light blonde had told her some of the very sketchy details. The full version could not be divulged to her yet, since it was attached to a business matter they were attending to at the moment.

“Did you get everything taken care of before you left?” he asked, deciding that he would try to go from business to the other information.

“Yes, I did. Secured, safe, it’s all fine. Nobody can get the information unless it comes from our own mouths.”

“Okay, good…”

“I’m not going to be doing anything while I’m here, Sonny,” she said, cutting him off. “I didn’t come home for that. Yes, it was part of the reason, but it was not that in it’s entirety.”

“Have you talked to him, Courtney?”

A sigh escaped her lips. No, she hadn’t, and he knew that. Whether he knew the reasons, she didn’t know, but he knew most of it. “You know the answer; no, I haven’t. You haven’t told him anything, have you? And, how did this get to be about him, when you were asking me about what I’d done before I left just a few seconds ago.”

“Your reasons weren’t about business and I assumed the rest. No, I haven’t told him. I’ve never gotten in the middle of your relationship, and I don’t think he’d appreciate it if I started now.”

Courtney nodded and brought the cool glass to her lips. “No, he wouldn’t.”

~*~

As a cool breeze rolled over the Point, Jason lazily glanced at the watch on his wrist. It wasn’t even noon yet. He was tempted to go back to the loft, to feel her as closely as he always did when he stepped into it, since he didn’t know if he would get to feel it there again. Even if he didn’t, though, he knew that if he allowed himself to, he could access her within himself.

Ever since that day she’d helped him out by getting him away from the Quartermaine’s, a connection binding them both together had grown, and he knew that they still had it. It was as deep as their very souls, and it wouldn’t go away, ever. It was once in a lifetime, and he could feel it.

But, that was what had scared her, if that was what he could call it. Or, maybe it was uncertain. Maybe it wasn’t enough.

Or maybe she wanted to be sure. If that was enough. Testing? Where she was mean to be, where they were meant to be.

Were they?

Chapter Four

"Do you love him?" Sonny asked, watching his sister as she took a small sip of water.

She sighed and a tiny smile crept onto her lips. "Of course I do, Sonny. That hasn't changed, and I don't think it ever will."

He nodded to her response, which he'd already known, but he wanted to be sure. "Do you plan on seeing him or talking to him at all? Because if you don't, remember that he lives across the hall now. It won't be that easy to avoid him."

"Coudl you stop with the twenty questions, you're getting to be as bad as Carly. I will probably see him, but I can't tell you any more than that." She couldn't because she didn't know herself. There wasn't any way she could predict what would happen, and even if she tried to speculate on it, there could be a chance that she would be wrong.

All she knew at this point was that she would see him, eventually, and he would probably be told the whole story about what had happened in Greece.

And why she aws back. After that, it was anybody's guess.

~*~
Always in my dreams
In the memories within me
You're there standing right by my side

He could sense the change in the atmosphere around him. It was so very similar to what he'd felt when she had gone. It was as if everything shifted to adjust to her absence, and now it was doing the same, but instead because of her unmistakeable presence. He could feel her. Maybe it was just knowing, because she was supposed to be there, or it was their connection, one could never really be sure. But, Jason could tell and the all too familiar pull on his heart started in again.

And, he didn't like it. But it wasn't something he could control. He didn't want to get his hopes up, and he wasn't going to. She was here, for now, and he wasn't going to be expecting anything from her. It wouldn't before to either of them.

He remembered the ride from the Quartermaine mansion to Courtney's loft. She had taken him there because there was no other place to take him.

¤¤Flashback¤¤
Courtney was relaxed and silent as they drove down the streets. She wasn't sure what had set him off with the Quartermaines, and she wasn't sure she cared at the moment. Jason was upset, needing to get away, and that was what she cared about. Not the way, or what, but making him feel secure, that she was a friend.

She looked over at him as he leaned his head against the window, a blank stare piercing throught the glass. No, he wasn't the person she'd known before. But, that didn't matter anymore, he was who he was now, and the 'then' didn't matter. At least to her.

"I'll take you to my loft so you can have somehwere to stay. Is that okay, or would you prefer somehwere else?" There wasn't a 'somewhere else', unless it was Sonny's or the Port Charles hotel, which his family owned.

Jason chuckled ruefully and rolled his eyes. I just can't get away from it, can I? She's wanting to take me back to the loft, where she said I spent the night with her sometimes. Used to. Before the accident. "When are you people going to wake up and realize that I am not you precious Jason Quartermaine? I lost my memmory, I wil never be that guy again, in case you didn't hear the doctors."

"Excuse me?" She had no idea where that had come from.

"You. You're taking me back to you lofe, where you said we spent time together. Sorry, but it's not going to make my memory come back. It's gone, forever. I'm permanently damaged, and it's not going to change."

Courtney pulled the car into a deserted parking lot quickly, and slammed it into 'park'. She faced him, thinking that there was no way they were going to misunderstand each other. Not now.

"Jason, I know that you will never be the person you were before, and I accept that. The Quartermaines don't, obviously, but that doesn't mean that Sonny and I are on the same page as they are. We were good friends when it happened, yes, but that is not why I came to get you tonight. What happened before doesn't matter, we're back at level one. I want to be a friend to you, based on who you and I are right now, not six months ago. I am not your grandfather, or any of the others. Can you see that, or do I have to take you back to your family to show you somebody who is trying to force you into who you were before?"

¤¤End Flashback¤¤

And he had seen it. That was easy to read behind her deep blue eyes. She didn't expect anything from him, she just wanted to be there for him. Their past before the accident didn't matter anymore, even though she'd told him about it months later, at his request.

But his knowledge of their previous relationship hadn't affected what they had or felt now. As far as either was concerned, Jason Quartermaine didn't exist. Barely.

Friends then, soulmates now.

At least as he saw it. She was another story, he couldn't speak for her.

Chapter Five

Courtney left her brother's penthouse hours later, after talking and having lunch with him. She could feel herself slipping back into the city of Port Charles seamlessly already, which was just a touch unsettling. She wasn't sure if that was what she wanted.

Or needed.

Sonny had made some sort of lasagna, a new recipe he'd said, while she made a salad. It was nice to be able to have quiet times with her brother again. She was thankful that Carly wasn't home, or that neither of them had kids. She loved her sister-in-law, but sometimes she just needed time with him alone. Like now.

She made her way to the loft quickly, and it was just as normal for her as it had been two years ago. It didn't even seem as if she'd been gone at all, and if she didn't know any better, she'd think that she hadn't. As soon as she parked in the loft outside the building, Courtney reached into the back set of the Jeep for her smaller bag.

She'd come back down for the other two once she checked the small apartment out, seeing as she couldn't carry all three of the bags up in one trip. It was almost as if the universe shifted as she opened the door to the building the loft was encased in. The surreal feeling refused to go away, and she blinked as she shook her head, hoping that it would pass soon.

The journey up the stairs to the loft aws longer than the blue eyed woman remembered, but she was sure that was the case with anyone who came back from a trip, or moved back home.

Funnily enough, she did not fit into either of these two categories.

She didn't know where she fit anymore, other than the role of Sonny's sister. Did she belong here?

Finally, Courtney reached her home, one of them. She slid the key inot the lock and turned it, hearing the soft click as the deadbolt moved. She was the only person with a key to it, Jason being the obvious exception. He'd had it since a few days after she'd brought him there for the first time after his accident' after she'd rescued him from the Quartermaines.

¤~Flashback~¤
Jason stood at the refrigerator and took out a bottle of pop as the door opened behind him. Twisting the cap off the bottle, he turned around to catch Courtney setting a bag down on the nearby chair. He'd decided to stay for a couple of days, since he was a lot more comfortable there than he was at his family's mansion. He felt truly free since he awoke from his life changing coma, and he was enjoying it.

The bright eyed blonde smiled at him with sparkling eyes, which were common for the generally happy woman, and he allowed one in return. Stepping close to the counter, she took the cool metal key out of her pocket and handed it to him.

Jason looked down at it, not quite grasping what she was giving him. "What's that for?"

"It's a key to the loft. I don't like leaving it unlocked and I don't want you to have to stay and wait outside until I come back if we both happen to be out at the same time. So, I got a copy made for you so you can come and go as you please."

He chuckled and took another drink of the fizzy liquid in the bottle he held in his hand. "I could just get through one of the windows, it's not that hard."

A light buld went off in Courtney's head and she eyed him with playful suspicion. "So that was how you got in yesterday! I didn't leave the door unlocked when I left like I thought, you snuck in through one of the windows. Why didn't you tell me?"

A smirk replaced his boyish grin as he replied. "It was too funny watching you go over how I could have gotten in and how the door could have been unlocked when you were so sure that you'd locked the door."
~¤End Flashback¤~

She remembered glaring at him after that remark, and tossing the key to him. He wasn't quick enough to catch it with one of his hands full, so she heard a small thump as it hit him solidly in the chest. After picking it up off the ground, he'd placed it in his jeans pocket, where she knew it had stayed ever since. Whenever he got dressed, the key was the first thing he'd put in his pocket from its overnight holding place on one of the shelves in the bookcase.

As far as Courtney knew, it was still there. He'd tried to give it back when she was leaving, but she wouldn't let him.

~¤Flashback¤~
The metallic silver flashed at her from his strong hand as he held it out to her, a reversal of roles now. It was him giving it to her, instead of her to him. She was supposed to leave, and wasn't going to be at the loft any longer, so he felt there was no need for him to have it.

Corutney shook her head as she refused to take it from him. In her eyes, that loft was as much his as it was hers, but he had always called it hers, at least before they were together. "No, you keep it. You may need it someday if you want to go back there or something. I'm not going to be here, so you're more likely to use it than I am.

A slight smiled immersed itself into his soft lips. "I don't need it, remember? The loft still has windows."

She couldn't help but laugh in return as she remembered the reference to his actions before she'd had the key made. "That's true, but keep it, still. I don't want you to have to climb through windows if you want to go back."
~¤Flashback End¤~

The bittersweet memories made her smile, and she turned the handle to the door, ready to settle herself her again, for now. And as she stepped in, it all washed over her, flooding all of her senses.

He'd been here.