Prologue:

“Robin! Robin!”

Robin quickly ran downstairs to see what had put the excitement into Jason’s voice. He was in the living room of the penthouse and had just gotten down with a phone call that had required her to leave the room. Now he was holding Michael and had a happy smile on his face.

“What is it? Why were you calling me,” she asked him, surprised by this rare enthusiasm.

He set Michael down in his rollie walker and said, “Sonny is coming home. That was him on the phone. The men who were after him have been taken care of, so it’s safe for him to return to Port Charles.”

Robin went to Jason to give him a hug and then leaned down to Michael, “Did you hear that Michael? You’re going to get to meet the man you are named for.” She turns to Jason again, “Wow, I can’t believe he is finally going to come back. Where is he going to live? He could live here if Carly would find her own place. Maybe you can convince her?” Robin hasn’t heard Carly come down the stairs. She was drawn by Jason’s shouts also and heard the last two sentences.

“Not on your life, Princess,” Carly says heatedly, causing both Robin and Jason to whirl to face her. “There is no way in hell I am going to be parted from Michael. What are you two so excited about anyway?,” Carly said from her place on the stairs.

“Of course we don’t want you to be apart from Michael, Carly,” Robin said, although it was a direct contradiction to her previous statement.

Jason ignored all that and repeated his news again, “Sonny is coming back to Port Charles. Isn’t that great!”

Carly smiled at him, happy to see him so excited but not thrilled by the news. ‘Great, one more person to criticize and look down on him. I’m sure we’ll be great friends. As long as he doesn’t try and interfere I’ll try and be nice to him for Jason’s sake though,’ she thought.

Chapter One:

The penthouse was a flurry of activity. Johnny and Pete were checking for any possible security breaches as Robin checked for what seemed to Carly to be the millionth time to see if the coffee table had any dust on it.

‘God, you’d think the Pope or Barry Mannilow was coming the way she’s acting. It’s just the PCPD’s least favorite mobster. Why are we rolling out the red carpet and going to all this trouble?’ a disgruntled Carly thinks as she picks Michael up. ‘Even Michael seems excited, flinging his arms around in his new jumpsuit that Little Miss Cheerful bought him.’

Jason is out, meeting Sonny at wherever he flew into, so Carly and Robin aren’t worried about keeping up the charade that they can tolerate each other. Each has managed to keep relatively quiet and not insult the other, except for Robin asking Carly, “Are you really going to wear that,” when she saw Carly’s new outfit. And Carly retorted that at least she was able to shop in the women’s department, “unlike some other people in this room.”

Maybe it was the mounting tension between the two that is caused Michael to become fussy. Robin offered to take him, which of course made Carly more determined to calm him herself. Finally, she took him into the kitchen to get him a bottle.

She talked to him softly as she stood at the counter feeding him, “Today’s an important day around here. Sonny, the old owner of this place and the man you are named for is returning. I’m sure he’ll love you.” Michael smiles up at her from around his bottle. “Yes, he’ll definitely love you, everybody does. I just hope that we can get along. I don’t need another person telling Jason what a waste of air I am. He’ll never see how much I care about him if all he hears about me is negativity.”

There is a squeal and the sound of laughter from the living room. “I guess that must be him little man. Let’s go make our hellos.” Hefting Michael on her hip, Carly walks into the other room just in time to see Jason, Robin, and Sonny all in a big three way hug. They turn her way and Carly thinks hopefully, “I hope Jason likes my new dress,” before smiling and bringing Michael over.

“Sonny, this is who I’ve been telling you so much about. Meet my son, Michael,” Jason says. Almost as an afterthought, he adds, “and his mother, Carly.”

And now I'm all alone again
Nowhere to turn, no one to go to
Without a home, without a friend,
Without a face to say hello to.
And now the night is near
Now I can make believe he's here.

Sonny made the appropriate remarks about the baby, all the while observing the situation at hand. He saw the almost imperceptible change that went over Carly’s face as a result of Jason’s introduction. Her disappointment was well hidden but still detectable by someone who had experienced so much of his own.

His reports from Robin and even Jason about Carly’s behavior has him questioning what he sees. The Carly he has heard about just doesn’t seem the type to be that easily hurt. She’s probably just miffed that she hasn’t gotten Jason away from Robin yet.

“It’s nice to meet you Carly. You have a beautiful son.” Sonny didn’t really know what else to say. Almost none of the things he had heard about her had been good, so he didn’t want to make reference to that, so instead he remained silent.

Carly was having a similar problem. She was having an internal war over whether or not to try and look good in front of Jason by sucking up to Sonny, or to not lower herself in front of this man who already has an opinion of her. In the end, love wins and she smiles and makes some totally meaningless comments about how much she hopes they can get to know each other.

Sonny makes the appropriate replies but inside he is griding his teeth. ‘Don’t even think about using me to get to Jason, it’s not going to happen.’

“Sonny, are you back for good, I hope?” Robin asks. She is standing next to Jason, who has his arm around her.

“Those are the plans. I’m going to start looking for a new place to live in a few days, but until then I’ll be living at the Port Charles Inn.”

“It’s too bad you can’t live here like before you had to leave. It would have been so perfect.” The unspoken implication that this imperfection is caused by Carly’s imposition is not lost on anybody. Robin is not happy at all with the current living situation. The more in love and closer that she and Jason get, the more Carly’s presence preys on her nerves. Jason uncomfortably speaks up.

“You can’t live here, but maybe you can live across the hall. The last tenant moved so it is ready for lease, all you’d need is a little furniture.”

“Why don’ t we go see if we can get a tour of the place,” Sonny suggests. “And after that, I made reservations at Cafe Matisse for dinner.” He turns to Carly and adds, “Sorry, but I only made three reservations for dinner. It completely slipped my mind that you might want to come too.”

Although all of that was said sweetly enough, both Carly and Sonny silently acknowledged that he had scored a point there.

Sometimes I walk alone at night
When everybody else is sleeping
I think of him and then I'm happy
With the company I'm keeping
The city goes to bed
And I can live inside my head.

“No, don’t worry about it, it will be nice to be by myself for once. Michael and I will just hang around here and veg out in from of the boob tube and I’ll make myself some Macaroni or something. Cafe Matisse is so stuffy and stuck up. Sometimes I wonder why anyone would want to go there to eat anyway. The few times I was there, I’ve just looked around and wondered how many of the people eating there came just to be seen, when they’d rather cook their own food and eat in jeans and a t-shirt at home.” Carly knew even before she said it that she was going to say something rude but it just came out anyway.

Sonny felt a glimmer of respect for Carly for sticking up for herself but could tell that Jason disapproved of the outburst.

The three of them left to look at the apartment, leaving mother and son alone.

“Ok Mikey. What do you want to watch tonight? We’ve got either Sabrina, or Roman Holiday. Either way it’s going to be a Audrey Hepburn night.” He makes a gurgling sound and pulls at Carly’s hair. “Roman Holiday it is then. You’ll love it. Gregory Peck is the most dreamy character and Audrey Hepburn is so sad as the princess who has to sacrifice love for her country. It is definetly my favorite of her movies. My mom and I always used to watch it together.”

It was around 6:30 pm, so Carly went into the kitchen to fix something to eat. Due to limited cooking ability dinner ended up being strained Peas, sweet Potatoes, and plums with apples, while Carly made do with a cold roast beef sandwich and some pretzels. ‘I’ve really got to learn how to make something other than sandwiches,’ she thought as Michael and her settled down on the couch and pressed the play button. She knew that it wouldn’t be long before he was asleep.

The movie was just to the past the opening credits when Sonny, Jason, and Robin came in to get changed for dinner. Carly stopped the movie, figuring that she would put Michael to bed now. Before she got the chance however, Robin asked, “Do you mind if I put Michael to bed? You can keep watching your movie.”

Carly reluctantly handed him over to her and watched as Robin and Jason took the baby upstairs. She looked over a couple minutes later though, and saw that there was a tiny sock on the floor that must have slipped off. Carly once again stopped the movie, picked it up and went upstairs. The sight that met Carly’s eyes upon reaching Michael’s nursery made her stomach lurch and her fists clench.

Robin was on Jason’s lap holding Michael as Jason read to the both of them. Carly could hear the words, “...areas of low latitude generally receive 10 to 15 inches of rain per year...”

On my own
Pretending he's beside me
All alone, I walk with him till morning
Without him
I feel his arms around me
And when I lose my way I close my eyes
And he has found me

They looked so much like the family that she wanted to have that Carly wanted was torn between screaming her fury or bursting into tears. She quickly went back downstairs and called Leticia to see if she could come by for an hour and watch Michael after everyone left. After getting her agreement, Carly went back to the couch to watch the movie.

Sonny, Jason, and Robin left around 8, only a few minutes before Leticia showed up. Carly told her that she would only be gone a short time and would be back before the others.

Carly didn’t plan on going far. The park was only a couple of blocks away, and the night was very clear and bright, the moon seemed to be bouncing off of everything.

In the rain the pavement shines like silver
All the lights are misty in the river
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight
And all I see is him and me for ever and forever

The park was deserted, as always. This was certainly not the first time Carly had sought refuge in the quiet of the empty park. Usually, she waited until everybody was asleep but tonight she had really needed to clear her head, in order to get the image of Robin and Jason out of it.

And I know it's only in my mind
That I'm talking to myself and not to him
And although I know that he is blind
Still I say, there's a way for us

‘Maybe I’m as delusional as Tony and everyone else keeps telling me I am. Why would Jason notice me after all this time. He’s happy, but I know I could make him happier, I’ve just got to keep trying. Eventually he has to realize what I already know. He has to.

I love him
But when the night is over
He is gone, the river's just a river
Without him the world around me changes
The trees are bare and everywhere
The streets are full of strangers

“Oh, Jason. I love you so much. I’m going to prove it to you and show that Robin only sees you as someone she can talk down to. You’re the kindest, most handsome, most gentle man I’ve ever known and I’m going to earn your love. If it kills me, I will!” Carly vows as she has in the past to the empty air around her.

I love him
But every day I'm learning
All my life I've only been pretending
Without me his world will go on turning
A world that's full of happiness
That I have never known!
I love him
I love him
I love him
But only on my own.