Sonny & Carly Tape 00

This tape starts off with Sonny and Carly’s earliest scene together.  They are in the penthouse and Sonny starts picking up the toys Carly had around the penthouse.  She asks who decorated the penthouse and he says, “my dead wife.”  Looking uncomfortable, she admits Lily did a good job.  She starts complaining about Robin and how she forced Jason to live in the cottage.  He tells her to lay off Robin, she made a bad choice when her back was to the wall.  He says what Robin did was unforgivable and there is no need to keep bringing her up, hurting Jason in the process.  He tells Carly she is as transparent as a glass and he can see right through her.  And if he knows what she is, Jason does too.  He doesn’t have to tell Jason what to do about her, although he has a few ideas (if she knows what he means).  She tells him not to make Jason choose between himself and Michael, Robin did and look what happened her.  And she and Michael comes as a packaged deal.

Sonny comes home to find Jason there.  Sonny tells him he went to see Mike.  Jason comments that Carly must bother Sonny more than he thought she would if he is going to see Mike just to avoid her.  The only thing Sonny likes about Carly is that she is Michael’s mother.  Sonny thanks Jason after Jason tells him he sent Carly shopping – she should be gone the entire day.  Jason tells him Carly is scared and she is angry and she keeps going over what Robin did.

Sonny and Jason discuss re-opening their import/export business so that Jason will have a legitimate business and cannot be deemed an unfit father.  Carly interrupts worried that AJ and the rest of the Q’s will march threw the door any minute for Michael.  On the docks, Sonny tells Jason his biggest problem is Michael’s mother.  He says she will play both sides against the middle and side with whomever comes out on top.  They return to the penthouse to learn Carly has told Bobbie the truth of Michael’s paternity even though she promised not to tell anyone.  She says Bobbie is her mother and she had to tell her.  Sonny tells her if she keeps going like this, she might as well give Michael to the Quartermaine’s right now.

Sonny and Jason tell a disbelieving Benny they are opening a legitimate business as coffee importers.  AJ arrives with a court order, ordering a paternity test on Michael.  They have 48 hours to comply.  Sonny tells Jason better warn his roommate.  He will go ahead and get the longest spatula he has so they can scrape her off the ceiling.  Sonny warns Jason AJ will go to Carly next.  Jason says it doesn’t have to be that bad – Carly is a fighter.  Sonny knows and believes that.  The problem is knowing how Carly is going to fight and with whom.  Carly comes home from shopping and Jason breaks the news to her.  She wants run instead of letting them get Michael.  Jason warns her AJ will stalk her, and that she has to remain calm and tell him everything is in the lawyer’s hands.  He asks if he as ever let her and Michael down.  Never she answers, and she is cool for the moment.

Jason and Carly are in PH2 waiting for their new furniture to arrive.  Carly wonders if she should be with Bobbie (to comfort her since Ruby died).  She says for the first time, she felt like family with her mother.  They discuss the family they want to build for Michael.  Jason teases Carly and her love for decorating telling Michael it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like what she does to the place because she loves redecorating like they love to be outside.  While Jason takes Michael across the hall for his nap, AJ shows up and threatens Carly.  He has a signed affidavit saying she was released from Ferncliffe against her doctors (Dr Evan’s) orders.  He figures out Jason bribed a judge to get her released.  He lets her think he would get her recommitted just so he can get his hands on Michael.  She attacks him physically and Jason separates them.  Jason tells AJ not to play her that way, Jason knows he is lying even if Carly doesn’t.  Jason explains the judge who signed her release is clean and the paperwork getting her out is legit.  Jason calms her down and explains how AJ is bluffing.  He tells her if she can’t do this, they can still leave Port Charles.  He wants to stay and fight but he is not the one that AJ is terrorizing.  If they run, they will be giving up a lot: Bobbie, Mike, Sonny and Emily.

Sonny and Jason discuss the coffee business.  Sonny shows Jason a list given him by Mike “the coffee bean authority.”  He throws it out only to have Jason rescue it from the trash.  Seriously, Sonny tells him Enrique called and he needs to go to the island.  Jason says maybe he should go instead.  Carly is upset when Jason starts telling Sonny their plans.  Jason interrupts her tirade and tells her never to tell him what he can or cannot discuss with Sonny.  Jason explains what happened with AJ and that they are thinking of running.  The business with Enrique is urgent and Sonny offers to cash Jason out so he can head to the island immediately.  Carly and Jason decide to run, even though she wants to and he doesn’t.  Jason will put Michael first and leave if that’s what he needs.

While they set out to leave Carly gets a call from Bobbie who is upset, packing Ruby’s things.  Jason tells her she cannot say goodbye to Bobbie, if she does they won’t make it.  Jason agrees she can go to her mother as long as she doesn’t reveal anything.  She tells Jason to go ahead and take Michael.  She won’t feel safe until he is out of the country and away from AJ.  She says goodbye to Michael and heads over to Bobbie’s.  Jason asks Sonny to take Carly across the border and put her on a plane later that night.  Sonny says he would have done anything to have a father like him, to be a father like him.  Jason tells him he is his father and he is doing for Michael what Sonny did for him.

Carly writes a goodbye letter to Bobbie that she wants to mail before she leaves.  AJ shows up with another court order for a paternity test.  Jason has 24 hours to comply and if he doesn’t, it will be deemed an admission that AJ is Michael’s father.  While they are giving AJ time to get away so he cannot follow them, Carly panics and calls her mother.  She makes lunch plans with Bobbie for the next day.  She tells Sonny she can’t leave.  She says Bobbie needs her to come over and she couldn’t say ‘no’.  Sonny wants to know if this has anything to do with AJ’s court order.  She asks for one more day and Sonny agrees.

Carly runs to the Quartermaines and tells them Jason kidnapped Michael.  She feeds them a line that Jason told her he was taking Michael to a doctor’s appointment and disappeared with Michael.  At first they don’t believe her but because it makes no sense until Carly explains the reason Jason took Michael is because he has no legal claim to him after all.  AJ is Michael’s biological father.  She says she told Jason she wanted to come clean with the Quartermaines and that is why Jason ran. 

At the penthouse, Sonny is worried because he does not know where Carly is.  He feels a train wreck ahead and he can’t stop it.  Taggert shows up at the penthouse to question Sonny.  He tells them Ms Caroline Benson has accused Jason of kidnapping her son.

In Carly’s room at the Quartermaines, she tells AJ she was wrong to ever trust Jason.  She says she turned to Jason because she was worried she was going to loose her son to AJ.  But things changed and she realized he wasn’t safe, was in fact dangerous.  She says she always sent AJ away because she was afraid of Jason.  He had rules of what she could and could not do, where she could and couldn’t go.  Jason became violent.  He wasn’t Michael’s father.  He was his keeper – and hers too.  They were his prisoners of fear.  AJ reassures her they will get Michael back.  When he leaves the room, Carly realizes she is not alone and turns around to find Sonny behind her.  He is angry at her and her accusations that her son was taken by and violent, dangerous, criminal.  He asks if she realizes she may have kissed Michael for the last time.  She says Jason would never do that do her.  Sonny’s words register with her and you can tell she is not so sure of that after all.

Carly goes to Sonny’s penthouse and lets herself in with her key.  She finds his cell phone and hits redial hoping Jason will answer.  Sonny enters and tells her she will be disappointed when Benny answers.  He wants to know what she is doing there and she explains she needs to speak with Jason.  She needs to tell Jason what is really going on.  He tries to kick her out but a blizzard is brewing and travel is not recommended.  While they are stuck together, she tries to explain her plan to Sonny, she is trying to get the Quartermaines on her side so they won’t fight her for Michael.  Sonny isn’t buying it.  She asks for his help and he says he’s all for cooperation as he looks up towards the stairs.  She does not follow what he means so he clarifies, “let’s go upstairs.”  She is shocked by his proposition and declines, saying they can’t leave all the candles burning downstairs. He says that’s fine, they can do it right there on the table.  She calls him a disgusting pig for hitting on her the second Jason’s back was turned.  He says she’s lying and that he knows she wanted it.  She is a lying tramp that would have done him if it would have gotten her what she wanted.  He says she can’t work him and he is not going to work Jason for her either.  Once the blizzard clears enough for travel, he tells Johnny to keep her in the penthouse for 3 hours.  He is going to meet Jason and tell him what she did.  He leaves and she is crying, praying that Jason won’t believe Sonny.

On the island, Sonny tells Jason “the bitch sold you out,” and proceeds to tell him everything Carly has done since he left town.  He says the best thing Jason could do is to take Michael and never look back.  Jason says he cannot do that to Carly because she is Michael’s mother.  He says there is more to what Carly is doing than what Sonny sees and to find out what it is, he’s got to go back.

In Port Charles, Carly explains her plan to Jason:  the best way for them to fight the Quartermaines is for them to think she is on their side.   He says he would rather take Michael than have him live in that house.  She is sure that is what Sonny told him to do – take her child and never look back.  She knew everyone in town would think she sold her son out for a set of monogrammed sheets but she expected more from Jason.   The one person who knew her and knew she loved her son more than anything.  She warns that before things get better, they will get worse:  before her Jason and Michael can be together, she will have to marry AJ.  She is mental case and he is a criminal.  They cannot win a custody battle against the Quartermaines.  AJ will want to make sure Michael has his name, and Edward will want to make sure his great-grandson is legitimate.  Once they are married, Carly will go to work on destroying AJ.  She figures her plan will take a year give or take a few months.  Jason explains every single whole in her plan but she is still determined to go through with it.

At the mansion, AJ informs Carly he lost a petition for full custody of Michael.  The judge does not want to disrupt Michael’s life more than necessary.  Carly agrees to give AJ a sworn statement about Jason’s mental abuse and cruelty.  AJ wants to know what more they can do to prove Jason is a danger to Michael.  Carly is on her way to visit Michael at Jason’s and AJ takes the opportunity to threaten her with being recommitted at Ferncliffe.  He tells her if she succumbs to Jason’s threats and turns back to his side, she will appear unstable and AJ might have to get her recommitted.

Sonny is trying to convince Jason Carly is no good and that she will betray him.  Jason doesn’t want to take Michael and make him live a lie.  He says love is not an excuse to betray him.  Carly comes over to find Sonny instead of Michael who is at the park with Jason.  Sonny tells her Jason knows what she is.  She says yeah, Jason knows her and nothing Sonny says will turn him against him.  Sonny tells her once Jason is through with her, it’s his turn.  She’s already made an enemy and it’s going to cost her. Jason enters and she tries to tell him Sonny threatened her.  He doesn’t want to hear it and has Letticia take Michael upstairs.  Jason tells her she cannot turn him against Sonny so there is no use in trying.  She tells him AJ threatened her with Ferncliffe and he tells her once again, AJ does not have the power to send her back.  They argue about her plan again.  She says if she were to side with Jason, and they were to win custody it would only be temporary.  The next time she screws up or something goes wrong with his business, the Quartermaines will always be there, waiting in the wings to take Michael.  She will continue to fight her way but Jason will continue to fight his way too. 

Carly goes home and find AJ who is more optimistic about their chances for full custody.  AJ gets a call and tells Carly it is reporters – there was a 5-alarm fire at Jason and Sonny’s warehouse.  Carly is worried and calls Letticia to check on Jason and Michael.  She is worried that Michael may have been at the warehouse with Jason but thankfully he was not.  AJ is gleeful that they now have proof that Jason’s life is a danger to Michael.  Carly calls a cab and leaves.  She waits outside Jason’s penthouse until he comes home.  She is relieved to see him and explains this is exactly why she has to go through with her plan.  She needs to destroy AJ first so she and Michael can come home to him free and clear.

Alexis tells Jason that due to the warehouse fire, a judge has granted Carly and AJ temporary custody of Michael and has also barred Jason from any contact. 

AJ tells Carly they won custody of Michael and she is genuinely surprised.  She is upset to learn the judge revoked Jason’s visitation to Michael.  AJ rejoices in the fact that Jason is practically barred from Michael’s life permanently.  Carly fakes being pleased but the moment AJ leaves the room, she shows how upset she really is.  Jason brings Michael to the Quartermaines – something he promised he would never do – and tearfully hands him over to Carly.  He explains to a crying Michael that he has to stay there now because that’s how it has to be.  Carly watches guiltily as Jason says goodnight and goodbye to Michael.

Michael is extremely unhappy in his new Quartermaine home and is letting everyone know it.   Monica implores AJ to do the right thing and allow Jason to visit.  He is too young to understand what is going on.  AJ refuses, insisting Michael will get used to them in time and that calling Jason will only confuse him.  Carly argues Michael should not be the one to suffer for her mistakes.  AJ remains adamant that Jason not be allowed to see Michael.  When he leaves the room, Carly calls him a pompous ass and promises he will get everything he deserves. 

Sonny checks up on Jason.  He has a list of torches Moreno may have used to burn down the warehouse.  He tells him spending time alone is not the way to work through missing Michael.  Sometimes concentrating on business is the only way to help.  Otherwise you can’t think straight.  Jason tells him Emily offered to run away with him and Michael because Michael is so miserable in the house.  He can’t run the risk of loosing Michael permanently and will wait for the appointment with the court appointed psychiatrist.  He is feeling guilty because he let Michael believe he would always be there for him and he isn’t.  Michael has to deal with the Quartermaines and the fact that Jason left him.  Sonny tries to explain the difference between leaving and being kept away.  There is no difference to Michael, Jason says.  Jason wants to clear up the business with Moreno so it cannot prevent him from being with his son.  Sonny warns him against doing anything dangerous and getting caught.  He will loose him for good.

Later, Michael continues his wailing and Lila says he is grieving, mourning the loss of his father.  She calls Jason and asks if he can come see Michael.  Jason wants to know if this is a trap.  She says he ought to know better than that.  She arranges for Jason’s favourite meal to be prepared for him while Edward argues that they will not feed him.  Eddy tries laying down the rules to Jason but when he hears Michael crying he runs upstairs to see to Michael.  He brings Michael downstairs and introduces Michael to the rest of his family.  AJ is not impressed with his performance and tells Michael Jason robs and kills people for a living.  He promises after tonight Michael will never see Jason again.  Jason asks Carly to help him put Michael to bed because that will seem normal to him.  He tells her she has to be both him and herself to Michael now.  She can’t be afraid because fear is contagious and when Michael feels that she is scared he will be too.  She tells him she is trying.  While her back is turned she tells him she doesn’t know how she ever thought she could pull this off.  Everyone has their daggers out all the time and each one of them is like an open wound.  She turns and sees that Jason has left.  She turns back to a sleeping Michael and says, “Gave them hell, little boy.  Good for you.  But now let me take over, ok?”

Edward eavesdrops on an argument between Carly and AJ.  AJ storms out and Edward takes the opportunity to whisper in Carly’s ear.  They agree they need to find a way to make Michael happy.  Edward says Michael needs to feel like a family with her and AJ.  The two of them need to spend time with their son together and AJ needs her to be his companion as well as Michael’s mother.  Carly wonders if AJ could ever forgive her for the things she has done to him in the past.  Edward said everything changed when AJ became Michael’s father.  They are a couple now and soon Carly can get everything she ever wanted.

Sonny wonders if Jason regrets the life he brought him into.  If he looses his child, it would be Sonny’s fault in a way.  Jason says he is responsible for his own choices and the things he does.  Everybody, Sonny included, warned him against the life when he first started.  He chose the business anyway.  He says if Sonny had lied to him back then, some of this may have been his fault.  But he didn’t lie.  Sonny says, “not to you” which leads one to believe while Sonny told himself he was going to keep Jason on the legitimate side of the business, in his heart, he knew better.  Carly interrupts wanting a favour from Jason.  She asks Jason to keep the fur coat, the diamonds and all the gifts he gave her at his place.  She can’t keep them if she is going to make AJ fall in love with her.  She says that AJ is jealous and insecure, that is part of the reason he wants her and Michael in the first place.  They were Jason’s and he wants to make them his in order to show everyone he is the better man.  Jason says Carly is not hers and the words obviously hurt her although she does not say so.  She continues her explanation that AJ thinks she is and that is why she needs to distance herself from Jason and the things he gave her.  Her plan is working.  AJ took her out to dinner last night and admitted he missed having her as a friend.  She says she will turn herself into the perfect little wife for AJ and it will happen.  And within the year, she will bring Michael back home to him and they will be a family like they planned.

AJ and Carly discuss the surprise visit Dr Smithson, the court appointed psychiatrist, paid to the family.  The Quartermaines were at their best fighting and Emily told her Michael was miserable and deserved to be with Jason.  They say Em even brought a crying Michael down to Jason who soothed him immediately where his parents obviously couldn’t.  AJ says he has arranged for the doctor to pay Jason a surprise visit as well.  Once she finds out how he lives, in a life full of danger surrounded by bullet proof glass there is no way she will recommend Jason remain a part of Michael’s life.

At the penthouse, Jason is preparing to go out, and takes a gun out of the closet and slides it into the back of his jeans.  There is a knock at the door and instead of Sonny, he finds Dr Smithson.  He has no choice but to let her in.  He awkwardly avoids turning his back to her while he answers her questions – if he does, she will see the gun and he will loose Michael for good.  Sonny enters unannounced but turns to leave when he sees Jason has a visitor.  Jason asks him to stay with a note of desperation in his voice.  He faces Dr Smithson so his back is fully to Sonny and Sonny sees why Jason wants him to stick around.  Sonny distracts the doctor who was asking a lot of uncomfortable questions about shootings and explosions involving them, by taking her to the window and showing her where the new warehouse for Corinthos-Morgan imports will be.  While they are talking, Jason hides the gun in the couch without them seeing.  The rest of the visit goes smoothly.  Jason explains what Michael means to him, that he loves him and that he wants to give him the strength to become his own person.  He wants to be there to guide him and show him things as he grows.  That’s what he wants.  But more importantly, he says of Michael could choose, he thinks that’s what Michael would want too.  The psychiatrist leaves and Jason thinks he blew the entire meeting.

At the mansion, Carly tells AJ Michael is very perceptive and the reason he is not trusting them is because he feels they don’t trust each other.  They need to start acting like his parents together and start looking and treating each other like family.  If they do, then Michael will too.  AJ agrees to stop looking at her as someone he can’t trust, and to see the mother of his child instead – and a great dinner guest.  Carly agrees the do have a lot of fun together.  They hug and agree to be friends.

Alexis arrives and informs Jason the meeting with the psychiatrist changes everything.  She went immediately to the courthouse with her findings.  The court has ruled that Jason can see Michael without limitation.  They go immediately to the Quartermaines and break the news to AJ and Carly.  Carly does not look too broken up about it but plays AJ side of things, asking if Jason bribed a judge.  She tells Alexis it happened before.  The lawyer tells her she wouldn’t recommend Carly testifying that way and whispers Ferncliffe at her.  While Jason is upstairs visiting Michael, and AJ is on the phone with his lawyer, Alexis tells Carly she will personally make sure Carly gets sent back to the mental institution if she doesn’t watch herself.  She then proceeds to insult Carly at length basically calling her a whore and an insult to all women in general.  AJ is unhappy with the turn of events and wants to push up the trial date for the custody hearing.  Carly disagrees and says the longer Michael is with them, the more time he will have to trust them and the court will see that he is comfortable with them.  Edward sides with Carly, saying moving up the court date is a bad idea.  Nonetheless, AJ will do what AJ wants to do and he wants to rush the hearing so Jason will be kicked out of Michael’s life permanently that much sooner.

Carly meets Jason at Jakes and immediately accuses his lawyer or trying to send her to Ferncliffe.  Jason tells her Alexis is bluffing, that she knows he wants Michael to have his mother.  Carly tells Jason Michael needs him too.  Jason says Alexis might just be good enough to get him permanent custody.   She says no, she has to go through with her plan:  marry AJ and destroy him.  She wonders if he knows what she is going through to make sure they end up as family together.  She takes the fries and the peanuts to stuff herself before she goes out to dinner with AJ again.  He keeps ordering food that she hates for her and she detests going out with him.

Out for dinner with AJ, she barely stomachs the food he as ordered and he does not notice her dislike of it.  They discuss the custody trial and their chances of winning.  Carly says she will say it was a mistake to ever go to Jason because of how he treated her and because Michael couldn’t hope for a better father than AJ.  AJ tells her he can take her a lot of places and show her things.  She says she can hardly wait.  The two share a dance alone in the middle of Café Matisse.

Carly overhears AJ payoff the arsonist that burned down Sonny and Jason’s warehouse.  He is the one who ordered the warehouse fire – not Moreno.   Carly takes the news directly to Sonny and Jason.  Sonny thinks she is going to use the information to testify against AJ in court.  She says that’s not the way it works.  It will ruin her plan.  She realizes Jason hasn’t told Sonny her grand scheme.  She says she has never met anyone she could trust like that before.  Jason says with the news of the arson there may be another way.  Carly doesn’t see it.  AJ will find some way to get out of it or Edward will do it for him.  She still wants to go through with her plan.  AJ shows up and offers Jason a deal that is no deal.  Jason agrees to help Michael adjust with life with AJ and Carly and to back out of his life gradually.  In exchanged, AJ agrees to let Jason have liberal visitation as Michael’s uncle.  Jason says no.  After AJ leaves Carly comes out of hiding incredulous at the so called offer and wondering how Jason managed to refrain from strangling the guy. 

Carly shows up at Sonny’s penthouse wanting to talk to him.  She explains her plan to Sonny because she knows Jason hasn’t and won’t.  When she says she’s going to ruin AJ, Sonny says, “that I believe.”  She says when she is done, her Jason and Michael will be a family.  He tells her this is the second time she has come to him behind Jason’s back – there won’t be a third.  She goes off on him about he sends Jason out to do his dirty work and get shot at while he remains safe in his cold little penthouse.  He warns her that he told her not to cross him.  She says she’s not afraid of him and he says she should be.  She attacks him, going for his throat and he grabs her.  Jason comes in and tells him to let her go.  Sonny tells him it’s time to let the tramp go.  Jason tells him not to insult Michael’s mother in front of him.  She tells Jason she doesn’t care what anyone else thinks – everything she is doing for the three of them.  She leaves.  Sonny wants Jason tell him he is working Carly, that he doesn’t believe a word she is saying.  Sonny says Carly doesn’t deserve Jason’s loyalty.  He thinks she’s only in it for the money and that she will betray him whenever someone waves a big enough wad of cash in front of her.  Jason asks him to back off of her.  He says he’ll try but insists Jason cannot trust Carly.

AJ takes Carly out for a night at Luke’s.  Jason enters with Hannah and Carly gets very jealous very fast.  She tries to make Jason jealous by dancing with AJ.  AJ accuses her of putting on a show for Jason.  She denies it and says she is just trying to enjoy herself.

At the Quartermaines’ the next day, Carly grills Jason on who the tramp was.  He says Hannah is new in town and helping her get a job at Luke’s didn’t cost him anything.  She says Hannah wants him.  He calls her paranoid.  She tells him he is not suspicious enough of strangers and that Hannah has an obvious agenda.  He tells her he doesn’t have room in his life for the complication of someone new in his life.  He can only concentrate on Michael.

Back at Luke’s Carly asks Hannah to step outside for a word.  She warns Hannah off of Jason.  Hannah tells her if Jason is taken, he will tell her himself.  She calls Carly a paranoid wacko.  Carly slaps her and she promptly returns the favour.  Luke tells Sonny and Jason the two have gone outside and he doesn’t think they are discussing knitting.  They head outside and break up the women who are fighting.  Hannah says Carly hit her and she is immediately blamed for the fight.  Jason is upset when Carly calls him “her man.”  He tells her it is none of her business of he wants a new waitress with him every night.  She tells him if that’s how he feels, it’s a good thing they are having this conversation now.  She can adjust her plan accordingly.  Jason goes off on her for all the things she has ever done to him.  She tells him Michael and her will be just fine without him and walks away.  She turns around and asks if he could have made some show of stopping her from walking away.  Why does she make things so complicated, he wonders.  She says that’s how the boy/girl thing works.  He says, yes, he likes her.  And she has always been there for him when he has needed her.  She says he has never needed her.  That’s not true, he says.  But he tells her that doesn’t mean he believes her plan will work.  She will find a way to blow things up in the end somehow.  She says her nightmare is that her plan will work but when she’s through, he won’t be waiting for them.  He wonders why she would think.  She says because she makes him crazy and mad and she makes promises to him that he doesn’t make back.  He thought it was understood between them.  He promises to be there for her and Michael.  They hug and she kisses him.  He thinks she’s crazy, kissing him outside the Quartermaines’ house, shoes her inside and leaves.

Jason and Hannah are talking on the docks.  Carly is about to interrupt them when Sonny stops her and tells her she must apologize to Hannah.  Carly sucks it up and apologizes to her.  She takes Jason aside and tells him AJ planted the story in the newspaper about the recent fire in his motorcycle shop.   She says if she can find evidence that AJ started the fire that killed Lucky, her and Michael will be out of the Quartermaines’ so fast AJ’s head will spin.  Jason warns that if AJ really did start the fire, he is scared and dangerous and she needs to be careful.

AJ wish to move the custody hearing up has been granted.  But, Edwards judge couldn’t clear his schedule on time so they have 1 short week to prove her and AJ are the perfect parents.

At Jason’s apartment, Carly waits for Jason on his bed while he is showering.  When he comes out, he sees her “surprise” and tells her she shouldn’t be there.  She says she made sure her cover was in place and takes off her shirt telling him she wants to be with him.  He pushes her away telling her sex with her would be good but it’s not going to happen no matter how many times she shows up in his room.  He said they are friends now, he is not going to loose that by sleeping with her now.  They hated each other when they were together at Jakes and he doesn’t want to risk that now that they are part of each other’s lives.  She asks why he kissed her the night before and he says she kissed him.  He didn’t push her away too hard because he didn’t want to hurt her.   He says he trusts the way things are with them now.  She says she is not mad because she is the one who convinced him them they couldn’t sleep together and have a friendship at the same time.

Back at the mansion, AJ has a surprise waiting for Carly:  the den is alight with candle light, AJ sits her down and tells her this is not a spur of the moment decision.  He wants more for them – he wants a life with her.  He asks her to marry him.  He says their courtship was not traditional and this is not quite your average world wind romance.  She wonders if it was a romance at all.  He says for him, it has been.  He recalls when he was half in love with her while she was with Tony.  She says a lot has happened since then.  She says love is not the reason he wants to marry her, and wants to know what is.  He says he needs to commit to something and that is her and Michael and the family he wants to build around them.  She says he wants to keep Michael in his life and he thinks marrying her is the price he has to pay.  He argues marriage is a beginning for them and they can make of it what they will.  The makes an impassioned speech about the man she wants to marry and the kind father she wants for her children.  He says he can only try to be that man for her.  Jason walks in and Carly tells him AJ has just proposed.  She accepts the offer right then and there.

Carly tells Bobbie she is marrying AJ.  Bobbie knows AJ is marrying Carly only to hang on to Michael.  She knows Carly does not love AJ and wonders why she is going through with it.  Carly tells her marrying AJ will get her everything she’s ever wanted.

On the docks, Carly again warns Hannah against going after Jason.  Hannah moves to leave and Jason comes running up and hands Carly a bag of drugs.  He tells her to take them home to the Q’s and to flush them down the toilet.  She doesn’t argue and immediately rushes home with the packet.  Hannah witnesses the exchange but does not confirm what she saw to Taggert when pressed.  In her room at the Q’s Carly is about to dump the drugs when AJ walks up behind her.  He has bought her a dress to wear to Michael’s custody hearing.  She gets him to wait downstairs so she can change in private but really wants to dump the drugs in private.

Jason is arrested for trafficking and the arrest is making him late for Michael’s hearing.  Jason tells Sonny he gave the drugs to Carly to dump, that Hannah saw it, but shat she was “cool.”

Edward is positively gleeful after they come home from the hearing.  Jason apparently got skewered at the trial.  Carly had an outburst during the trial and because she could take how they were treating Jason and the family wanted an explanation as to why.  She says she just doesn’t understand why they have to be so brutal to each other.  They need to get along.  Bobbie comes over wanting to speak with Carly.  Carly is expecting her to berate her but instead she tells her daughter she knows she is hurting and that she loves her.

Carly finds an envelope from AJ’s lawyer and opens thinking it has something to do with Michael.  She finds a prenuptial agreement she is expected to sign instead.  She hands AJ the documents and tells him she is not sure she needs to plan for the wedding if he really expects her to sign them.  She accuses him of wanting to marry her, get custody of Michael and then divorcing her.  AJ says even if he really had that much contempt for her, doesn’t she think he would have more respect for himself?  The question hits a nerve with her because that is exactly what she is planning to do to him.  She tells him he needs to inform Edward she is not signing the pre-nuptial agreement or else there will be no marriage. 

Carly tells Jason about the stunt Emily pulled at the bridal shower Bobbie threw for her.  Jason is surprised she is bothered about tacky underwear after all the stunts she has pulled.  She tells him about the pre-nup and says she won’t sign the papers and she is going to earn every cent of it while she is in Quatermaine home.  They get a call:  the court has made a decision on Mikey’s custody.  AJ and Carly are awarded primary custody of Michael but Jason is also given partial custody including but not limited to 3 nights with him a week.  The court will review the case in 1 year. 

Carly takes her ring off and gives it back to AJ.  She is not going to hold him to the proposal he made in order to get full custody of Michael.  AJ tells her he still wants a life with her and Micahel if that is still what she wants.  She says she wants Michael to have a life with both of his parents (clearly meaning her and Jason) and AJ takes that to mean she wants a life with him.  He puts the ring back on her finger.  He wants to marry her within a week.  She tells him she has a problem with the prenuptial agreement.  He says they’ll fix it – no one is forcing her to sign anything.  He wants to show Michael this is where he belongs with his mother and father.  A real family.  He knocks down every defence she has for waiting until she has no other option but to agree to marry him, one week from today.

Carly and AJ enter their engagement party together.  The crowd is less than enthusiastic about the pairing.  Eward tries to make an eloquent toast but ends up with “To AJ and Carly.”  There is a knock at the door which Carly answers.  Luke and Felicia arrive.  They throw insults at each other. Luke tells her she comes from a long line of distinguished hookers and marrying a Quartermaine is the sweetest trick any one of them have every turned.  Carly hides trying to compose herself, trying to hide how much Luke’s words hurt her.  She overhears AJ and Edward discuss the prenuptial agreement.  AJ tells him she is so caught up in the wedding and the gifts she will sign anything just to marry him.  They enter the den and Carly leaves the party and heads straight to Jason’s.  She finds Hannah with Michael and sees that all the furniture she bought Jason has been replaced.  Jason enters and stops her from going off on Hannah who takes Michael across the hall.  She accuses him of wiping all traces of her out of his life and using Hannah as a replacement.  He tells her this is his home, not hers.    She wants to know where are they?  She lives her life, he lives his.  She says that maybe when she leaves AJ, she won’t come back to him.  He tells her they are friends and she is Michael’s mother and he will always take care of her because of that.  Carly tells her she doesn’t want to live like that.  She says all she has to do is wait for Jason to get thrown in jail again and then her and AJ can sue for full custody.  Then she can ruin AJ, take his money and take Michael to live wherever they want.  But not with Jason – never with him. 

Back at the house and the party is over.  AJ tells her it’s nice of her to show up at her own party.  She tells him she got upset, ran outside and got caught in the rain out by the boathouse.  She says she didn’t come back because she didn’t know what to do.  She says she doesn’t know how to thank him for making all her dreams come true.  He says she can by becoming his wife, and making a family with him and their son.

On her wedding day, Bobbie tells Carly she knows Carly is in love with Jason.  Carly says it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t love her.  He will protect and defend her, help her raise Michael, but he won’t love her.  They are friends.  AJ wants her. So, she will be Jason’s friend and AJ’s wife and she will have everything she’s ever wanted.  She will do this for Michael to give him a family with both his parents.  Bobbie says she will support her if this is truly what she wants.  Carly sees Jason dropping off Michael just before the wedding.  They don’t speak and she returns to her room and remembers all the times they’ve shared together.

At the last minute, AJ comes in and asks her to sign the prenuptial agreement.  At this time, we are not sure if she does or not.  Carly and AJ get married in front of all the Quartermaines.  After the ceremony, Edward wants the signed papers from AJ and is shocked to find Carly did not sign the papers.   AJ says he has no intention of divorcing her, but should the need arise, all he need to do is bring up Carly’s history of drugging him, her times at Shaddybrook and Ferncliffe and her hiding Michael’s paternity for over a year.  Carly is unstable and there is no way he will let her out of the marriage without a dime.  It’s time to cut the cake and Ned glibly warns AJ to “watch his back” while Carly is wielding the knife.  AJ and Carly share the first piece of cake in true wedding tradition.  V congratulates Carly and AJ while Ned and Alexis take the opportunity for some caustic remarks.  Carly moves to see Bobbie and is upset when she thinks Bobbie is only relieved that the wedding went off without a hitch.  Bobbie tells her of how she held her when she was a baby and how she never thought she’d be there with her on her wedding day.  She tells her she made such a beautiful bride and she is so full  of life.

Carly is ready for her wedding guests to leave and AJ tells her they are probably waiting for them to leave first.  She wants to know why and to where.  He tells her he booked the honeymoon suite at the P.C Hotel for the evening.  Carly is surprised to hear this and less than enthusiastic about the prospect.  The cake is done and the guest make a beeline for the door.  Bobbie stops so that Carly can throw the bridal boquet.  Carly was hoping to keep it but tosses it according to tradition and V catches it.  The stampede for the door resumes and Carly it upset.  Bobbie says to help with them.  They came, they saw, but Carly conquered.  Carly realizes she is right, she is no longer Carly Benson, born Spencer.  She is Carly Quartermaine now.

Carly and AJ change and leave for the honeymoon suite at the Port Charles Hotel.  Arriving at their room, AJ wants to carry Carly over the threshold but she’d just as soon skip it.  She is nervous that he wants to make love on their wedding night as if she never considered this part of her plan before.  AJ goes to have a shower and she contemplates how she can avoid bedding him.  Unable to come up with anything suitable, she writes AJ a note, apologizing for leaving and promising to explain everything when she gets back.  A disappointed AJ crumbles her note when he finds it.

Carly heads straight for Jason’s but he is not home when she gets there.  She lets herself in and falls asleep on his couch where he later wakes her from a nightmare.  She tells him she couldn’t go through with it, meaning the honeymoon but Jason misunderstands and thinks she is talking about the wedding.  She tells him she married to AJ but thought she would be able to avoid sleeping with him.  She did it before but wonders why she can’t now.  Jason says probably because she knows AJ better now.  She says she is stuck because Jason won’t help her.  He tells her she is stuck because her plan is flawed.  She is better than she thinks she is and does not have what it takes to go through with it.  She apologizes for going off on him the last time she was there.  He understands – she couldn’t go through with the wedding unless she was mad at him.  Her resolve is reaffirmed and she is determined to go through with the plan.  She returns to AJ in the bridal suite.

Back at the hotel, AJ playing solitaire on his wedding night, welcomes back his wayward bride.  She makes a lame excuse about picking up massage oils for the two of them.  AJ doesn’t it buy it and he says he knows what is going here.  He tells her he knows she is not ready for them to be together.  He reminds her he said he wanted to take things slow.  She asks what the deal is with the hotel room then.  He says he is looking forward to spending the night without his family.  He apologizes for making her panic and they spend the rest of the evening playing cards.

Carly runs into Jason and Michael playing in the park.  She wonders how she will stall AJ tonight with Michael spending the next 3 days with Jason.  They joked about what she’s going to do.  They spend some time playing together but Carly runs for the bushes as soon as she hears AJ heading their way.  AJ wants Jason to give him Michael for the afternoon.  He wants to take him “Toddler Time with Daddy” so he and Michael can learn to play together.  Jason agrees to let Michael go although it is during his scheduled time with him.  Carly comes out of the bushes as soon as AJ moves away with Michael.  She is mad at AJ and the way he was treating his mother.  He wants her son to grow up fearless like his real parents.  They playfully joke around and Jason pushes her on the park swings.

It is the night of the nurses ball and everyone is dressed to the hilt.  At the ball, Edward takes the opportunity to fire Ned and make good on his promise to AJ.  In exchange for bringing Michael into the house, Edward names AJ CEO of ELQ.  With his new appointment, AJ manages to get Carly an invitation from Amanda Barrington to one of the more exclusive charity guilds.  Carly is thrilled but her night quickly changes after a video tape of Bobbie and Jerry Jax making love in the conference room of General Hospital is played before the entire ballroom of guests.  Carly takes Bobbie aside and explains what happened.  She wants Bobbie leave to avoid the embarrassment but she will not.  Carly embarrassed herself remains outside for some fresh air.  Jason soon joins her on the terrace and she asks if she enjoyed her mom’s show.  Jason says it didn’t bother Bobbie too much, why should it bother her.  She cares too much what others think of her.  She says she made a fool of herself for thinking she could be equal to the Amanda Barrington’s of this world.  She is trash, always has been and always will be.  He reassures her telling her he thinks she is the great lady, not Amanda Barrington.  AJ calls out her name and Jason leaves.  She tells AJ she is hiding and he tells he they don’t do that.  He can fix this for her – all she has to do is hold her head up and keep it there.  They walk back into the party and Carly is surprised when Amanda asks her to sit beside her.

Back at the mansion, an upset Carly apologizes to Lila for the embarrassment her mother, and Carly by extension, has brought to her family.  Lila tells her she is part of the family now and she should not let these things bother her.  Carly retires to her room and is surprised when AJ joins her there.  He says he knew she took the evenings events hard and he only wanted to check up on her and see if she was ok.  She thanks him and kisses him and soon things get out of control and they head to bed.  Jason, told by Lila that Carly was very upset, can be seen outside her bedroom looking on – he had come up to make sure she was alright but sees that he is obviously not needed.   Afterwards, while AJ is still asleep, Carly gets out of bed and looks at the picture of the family she is fighting for – her, Jason and Michael.  Jason spends the night shooting pool at Jakes.

Jason tells Sonny he went to check up on Carly after the Nurses Ball.  He tells him what he saw.  It was weird to see that and he didn’t think it would bother him, seeing Carly with AJ, but it did.  At the warehouse Carly shows up and thanks him for finding her at the Nurses Ball.  She tells him AJ was surprisingly nice too and she confesses that she slept with AJ.  He says he knows, he was there.  She asks why he didn’t stop her, or give her a signal and he said they were a little too far gone for that.  She says she gave AJ what he wanted but she can stop if Jason wants her to.  He tells her it is her decision whether or not she sleeps with her husband, not his.  They argue and she moves to leave and trips on a bag of coffee beans.  He catches her, pulling her in close and they almost kiss.  He pushes her away saying the warehouse is not a good place for a tantrum and tells her to go home.  She leaves without another word.

Carly joins Jason and Michael for an afternoon down by the boathouse.  After Michael goes down for a nap, Carly asks Jason to put sunscreen on her.  He is rubbing the lotion in when AJ comes by and sees them.  He is understandable angry to see his brother’s hands on his wife.  Jason says he was there to see Michael but now he is asleep.  AJ starts arguing that it is not Jason’s day and he is in violation of the custody agreement.  Every comment of his mouth is an insult to Jason that belittles him.  Carly interrupts them telling them not to tear into each other in front of son and takes Michael back up to the house.  AJ follows after saying everything Jason is doing is hurting and confusing Michael.  An angry Jason destroys the summer furniture on the boathouse deck unknowingly in front of Carly who has returned with Michael.  He is upset that Michael saw him like that.  Carly reassures him that he didn’t scare Michael and that he could never be afraid of him.

Later, AJ tracks Carly down and apologizes for his argument earlier with Jason.  He asks her to send Jason away the next time he violates the custody agreement.  He suggests they go for a moonlight swim and she agrees.

Jason remembers his life with Michael from the day he was born.  He goes to find Carly in Lila’s garden.  He tells her he was looking for her and she knows something is wrong.  He says he has to break a promise.  The only promise he has ever made her is that he would wait for her and Michael, she says.  He says he also promised he would protect Michael from anything that would hurt him.  He just didn’t know the thing that would hurt him the most would be him.  He tells her he is giving up Michael -- shared custody and all visitation.  Michael has no home now not two and is not sleeping at Jason’s or the Quartermaines.  Both of Michael’s parents are at the Quartermaines and the person that has to stop everything is Jason.

Carly enters the house visibly upset.  Jason soon follows and announces he has come to say goodbye to Michael.  He takes Michael out to the rose garden to say a final goodbye to Michael.  He explains he will always be his father and Michael his son, but they can’t see each other anymore.  AJ comes home and when he learns Jason is with Michael, he goes to “take of things” personally.  Carly tells him to leave them alone for once.  He is about to go out anyway when Jason returns with Michael.  After Leticia takes him upstairs, Jason hands over the paperwork stating he revokes his custodial rights to Michael.  AJ thinks he is up to something but Jason just leaves instead of answering his accusations.  Carly tells him he’s won, why can’t he just be happy with that?  She convinces him Jason is for real and means what he says.  Once he believes, he wants to celebrate, not seeing that he heart is breaking.  They have a chance of being a real family now he thinks.

Jason tells Sonny he gave Michael up and why.  He says Carly loves Michael, AJ tries and Michael is doing better with them.  Sonny tells him to reconsider, he knows how much Jason loves his son.  Jason says Michael is the reason he is doing this and it is the best thing for him.  He walked away from his son.  He knew it would hurt, but not as much as it does.  Sonny tells him it is better to have done it now, than in the future which would have hurt Michael more.  Sonny says Jason will never love, never give so much of himself as he did to Michael.  Never again.

Jason packs Michael’s toys to send them to the Quartermaines or give them away.  He tells Sonny is taking off – he can’t say here, not now.  He can’t even look at his room without seeing the people who aren’t there, what’s missing.  He says Carly brought him her problems but she also brought him a life and they were a family for a time.  He needs to stay away until the penthouse is just a place to be again.  Sonny says staying away may not help, but he understands why he is leaving.  He tells Jason he was a good father who did everything he thought was best for his son.

Carly comes over and sees Jason is leaving.  She is upset and wonders if he planned on saying goodbye.  She sees the packed boxes and asks what is it exactly he thinks Michael would want to keep.  Her and Michael still need him.  She calls him a liar for making promises to them and walking away.  You don’t show love by leaving.  He says there are still his family and this is how he is taking care of them.  He is not abandoning them, he never would.  She tells him AJ actually wants her and she will give him the life Jason could have had.  “Do what you want,” he replies “you always have.”  He leaves and does not hear her apology after he is gone.

Sonny is in his penthouse nursing a hand that is cut.   He flashes back to visions of a beaten Juan lying in a hospital bed.  He smashes all the glass on his sidebar, ignoring the phone when it rings.  He then starts to lay waste his entire apartment, smashing everything in sight that can be broken – furniture, vases, decorative pieces pictures of Juan and of him and Lily on their wedding day.  He remembers the night he begged Lily to forgive him and asked to make a family with her.

Carly interrupts Bobbie and Hannah talking and the two exchange barbs for a moment.  Carly tells Bobbie AJ wants to change Michael’s name to Michael Alan.  Bobbie is not surprised – the Quartermaines label all their possessions and Michael is the newest.  Carly doesn’t want to hear the “I told you so” and says she doesn’t want  Michael to have to pay for her mistakes.  This goes deeper than a name change – AJ wants to erase Jason’s very existence from Michael’s memory.  Michael is old enough to know who he loves and he loves Jason. 

Johnny tells Benny Sonny has been in the apartment for 40 hours now.  He is alone and Johnny doesn’t like the sounds he is hearing coming from inside.  Benny enters and finds the place trashed.  He thinks the worst and rushes to the stairs to see if Sonny is alright.  Sonny is sitting there and he screams for him to get out.  Benny gives Johnny orders to find Jason and tells him that under no uncertain terms, no one is allowed in to the apartment.  No one is to know what went on in there except for Benny, Johnny and Jason.

Carly steps off the elevator and is greeted by Francis.  He tells her is is not supposed to let anyone in and she says it’s a good thing she’s not just anyone.  The rules have never applied to her.  She convinces him to let her in to the apartment.  Francis moves away and she enters to find Sonny sitting in the middle of his trashed apartment.