2000

“I know everything is ruined,” she said “but still...you didn’t have to leave...cause even if you don’t want to spend your time saving me from myself anymore we still have a son together who never asked to be walked out on...I didn’t think you would do that to him.”

“I told you I can’t...”

“Please don’t! You can’t take back being his father. It doesn’t work that way. You’re lying to me and yourself if you think it does. Why should Micheal pay for what I did? That little boy loves you...I had to look my son in the eyes and tell him his daddy was gone forever...do you know what that did to me, Jase? To him?”

Carly finally pushed him away. Though it only intensified her ache, and after a minute she reached out and grabbed his hand.

He squeezed her hand as his blue eyes brightened with unshed tears.

Jason is home, Jason is home, Jason might love me this time, I can save this family... ran through her head

“Come see your son,” Carly offered softly and then led him down the hall without another word.

XXXXXX

Jason lost his breath when he spotted Micheal asleep in his bed. Memories of when the boy was just a newborn, and Jason watched him while he slept to make sure he kept breathing, came flooding back to his mind. He had made so many promises to his son, in the middle of the night when no one was around to hear them. But Jason still remembered every one and wondered if Micheal did too.

He would do anything to get that life back again. To have Carly and Micheal be living under the same roof with him...so he could keep them safe and happy and loved. Who could love them better than him?

There wasn’t a limit he wouldn’t go to for them. So why didn’t he keep fighting before? He had been afraid of feeling anymore pain, of scarring his son, himself and the woman he loved more than they already were. But, in the end, he did just that and worse...she slept with someone else, but Jason broke up their family before that night. He hated himself for that.

There was no way to go back in time though. And no denying they were surely as wrecked as he ever feared they would be.

A tear slipped down his check, as he brushed his fingers over his son’s red hair, leaned down and kissed his forehead.

Michael’s eyes fluttered open. “Daddy?”

Jason lifted him up and hugged him close. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“I missed you...where were you?”

“No where important. I should have been here.” Jason laid him back down. “Go back to sleep.” He whispered into the little boy’s ear. “I love you, son.”

“I love you, daddy...don’t leave again..” Micheal drifted back to sleep.

Jason met Carly’s eyes. There was joy and pain mixing together in her gaze.

They walked out of the room and he followed her into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and he joined her.

Jason took her hand. His thumb stroked her skin.

She said “If you are leaving again, you tell him. And then...”

For a second she couldn’t go on, and that told him what was coming next.

Carly finished, “don’t ever come back. I could forgive you anything...even never forgiving me...but I will not allow you to break my child’s heart for a second time. You got it, Jason?”

“Yes.” With his other hand, he reached up and brushed a tear off her cheek. She lifted her hand and wiped the rest away.

Jason added, “I never wanted to make anything harder on you. You know that, right? I just wanted us to both...not hurt each other anymore...so I left. Cause if I stayed it would have been hell on both of us.”

“It was anyway!”

“Yeah, it was.”

Even though it was painful to see her eyes filled with resentment, to feel how unsure she was about him now, it was still amazing to him to be looking at Carly again, touching her, smelling her perfume and just taking her in. No matter where he went in the world, no other woman made him feel what this one could.

She mesmerized him, possessed him, made him forget how to reason and how to cope. She changed him- always in the best way, even at her worst- for she made him come to life. When Carly wasn’t around, he was just a shell.

She gave him breath, hope, and someone to fight for, someone to try and be better for, to make amends to, to find a way to make love him again.

“So,” Carly asked softly “now what, Jase?”

“I don’t know...let me be here for you...help you. You need to get strong again.”

“I didn’t think I was going to be able to...you know? I kinda thought...it was just too much. You were gone and then the doctors took my baby...why wasn’t it me? It shouldn’t have been my baby who never did anything to anyone...do you think this happened because of how I got pregnant? Was it payback?”

“Shhh. No. It wasn’t. It was an accident.”

She nodded.

He knew he would have to tell her it again. She didn’t really believe it yet. But he would do that. Jason would keep reassuring her for as long as it took, if she would let him. He could only stay by her side if that is what she still wanted.

XXXXXXXXX

Bobbie came home from work. Her eyes widened at the sight of Jason sitting at her kitchen table, holding Carly’s hand, but she greeted him as if he hadn’t been gone for months.

He stood up and said “I should go.”

Carly walked him to the door. “Going back to your penthouse?”

“No.”

“Are you staying in town, Jason?” Her eyes searched his.

If he left her again, Carly knew, it would be the end of them. For all the love she felt for him, she couldn’t keep building her whole life around a man who didn’t want her...unless he did.

She always believed he did. It was in the way he looked at her, right from the start. Like he could never get enough.

“I won’t leave you, if you want me here,” he told her.
“I want you to stay for good or not at all. I don’t know what you think about...me now...about us...but I will always need you around. You’re my best friend, the best person I ever loved, you’re the best dad for my son, the best of me and the best...dream I ever had. I know you think I’m only good at messing up everything...but I didn’t mess us up alone. And I can’t fix us alone either. Will you...could you ever...Jase..” her voice broke saying his name.

He eased her into his arms.

She gasped out, through tears, “Will you work with me to fix us?”

XXXXXXXXXXX

He leaned his forehead against hers. A feeling of intense peace washed over him. She wanted him back. It wasn’t too late.

Though they had done it all wrong, they weren’t at the end of the road yet. There was a chance...it was more than he thought he would get...he had to grab it with both hands.

Jason kissed her cheek. His mouth lingered over her skin for a long moment.

“Yes, Carly. I want our family to make it...you can’t know how bad I want that. You’re all I think about...you and our boy...you’re all I missed and all I ...”

She smiled, hearing him say the word love even if it wasn’t aloud.

His lips curved into a small smile. “I’m gonna go. Get some rest please. I’ll be at Jake’s...if my old room is still available. If not then Johnny’s getting a roommate for a few nights, though he don’t know it yet.”

She let out a small laugh. He had missed hearing that sound. He had missed the way her eyes lit up. He missed everything she did to drive him crazy, and make him feel whole. He missed her and never wanted to do that again.

“Good night, Jason. Thanks...for coming to catch me again...it would have been one hell of a fall without you.”

“I will always catch you when you fall. I swear, Carly, from now on...”

“Why?” the question was soft, sweet, but filled with all her insecurities. “Don’t you get sick of it?”

“I was sick when I was away from you...I’m okay now.”

A huge grin curved her lips. He left her looking that way, not broken or lonely or beaten down. He left her this time with a smile on her face.

(I know where you hide
alone in your car

know all of the things that make you who you are

I know that goodbye means nothing at all
Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls) ( Maroon 5)

THE END.

Thanks for reading. In my opinion, nothing compares to Jarly and I just wanted to write this short tale about them back no one could deny they loved each other desperately.