The Compound

Sonny looks over the water from his vantage in the wheel chair on the lanai.
She knows you're a time bomb waiting to go off and bring her and her children down.
The stroke might have robbed him of most of his speech and his mobility but it hadn't taken away his thought processes, or the memories. On a good day, they'd be memories of his family at the park having a picnic with Carly pleading for cotton candy. And on a bad day, it would be all the reasons why Carly would be better off without him. But even if Carly would be better off without him she wouldn't be better with HIM. Not Alcazar.
Sonny knows Carly has had the baby. Morlee would be a month old already. Carly should have gotten away from him by now, away from Alcazar... if she wanted to.
She's married to you. Marriages end all the time-- for all kinds of reasons.
Maybe she didn't want to. Maybe she was going to make the best of things. Carly is aces at making the best of things. And who the hell knew how her mind worked? She had a chance to be with Jason and had picked AJ. Money, power, security-- Well he still had the money. The Power had been passed to Jason along with the territory. And security? Security is a muther fucking joke.
I'm in a position to get what I want, and you're powerless to stop me.
Sonny beats on his paralyzed leg with his good hand. Even before the stroke, he'd been powerless to stop Alcazar from taking his wife. From making them all puppets on his string. He'd known in his gut that it was over from the time Michael hadn't been on the plane with him on the return trip from the compound. There is no reason for Carly to come back to him now. There is nothing here for her now. Nothing he can offer her.
The truth is you're not good enough for Carly. She needs to know she has other options.

"Sonny?" A tanned arm catches his arm and wrestles it from beating on the bad leg. "Sonny, stop it. Sonny!"

"Where she?"

"The last packet Jason sent to the Casino said they aren't at the compound anymore." Courtney sits down next to the chair. She keeps a hand on her brother's arm. "That's part of the plan right? You and Jason couldn't get Carly while she was at The Compound. Jason's ready, Sonny. One phone call and there will be plane tickets waiting wherever she is. I don't know where Carly is right now. I don't know when she's going to be here. But she will, Sonny. She'll be here."

"Mama?"

The echoing tones of a long distance call on speaker phone clues Bobbie in immediately. Even if the bodyguard's rap on the door with the phone in his hand hadn't been enough of a clue. "Carly!" Bobbie slams the door in the face of her ever present bodyguard and turns her back as she walks over to the couch with the cell phone. This is interesting. The timing of the call is when Sean isn't around and she can bet that is on purpose. "How are you? The kids?"

"Fine. Fine." Carly says impatiently. "How is Sonny doing?"

"Working his program, honey. There haven't been any miracles; it's just going to be hard work. But most things are." Bobbie reminds. Carly did have a habit of trying to rush things, force things. Which is a reminder she needs to get to Carly. "Lucas is doing fine too. Although he is doing nothing but complaining about the Herald and how sucky their sports coverage is. I know he's going to convince me to start taking the Post. No matter where in the world you are you can get the Post and their sports page reflects that."

"I'll have to check it out." Carly says bewilderedly wondering what the hell. "Michael has started to get interested in soccer. I guess it would be handy to read about it in English. Maybe I could pick up on some of the finer points."

"Oh it's not just soccer, whether it's Texas baseball or Canadian hockey they have it all." Bobbie hints again. "Which is just what Lucas wants. I like the more personal way they report. It's almost got a tabloid feel to some of it."

"Don't bother buying it then-- just steal Amy's copy."

"Carly!"

"What? Am I wrong?"

"No. But still!" Bobbie sighs. "I do miss you, baby."

"You miss fighting with me."

"Yes, that too." Bobbie agrees. "He has to let you go now. Sonny can't give him anything. There is no reason for that man to hold you anymore. No reason why you can't come back to Port Charles. It's the safest that it's EVER been for you to be back here. It just doesn't make sense."

"Mama, you just have to get used to the idea that I'm with Lorenzo now. I'm fine."

"IF you are with Lorenzo as you say then there is still no reason for you not to come to Port Charles. What? Is he afraid of what you'll do if you were back around your family? Is he so insecure?"

"Mama, I have to go. I'm not going to listen to you bad mouth Lorenzo." Carly hangs up the phone.

She's sleeping with him. Bobbie goes over to her own phone and calls Jason. "Carly just called. It could be any time. She's just waiting for him to trust her."

"We're ready." Jason agrees and then warns. "Be careful, Bobbie. I don't know if you'll be the first stop or the second."

"Well Mama was being weirder than usual." Carly wraps her arm around Lorenzo's neck and reaches behind him to where the phone base is on the headboard and clicks it off. She looks at Lorenzo after hanging up the phone. She'd moved into his bedroom a week ago after the first time they'd gone riding. They'd barely left the farmhouse at all except for trips to Michael's soccer practice and occasional forays to the village pub.

"If her calls upset you..." Lorenzo runs a soothing hand down Carly's satin covered back and hip.

Carly sighs. "Not calling wouldn't help. I used to not call Virginia, my adoptive mother, and that was even worse. 'Cause if anything does happen then you feel awful. Virginia had a heart attack and I found out from the neighbor that she was in the hospital. I hadn't called in weeks. It was.... Anyway those two are nothing alike, I swear, except for their whole dropping a guilt trip thing. But you heard her... that one was all for you."

"Excuse me?"

"You didn't hear it? The whole you've got no balls and are afraid to bring me back to Port Charles?" Carly grins as she taunts him.

"I'm enjoying having you to myself too much to return to Port Charles. Maybe next year." He slides his hands up Carly's thighs that rest on either side of his hips easing up her gown as he does so.

"Next year is only a few weeks away." Carly reminds Lorenzo as she lifts her arms over her head and out of the way as he removes her night gown and throws it aside. "Oh gees, I totally blew off Thanksgiving. How the heck did that happen?"

"You weren't in the States?" Lorenzo suggests.

"But it just seems wrong!" Carly protests. Both of them freeze in their progress at a squeak that comes from the baby monitor.

"She'll go back to sleep." Lorenzo says hopefully even though he already knows it's not going to happen. He recognized that squeak and it's a prelude to more if Morlee didn't get her snack promptly. He'd walked the floor more than a couple of times with the baby once she'd gotten spun up.

"Oh no she won't!" Carly reaches for her robe and rolls off of Lorenzo and out of bed. If she didn't get to Morlee fast then the baby would wake everyone in the house. "Owww... owww..." Carly stubs her toe as she is racing for the door. Luckily there is a nightlight in the baby's room and once there Carly can see right to the crib. "Hey Morlee, Mama's right here. No need to fuss."

Alcazar listens to the one sided conversation on the baby monitor while he gets up and grabs his own robe. Instead of going straight to the baby's room, he goes downstairs and pours himself a brandy. Going back upstairs to Morlee's room, he stands in the doorway watching as Carly nurses the baby. "I think you caught her just in time." Lorenzo says quietly.

"She's almost back to sleep." Carly whispers. Very carefully she rocks out of the chair and to her feet. Carly readjusts her robe and carries Morlee back to her crib laying her back down. Carly makes a shooing motion toward Lorenzo and limps out of the room.

Once out in the hallway, Lorenzo hands her the brandy and then picks her up and carries Carly back to their room. "Am I going to have to Carlyproof our room?"

"Ha! Such a comedian."

"How bad is it?" Lorenzo sets her on the bed and flips on the bedside light.

"I just stubbed it. No big deal." Carly sets the brandy on the table next to the bed.

"Was it this one?" Lorenzo kisses Carly's littlest toe. "Or maybe this one?" He kisses the next one over.

"Oh my."

The very next morning, the staff is up bright and early having fallen into a routine. The guards change up at the front gate. Since Morlee seems to like sleeping in, the Nanny starts a load of laundry making breakfast for herself and Michael while she is at it. As soon as the wash transfers to the dryer, which annoys her mightily since back in Venezuela she'd have been able to hang the clothes out, Nanny shoos Michael out of the kitchen and upstairs to get out of his pjs and ready for the day. It's about that time that the cook arrives from the village and kicks the nanny out of her kitchen.

It's the sounds of the house waking up that stirs Lorenzo. It'll take more than that to wake Carly. He'd discovered it was possible for her to have a cup of coffee, a shower, breakfast and feed Morlee all before waking up. It is more sleepwalking than actual consciousness. Even Michael knows all promises made before 8am aren't binding, since Carly would agree to anything to get an extra ten minutes of sleep and not remember it later. He'd tested it himself. Carly had promised to love him and never leave him. Course she had also agreed that the moon was made out of green cheese.

"Jefe?" Michael says softly from the other side of the door.

"Is the coffee ready?"

"I'll go check." Michael goes pounding down the stairs.

Lorenzo slides out from under Carly's arm, leaning over to press a kiss to the base of her spine before pulling the covers up to her shoulders. Then he reaches for his robe. By the time Michael is carefully carrying the coffee into the bathroom, Lorenzo is working on trimming up his beard. After a week of not shaving it is just a matter of shaping. Michael watches with some fascination. "What do you have planned for today?" Lorenzo asks.

"Nothin' much. Vinnie is coming over to watch Soccer tonight" Michael gets comfortable. "Mama said you have a dinner."

Lorenzo grimaces. "That's right. I forgot." This week off has been a dream, a honeymoon of sorts. Paolo still came to the house everyday but it's just odds and ends and there has been no outside business-- mainly because he shoved it aside for as long as he could. "I have to take your mother shopping today in Florence." Now Michael is the one grimacing. "I will suggest to her that you remain here. Tell her it's Christmas shopping."

Michael's eyes light at that but then his eyes narrow. "Are we having Christmas here or at The Compound?"

"Here. Why?"

"I need to know for the letter I have to write." Michael kinda gets twitchy and then quickly excuses himself.

Lorenzo is surprised when the next visitor is actually Carly. She pats him on the back absently and then reaches around him for his coffee. "Why would Michael care if we were having Christmas here or in South America and writing a letter?" Lorenzo asks her not really expecting a detailed answer.

"Santa." Carly realizes what she said as she takes a sip of Lorenzo's coffee and starts sputtering. "Oh Gawd. Santa. Christmas. Oh Gees. Blowing off Thanksgiving is one thing. Did you say Michael is writing a letter? I have to go read it."

"You're awake." Lorenzo grins at Carly's reflection.

"This isn't funny!" Carly starts stalking out of the bathroom but Lorenzo grabs her around the waist and starts nuzzling the back of her neck. Carly brings her shoulders up to shrug Lorenzo off. "I have to find out what is on that list!" Carly turns around to face him.

"I suspect he is still working on it. Besides Michael already suspects that you are going Christmas shopping today."

"Oh he does?! And how did he get that idea?" Carly asks tongue in cheek and both eye brows up.

Lorenzo looks at her wryly. "I might have told him. There are some things I need to pick up in Florence before the dinner tonight." Lorenzo admits. "If we can get it out of the way early, the dinner won't be until late."

"It won't take me long to get ready. If I have no distractions." Carly suggests. She gives Lorenzo a push out of the bathroom.

He's out the door and it's shut behind him and locked before he realizes that his coffee is still in there, and he still has small spots of shaving foam on his neck. He chuckles and shakes his head wiping the foam on the sleeve of his robe. "I'll see if I can find out what is in this letter that Michael is writing."

"That'd be great!" Carly calls from inside the bathroom over the running water.

Florence is a friendly city. Even if it hadn't been-- in the land of Armani, Gucci and Prada, Carly has many friends. It didn't have the chaos of Rome, or the romance of Venice, or the tipping tower over in Pisa. Its just a city on the river that has been there forever mostly in the service of the Medici family who must have loved to shop from the looks of the downtown. What made it especially nice from Carly's view is that it's walkable. You could go from one end to the other on foot. You could go over all twelve bridges if you felt like it. The airport is out of town. You had to take a cab or something to get to it but everything else is darn convenient. The Farmhouse is great. It's an oasis, a place to go riding and for Michael to run like a hooligan if he felt like it. But this... this is a city.

Lorenzo tucks Carly's hand into his and then stuffs them both into the pocket of his parka. They did have a guard with them but it was more to notify the driver when there were packages that were going to need to be picked up and stuffed in the trunk of the limo, while Carly and Lorenzo went on to the next store. Carly is happy to just be window shopping after she gets done with her shopping for Michael and Morlee. "This is it." Lorenzo announces and pulls her into a store.

"This is what?" Carly looks around and makes a silent Oh. Followed by an equally silent mouthed WOW. Then she leans over and whispers into Lorenzo's arm. "This is where you've been getting the necklaces."

"Why are you whispering?" Lorenzo whispers back. "And yes, it is." The store manager comes over to one of his best customers. "La Signora perduto la fede."

"Ohimè!" The manager exclaims.

"What's going on?" Carly asks curiously. "Why is he looking at me like my dog just died?"

"I told him you lost your wedding ring."

"Lorenzo, No. Let's go." Carly starts tugging back toward the door.

"Un momento." Lorenzo indicates to the manager and then turns to Carly.

"Sì, certo!" The manager agrees and takes a few steps back discreetly.

"Why is this a problem?" Lorenzo asks. "When you wore the other rings, everyone assumed you were La Senora. Mi esposa. Consider it part of the uniform if you like. Like the necklaces."

"It's not the same thing." Carly insists.

"Are you mine? Do you sleep in my bed?" Alcazar growls.

"Yes! You know I do." Carly hisses back. She glances over at the manager to see if he's listening.

"We'll look at them now." Lorenzo asserts to the manager. The hand he has at Carly's back is a little more forceful than normal as he gives her a leading shove after the manager toward the display of wedding sets.

"Knock it off." Carly gives him an elbow and a dirty look.

La Luz De Mi Corazón. Lorenzo puts the platinum ring back into the velvet box next to it's companion after tracing the inscription. It had taken a little longer to get the rings but he'd been able to get the wedding band sized and inscribed while he and Carly had continued shopping.

"Capo." Vinnie announces as he comes into the farmhouse after a brief knock. Ever since he'd taken pity on Michael and brought out the soccer ball he'd ended up being a combination coach/bodyguard/babysitter.

"Vinnie. I'll let Michael know you're here." Lorenzo says with a nod. He goes up to Carly's room where once again, Michael is watching her get ready. "Vinnie is here."

"Don't stay up all night!" Carly demands as Michael runs from the room. Carly shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "He's going to stay up all night."

"Yes, probably. Although I'm sure he'll pretend to be asleep when we get back. Are you ready?"

Carly shrugs. "I guess."

Lorenzo comes up behind her and helps her put on a diamond choker necklace that compliments the dress she is wearing. Taking Carly by her left hand he assists her to her feet and then reaches into his pocket with his right hand and pulls out the small jewelers box.

"Lorenzo,..." Carly hesitates. "...you don't have to do this. It's too much."

"Yes, I do." Flipping the box open with his thumb he sets the box on the vanity and pulls out the wedding band. He puts it on the ring finger of Carly's hand. She doesn't meet his gaze but instead focuses on a button just about eye level. But she doesn't pull away the way she had in the store. He doesn't release her hand but instead reaches back in the box and pulls out another ring. Lorenzo slides it on next to the wedding band. The large flawless diamond in the engagement ring is bracketed by two sapphires that would be big enough to be the center stone in most rings.

"They match your eyes." Carly's gaze had dropped to her hand when the second ring had been put on.

Lorenzo tilts Carly's chin up and slowly kisses her, parting her lips and deepening the kiss. Carly slides her hand beneath his jacket and around his waist going up on her tiptoes to press closer to him.

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