Here - Chapter 7

The man's name is Alex. He is a student at PCU, but he grew up in Boston.

Carly asks him the expected questions, not interested at all in the answers he gives. She does not even hear the answers really. She simply nods and smiles, drinking drink after drink.

Drinking so much that even the questions she answers do not seem to matter.

He sees her squirming in her stool, "Would you like to dance?"

"Sure!" she says, speaking and smiling too brightly to be natural.

She is unsteady when she gets up, catching her off-guard. He helps her out of her seat and leads her to the small dance floor.

A slow song is playing. She pulls him to her, closes her eyes, and pretends he is Jason. She pretends that this is the first time they've danced. She pretends she can feel the same energy and sexual connection she'd felt that night. Even though they had not slept together yet.

He folds his arms around her, not knowing what she is thinking about, but not willing to try too hard to find out. His hands wander her back, up to her shoulder, down to the upper curve of her hips.

She moans, a dreamy smile on her face. She is completely enjoying the moment, the feeling of being touched and wanted, of being in a man's arms.

When she does not object, his hand ventures further south.

His hand on resting comfortably on her buttock reminds Carly suddenly that this man is not Jason. Reminds her that Jason is not hovering around the bar, around the pool table, willing and able to rescue her. Reminds her that she is truly, truly alone in this crowded bar.

"Get away from me!" she hears herself yelling at the young man as she roughly pushes him away.

"Hey!" he exclaims, confused and a bit embarrassed by her unexpected outburst, "What is your problem??"

Carly is seething. She is not sure at what, but she is seething. She hisses at the stranger, her words slightly slurred, "Who the he!! do you think you are?? Do you know me? Where do you get off touching me like that??"

He grabs her upper arms, trying to soothe her, to settle her down, "Come on, now...we were just having some fun, right?"

"Let go of me!" she yells, jerking her arms away from his tightening grip.

***********

Hannah is bringing a french fry to her mouth and it stops midway there. She shakes her head and mutters, "Figures..." under her breath.

"What?" Taggert asks, then turns to look over his shoulder at the commotion on the other side of the room. He catches sight of Carly going after a young man with both of her fists. She is yelling at him, but her words are indistinguishable over the din of the crowd.

Taggert wipes his mouth and puts his napkin down on the table. He looks at Hannah, "I guess I should do something...."

Hannah shrugs and says coldly, "She started it. She can finish it." She looks over at Carly again, "Besides, aren't you off-duty?"

He tilts his head at her and smiles slyly, "A cop is never off-duty. You have to learn that one..."

She smirks at his less-than-vague reference to Sonny, then watches him slowly head over to the raucus.

*****************

"We have a problem over here?" Taggert asks quietly, stepping between the attacking Carly and the confused, angry young man who had just been dancing with her.

"Yeah," Alex says, pointing a finger at the snarling Carly, "she's nuts!"

"That's right!" Carly retorts smugly, "I've done time in Ferncliffe to prove it too!"

Alex raises his hands in surrender and walks away. He tosses a last, "You're crazy!" in Carly's direction, then goes to commiserate with some people at the bar who had watched the incident unfold.

Taggert turns to Carly, giving her an admonishing look. He can tell that she is drunk. "Do you need me to call you a cab somewhere, Mrs. Quartermaine?"

Carly laughs at the policeman. She is laughing so hard at his calling her 'Mrs. Quartermaine' that she is nearly doubled over.

He takes her by the elbow and pulls her aside, "Look, you're in no condition to drive."

She tries to catch her breath, still laughing, and says through tears, "I don't drive, Taggert!"

"Well then, you definitely need a cab."

Carly inhales deeply and her hysterical laughter subsides. She stares at Taggert hard, as if seeing him for the first time. Without warning, she steps closer to him and places both hands on his shoulders. Then she stands on her tiptoes and whispers in his ear, "Why don't you give me a ride, Detective?"

Taggert gets her double-entendre and gently nudges her a few inches away from him, "Would you like me to call your husband for you?"

She looks into his eyes and understands then that Taggert is not a man who appreciates, or is interested in, easy sex. Then she laughs again, this time more weakly, "No...no...no need to call my husband." She sighs and steps back further, "A cab would be fine..."

*******************

Taggert waits outside with Carly for the cab, hoping that the night air will help sober her up. When the cab finally arrives, twenty minutes later, all of the spark and feistiness of drunkCarly has been replaced by an empty, broken shell of the same woman.

He helps her into the cab, then gives the driver the address of the Quartermaine residence. The cab looks back at his fare, then at Taggert, as if asking if the man is sure he wants to send this woman to that address. Taggert nods, hits the hood of the car, then watches the cab's rear lights disappear into the night.

When Taggert returns to his table, Hannah has finished eating is waiting patiently for him. "You send her home?"

Taggert sighs and nods, collapsing into his chair, "I don't know what is wrong with that woman. How could a person with so much act like she has nothing? She lives in a mansion on the hill, has a healthy son, a rich husband...I just don't get it."

Hannah raises a brow, "You mean you don't know?"

He frowns, "Know what?"

Hannah leans forward, her face smug in satisfaction, "AJ Quartermaine threw her out, kept their kid with him. From what I hear from Tammy, Carly is living with her mother and waiting tables." Hannah laughs then, "And, on top of that, Carly's little crutch Jason Morgan has skipped town." She looks at him suspiciously, "Come on, Marcus, you had to know that Jason is gone..."

Taggert nods slowly, "Yeah. We figured as much. Gone or dead in the river." He shrugs, "Either way, just one less thug for the PCPD to keep track of."

Hannah grows serious. She is curious from a personal rather than a professional viewpoint, "You know why he left?"

Taggert shakes his head, nibbling at his now-cold food. "Nope."

Hannah sadly looks down at the table. She liked Jason. He was loyal to Sonny. She can only assume that Sonny had sent him away. Or that something - or someone - had caused a rift between Jason and Sonny. And if it is the latter, she knows there was only one person with that much influence on Jason. Carly, what have you done now...?

************

Carly is completely back to her sober self by the time the cab makes the first turn. When the driver makes the second turn, she realizes where he is headed.

The very last thing she wants is to be dumped on the Quartermaine doorstep. She thinks about what a waste the entire evening has been. All of that drinking. All of that flirting. And she still feels nothing.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Where can she go to feel again???

Then she leans forward and tells the driver to take her to a different destination.

***********

"Uh...Carly's here," Francis announces, his voice laced with trepidation. He never knows how Sonny is going to react to visitors these days.

Sonny, seated on the sofa, puts down his drink. Of course it's Carly. With just the slightest hesitation, he looks at Francis and says with quiet resignation, "Let her in."