Renaldo watched as Carly stared at the closed wooden door of Jason's study. A few moments after Emily had left for the beach, she had moved into the den, sitting in a chair that had a perfect view of the study.

Renaldo thought this odd, as she just stood there and watched it as if she expected Jason to walk out at any minute. He said nothing of it though, noting that she must be thinking about something big to be so deep in thought. He leaned lightly against the wall and observed as she finally stood up and walked down the hallway to the study. She paused, looked back at him, and then entered the room. Curious, Renaldo moved a few inches so that he had a view of the whole room. He glanced inside to see Carly walk up to the desk and pick up the phone. She looked up at Renaldo, and he averted his gaze, trying to remain inconspicuous, yet failing to do so.

She didn't seem to mind, however. In fact, he wondered later if she had intended on him to hear the conversation.

"Jason, it's Carly." The woman said. "Everyone's fine here, everything's fine." She looked up at Renaldo then, he stared straight ahead and avoided her stare.

Her voice turned sweet, the kind of sweet that was obviously fake. Renaldo leaned in a little, while still trying to look innocent.

"Jason, how is everything there? Really, oh that's great." Carly glanced up once again at Renaldo as she twirled the telephone chord in her hands. A smile, one that only Renaldo and Jason could know from watching her, played on her lips. "Here? Oh, everything's great. Emily, Michael, and I went shopping on Saturday, then we took him to play in the water, and I'm forgetting something, what was it we did? Oh, yes, that's it. It must have slipped my mind." She raised her eyes to Renaldo and smiled innocently. "We finally met David. You know him, don't ya Jase?"

Jason clutched his cellular phone in his hand, his knuckles began to turn white and he immediately eased up on his grip.

"Carly, how did you know?"

"Please, don't make me out like Robin, I'm not na�ve. I figured it out once Emily told me about him. Now why all the secrecy?"

"There was no secrecy, he's a new guy who needed a job."

"Cut the bull, Jason, you know as well as I do that you can't lie. Now tell me straight out-why all the secrecy and why is he here?"

"I'm not lying to you, Carly." Jason sighed and sat down on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. He ran his hand through his hair and said, "He's just a kid who ran away from home, a 17 year old runaway who wanted a job. I told him what the dangers were and I told him about the risks involved, but he didn't decline. So, I sent him to the island to look out for my sister and Lucky. I figured that if he got their friendship, then they would confide in him about any suspicions they might have."

"What suspicions?" Carly inquired.

"Look Carly, you know what's going on with Moreno. If anything, anything at all happened on that island and they grew suspicious, they would talk to each other, but they wouldn't tell you, or Renaldo, or me. That's where David comes in. And besides, it's the least dangerous job…for now."

Jason heard Carly laugh. "With Lucky Spencer around, I wouldn't be too sure of that."

Relief washed over Jason as he heard the familiar laugh. He had grown accustomed to it…he had grown accustomed to everything about her. The way she tossed her hair, the sweet, innocent smile she wore when she wanted something, the tone in her voice when she was trying to suppress her anger. He actually found himself missing all of these things and more. He took a quick glance around the penthouse and noticed how it lacked the life and warmth it usually held when she was in the room.

"I'll call you later to see how everything is going." He promised. "And I'll be back soon. Once everything is settled for a little while with Moreno. And once Robin is feeling better."

He heard her voice change as he mentioned Robin. "Okay." Was her reply. He was about to hang up when he heard her voice again.

"Hey Jase?"

"Yeah, Carly?"

"I-I mean, Michael misses you."

Jason smiled. "You tell him I miss him back." He shut off his cell phone and looked around the dreary apartment. "I miss you too."

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