"Wow, Carly, this place is incredible," Carly T. said emphatically as she and Carly C. made their way downstairs from the upper floor of the penthouse. "I love what you've done-the decorating and the atmosphere; you have excellent taste. Then again, of course, with the money you and Sonny obviously have, why wouldn't you? And Michael, he is a delight! It's not hard to see how much joy you bring to each other's lives."

"Yeah, well, Michael and I are very lucky; Sonny loves us both very much and he always makes sure that we never have to want for anything. I never thought I could be this happy, ever. I always believed I wasn't good enough for love, and happiness, and a life that makes me whole and complete, but Sonny changed all of that for me. He gave me the world when he gave me his heart and I'm going to hold on to that for the rest of my life. Now, as far as the décor goes, there are some things I would love to change, but Sonny, he can be so stubborn sometimes! Isn't it just like a man to want to disagree with us, even if he can't give a reasoning for it?"

"I'll say that…." Carly T. responded.

Carly C. winked at Carly T. and walked over to the bar. "So," she began, "would you like a drink? Maybe a little cognac to warm up the evening?"

"Sure, that's great, whatever."

Carly C. poured two glasses of cognac and brought them over to the couch, where Carly T. had already taken a seat. She handed one glass to Carly T. and took a long sip from the other glass, and afterwards she placed the glass on the coffee table. "So, I know that there's Parker, your son, but what about someone else in your life? A husband, lover?"

Carly T. looked directly at Carly C. and tears began to form in her eyes. "There was, once," she said, sadly. "But I really screwed that up and now I've lost him."

"Well, if there's anything I've learned from the mistakes I've made, it's that it's never too late for love."

"No, Carly, it really is over between us, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"But you two…you still have Parker, right? That certainly connects you."

"Parker? Oh, no, Jack isn't Parker's father. He should have been, but…."

"He should have been?"

"Oh, that's a really long story…anyway, Parker spends some time with me and the rest of the time with my ex-husband, Hal. We've managed to be somewhat civilized so that our son doesn't have to be without either one of his parents."

"I certainly can't say the same about me and my ex, because the fact is that I can't stand him and I don't even want him in the same room as Michael. Besides, Sonny is a better father than Michael's biological dad could ever be, and I know my son will never have to pay for the lousy excuse of a human being A.J. is, thanks to him."

"Let me guess, the maniacal ex you talked about earlier, he's Michael's biological father?" inquired Carly T.

"One in the same," answered Carly C. "A.J.'s family, the Quartermaines, they own the Port Charles Hotel, and some other businesses in town, but they think…they think they own the whole town, and everyone in it, and if you don't play the way they want you to then they'll do whatever they can to destroy you."

"Hmph, I certainly know some people like that in good ol' Oakdale! Yet, it seems to me, from what I've gathered, with the way the bartender at the Port Charles Grill responded to you when you said to put my drink on your tab, and the bodyguards, and the exclusiveness of this penthouse, that your husband has some pretty big clout in this town, too."

"Believe me when I tell you this, Carly, if it weren't for Sonny, I probably wouldn't have escaped the Quartermaine insanity with my life still intact. He saved me, and Michael, and that is something I will never be able to thank him enough for. Now, enough with this about the Quartermaines-talking about them makes my skin crawl! What do you say we go poke around in the kitchen and fix us up some snacks? Sonny is pretty particular about how much time people other than himself spend in there, but come on, I'm his wife, and I'm entertaining a friend, so why shouldn't we?"

"Why shouldn't we indeed," said Carly T., with just a touch of snarkiness in her voice. "I might not be the greatest cook in the world, but I certainly can sniff out a decent snack! Plus, it'll give us a little more gab time, and since you've told me so much about you and Sonny, maybe I could tell you a little more about my situation with Jack. It would be nice to throw things out to someone who doesn't have some sort of a personal stake in the whole thing!"

"Now there is an offer I couldn't possibly refuse! Come on, let's go see what kind of damage we can do to my husband's precious kitchen," Carly C. exclaimed as she grabbed Carly T.'s hand. The women both laughed and hurried into the kitchen…