Jason couldn't remember a time he had been more relieved to escape from Elizabeth Webber-Spencer than he had been after picking up Jake for his first visit. She had been angry at best and clingy at work, making demands and asking questions. He had tried to be patient if only for the sake of his son, but somewhere between her putting down Carly's parenting skills and pleading for them to spend the day as a family, his usually calm manner had worn thin. The conversation had ended with an even, matter-of-fact declaration that he was taking his son to spend the day with Jason's family and that he would return him by six that evening. Elizabeth had reluctantly agreed.

Now, as he pulled into the bustling driveway at Carly's cottage, he knew that his best friend and current love interest had something in the works. Her crazy plans came only when she was afraid or nervous, and officially meeting Jake as his son for the first time likely left her feeling both. "What in the world?" he muttered to himself as Max ambled by with a large carton. He was followed closely by Spinelli and Milo, each carrying similar packages. Climbing out of the dark SUV, Jason couldn't help but shake his head. By the time he had unfastened Jake from the car seat, the three men had made two more trips. It was clear that she had been shopping, and by the row of Wyndham's sacks that now lined her front porch, she had found what she was looking for.

"Thank goodness you're back," Max declared as he stopped to catch his breath. Peaking over the edge of the car seat, he smiled at the baby in Jason's arms. With piercing blue eyes and an all-knowing smile, he couldn't believe that more people had figured out Jake's true paternity before now. He was the spitting image of his father if there ever was one. "Mrs. C bought out the entire baby department at Wyndham's. I think you have approximately three of everything. She's inside worried that she forgot something. Two of the guys are putting up the crib."

"Great," Jason mumbled with a wry grin. "She's going to be mad that I showed up before everything was ready."

Spinelli and Milo had stopped to join the conversation. "The Valkyrie just wants everything to be perfect for Baby Jake's arrival," Spinelli pointed out. "The Stone Cold Namesake and I were left behind while she took the First Born shopping with her. They were gone for hours."

Jason decoded Spinelli's words and figured out that he had stayed with Morgan while Carly had dragged Michael shopping. He would have to thank Michael later as there were probably at least a dozen other ways he would have rather spent his Saturday morning. "Thanks for watching Morgan," Jason retorted. He was about to say something to Milo when a pair of boys came darting through the front door and across the yard. Morgan came crashing into Max's legs, hiding behind his thick thighs to peer at Jake. Michael was more forward, gazing down at the baby with a brotherly adoration. "I guess we should probably get him inside, huh? It's pretty cold out here."

"Mom isn't quite finished," Michael warned as he led the crowd toward the house. They all heard the crash upstairs followed by Carly's booming voice making demands on Jason's guards. Sonny's men always joked that Carly detail was the worst punishment there was because she always found little chores for them to do. Jason doubted that too many of them thought they would be putting up cribs or folding sleeper sets when they joined the organization, but whatever Carly said went. The only one who never complained was Max and that was only because he had a crush on her. "Do you want me to go up and get her?"

Shaking his head, Jason headed for the staircase, following the sound of Carly's voice. "You guys stay down here. I'll take Jake up to see her and then we'll come back down together," he promised before disappearing into the upstairs hall. A frazzled guard was leaning against a wall outside of the vacant bedroom Carly had deemed the nursery. Jason's waved his hand dismissively, hoping that he could catch a few minutes alone with Carly before the inevitable circus kicked in again. When he came into the room, she was bent over a freshly painted crib, carefully putting a fitted sheet over the mattress. "Hi, Honey, we're home."

"Jase!" she cried, her face falling as she turned around. "I wanted everything to be perfect and ready by the time you got here. It took a long time at the store and then the crib was buried. Nothing has gone like I planned."

Jason didn't say anything as he walked over to her, cradling his sleeping son to his chest. Stopping to stand by her, he gazed down at Jake. "It doesn't matter," he assured her in a soft whisper. "Look at him, Carly. This is my son. I'm here with you. Our boys are downstairs with Spinelli. Jake is asleep in my arms. This is about as perfect as it gets."

"Our boys," she repeated with a smile, reaching down to brush her thumb over the smooth skin of Jake's cheek. She wrapped her arm around Jason's back and leaned her head on his shoulder. They stared down at the sleeping infant together, basking in the true perfection of the moment.

Their temporary solitude was interrupted when Michael tiptoed into the room. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to see what was taking so long and make sure that Mom didn't kill you."

Carly and Jason chuckled in unison as Carly held her arms open to her son. "Come here, Mr. Man," she said. Michael crept across the room quietly, careful not to wake Jake. His mother slipped her arms around him from behind. "Can you believe that you used to be that little?"

"Not really," he admitted. He watched the gentle rise and fall of the baby's chest, astonished at the mere sight of new life. Jake wasn't a newborn, but it was like they were all seeing this for the first time. "Was I this quiet?"

"Rarely," Jason remembered with a laugh. "You couldn't stand to be away from your mom or me. You didn't even like Leticia that first year."

"I guess I just knew who loved me," Michael decided. Squeezing her son tightly, Carly exchanged a meaningful look with Jason. He smiled at her warmly, love shining back at her from his ocean blue eyes. "I think Jake knows that, too."

"What does Jake know?" Morgan bubbled as he came into the room, sitting on top of Spinelli's shoulders.

The computer hacker smiled his signature crooked grin, slightly embarrassed that he had interrupted a family moment. "Sorry, it looks like I walked in on the middle of one of those family things," he apologized. He knelt down to let Morgan off his shoulders and started to head out of the room.

"Spinelli, wait," Carly implored. "These family moments include you, too."

He covered his mouth with his hand, taken aback by the kind generosity of the Valkyrie. He opened his mouth to say something but for one of the first times in his life, the words failed to come. Instead, he took Stone Cold Namesake's hand and guided him over to his new family. They stood in a circle with Jake in the middle, all admiring the little unit that held them together. Though, he supposed, they were all that glue in their own way. There was Stone Cold, the strong protector and the generous soul that had given each of them their first chances at a good life. There was the Valkyrie with her open heart and fierce loyalty for the people she had chosen to be in her family. There was the First Born, the bright soul who had really gotten the whole thing started without ever knowing it. There was the Stone Cold Namesake with his wide-eyed innocence. There was even the Jackal, the one who shouldn't fit in but somehow did. They each had their role and played it perfectly.

They must have stood like that for more than ten minutes before Morgan began to fidget, Michael got bored and Spinelli became thirsty. One by one, the boys drifted out of the room in search of other activities, talking animatedly about how they would spend their lazy Saturday afternoon. Alone with Carly again, Jason said nothing. He only brushed a kiss over her forehead as he handed over his son. Watching her rock Jake, singing softly as she danced around the nursery, was one sight that he knew he would never forget. It was cemented in his brain right beside their first dance together, the first time she held Michael and standing beside her at Morgan's baptism. "What do you want to do today?" he finally asked.

"Just this," she answered, looking up from Jake's beautiful face for only a moment. She might not be that little boy's mother, but she would gladly give her life for him. That was all she needed to know to love him unconditionally. "You did good, Jase."

"Having Spinelli and the boys in here with us reminds me that we did good," he retorted as he came back to hold her and Jake together in his arms. "You know, I would never take Jake away from Elizabeth, but it's going to hurt like hell when I have to take him back tonight."

"I know," she commiserated, thinking about how hard it was each time she had to leave the boys with Sonny. Even if he was a good father and she understood how much her sons needed their father, it never got any easier saying goodbye to them. She wanted to be with them all the time. Besides being Jason's best friend, being a mother to Michael and Morgan was really the only place Carly had ever fit in her life. "But you know what? He's your son now. We'll get to see him all the time. Saying goodbye to him now isn't going to be like it was before when you had to deny who you were to him."

The rest of the day was spent laughing together over the little moments that help define a family. Jason loved being surrounded by Carly, Spinelli and the boys – having so much noise in the house that it filled each room to the rafters. He couldn't imagine ever going back to an empty, quiet penthouse and it had only been a few days. He had fallen into the role easily and willingly, just as Carly had walked into this life. And when it came time for them to say goodbye to Jake so that Jason could take him home, each of them had done it with a brave smile on their face. Like Carly said, it was never easy watching one of their own go, but now Jake was their family. He would be back, and they would be right there waiting with open arms.

When he got home from Elizabeth's house, Jason and Carly tucked the boys into bed with promises of chocolate chip waffles from Kelly's in the morning. Jason had read Morgan a story while Michael had read to Carly. They had switched after a few minutes, each enjoying the time alone with the boys. Afterwards, Carly had watched Jason and Spinelli play video games together until the young man excused himself to call Lulu. Carly and Jason sat in front of the fire, holding each other with only the sounds of their breath filling the air. After awhile, they drifted upstairs to their bedroom and crawled beneath the blankets to let sleep consume them.

The night that Jason showed up at Carly's cottage, not even he could have predicted how everything would turn out. Now that their relationship and their life had changed once again, he knew that they would never go backwards. They would only move forward, together as one. What she doesn't know doesn't amount to much anymore because he has finally given her all of him. Today had been a good day for the new Morgan family. It was the first day in a long life that would be filled with family and friends, surprise and joy, life and love. It was their first day of perfect.

Fin.

Author's Note: As always, thank you for reading the lovely Jarly tale that I have so lovingly spun over the course of these pages. I would especially like to extend my thanks to Sara for continuing to push and inspire me with her own words.