Jack Snyder and Carly Tenney

Jack Snyder and Carly Tenney (Michael Park and Maura West)

Jack Snyder and Carly Tenney Snyder are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama As the World Turns. Jack is portrayed by Michael Park, and Carly is portrayed by Maura West. The couple has been nicknamed by the portmanteau "CarJack" (for Carly and Jack) on internet message boards.

Storyline

Jack and Carly met in Carly's native state Montana. The two went from not getting along to giving in to undeniable chemistry, during a police investigation in which they investigated a dirty cop, Teague. The pair returned to Oakdale with Carly interested in marriage, and Jack wanting to take things slowly. Jack became suspicious of Carly's urgency for marriage, which caused a split in the relationship. Carly broke it off with Jack and married another suitor, Hal Munson.

After breaking up with Carly, Jack met Julia Lindsey. While helping Julia escape from her controlling fiancé, he developed feelings for her. During this time Jack also discovered that Carly have married Hal, to gain a trust fund from her estranged half sister, Rosanna Cabot. The trust fund stipulations were that Carly marry and have a child before the year ended. Jack urged Carly to tell Hal the truth, but she refused. Hal eventually discovered the truth on his own and divorced Carly.

After being divorced from Hal, Carly married John Dixon and gave birth to a son, Parker, who she believed was the product of donated sperm. The trust fund came through and Carly divorced John. They shared custody of Parker.

After this Carly married Jack's brother, Brad, though she did not love him. Brad blackmailed her to do as he said by threatening to tell that Parker was really Hal's son, and not John Dixon's. Carly's cousin Molly had switched the paternity results, so that Carly could obtain the trust fund. Chemistry between Jack and Carly remained strong. Jack's relationship with Julia ended due to dishonesty and interference from Carly.

In 1999, Jack and Carly secretly met in an abandoned boathouse where they fantasized about sailing away together and leaving all the drama behind. Jack and Carly finally gave into their passion and declared their love. Carly swore to divorce Brad so they could be free to be together, and Jack gave her a compass from the boathouse to remind her to find her way back to him. (This compass would become an important symbol of Jack and Carly's undeniable magnetic pull that brings them together time and again.)

Brad agreed to amicably grant Carly a divorce, but instead publicly told Jack the truth about Parker's parentage. Jack was hurt that Carly hadn't told him the truth and that he had been publicly humiliated and the relationship cooled once again.

Carly lost everything, including custody of her son. Jack took pity on her and befriended her, despite all that had happened. Jack wanted to attempt a romantic relationship with Carly again, but stipulated that there could be no more lies between them. He made a bet with her that she could not go three months without lying. When she won the bet, he took her to a section of land that he had purchased for them to build their dream home on, and proposed. They named the land Carly's Prize.

In 2000, Winston Lowe blackmailed Carly into believing that he would kill her son, Parker, if she married Jack. On the day of the wedding, Carly arrived at the church and informed Jack that she had decided to pursue a business venture in Paris. She left, leaving Jack heartbroken. He wrote her off forever.

Jack reconciled with Julia Lindsay and the two were a couple when Carly told Jack of Winston Lowe's involvement in her decision to leave for Paris. Jack didn't believe Carly and chose to marry Julia rather than risk a relationship full of lies. Eventually he realized that Carly had told him the truth, but he was already married to Julia.

In 2001, Julia miscarried Jack's baby and Jack confessed that he still loved Carly. Jack tried to be faithful, but was drawn to Carly and created excuses to meet with her. Jack's feelings for Carly drove Julia insane, and eventually led her to kill Carly's horse, Flashdance. Jack became concerned about Julia's mental state and eventually uncovered the truth about the horse. He urged Julia to check herself into an institution and hid her crimes, blaming himself for her mental state. Jack would not commit to Carly due to his guilt over being responsible for Julia's state of mind. But his intense feelings for Carly and realization of Julia's lies outweighed his sense of guilt and loyalty. He visited Julia in the hospital and asked her for a divorce. Julia told him she would never divorce him and he and Carly would never be together. With that information, Jack left town for a bit, needing to think it all out. Upon his arrival back in Oakdale, Carly hid in his car to meet him. He took her back to her apartment and explained why he left and that he loved her and wished her a happy life. Carly did not accept this. She told him she knew he asked Julia for a divorce and that was all the commitment she needed. He explained that he was not a free man but she responded by kissing him and they spent the night together. Julia even destroyed Carly's Prize (the land Jack had bought for them). Eventually, Julia came up with another plan and would only agree to the divorce if Jack took her out for one last date - to Craig and Barbara's wedding. At the wedding, while Julia was manipulating Jacks time, Craig found a sad Carly and kissed her. She pushed him away and ran back to Jack. Julia didn't need help separating Jack and Carly this time, because the kiss came out at Craigs trial months later and Jack left Carly. Even though they were broke up, Julia still became increasingly unstable, attempting to kill Carly in quicksand on top of Carly's Prize. Jack arrived in time and saved Carly from Julia and she was arrested. Because of the stress and disagreements during the trial and the quicksand incident, Jack and Carly remained apart.

A few months later, Carly received a job offer in Paris and tried to get Jack to give her a reason to stay. Even though he loved her and wanted her to stay, he encouraged her to go for her dream and remained "friends". On the day she was to leave for Paris, Jack showed up at her door to confess his feelings and tell her he wanted her back. She was upset that he was telling her this now, but agreed to reunite upon her return at the end of the year. Jack agreed and Carly left for Paris. Carly mysteriously disappeared along with Emily Stewart and Rose D'Angelo. The three had been kidnapped by evil mastermind, James Stenbeck and held hostage at a spa. Jack pursued false leads for months and was even stopped from leaving the country by Julia (hired by James) who kidnapped, tortured and raped Jack until Craig and Simon caught on to what was going on. Julia got away but they saved Jack. Jack finally made a deal with James. The deal was that James would let Carly go in exchange for his ex-wife Barbara Ryan. Carly was released, Barbara was able to get away and James fled from the law. Jack saved Carly once again. But, due to skin treatments at the spa, Carly looked decades older. Not wanting her to deal with everyone's reaction, Jack had her secretly transferred to Memorial hospital. Jack loved Carly from the inside and her look did not affect him. The same could not be said for Craig who turned to Rosanna after he saw what had become of Carly. Eventually, Carly was released from the hospital and went to live with Parker and Jacks house. Carly felt Jack's unconditional love. The doctor who treated Carly at the spa was eventually arrested and persuaded by Jack to undo the damage he did to Carly's face. With her face restored, she and Jack settled into a happy life when Jack proposed at Hal and Emily's wedding with Carly saying yes. Unfortunately, Jack and Carly's happiness wouldn't last long. Jack was jealous over Carly's friendship and working relationship with Craig, who made no secret that he would like to bed Carly, and the couple argued bitterly and Jack the night before their wedding called their engagement off, leaving Carly devastated. She drank too much champagne and found comfort in former flame and friend Mike Kasnoff and the two made love. Jack came to his senses and returned to her the next morning begging forgiveness and the two reconciled in time for their glorious wedding. Carly decided to keep the one night stand with Mike a secret.

On the day of Jack and Carly's Halloween wedding, Julia returned to town with a baby, Jack Jr., claiming he was Jack's and a product of the incident in which Julia drugged and raped him. Though the paternity test confirmed this, later it was discovered that the child was stolen by Julia in an attempt to further torture Jack, and was returned to his biological parents.

Though the marriage started on happy note with Carly expecting their baby, it soured when Jack learned about the night Carly spent with Mike before their wedding, and that the baby might not be his after all. Bitter at being kept in the dark yet again, Jack threw Carly out of his house. He contemplated divorce, and at one point had papers drawn. Though still jealous of Mike, Jack softened when he finally realized the child could actually be his and he agreed to help Carly in her pregnancy. To that end, when Carly was ordered to avoid stress in order to ensure a safe delivery, Jack pleaded with Carly to stop all work at Monte Carlo. Unfortunately, Carly wouldn't listen—especially when she found out Barbara was trying to get her job. Later Barbara disappeared and later resurfaced claiming that she'd been kidnapped. Skeptical at first, Jack did some digging and discovered that Craig, Rose and Emily did in fact kidnap Barbara. Not wanting the others to suffer, Jack kept quiet about the crime only to be ratted out by Henry Coleman. Not long after, Carly, who was suffering a creative block, was accused of ripping off Barbara's designs and Jack blew up at her. By the time he learned that Craig had actually stolen Barbara's ideas without Carly's knowledge, Carly had disappeared to quietly have her baby in Montana without telling anyone. Jack eventually found out and after Carly's cousin Molly Conlan McKinnon convinced him that Carly wanted him to follow her, Jack hightailed it to Montana where he begged Carly's forgiveness and asked her to give their marriage another try. Jack ended up delivering Carly's baby, a daughter that they named Sage. After the birth, Jack promised Carly that he'd stand by her no matter what. Because Carly went missing and it slipped Jacks mind, their divorce had gone through and Jack was devastated. He wanted a life with Carly, Parker and Sage. He asked Carly to marry him again and with only slight hesitation (not knowing yet if Sage was his daughter), Carly said yes. Jack and Carly finally renewed their vows in the place where they had met all those years ago. Later, Jack and Carly learned that Sage was Jack's daughter after all. It seemed like a happily ever after storybook ending, until.

A year later, Jack would find himself in a perilous situation while trying to protect Molly. After having helped rescue Molly from a mobster named Starziak who feared she was going to testify against him, Jack offered to let her stay in his house since she had nowhere to go and feared for her life. Molly's fears seemed grounded when Starziak found her at the Snyders and went after her. Fortunately, Jack and Carly arrived home in time and Jack was able to subdue Starziak. However, the frightening ordeal left Molly hysterical and she demanded that Jack take him away. Though proper procedure was to wait for police backup, to appease a hysterical Molly, Jack took the criminal away himself. However, in the car, Starziak attempted an escape by grabbing Jack's steering wheel and the car went into the water. Jack was presumed dead and Carly was devastated by the loss of her true love.

Days later, Jack would wake up in a hospital with no memory of who he was. Knowing his name was Jack (from the inscription on his wedding ring), Jack met a dark haired nurse named Julia Larrabee and was convinced she was his wife. Julia did nothing to contradict him, and the two bonded. However, when he made the assumption that her son, J.J., was theirs, Julia revealed that she'd only gone with his assumptions because his doctor asked her to. (The doctor thought it would help Jack) Soon after, Jack was released, but with nowhere to go. Feeling sorry for him, Julia let him stay with her and J.J and promised to help him find out who he was. Staying with Julia, Jack developed feelings for this woman and her son, who were the only family he knew since he regained consciousness. Although the search for Jack's identity led nowhere, he and Julia got a clue when a pair of hippies suddenly recognized him from pictures they'd seen carried by a crazy woman who hitched a ride with them one day. She had called Jack her husband. The crazy hitchhiker happened to be Jack's murderous ex-wife Julia. Suddenly Jack had a memory flash of Julia trying to kill him! That memory scared Jack and he decided that his former life was better off buried, and he focused on creating a new future for himself.

Meanwhile, Carly refused to believe Jack was dead and began to look into the accident. Although it seemed hopeless, Carly had one small lead—a dark haired woman at the water park with a small child named JJ was at the park with the blurred man in the photo. Her luck changed when a report came in that Jack Snyder's wallet had been stolen. It was proof that Jack was alive. Carly soon got wind and began her own investigation to find her husband. But throughout the weeks the search proved fruitless. Finally Parker (who had been having psychic flashes throughout all of this) told Carly that it was too late and then collapsed. Fearing what this was doing to her son, Carly decided to give up the search. But that all changed when Carly learned that the dark haired woman from the water park had been in her house wanting to tell her something. The same day, Parker found a pen in the trash, which must have been left by the dark haired woman, a pen from St. Genevieve Hospital. Now with a solid lead, Carly and Rosanna did some searching and found out the woman's identity—Julia Larrabee.

While bonding with Julia and JJ, Jack would periodically get flashes of a vivacious blonde but had no idea what those flashes meant and how they related to the crazy woman who tried to kill him. Then came the arrival of Julia's abusive ex-husband, Les who threatened to take JJ away. Having an instinctive need to protect his new family, Jack talked Julia into marrying him. Although she hesitated since they both had no idea what was in his past, Jack was happy in his new life, was totally dependent on Julia for any sense of identity, and assured her that he didn't care about his past. So, after obtaining a fake ID, under the name "Jack Jackson", Jack and Julia married. Weeks later, Jack was startled when Julia suddenly insisted that they had to move immediately. Though Jack was content remain where he was and worried about JJ leaving in the middle of a school year, Julia insisted that they had to move to Louisville that night. After being told that Julia had a job offer there, Jack agreed to the move. After driving all night, Jack and his new family stopped at a hotel called the White Horse.

When Carly went to Julia's home, she was told that she'd left suddenly with her son and husband, who had to be Jack! With the clock ticking, Carly and Rosanna went searching for Julia and Jack. Although they were thrown off course since Julia had told people she was headed for Tennessee, Carly soon figured out she was heading somewhere else and with some information from some truckers at a rest stop deduced that Julia and Jack could be headed for Louisville, Kentucky. Hitching a ride with a trucker, Carly searched at every hotel on route for Jack to no avail. Finally at dawn's light she got a clue from Parker—Jack was at the White Horse.

That night, Jack would be shocked to find a police badge in Julia's possessions—his badge with the name Jack Snyder. Shocked, Jack confronted Julia the next morning with the fact that she knew his identity. However, Julia maintained that she'd only found out the day before when she left the hospital. Buying her explanation that the hospital gave her the rest of Jack's effects, Jack went out and came face to face with a blonde who immediately recognized him—Carly. Unfortunately, Jack had no memory of Carly at all. Although Carly tried to jog his memory by showing him a family picture and telling him about their past, he still could not remember anything. Not feeling anything for this woman in front of him, Jack only wanted to return to Julia and was shocked when Carly told him that Julia had known who he was, that she'd been to their house in Oakdale. Not knowing whom to believe, but not liking Carly's confrontational attitude toward Julia, Jack took Julia aside and demanded the truth. Caught, Julia tearfully confessed that she'd learned of Jack's identity much earlier but kept quiet since she'd fallen in love with him. Touched, Jack forgave Julia. Although Julia wanted to go ahead and move far away, Jack convinced her that he had to find out who he was.

So, Jack went back to Oakdale, and brought Julia and JJ, with him. This development didn't sit too well with Carly and she had several run-ins with Julia, whom Carly accused of exploiting Jack's vulnerable state to keep him close. Carly's antagonism toward Julia only ended up alienating herself from Jack. Knowing that Jack considered Julia his real wife, Carly went to court and had Jack declared incompetent and had him placed in her custody. However, though Jack was now at home, he was colder than ever to Carly. However, he was starting to bond with his children and the Snyder family. Meanwhile, after weeks of Jack being hostile towards her, Carly tried to make him remember their past by tricking him into going to Montana. There she discussed their past and started reciting their wedding vows. Suddenly, Jack started remembering them too and his entire memory came flooding back. He and Carly embraced. But even though his memory had returned, Jack still had a problem—he loved Carly, but also cared for Jula, and he had promised a very fragile JJ that he would keep he and Julia safe from the abusive Les. As Jack struggled with his choice, in the end Carly decided to make it easy for him and signed divorce papers. However, to her delight, Jack had already made his decision to return to Carly, the love of his life, and try to do right by Julia and JJ some other way, and Jack tore up the divorce papers. Months later, Julia was tragically murdered by her ex-husband, Les, and Jack and Carly were granted guardianship of JJ.

A few months later, Carly started having nightmares of a woman screaming at her demanding to know what she had done to her child. Convinced this was a traumatic childhood memory, Carly did some digging through her father's things and found a photo of him and a dark-haired woman. The odd thing was that the photo was taken near Mabel's in Oakdale. Confused since her father never mentioned living there, Carly asked around but no one remembered her father or the woman he was with. Trying to support her, Jack did some digging and found out who the woman was and her relationship to Carly. Determined that Carly would never learn the truth, Jack located the woman, Iris, in Oakdale and went to her to tell her to stay away. Unfortunately, Carly saw them talking. To Jack's relief, Iris simply told Carly that she dated her father when Carly was a girl.

Meanwhile, tragedy struck when Rosanna was run off the road by Craig and fell into a coma. At the time of the accident, Rosanna had made plans to adopt a baby boy from teenage unwed mother. With Rosanna incapacitated, Carly decided to raise her sister's baby, whom she named Rory, after Rosanna. Unfortunately the mother, Gwen Norbeck, decided to sue the Snyders for custody since she didn't know or trust Carly. A week later, at the trial, Iris told Carly the secret she had been hiding. She had given birth to Carly's father, Ray Tenney's, child and Carly, in a childhood pique of jealousy, murdered her newborn baby. Since Carly was underage, the records were sealed. When Carly relayed the story to Jack he was forced to admit that he'd not only seen the juvenile records; he'd destroyed them. As for Carly, all she remembered was a small baby and Iris screaming that she'd killed him. In the meantime, the custody battle seemed to be turning in Gwen's favor with her getting visitation rights.

Desperate to make sure she didn't lose Rory, Carly set out to make Gwen look like an unfit mother by arranging her to drink tainted water during an outing so Gwen would fall asleep while watching the baby. Upon learning that Carly had arranged for the drugged water, Jack again covered for Carly by lying to Hal. Not long after, Carly and Jack were shocked to learn that Iris was Gwen's mother. Painting herself as the perfect mother, Iris petitioned the court to let Gwen have temporary custody of the baby while under her care. To Carly's dismay, the judge agreed.

After a few weeks when Iris accused Will Munson (who was seeing Gwen) of poisoning her, the teens ran off with Rory to New York City [Changing the baby's name to Billy]. Carly and Jack went to NYC to locate them. Finally they found them on the steps of the NYC university, Carly and Gwen were on the top steps and Jack, Will and Iris were near the bottom of the steps) Gwen was holding on to the baby carriage, when Carly and her got into fight over Rory, Gwen lost her balance. The carriage went over first, and Jack caught the carriage, saving Rory. Unfortunately, Gwen lost her balance and fell down the stairs. Suddenly, at that moment Carly had a memory flash to the night Iris's baby died. She suddenly remembered that it wasn't a baby BOY but a GIRL. Carly suddenly put two and two together and figured out that Iris set up Carly in order to get her and her baby away from the Tenneys. That meant that Gwen was her half-sister.

Despite the revelation, Carly refused to acknowledge any sisterly bond and was still determined to keep Gwen away from her baby. Meanwhile, Hal found out about Jack destroying Carly's juvenile record and had him suspended without pay. In the end though both women ended up losing when another major revelation came out—Rory was not Gwen's baby. He was actually Jennifer Munson’s son. Both babies had been born on the same day but one wouldn't survive. Unknown to everyone, Craig had switched the babies so everyone thought that Jen's baby had died. With the truth finally discovered, Rory was given to Jennifer and she renamed him Johnny. Then, saddened by Gwen's loss (since it reminded her of a previous miscarriage), Carly truly bonded with her sister.

As for Jack, although he was cleared by Internal Affairs for what he'd done, his job had already been given away to Mike's cousin, Nick Kasnoff. He was allowed to work part-time on the force, partnered with none other than Nick. Although Carly detested Nick since she felt that he'd stolen Jack's thunder, Jack tried to make the best of the situation, though he wasn't Nick's biggest fan either. Then both Nick and Jack were assigned to crack a gambling operation, with Nick as lead detective. Hoping to help Jack get the information to crack the case, Carly (without Jack's knowledge) took a job at the club they were investigating. Things became complicated when Nick spotted Carly working at the Galaxy club as a waitress. She quickly spun a story about them needing the money since Jack wasn't working full-time and begged him to keep her job a secret from Jack.

Despite a few close calls, and several run-ins with Jack, the secret remained safe, although Jack became suspicious of the many conversations between Carly and Nick. After several weeks of Carly's suspicious behavior, Jack soon learned the entire truth and feeling betrayed left Carly. In the meantime, while Jack was finally reinstated at the force, Mike was caught up in trouble of his own when he discovered a skeleton in the basement of the Snyder home (his old house). The body belonged to a woman Mike briefly knew named Maya Gold and since he was the last person to see her alive, he became the prime suspect. However, Carly and Katie started wondering if it was Nick, not Mike, who was the killer. It turned out the ladies were right. Realizing he was about to be found out, Nick took both women hostage. Luckily, Mike and Jack found them. In an effort to protect Mike, Katie shot Nick dead. Realizing he'd almost lost her, Jack almost reunited with Carly.

Unfortunately, soon after, he was forced to admit that he couldn't fully trust her and their marriage. Angry, Carly threw him out and warned him that she might not wait around for him this time.

Carly then moved on to a flirtatious relationship with new business partner, Simon Frasier. A jealous Jack realized how much he missed his soulmate. Carly then refused to take Jack back and entered a serious relationship with Simon.

Carly and Simon end up stealing some crown jewels and go on the run, they leave Oakdale, but Carly returns to say goodbye to the children. Jack is there and catches them, but allows Carly and Simon to leave, still in love with her and deciding to set her free. After Carly is gone, a bitter and lonely Jack got involved with Katie. Carly later returns, missing her old life, returning the jewels and leaving Simon. Now Parker is upset with Carly and after a series of events he runs away. After repeated attempts to get Carly to understand that he was tired of hurting over and over and wanting to move on with Katie, Jack finally told Carly that he could see himself marrying Katie. Carly soon manipulated Katie into believing Jack was going to propose to her, but it backfired on her when Katie and Jack realized what Katie and Brad were up to.

Soon, a woman named Ava surfaced, approaching J.J. and addressing herself as a friend of his biological mother Julia's. When she asked for a key to a music box, J.J. reluctantly agreed until matters took a turn for the worse. Silas and Ava kidnapped J.J. and asked for ransom. Despite Jack's orders not to do so, Carly sought help from friend Lily and paid off the kidnappers, only to be double crossed. Ava and Silas soon fled with J.J. and took him all the way to Idaho to start their "new family". Jack was injured by Silas in an explosion, and when Katie rushed to his side to tell him she loved him, a semi-conscious Jack replied, "I love you too...Carly." Katie kept this information to herself when Jack woke up in the hospital.

Before Jack and Carly left to pursue the kidnappers, Jack proposed to Katie and she said yes. Finally, an injured, disgruntled Jack and ex-wife Carly were able to work off of a lead and tracked the kidnappers down to Idaho. In an action packed chain of events, Carly saved the day, then Jack saved Carly, J.J. was finally freed, Ava ran off with the ransom money, and Silas was arrested.

Returning home, Jack and Carly did a news story on the kidnapping and their closeness upset Katie, who left. Jack went to find Katie, telling her that he did not have feelings for Carly, and he wanted them to get married. Once Carly heard about the engagement, she began scheming to break them up. She dressed up in Jack's favorite dress for the engagement party to try to seduce Jack. Her plan failed and Jack was pushed further away.

Carly then began having dizzy spells and fainting. She fainted on a couch while listening to Jack and Katie argue about having more children, was discovered, and neither the believed her story that she fell asleep. She faints again while trying to convince Katie that she was not following her. Jack and his brother, Brad, come upon the scene and Jack lectures Carly about getting up to her old tricks. Brad thinks that something might be wrong with Carly, but she tells him to keep it quiet. As Carly drives Sage to Jack and Katie's wedding shower, she gets dizzy, sees a flash of white light, and drives off the road. Nobody is hurt in the accident, but Jack is forced to leave the shower and is upset that Carly crashed with Sage in the car. He is even more upset when she will not give him a reason for the accident. After Jack leaves, the doctor tells Carly that he thinks she should see a neurologist.

The next day, Carly goes to the neurologist and he tells her that she has a lesion, a tumor, or her brain. Because of the position of the tumor they cannot operate. He gives her two months to live and says that there is nothing they can do for her. Carly goes home, takes a bath, and slides under the water. Brad finds Carly and pulls her out of the tub. She admits to him that she is dying, but refuses to let him tell Jack until after his honeymoon. Together, Carly and Brad call other doctors but they all confirm that Carly has a tumor and nothing can be done.

On the day of Jack and Katie's wedding, Carly collapses in Old Town and for a moment can't remember who she is. A police officer recognizes her as Jack's ex-wife and takes her to the police station. He tells her that unless she calls someone to get her, he will call Jack. Carly calls Brad and his phone rings, interrupting the ceremony. He tells Jack that he has to leave, and asks them to wait for him to come back. He goes to get Carly at the police station and brings her to the hospital.

Jack decides that he doesn't want to wait for Brad, and the ceremony continues. He and Katie are married and the reception begins. Just before Jack and Katie are going to leave for the honeymoon, Katie throws the bouquet and a returning Brad catches it. Jack is angry with Brad for leaving until he mentions that something is wrong with Carly. Jack thinks it is just a trick until Brad confesses that Carly is in the hospital and refuses treatment. Jack relays the news to Katie and then leaves to go see Carly in the hospital. When he arrives, Carly is upset that Brad told her secret, but finally admits to Jack that she is dying. She breaks down and the two embrace as Katie watches from outside the room.

Jack and Katie put the honeymoon on hold and Jack tells Katie that he needs to spend more time with Carly. Meanwhile, a suspicious Parker asks Brad why Jack and Katie aren't on their honeymoon and guesses that it has something to do with Carly. When Brad won't tell him anything, he goes to Katie, who confesses that something is wrong with Carly, but she can't tell him. She promises him he will find out by the next day. With this information, Jack and Carly decide that they have to tell the kids. Brad and Katie bring Parker, J.J., and Sage to Carly's house and she and Jack tell them that Carly is sick and is going to be in and out of the hospital a lot. Sage and J.J. take the news well, but Parker knows that it is more serious. After the others leave, Parker tells Carly that he can handle the whole truth. Carly tearfully tells him that she is not going to get better.

Later that night, Carly wants Jack to help her make a video for the kids to watch after she dies. He does, and after he leaves Carly makes a video for him, confessing her love and her desire for him to live a happy life. A few days later, Jack accidentally sees the video and Carly confirms that it was all true. She tells Jack that she just wants one more chance to feel loved and asks for one last kiss. Jack obliges, and he realizes that he still has feelings for Carly. Jack goes home to Katie and tells her what happened. She is upset and suggests that they should take a break. Jack doesn't want to do that, but Katie says that she can't stand not knowing when he is coming home and knowing that he is with Carly. She tells him to put her first and asks him to move out, which he does regretfully.

The same night, Carly prays, asking God for a miracle for her children. Soon after she gets a call from the neurologist who wants to meet with her. He comes over and tells Carly that she does not have a tumor, but an abscess and is not dying. Carly is thrilled and wants to tell Jack when he arrives. However, he makes her sit down and takes her temperature first. She asks him why she came back and Jack admits that Katie wants to live separately. Carly decides not to tell Jack so he won't go back to Katie. Brad soon finds out that Carly is not dying, and urges her to tell Jack. Carly convinces him to stay quiet by telling him that this is his best chance to get Katie to himself.

Carly tells Jack she wants to go to Montana before she dies. They go together, without telling Katie. Katie wants to talk to Jack, but Gwen, who is watching the kids, tells her Jack is in Montana with Carly. Katie is upset and tries to get Brad to sleep with her. They almost do, before Brad stops it, convinced that Katie loves Jack too much to do that to him. Meanwhile, Carly and Jack are both affected by the memories in Montana. Jack lays Carly down on the bed to rest, she draws him into a kiss, and the two make love. Afterward, Jack feels guilty about betraying Katie and insists they return early. Katie has decided that she wants to reconcile with Jack and asks her to meet her at the Lakeview. He goes and she begins apologizing for pushing him away and tell him he can spend as much time with Carly as he needs. When Jack doesn't respond, Katie gets suspicious and Jack admits that he slept with Carly in Montana. Katie and Jack separate and Jack ends up proposing to Carly. At the altar, Jack leaves Carly after she tells him she is not sick, and she has known for a while. Jack tells Carly he does not think he can ever trust her again and tries to keep the kids from her. Parker gets mad and refuses to speak to her and only wants to stay with Jack.

Enter Kit, a changed woman who was once involved in JJ's kidnapping but has now come back to apologize to Carly. Carly decides to let Kit stay at Carly's house while they re open the bar Metro with the money Carly got from the doctor's misdiagnoses. JJ freaks out when he sees Kit and goes to get Jack, who rushes in and points the gun at Kit. When Carly explains why she is there, Jack says she had better hope she is right about Kit and tells her he wants the kids to stay away from her. Enter Sam, Kits ex-boyfriend a few days later, and Kit and Carly take him in as he starts his relationship with Kit back up. Jack does not trust either of them, and he and Parker and JJ are worried about them around Carly. Kit earns Jacks trust however when Carly and Sage are involved in a hold up and Kit saves them both by facing down a man with a loaded gun. Katie sees Jack hugging a saved Carly and Sage and realizes they are a family and decides to stay away from Jack. Sam gets more and more interested in Carly as time goes on, and Parker and Jack begin to distrust him more and more as well. When they finally convince Carly to fire him and make leave Carly and the business alone, Sam attacks Carly, telling her he loves her, and tries to rape her. Parker enters and shoots Sam, who lies on the ground supposedly dead. Jack shows up and takes Carly and Parker to the police station. Although it is a self-defense case, the DA decides to try Parker as an adult for murdering Sam.

Carly and Jack learn that a second shot was fired that killed Sam, in the heart, and Carly knows it was Kit. (Carly remembers in a dream that Parker only fired one shot, and she knows Kit was the only other person with reason to kill Sam.) Kit continually plants Cowboy Jack, Sam's creepy ventriloquist dummy, around Carly to creep her out because Kit acts like she blames Carly for Sam's death. Jack and Carly try several times to trick Kit into confessing, and Kit in turn tries to kill Carly at an old abandoned warehouse when Carly goes there. Jack saves Carly and brings her home. When they later return to the warehouse, Kit tries to kill both Carly and Jack, and Kit ends up shooting Jack. Carly in turn grabs Jack's gun and follows Kit, who shoots at Carly. Carly returns fire, killing Kit, without a confession of the murder. Jack survives, but Parker's trial begins. Carly finds a homeless woman (Ruby) who can prove Kit was in town the night of Sam's murder (she had supposedly been in Chicago) and Jack and Carly convince her to testify on Parker's behalf. The judge, who had convicted Parker as guilty, reverses the sentence after Ruby testifies. Parker is made innocent, and the family returns home. Jack decides to stay at the farm for a while for the kids and so Carly can help him get better from his gunshot wound. Carly decides she wants Jack back, but he is weary. After talking to Lily though, he decides that he and Carly need to start as friends and see where it takes them. She agrees.

In another story, super-couple Holden Snyder and Lily Walsh began to have trouble in their relationship. Carly and Holden confided in each other about their messed up love lives and, when they grow closer and closer as they stay a night together at their daughter's camp, the two end up in a kiss. They have an awkward car ride home and do not talk much about the kiss. Then Holden sleeps with Lily to try to forget Carly and announces that they should take a trip together. Carly confronts Holden about the kiss and the two go on a horseback ride together. As Lily searches for Holden on the farm, Carly tries to leave and Holden stops her, and the two are about to kiss. Carly and Holden end up having a short affair that ends in high tension for all. Holden and Lily and Lily and Carly are reunited and mostly forgiven when Ethan, Lily and Holden's son, gets stuck in a manhole and everyone works to get him out. Craig Montgomery comes back into town and regardless of her supposed hate for him, he and Carly begin a relationship. Around the same time, Brad Snyder discovers he has a daughter named Liberty with Janet Ciccone. Janet and Liberty arrive in Oakdale and she and Jack begin a relationship "only based on sex" until they decide they are in love and get married. As Jack and Janet and Craig and Carly pursue their various relationships with one another, Janet is jealous of Jack's concern for Carly and his dislike of Craig.

Craig and Carly decide to marry but Carly begins hitting the bottle every time tensions run high with anyone in the family. One the night of her wedding to Craig, Carly gets drunk and runs away. When she returns, Jack, Janet, and Craig are all there and they place Carly in rehab, and she goes willingly. Jack and Janet continue on with their lives and Craig falls in love with Carly's sister Rosanna. As time passes, Janet's mobster uncle Ralph stirs up trouble and ends up kidnapping Katie Snyder and Brad goes after her. Jack tries to save them both and Ralph uses Brad as a human shield. In the dark, Jack accidentally kills his brother. At the funeral, no one blames Jack but he blames himself and so does Liberty. Jack leaves the funeral and is about to leave town when Carly arrives, fresh out of rehab, and tells him to return to the funeral and his family. However, Jack ends up leaving town. Carly returns home and discovers that Craig is with Rosanna, and she curses them both and sets off after a distraught Jack. Janet mopes at home and laments the fact that Carly will always be the one who saves Jack in times of trouble. Jack considers suicide and runs into several old friends in the various places he runs to. He meets up with Simon Frasier, most importantly.

Carly finds a depressed and drunken Jack and vows not to leave him until he comes home. Jack is determined to bring Simon home to comfort widow Katie. Simon returns to Oakdale and Carly manages to bring Jack home as well. Janet and Jack separate for a time being because of tensions over Brad and the fact that Jack came home when Carly asked him to, not when Janet did. Thanks to Parker, who claims he is scared Simon will take Carly away again, Jack decides to stay at Carly's house to watch over his family. On Christmas, Brad's ghost visits Janet, Jack, Katie and Liberty, and all is resolved. However, Jack still does not come home to Janet, who herself has begun to develop a relationship with Dusty Donovan in her loneliness. After he sees Brad, Jack thanks Carly for saving his life and the family celebrates Christmas with one another.

Craig manipulates Carly into coming with him on a drive, and Jack and Parker realize Craig has kidnapped Carly. Jack ditches Janet on New Year's Eve to go save Carly, and Carjack end up helping a very sick and hypothermic Craig when they get stuck in an abandoned cabin. Janet, in her loneliness, has sex with Dusty Donovan. Carly tells Jack that she will take care of Craig and that he should go home to Janet. Craig wants a second chance with Carly and she turns him down. Things carry on like this until Jack finally tells Carly he is leaving Janet and he loves her. Carly is elated but when Jack goes back to dump Janet at the farm, she reveals to him that her daughter Liberty has leukemia. Jack, not wanting to leave her in this time of need, tells Carly he has to stay with Janet and Liberty as much as he loves her still. Carly takes a drink but Craig stops her, and the two decide to re-open Monte Carlo, Carly's fashion line, together. In February 2010, Carly walks in on Janet and Dusty kissing; this is what she needs to get Jack back.

She goes and tells Jack about what she sees and he doesn't believe her and confess to Carly that he and Janet decided to have a baby to try to save Liberty's life. And before Jack tells Janet that he changed his mind, she announces that she is indeed pregnant. Dusty believes that the baby is his but Janet assures him that it isn't and can't be for Liberty's sake. CarJack relationship is tried again when Parker becomes a suspect in attacking Gabriel (Craig's son) and leaving him to die in a fire. Carly learns of Parker hitting Gabriel and decides to keep the information from Jack in fear of him putting his job first and not protecting their son. Jack learns about Carly's secret and is angered in again being the last to know what's going on. Gabriel lies and says that Craig was the one who attacked him due to Lucinda Walsh's demands and pay off. CarJack tries to put the incident behind them but Carly is worried that she will always be a liar that Jack always looks down on and not love her for her. Liberty recovers from cancer and the baby indeed is not Jack's but Dusty's after all.

During the final week of the show, Jack and Carly remarry and learn that they are expecting a baby.

Impact

Jack and Carly were nominated as "Most Irresistible Combination" at the 32nd Daytime Emmy Awards.

On 27 June 2010 actor Maura West and Michael Park who portray Carly and Jack both won Emmy awards for Outstanding Lead Actress (West's second) and Outstanding Lead Actor (Park's first).

On 18 June 2011 actor Michael Park won his second Emmy award for Outstanding Lead Actor.

See also

• List of supercouples

External links

• SoapCentral