John and Jane Jacks were standing outside the nursery window on the OB floor, looking at the newborns when the nurses finally brought Brenda up from ER. It was nearly 5:30 a.m., but no one -- least of all Brenda -- seemed fazed by the hour. In fact, rather than being exhausted by the night's events, she appeared energized. Seeing and hearing evidence that their baby was alive and well had buoyed both her and Jax's spirits, and they wanted to share their joy with the world. Although eager to talk to Brenda as soon as they had seen her gurney come off the elevator, John and Jane had refrained from besieging Brenda immediately because the nurses had asked them to wait until she was settled into her room before they had their reunion. They had reluctantly agreed, and Jax had promised his parents he'd come to get them as soon as the nurses were done admitting Brenda to the floor.

"Did you find one you'd like?" Jax teased when he came looking for his parents after Brenda had been settled into her room. He found them still firmly ensconced in front of the nursery.

"I'm afraid the one we'd like hasn't made his or her appearance yet, Son," John laughed, his booming baritone voice echoing in the deserted corridor.

"Shh, John! It's early, and there are mothers who are trying to sleep," Jane chided him.

"Well, judging by the chorus coming from in there, I'd say those mothers will need to be waking up soon anyway," John laughed as he continued to watch two nurses working at diapering the five crying babies in preparation for their early morning feedings. He looked over at Jax, who now also seemed transfixed by the sight of the young lives in front of him. "Just think, Jax, it won't be long until we'll all be standing here looking at your son or daughter."

"Yeah," Jax said, grinning from ear-to-ear, "Next April…"

"April? How wonderful!" Jane hugged Jax excitedly. "When in April? Is it near your birthday?"

Jax shook his head. "No, Dr. Meadows says the baby's due in early April -- somewhere around April 9. She did another sonogram, and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat." He held his hand out to his mother, "Come on. Brenda's in Room 824 at the end of the hall, and she can't wait to show you the new sonogram and tell you about hearing the baby's heartbeat."

"Lead the way!" John said eagerly, as Jane gratefully took her son's extended hand. She thought about how things had changed in the past few hours. Just twenty-four hours ago, they barely had a son. Jax was distant and moody and wanted little to do with them. But now they not only had him back, but they had Brenda and their first grandchild back, as well.

Jane knew that Jax's attitude toward them had softened because of Brenda and their child. Family was important to Brenda since she had very little family as a child. Brenda thought of them as her own family -- just as they loved her as one of their own. Jane knew that Jax was putting aside his own reservations about them in order that Brenda and their baby could have the kind of family Brenda had never had. He was putting the needs of Brenda and his unborn child to be surrounded by a loving, extended family above his own need to insulate himself from them for their past transgressions. She smiled as she realized that she was already seeing the kind of devoted and loving father and husband that Jax would always be. Her son was a good man. Perhaps she and John hadn't been such terrible parents, after all…

"Here we are," Jax said as they quickly reached Brenda's room. "Brenda, you have company," he said brightly as he opened the door and led the way inside, but Jax paled as he saw that Brenda's bed was empty and Brenda was nowhere to be seen. "Oh, God! They have her again!" Jax panicked as he looked franticly around the empty room.

Just then the door to the bathroom opened and Brenda came out, dressed in an oversized hospital gown and dragging an IV stand behind her. "Jax? What's the matter? Why were you yelling?" she asked as she slowly closed the door behind her.

"When you weren't in your bed, I thought you'd been taken again," Jax said, as he ran to her, hugging her tightly to him, relieved that she was still there. Then he pulled back from his embrace and looked at her sternly. "What are you doing out of bed?" he scolded as he helped her back into bed. "The doctor said you were to be on bedrest…"

"With bathroom privileges," Brenda interrupted. "And I'm definitely glad for that! I swear, between this baby sitting on my bladder and the hospital pumping at least a gallon of fluids through me since I've been here, I may end up spending most of my time in the hospital in there rather than out here!" she laughed, pulling the covers up over her.

"But you shouldn't have gone in there by yourself," Jax continued, as he sat down on the side of her bed, stroking her hand, feeling the need to stay connected with her now that she was safely back with him.

"I didn't. One of the nurses helped me in there and told me to press the call button when I was finished, but when I heard you out here, I figured I didn't need to bother a nurse to get me the few feet from the bathroom to here. Trust me, Jax, I'm fine," she reached up and caressed his face lovingly before she continued, "but I love you for worrying about me." Then she saw that John and Jane were there, too. "John, Jane!" she smiled and held her arms out to them.

"Brenda, it is so good to see you. We've missed you so much! This is truly a miracle," Jane said as she hugged Brenda, her eyes filling with tears.

"That it is!" John added, his eyes also misting up as he hugged Brenda. "And look how beautiful she is, Lady Jane -- I swear, she's absolutely radiant. No one would ever guess the ordeals she's endured by looking at her now."

Jane pulled back away from her, and settled onto the edge of the bed opposite where Jax sat, before looking Brenda squarely in the eyes, her expression sobering, "John's right -- you look wonderful. But how are you -- really?"

Brenda smiled at John and Jane's genuine concern for her. "I'm fine -- now. I was really worried for a while there, but luckily Jax was able to get to us in time, and Dr. Meadows was able to save the baby." She reached over to the bedside stand for the new sonogram and handed it to John and Jane. "This is the latest view of your grandchild," she said, smiling up at Jax who was beaming at his parents. "And we got to hear his heartbeat for the first time."

"This is so exciting! I cannot wait until I can hold more than just a picture of this little one in my hands," Jane uttered, as she lovingly stroked the grainy image of her first grandchild, trying to imagine what he or she would look like.

"Neither can I, Mother," John added. "April can't come soon enough for me!" He pulled a chair to the side of the bed, and settled into it before continuing, "Our grandchild is very lucky to have you as his mother. Dr. Meadows tells us that you're the one who saved this baby, Brenda. She says that it was your cleverness that saved both of you."

"I just did what I had to do to survive," Brenda shrugged. "It wasn't anything extraordinary. And it was Jax who helped me use my head rather than panicking. I've learned to trust because of him, and I knew he'd find us one way or another. I just had to hold on until he did." She looked up at Jax, her eyes shining with love for him, and he leaned in and gave her a tender kiss.

"But it was still nothing short of extraordinary that you were able to subdue two of Leone's top men," a male voice said from the doorway of the room. Startled, everyone looked up to see Tom standing there, smiling at Brenda.

"Tom!" Brenda held her arms out to him, and Jane and John moved out of the way to allow Tom access to her. Tom and Brenda hugged warmly, and then Brenda looked at him, tears glistening in her eyes, and spoke softly, "I'm so sorry about Charlie. It was all my fault. If I had never fallen into your lap in the first place, Charlie would still be alive now."

"I have not, for a single moment, regretted that you 'fell into my lap'…" Tom smiled gently at her. "Besides, Charlie's just fine. They didn't kill him, just drugged him. Last I saw him, he was still a little groggy, but he was definitely coming out of it." His face sobered as he continued, "And none of this is your fault… I should never have left you alone like I did. That was unprofessional of me."

"But you were just catering to one of my cravings, remember? I was the one with the intense desire for that pizza," Brenda responded, feeling the need to take responsibility for setting up the situation that resulted in her own kidnapping. "At any rate, the baby and I are okay, and I'm so relieved to know that Charlie's okay, too."

An uncomfortable quiet settled over the room as everyone realized that the consequences of both Brenda's and Tom's actions could have been far more serious than they were.

"What's this about Brenda subduing Leone's men?" Jax asked, breaking the silence. He suddenly realized that in all the excitement surrounding the baby's condition, he had not heard any details of Brenda's ordeal.

"You remember that they were unconscious when we arrived at the house," Tom reminded Jax.

"Yes," Jax nodded.

"Well, it seems that the men had been drugged. One of the nurses helping with Wilkerson -- that's the one who was shot -- found a medicine bottle containing some unidentified pills in his pants pocket. They also found a few of those same pills in Richards' possession, as well. They sent the pills to the hospital pharmacy, and the pharmacist identified them as Rohypnol. It's a powerful sedative that has gained fame recently as the 'date rape' drug because it's odorless and tasteless when dissolved in food or drink and can be easily slipped to a victim without their knowledge. It quickly renders them unconscious and very pliable. It's also not easily detected in the blood unless someone's specifically looking for it."

Suddenly the possibility that they had used that drug on Brenda and had violated her hit Jax. "Oh, God, Brenda! Did they…"

Brenda shook her head. "They chloroformed me when they grabbed me, but they didn't give me any drugs. But I'm sure Danny had every intention to use it on me eventually, so I decided to use it on them first," she said matter-of-factly.

"And you did, didn't you?" Tom asked, smiling. Brenda nodded as he continued, "After Dr. Meadows finished with you, she checked in with the doctors treating Richards and Wilkerson. She found out that their respective doctors were stymied as to what had knocked them out. She advised them to check their blood for traces of Rohypnol, based on your account of events of the evening, and -- sure enough -- they found evidence of the drug in their systems. My question is: how did you get it from them and then how did you manage to slip it to them without their knowledge?"

So Brenda proceeded to tell them everything: how she awoke alone and tried to find an escape route; how the opulent bathroom seemed familiar, but not yet remembering why she knew it; how she realized escape at that point was futile, so she looked for a weapon instead and accidentally found the pills in Danny's coat; how she recognized the pills from TV and tried to take the entire bottle, but couldn't fit it into her pocket, so she took just a few to use if the opportunity arose; how she finally pieced together where she was and tried to give Jax a clue as to her whereabouts; how Tony allowed her to help him with their drinks, turning his back on her just long enough for her to stir the crushed pills into their coffees; how both men finally succumbed to the drugs; and, finally, how Danny realized that she somehow drugged them and tried to shoot her, but Tony shot him first.

John and Jane shook their heads in amazement as Brenda calmly recounted the harrowing events of the evening, while Jax and Tom both beamed in admiration at the courage and presence of mind of this feisty woman they both loved.

While John and Jane had gone straight from the ER to OB to wait for Brenda, Jerry had located Bobbie and talked her into taking a coffee break with him. Although he loved spending time with Bobbie, his reasons for seeking out her company had nothing to do with her obvious charms. He wanted to cull as much information as possible from her about Brenda's condition and any details of the evening that Brenda may have divulged to the medical personnel while she was being examined. He didn't trust the FBI -- especially Tom -- to be forthcoming with information. And Jerry wanted to know if Brenda and the baby really were okay, as Dr. Meadows had so cheerfully indicated earlier, or if she were withholding bad news until a later time -- like the possibility that the reason for Brenda's near miscarriage was because she was raped. If she had been raped, Jerry wanted to know so that he could be prepared to help both Brenda and Jax deal with the aftershocks.

"So, can I get the real scoop from you on Brenda's condition?" Jerry asked Bobbie as soon as they sat down at a corner table of the nearly empty cafeteria to drink their coffees.

"This is really bad for my ego, you know. Here I thought you wanted to treat me to coffee because you enjoy my company, but now I realize it's just so you can pump me for information." Bobbie raised her eyebrows at Jerry, her eyes twinkling as she gingerly took a sip of the steaming hot coffee.

"Well, it goes without saying that I always enjoy your company," Jerry said as he flashed her his most beguiling smile, "but I also know that I can count on you to be straight with me on everything concerning Brenda's condition."

Bobbie nodded. "As long as you realize that I can't divulge any confidential information to you without Brenda's permission." She took another sip of her coffee and watched as Jerry shifted in his seat, his face growing serious.

"Okay, I won't press you for particulars. But could you answer a couple of general questions for me?" he asked, holding the hot cup of coffee in both his hands as he thought of how to word the tougher question.

Bobbie set her cup down on the table. "If I can," she answered honestly.

"Are Brenda and the baby really okay?" Jerry asked, his voice showing the genuine disquiet he felt.

Bobbie smiled at his concern for Brenda and the baby. This gentle and solicitous side of Jerry was one she had rarely seen, and it was very endearing, she thought. "Yes, they are really okay. Dr. Meadows and I weren't lying to you or the family about that, Jerry." She expected him to visibly relax with her answer, but instead he seemed to become tenser. "I get the feeling that there's more on your mind. What is it?" she asked.

Jerry took a deep breath, and decided that there was no easy way to ask this question, so he'd just come right out with it. "Was Brenda…" he hesitated, swallowing hard as he feared the answer she would give to this question. "Was she raped?" he asked quietly, leaning forward to prevent the possibility that the handful of cafeteria patrons could overhear.

Bobbie's eyes widened, as she was not expecting this question from Jerry, but then her eyes softened as she reached across the table to take his hands in hers. "No, Jerry, she wasn't," she replied evenly.

He sat staring at her, searching for any hint that she was lying, but he saw none. He visibly relaxed, as he let out the deep breath he'd been holding since he had broached that terrible subject. "Thank God!" he sighed.

"Yes, thank God -- and Brenda's presence of mind," Bobbie replied.

Jerry's eyes narrowed, as he pondered Bobbie's statement. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that if it hadn't been for Brenda's quick thinking, she most likely would have been raped," she said quietly. "Look, I don't think I'm breaking any confidence here by telling you this," she said as she took another drink of her coffee before continuing. "One of the men had a bottle of Rohypnol -- that's commonly known as the date rape drug. Anyway, Brenda found the unmarked bottle of pills and recognized them from some TV newsmagazine she'd watched a while ago, and she kept some of the pills and ended up slipping them to the kidnappers before they could use them on her. That's why both men were unconscious by the time you guys arrived. One of the guys realized what she had done, and tried to shoot her, but she said the other guy shot him first and saved her life."

Jerry sat there momentarily stunned by what Bobbie had just told him, and then he broke into a wide grin. "Well, I'll be!" he laughed loudly, drawing the attention of the few others in the room. "That girl really can take care of herself in true Jacks style! She's something else!" Jerry was truly impressed with Brenda's self-sufficiency and presence of mind despite the horrifying situation she had been in. Lesser women -- and men -- would have simply crumbled under the pressure, but not Brenda. She had not only survived her ordeal; she had triumphed over it, and brought her captors to their knees, to boot!

"That she is," Bobbie agreed, smiling at the genuine love and admiration that Jerry had for Brenda. "Brenda told us about what she's been through the past few weeks, and it really is amazing that she's survived -- not just physically, but emotionally as well. She's come a long way from that fragile girl who splintered apart last winter after Sonny left her at the altar. And that is thanks, in no small part, to the steadfast and unconditional love that Jax has always shown her. His love for her and his faith in her helped her to learn to love herself and to have faith in herself. She may still look as fragile as a flower now, but she's been through the fire, and she's been tempered by it; she's what I'd call a steel magnolia, " she added thoughtfully.

"That's a very apt description of Brenda these days," Jerry replied, finishing his coffee and setting the empty cup back down on the table.

"Jax and Brenda have certainly been through a lot in the past year. They deserve all the happiness that life can give them," Bobbie said as finished her coffee and stood, signaling she needed to return to her shift in the ER.

"That they do," Jerry agreed as he stood and gave Bobbie a quick peck on the cheek. "And I'm going to make sure that nothing -- and no one -- gets in the way of that happiness," he added as he headed out of the cafeteria and up to OB.

It was 6:00 a.m. by the time Jerry finally made it up to the eighth floor to see Brenda. Despite Dr. Meadows' assurance that she would allow all the family to visit Brenda for a few minutes that morning, Mrs. Halle Strine, the night shift head OB nurse, stopped Jerry on his way to Brenda's room. She told him it was too late for him to see Brenda then and suggested that he come back during OB's regular visiting hours. Jerry took umbrage with her suggestion, and offered his own suggestion to her as to where she might "stick" her suggestion, which nearly resulted in security being called. But then Tom happened by on his way out of the hospital and asked if he might be of assistance. Impressed by Tom's dark blue windbreaker emblazoned with FBI in bright yellow letters across the back, Mrs. Strine quickly turned the "Aussie troublemaker," as she referred to Jerry, over to Tom, while she went back to readying her report for the day shift, which was due to arrive in less than an hour.

"Another fine mess you've gotten yourself into," Tom muttered under his breath to Jerry as they walked the distance from the nurses' station to Brenda's room. Had he not promised Mrs. Strine that he would personally assure that Jerry would not stay over the ten minutes he was allowed, he would have been far away from Jerry Jacks and his contemptuous attitude toward him.

Jerry heard Tom's snide remark, made a crude hand gesture and mouthed "Shove it!" to Tom, and then, plastering a smile on his face, opened the door to Room 824.

Jax sat in the bed holding Brenda in his arms, watching as she slept. He looked up when he heard the door open and saw both Tom and Jerry standing there, frozen in the doorway. "It's okay," he said softly. "Come on in. You won't disturb her. She's sound asleep, and I doubt anything will wake her for several hours."

"She must be exhausted," Jerry whispered as he closed the door quietly behind them.

Jax nodded. "Yeah, she was asleep within minutes after everyone left." He shifted slightly, pulling the blankets up around Brenda. She sighed, nuzzling closer to him, as if she were afraid he would let go of her. "She asked me to get in bed with her. She said she couldn't sleep without me." He smiled at that and then kissed her softly on the forehead.

Jerry looked sharply at Tom, hoping that this scene would make Tom fully comprehend the commitment and the connection that Jax and Brenda had to one another. The intimacy of the scene was not lost on Tom, who glanced down uncomfortably at his feet, hoping that Jerry would cut short his visit so that they could both get the hell out of there. Despite knowing in his head that Brenda would never love him the way she loved Jax, seeing the two of them like this -- so connected, so casually intimate and not caring who saw them -- still ate like acid at Tom's heart.

But Jerry seemed in no hurry to leave. Normally, he would have excused himself and gone home once he had seen for himself that Brenda was safe and that Jax was with her. But, sensing Tom's uneasiness with this domestic scene in front of them, he decided to stay there as long as he could to rub salt as deeply as possible into Tom's wounds.

"You'd better hope that Nurse Ratchet doesn't catch you in bed with Brenda," Jerry quipped, "otherwise, this baby will definitely be an only child!"

Jax laughed softly. "I take it you've met Mrs. Strine. She is rather … intimidating."

"Infuriating is more like it!" Jerry huffed. "The bloody woman wasn't gonna let me come back here to see Brenda now, even though Dr. Meadows had specifically said that family," Jerry looked directly at Tom as he emphasized the word 'family,' "could see her for a few minutes this morning. She suggested that I wait until regular visiting hours, so I told her what she could bloody well do with her suggestion!"

"And yet, here you are," Jax answered, intentionally stoking his brother's bravado.

"You're damn right I am!" Jerry swaggered, momentarily forgetting that he had zinged Tom more than a few times that night, and that Tom would not hesitate to blow his little tale of braggadocio out of the water as payback.

Jax grinned, knowing that there had to be more to this story than Jerry triumphing in his battle of wills with Attila the Nurse out there. Jerry was bullheaded all right, but Mrs. Strine was a bulwark, and he doubted even his obstinate brother could sway the indomitable Mrs. Strine. "I'm impressed, Jerry… But now tell me the real story."

Jerry's demeanor quickly changed from boasting to embarrassed in a matter of seconds, as he realized that in his zeal to stay here and hurt Tom, he had inadvertently set himself up to be humbled by Tom.

"He's in my custody," Tom snickered, enjoying the fact that despite Jerry's obvious intention to annoy him, Jerry had managed to humiliate himself instead.

"That's rich!" Jax chuckled. "I always did think Jerry belonged on the FBI's most wanted list!" But then both his face and his tone sobered as he looked at Tom. "Speaking of which… Have they gotten Leone yet?"

Both Tom and Jerry instantly dropped their escalating duel of mutual animosity at the mention of their common enemy -- Marco Leone. "There was a warrant issued for his arrest," Tom answered, glancing down at his watch, "and the New York office should be executing it as we speak."

"Good!" Jerry declared. "The sooner that man is behind bars, the better off we'll all be." Both Tom and Jax nodded in agreement. Their common dislike for Marco Leone was the one thing none of them would ever dispute.

At precisely 5:25 a.m. a team of FBI agents, outfitted in SWAT gear, descended upon Marco Leone's plush, Fifth Avenue apartment, finding it empty except for Sylvia Montoya, Leone's very sleepy and very frightened maid. Sylvia told the agents that Mr. Leone had left sometime during the night, but she had no idea where he had gone. He had taken several pieces of luggage, and went out soon after he'd received a phone call, which came in around 3 a.m., she recalled.

While his team executed the search warrant of the apartment, Special Agent George Andrews, the agent in charge of the raid on Leone's apartment, immediately phoned the team that had headed to the airport where Leone kept his Lear jet, but they were too late. Leone's pilot had filed a flight plan for Miami, and the jet had taken off at 4:25 a.m. Andrews immediately notified the Miami office of the FBI, and requested that they meet Leone's jet the minute it touched down in Miami at its ETA of 6:45 a.m. Miami assured Andrews that Leone would be in their custody as soon as he stepped into the Florida sunshine.

Marco Leone leaned back on the leather couch in the cabin of his Lear jet, tapping his fingers on the folder that lay beside him. His pilot, Michael, had just informed him that they would soon be starting their descent to the private Caribbean island of Montenero where they'd refuel and then take off for their final destination, a little island just off the coast of Venezuela, and that everything was going as planned. He was glad that something was going as planned because up until now, nothing else had. He had been surprised by the early morning call from Sikes informing him of the FBI's successful rescue of Brenda Barrett and the subsequent arrest of both Danny and Tony, and warning him of his imminent arrest. Danny and Tony were two of his best soldiers, and their apprehension could very well mean the end of his empire, and it had all come about because of that infernal Jacks family.

Leone had not expected the Jacks family to defy him by cooperating with the FBI, nor had he expected Ms. Barrett to be clever enough to so surreptitiously clue her fiancé in on her whereabouts without Danny or Tony being aware of it. Sikes had not been able to give him any details; other than to say that Danny had been shot and that both men had been unconscious when the agency had arrived. No matter -- he'd find out the details in due time, but for now he had enough information to know how he needed to proceed.

Right now his mind was bent on revenge against the entire Jacks clan. They had done what the federal government had been unable to do for decades -- possibly bring his empire to its knees. Even now they had necessitated his hasty exit from the country. Marco had never had to flee the country to escape prosecution before. He had always been able to use his legions of high-priced lawyers and hordes of equally expensive high-placed officials in various agencies to keep him several steps ahead of the law. But this time, he wondered if even they would be enough to keep him a free man in his own country, or if he'd be forced to spend the rest of his days in exile. Not that such a life would be so bad. He had enough money hidden in a number of foreign accounts that he could comfortably live like a king for the rest of his days. But what angered Marco was the fact that such a life had not been of his own choosing, but rather forced on him by circumstances. The Jacks family had forced those circumstances, and in Marco's world such an offense could not go unpunished.

In light of recent events, Marco had discovered that destroying their good name and their fortune would not be enough to truly bring down the Jacks family. No, if he truly wanted revenge he'd have to be far subtler and far cleverer in his tactics. He would not use brute force or the threat of it to bring them to their knees. There would be no more kidnappings and there would be no threats of bodily harm to them or their loved ones. No, he had a far more insidious way to bring down that family -- he'd destroy the family from within. And he knew the best way to do that was to target the golden son, Jax, and the beautiful Ms. Barrett.

The Jacks family had spent years trying to protect Jax from learning anything about their involvement with him, and when that link was brought to light, the family nearly lost Jax forever. But the operative word there was 'nearly.' Jax had reunited with his family during Ms. Barrett's recent travails, which told Marco that the love that Jax felt for Ms. Barrett was strong indeed -- strong enough to bridge the chasm in his estranged relationship with his family. But Marco knew that such a love could be a double-edged sword, for with such intense passion, there is often intense jealousy -- whether justified or not.

Yes, Marco was sure that he had hit upon the perfect way to exact his revenge upon the Jacks family. He'd destroy them by destroying young Jax and his plans for a life of familial bliss with Ms. Barrett and their child. Marco would make sure that their life was dismantled piece by piece, and he'd never even have to lift a finger. He'd just sit back and watch.

He had done some research on the seemingly invincible love that Jasper Jacks shared with the beautiful Ms. Barrett, and he had discovered an Achilles heel -- the one person who could cast a shadow of doubt into that perfect world of love and loyalty that he and Ms. Barrett seemed to have now. He reached for the file lying beside him on the couch, pulling out the photo on top. Marco smiled as gazed down at the smirking face of a swarthy looking male in his early thirties. "You, Mr. Corinthos, are going to make the perfect partner in this very important demolition project."