Great Falls, Virginia. . .

"Hey, beautiful. Wake up. You know the drill."

At first Brenda automatically smiled at the sound of Jax’s whispered voice so close to her ear. But then she groaned as she realized he was awakening her at this ungodly hour to accompany him on his jog around his eight acre estate. It was a ritual of his which he had forgone over the last couple of days due to her still recovering from the flu and his not wanting to subject her to long periods of time in the wintry cold. But he also did not want to leave her alone, even if it was in the relative safety of the house. And so he did his jogging around the vast, marble encased, in-ground pool downstairs instead, as a means of staying near her. But now she was pretty much recovered from the flu and so he wanted to get back into his routine and he had warned her last night that she would be going along with him.

Last night.

She’d had so much fun with him, she recalled, using the positioning of the blankets to shield her happy smile from his perceptive eyes. Yes, he had beaten her at chess all five matches they had played, but it had been a fun, playful and highly flirtatious experience. And she’d learned a lot of ingenious moves by watching him very closely too. He was masterful at the game, simply masterful, and darn if it didn’t just make her adore him all the more. Oddly enough, Jax had only asked for three things as his "winner takes all" reward for his victories. He asked that she agree to stop being so intentionally difficult all the time and try to be friends with him. Then he asked that she promise to always be truthful with him. Then he asked for her to come over to him and give him a long, slow kiss.

Brenda was both hopeful and wary of his reasons for wanting #1 and #2, but she had reluctantly agreed to it like a good little soldier. And #3 was something they both wanted very much and she had not been hypocritical enough to deny that. So she had walked right over to him, straddled him in that chair and given him that long, slow kiss he had asked for. She hadn’t bothered to hide the extent of her desire for him either, nor the fact that she wouldn’t at all mind if their kisses led to much, much more last night. But Jax had somehow managed to tear his lips away from her before his control was fully surrendered to his own desires. "Not like this, Brenda. Not until you trust me," he had whispered to her. "Not until you love me." And the last thing she had felt was the pulsing excitement at the feel of his aroused masculinity against her, followed immediately by a wave of sweet tenderness at the softness of his kiss against the tip of her nose as he lifted her off of his lap, set her onto the floor and made a smooth beeline for the shower.

"Brenda, let’s go," Jax’s voice said again and she felt the gentle swat of his hand against her behind.

She pulled the covers over her head. "I don’t want to."

"I know that, but we already talked about this last night. So rise and shine," he said, pulling the covers back down and marveling that anyone could look so beautiful this early in the morning, just waking up.

"Jax, it’s 5 a.m."

"Your point being?"

Her arm swing out mutinously to hit his chest. "And it’s cold outside!" she complained.

"That’s what usually happens in the winter, my love. Let’s go," he said, tugging on her hand to force her up into a sitting position. "I’ll meet you downstairs. And if you’re not downstairs in twenty minutes, I’ll come back up here and dress you myself," he warned her, his eyes reflecting that he would take great pleasure in doing so too. He then brushed his fingers across her cheek and gazed at her as if hypnotized for a moment. Then he blinked, as if coming out of the ambush of some enchanted haze, and left her in the room to change.

Brenda showered and dressed in fifteen minutes but hung out in the room making Jax wait for an additional ten. Then she made her way down the elegant spiral staircase. She muffled her laughter as she saw Jax on his way up the stairs, obviously dead serious about his twenty minute time limit.

"Sorry about the extra five minutes," she said sweetly to him. "But it was worth it, don’t you think?" she asked, indicating her snazzy sapphire blue snowsuit. "I got it at the Gucci store," she added, hoping he would think it obscene that she would buy clothes form that insanely overpriced store. With his money, no less.

Jax regarded her with interest. "Well its very nice, Brenda, and yes it looks spectacular on you, as would a potato sack. But we’re going jogging, not skiing. That’s really inappropriate."

She was amazed at her inability to push his buttons on how much money she had spent on the shopping spree yesterday. She was thinking his calm reaction yesterday only meant the shock had not hit him yet. But he was still as unaffected as ever, even now! It was as if none of that mattered to him at all. Almost as if he was glad she had gone out spending his money like a madwoman. Almost as if he was delighted by the idea!

"Well we’re not really going jogging are we?" she asked him. "I mean, I’m still not 100 percent, yet Jax. I don’t think I can run all over this huge expanse of land you have."

"If you fall, I’ll be there to catch you," he promised her. And she just knew he was speaking of more than a literal tumble she might take outside.

"Maybe I’d just rather not fall at all," she responded, having a double meaning of her own.

"Maybe you won’t be able to stop it," he said.

"Maybe I have a lot more control than you think," she retaliated.

"Then I’m sure you won’t . . . fall," he said, his eyes infuriatingly skeptical and making it clear he knew what her double meaning was and was not convinced of her resistance in the least.

"Do we have to jog?" she asked. "Can’t we just do that power-walk thing or something?"

Jax laughed and gave her quite the thrill by impulsively pulling her into his arms. "Tell me something, do you negotiate everything?" he asked, gazing down into her eyes. "I mean I actually enjoy that about you, although it can be quite exasperating. Oh, and the answer to your question is, yes, we have to jog, Brenda. I don’t think power-walking would be nearly as satisfying. So if I were to agree to do that it would be settling for far less than I desire." One hand stroked her face. "And I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I don’t settle. Period."

Oh there he went with his cute little double meanings again. And those irresistible blue eyes of his. And his touch, setting her on fire.

"Actually, I haven’t figured you out at all, Jax," she said. "But I will."

"I’ll look forward to the epiphany then," he said, the arm that encircled her pulling her closer. "Now, are you really intending on jogging in that hot snowsuit?"

"I like it," she said.

"So do I. But are you really going to wear it with that on it?"

"What?" she asked in confusion, looking down at her snowsuit.

Jax backed away from her a few steps, went over to the bar, poured a glass of wine, came back over to her, and to her shock tossed the wine on her insanely expensive snowsuit!

"That," he said.

She stood there for a few moments with her mouth standing open. This was not the first time Jax had done this. Last night at dinner she had paraded downstairs in one of her indecently expensive new dresses and in her on-going attempts to rile him up had said: "Jax, guess how much this cost?" He had played along, asking her to turn around and running his hands along the fabric so that he could better assess the merchandise. He had taken great satisfaction in her wildly leaping pulse as his hands had leisurely run down the curves of her body while pretending to be feeling the fabric of her dress. Then he’d finally said: "Well whatever you paid for it, Brenda, you paid too much. I mean, look at that spot on it." When Brenda asked what spot he was talking about, he’d reached over for her glass of iced tea and proceeded to toss it on her dress and say to her "I hope you bought them in pairs so that you have another one." She had been stunned by his actions, then had laughed hysterically, then had called him a madman and had marched upstairs to change. And now here he was this morning, spilling wine on this horrendously expensive snow suit! Was he insane? Or was he perhaps trying to tell her that she could not rile him up by buying a ton of expensive clothing, because there was nothing he would not get for her. After all, for everything he ruined, he went right on to suggest she replace it with one more expensive!

"Jax! do you know how much that cost!" she gasped, staring at her wine stained snow suit.

"I hope you bought them in pairs," he said with a wink, unzipping the snowsuit down just past her breasts to reveal the snug, dark blue turtle neck she wore beneath it. He pulled her towards him, his hands resting on her hips. "Or you can always go get another one, I’ll be happy to take you back to the Gucci shop. Now, if I were you, I’d go change, but it’s up to you, of course."

She relented, again thinking him mad. "Fine. It’ll only take me ten minutes to change," she said, reluctantly slipping out of his provocative embrace and dashing back up the stairs wishing her heart didn’t feel so light and floating, and like something wonderful was happening.

Fifteen minutes later, Jax and Brenda were jogging down the path surrounding the house.

"It is freezing out here!" she sang.

"You’re concentrating on the cold too much," he told her. "Think about how invigorating it is instead. How everything is so clean, and crisp, and pretty. And the holidays are coming."

She laughed. "Oh that’s supposed to make me not feel cold?"

He paused for a moment and gently held her arm. "Are you really that cold?" he asked, and she was blown away by the tenderness in those lethal blue-green eyes. How could this be an act? How could he possibly fake this expression she was seeing?

"No, I’m just – you know me, Jax, - I’m just giving you a hard time," she said as they passed what appeared to be a small house in his back yard. "What’s in there?" she asked.

"That’s just the guest house," he told her.

Her eyes looked astonished. "You have a mansion with 12 bedrooms and you think you still need a guest house?"

He shrugged. "It came with the place." They continued down the path and Brenda was finding the run exhilarating, or perhaps it was just the company.

"Does your estate have a name?" Brenda queried. "Like how The Marick’s place is called Wildwind?"

"Ravenswood," Jax told her. "And the other two estates on this private road are Ashton Manor and Baronsgate Keep."

"Who lives in the other two?" she asked

"Ned and Lois Ashton live in Ashton Manor. Jeff and Fallon Colby live in Baronsgate Keep. I’m sure Dimitri has told them all about you by now and they’ll be paying me a visit just to check you out," Jax said.

"I’ll bet they were all friends of Ariel’s, weren’t they? They’re going to hate me," she predicted, trying to hide the dismal feeling that gave her.

"They won’t hate you. And even if they do I’ll just buy them all out and move in better neighbors."

She laughed and he loved the sparkle he saw in her eyes.

"Jax?"

"Yes."

"Do you still think Bastian Reese is going to come after me?"

"Yes," he said.

"Is that the reason you want me here with you?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. And then he realized how she might take that. "I mean, no. Not as bait, Brenda. I’m not using you to get him. I swear, I’m not. I want you here so that I can protect you from him."

He sounded so sincere. . . .

"And I want you here for an entire host of other reasons as well," he added perking up her interest.

"What other reasons?" she asked as they jogged past the scenic frozen lake.

"I think you know," he said.

"You’re insanely attracted to me," she guessed.

"That’s one," he admitted.

One? There were actually more reasons?

"When’s your birthday?" he asked her.

"March 31st," she told him. "Why?"

"What’s your favorite color?" he asked next, ignoring her question.

"Red," she said. "Also black. And also blue. "Oh and I like gold - you know the color of the sun in the tropics. I like sunset orange too. Oh and violet - rich deep violet. You know what -- green too. Not green like olives, but green like emeralds, or jade."

"Sorry I asked," he teased her.

"Why did you ask?" she wondered curiously.

"Because you’re my wife and I want to know about you," he said.

"Oh. So since you are technically my husband, I can ask questions about you too then, right?"

"Yes, you can. I would appreciate if you ask them of me, however, and not say….my best friend."

Was he jealous? Brenda wondered. And the absurd thought made her misstep and fall. But she never hit the ground as Jax was there to catch her.

"I told you, you would fall," he reminded her. "With circumstances such as these, it really was inevitable."

"Circumstances. . . you mean the weather, right?" she said, knowing perfectly well he did not.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don’t" he said and then he scooped up a handful of snow and tossed it at her. She laughed and threw snow back at him. And the jog was cut short as they instead spent the next hour racing around the snowy woods of the back yard laughing and slipping and sliding as they engaged in an impromptu, very competitive snowball fight.

FBI Headquarters, Washington, DC . . .

The snow was piled up high in front of the FBI building when Jax, Scott and Brenda made their way inside later that morning. Scott had been going in just as Jax and Brenda had arrived and he waited for them in front of the entrance. The warmth of the building was a welcome respite to the stinging cold of this dank, wintry day which had started out crisp, cold and invigorating, but was now filled with heavy, wet, swirling snowflakes being blown helter skelter by a biting wind.

They made their way to Conference Room D on the 12th floor, shrugging off their bulky winter jackets and heading straight for the coffee machine.

"Can you believe this weather?" Scott commented, in greeting to the receptionist.

"Oh, I hate days like this, even when they're in season and even when the holidays are right around the corner," Joan Midland muttered as she wrapped her hands around the warm paper cup of tea on her desk. "Nice to see you two though," she added with a smile. Seeing any Special Forces team members was so rare since they were always out and about, and full fledged meetings of the whole 8 man or 16 man team, like today’s meeting, were rare indeed. Her eyes narrowed with interest on the stunning, petite brunette who stood next to Jax, gazing around curiously as he gently brushed some snow out of her dark hair and asked her what she wanted to drink. This must be the wife that the whole building was buzzing about, Joan realized with an inadvertent raise of her eyebrows. Well she was just as pretty as Ariel, maybe even prettier, Joan thought as she gazed at Brenda. But this one had a warmth and a fire in addition to that god-given envy-inspiring beauty. Ariel always struck everyone as cold and unapproachable.

"Is everybody here?" Scott asked.

Joan shook her head. "No, you two are actually the first of the team to arrive. Commander Donnelly is here of course, and Director Scorpio. But the rest of A-team hasn’t arrived," Joan stated.

"Is the B-team getting briefed too?" Jax asked.

Joan shook her head. "Nope. Just you guys. I don’t think B-team is involved in this one at all."

Brenda tapped Jax’s chest. "What’s the difference between the A-Team and the B-Team?"

"The B-team has to be perfect," Jax said. "The A-Team has to be better than that."

Brenda gazed at him skeptically. "Better than perfect? What’s better that that?"

"Invincible," Jax and Scott said quietly, in stereo.

The sound of footsteps preceded the entrance of Agent Peter Shakkour, one of the forensic scientists who worked over in the crime lab.

"Well check this out. We are graced by the presence of special forces on this beautiful day," he greeted them cheerily, shaking hands with both Scott and Jax and eyeing Brenda with unhidden curiosity and typical male appreciation of so lovely a creature.

"It’s only beautiful if you're partial to icicles falling from the freaking sky," Scott responded as he glanced briefly out the window at the bizarre weather. The heavy, wet snowflakes were now pellets of hail, and a few moments later they were back to heavy, wet flakes.

"Well, I’d say the beautiful part of the day is standing right behind you," Peter said nodding in Brenda’s direction and hinting for an introduction.

"Pete, this is my wife, Brenda," Jax said, judging by Peter’s lack of shock that the word had gotten around already.

"Well hello there, Brenda," Peter said, warmly shaking her hand and holding onto it. "You’re quite the hot topic around here, you know. And I think once people get a look at you, you’ll be an even hotter topic."

Brenda blinked. "I’m the hot topic? Me? Why?"

"Well, you know. Jax leaves on a mission engaged to one woman, comes back a month later married to another," he said. "It’s the stuff office grapevines thrive off of," he added with a shrug and a smile. Then he let her hand go. "I'd love to stay and get the 411 about everything, but I've got a date with a cadaver."

"And I'll bet he'll just die if you're late," Jax said.

Peter chuckled. "Good one, Jax. But this cadaver is a she, not a he."

"Oh, even better."

"My sentiments exactly. And I hear she's got a great sense of humor. A real cut-up," Peter said.

Jax shook his head, laughing softly. "Don't quit your day job, Pete."

As Agent Shakkour left to attend to his cadaver, Agents Kenny Sills and Connor O’Monahan rounded the corner and appeared in the conference room hallway.

At the same time, the conference room door opened and Director Scorpio peered out into the hallway to make sure his agents were arriving. He saw four of them, and then saw Brenda whom he smiled at and waved to, and then he nodding his head for the agents to start filing in.

"We better go in," Scott said, checking his watch.

Jax nodded and then turned to Brenda. "Brenda, you wait right here," Jax said planting her firmly in a chair directly across from the conference room door and his line of vision through the door’s window, and also adjacent to Joan’s desk. "And don’t move, please. Promise me you won’t."

"I won’t," she promised as a smiling Joan offered her a stack of magazines to occupy her time with while she waited for the meeting to be over. Jax and Scott filed into the conference room. Sills and O’Monahan directly followed them, but not without staring at Brenda first and exchanging a look, wondering if this was the wife. Four other agents filed by five minutes later, each of them bidding hello to Joan and then gazing at Brenda who by now felt like a doll on display in a storefront window.

"Don’t worry, hon," Joan said, "like Pete said, you’re just the talk of the office grapevine right now. Everybody’s curious about you," she said. "And not just because you married Jax and we heard you were more beautiful than sunlight, but also because you are one of the few people on the planet who actually knows what Bastian Reese looks like. That is so major around here!" she said with a dramatic wave of her hands. Then she leaned forward, folding her hands together and whispering, "So tell me which description of him is true? The one saying he’s a distinguished older man with a limp, an eye-patch and one piercing blue eye? Or the one that says he’s young, suave and sexy as hell?"

Cayman islands. . .

The leggy blonde emerged from the bedroom wearing only a sheet wrapped around her tall, lithe body, and sought out the lover who had taken her to heaven last night. She saw him standing by the window gazing out at his phenomenal view of the ocean.

"Bon jour mon amour," she said in her throaty voice, her eyes eating up the sight of him. He was extremely attractive with his well built physique, sun-bronzed skin, glorious dark auburn hair and seductive gray eyes.

Bastian Reese turned around, his gray eyes falling on the delightful Marie Arsenault. A brilliant, lusty French jewel thief. She was a stunning woman, and yet, he really did prefer brunettes, he realized, as a flash of dark hair and beautiful dimples skitted across his mind.

"You’re still a late riser, I see," he said.

"The fault is yours, Bastian. You kept me up all night," she reminded him with a seductive smile. "So what were you thinking about just now? You seemed to be miles away," she observed.

"Just making plans," Bastian murmured.

"For the holidays? I was hoping you would come back to Paris with me," she said, invitingly. "Rumor is that the legendary ice ruby collection of the Disputed lands will be showing there too," she added dangling the opportunity to steal the priceless gem collection as further incentive for him to join her. "You know Rolf’s insufferable crew or arrogant bastards will be there to try and steal it. We should beat them to the prize, Bastian" she said , "the way we always do."

But Bastian was shaking his head. "Let them have it. I have plans for the holidays. And I’m really looking forward to them," he said, a genuine smile touching his lips and lighting his eyes.

"Plans can be changed, darling," Marie purred, jealously thinking his plans were with another woman. Perhaps that new recruit of his, Jenna, who was far too pretty, far too young, and far too good of a little jewel thief for Marie’s comfort.

"Not mine," he whispered, sultry gray eyes returning to the bewitching view of the gently rushing waves.

Ravenswood, Great Falls, Virginia. . .

Jax was in the sitting room on the phone trying to calm down his irate grandmother while his brother was holding on the other line. In the living room, Brenda was learning the fine art of Mortal Kombat moves from Scott.

"I like the robot," she decided. " Can I be the robot?"

"Which robot?" Scott asked. "There are two of them."

Brenda flipped through the manual. "Cyrex," she said, choosing him, while Scott chose his favorite combatant, SubZero. "And take it easy on me this time," Brenda requested.

"You’ll never learn if I do that," Scott said.

She knocked her fist against his knee. "I’ll never learn if you keep beating me to a pulp either," she countered.

"I showed you the moves," he reminded her. "Just defend yourself. And try to be the aggressor. Don’t just run around backing away from me this time."

Hey!" she said suddenly. "What about those secret lessons you’re supposed to be giving me, Scott. The Wildwind party is a little less than two weeks away now. I need to learn these ballroom dances right away."

He glanced over at her. "Do you play the drums?"

She gazed at him blankly. "No."

"Do you want to learn how?"

She rolled her eyes. "No."

"Well I suggest you tell Jax that you do. That’ll give you an excuse for me to bring you over to my place and I’ll teach you everything from the Viennese Waltz to the Black Diamond Tango."

She grinned. "You play the drums?"

He nodded. "Excellently," he added with a grin of his own. "And Jax can play the piano," he informed her, figuring she didn’t know that. "Anyway, tell Jax you want drum lessons. I know him, he won’t trust anyone but me to give them to you. In the meantime, when you get a chance go into the parlor. Do you know where that is?"

She nodded.

"Jax has a ton of CD’s in there. You need to go in there and pick out some waltzes and ballroom dancing style tunes. You should listen to them and familiarize yourself with the tempos and the flow." Scott said as he reset the game on the Playstation so they could have a new match. "You sure you don’t just want to ask Jax to teach you? He’s as good a dancer as I am, you know."

"I can’t . . . ummm . . .concentrate . . . with Jax," Brenda murmured. "Besides, I don’t want him to know that I don’t know any of those dances. I want him to be really shocked and impressed when he sees how good I am," she said with a little smile. "I want him to be captivated and enchanted and not want to leave my side the whole, entire night."

"Okay," Scott agreed, thinking Jax was way captivated and enchanted by her already.

Back in the sitting room Jax had finally managed to get his grandmother off the phone and was speaking to his brother again.

"So how much is left of you, or has grandma chewed my baby brother all to bits," Jerry inquired with a robust laugh.

"I am in tact," Jax responded. "And she is as relentless as ever. But then again, God only knows what Ariel and Mom told her about Brenda."

"It’s your own fault, Jax," Jerry said. "You don’t up and get yourself married to a twenty year old girl we’ve never met and not say a damned word to your family members about it. So tell me, has Ariel put out a hit on Brenda yet?"

"I think she values her life too much to do that," Jax remarked.

"Ah yes, mum did tell me how protective you are of the newest addition to our family. So when do we meet this veritable goddess who has stolen your heart and your bloody senses along with it?" Jerry asked.

"Christmas," Jax responded. "And I swear to god if any one of you does anything to make her want to leave. . ."

"Simmer down, simmer down, kid. Look, I can’t speak for the rest of our family, but you know me, Jax. If you love her and she loves you, that’s good enough for me and I’ll back you 100 percent. The only one I think you’ll have to worry about is grandma. You know she got all attached to the idea of you and Ariel as a lifelong duet in the song of life."

"I’m not worried about that," Jax said. "Brenda can win grandma over in a heartbeat."

"Oh yeah? She a sorceress, this wife of yours? This is grandma we’re talkin’ about, Jax. Your brand new bride verses our grandmother is like pitting David against Goliath, here."

"Maybe," Jax conceded. "But then, we both know who won that match, don’t we?" he added, and he heard Jerry’s laughter ringing out on the other end of the line.

Several hours later when Scott was gone and Jax and Brenda were once again alone, Brenda was downstairs in the parlor rifling through some CD’s to find the type of music that Scott had suggested she look for and listen to, when Jax entered the room. She shoved the CD’s under a nearby chair and swirled around to flash him a smile of innocence.

"Hi!" she said.

"Hi," he responded, a little taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"Is dinner ready?" she guessed.

"Do you really think the only time I seek your company is when I want us to share a meal together?" he asked. And something about the way he looked at her when he said that made her knees feel unsteady and made her thankful to be sitting on the floor.

"No, I actually don’t think that," she said. "So . . .what did you want me for then?"

"Well, we did make a bargain last night to try and be friends, correct?"

"Yes," she said, gazing at him warily.

He reached down and extended his hand to her. She took it, doing her best to not react to the exciting pulsation flowing through her at his touch. He drew her gently to her feet.

"Well my friends and I usually have snowmobile races in the back," he said.

He saw her eyes light up with excitement, but then she frowned. "But I don’t know how to ride a snowmobile," she told him in disappointment.

"I know that. I’m going to teach you. You can drive a car, can’t you?"

Brenda nodded. "Yes. Oh, but not a stick shift," she quickly added.

"That’s not a problem. Ready?"

Brenda’s sudden smile was like a pleasant whiplash through his heart. "You’re really going to teach me?"

Jax nodded, fascinated by the way her eyes lit up when she was happy about something.

"Okay, wait for me then!" she said as she tore away from him, excitedly, and raced down the long hallways towards the stairs that would take her to the bedroom where she could change her clothes.

The next week Brenda’s days were so full that all the days seemed to merge into one another. Aside from her daily "drum lessons" a.k.a. dance lessons with Scott at his house in Georgetown, Brenda spent a lot of time learning new things with Jax. Not only did he teach her to ride the snowmobiles, but also to drive his Porsche. When he saw how skittish she was whenever she saw him putting away his gun, he sat her down and patiently explained every part of the gun to her, showed her how to load and unload it, how to put the safety on and off, and then took her with him and Scott to the firing range to get her accustomed to holding and shooting it. Her subsequent familiarity with the weapon and her knowledge of how to properly and safely use it, took out all the mystery of the unknown and made her fear of it disappear.

When Jax challenged her to a swimming contest, one afternoon, she had to confess to him that she didn’t know how to swim. He offered to teach her how, but she froze the minute he submerged her in the water and frantically told him she didn’t want to do this. Ironically enough, she loved watching him when he was doing his laps in the pool, and she laughed every time he would stop and flick water on her. And she enjoyed sitting pool-side, her feet dangling in the water, while listening to CD’s on her discman, reading the newspaper or thumbing through magazines. But whenever Jax broached the subject of teaching her to swim, she just shook her head and would distract him with a kiss, or a bewitching smile.

As their first week at Ravenswood together came to a close, the fact that they were rapidly growing closer was not lost on either one of them. And neither was the blistering sexual tension that increased tremendously as the days went by. Jax knew he could have her. He knew that her desire for him was equal to his for her and that she would not deny him if he grabbed her in the hallway, or coming out of the shower, or if he climbed into the bed with her one night and proceeded to make passionate love to her until the dawn. But he knew what he wanted. Her love. And he knew that went hand in hand with her trust. He needed that. But he also needed her physically; it was driving him to the point of insanity. He never in his life recalled having such an insatiable, maddening need for a woman as he had for this woman.

And so on the Wednesday of the following week, one day before the Crystal Ball and three days before Christmas, Jax woke Brenda with a sensual kiss that stole her breath away. Her eyes fluttered open and she wrapped her arms around him, welcoming his unexpected, passionate good-morning and letting him know she was ready for whatever came next.

As the kiss heated up to feverish boiling and Brenda was pulling him down with her on the bed, Jax found the tiny sliver of will he had left to stop and say what he had come in there to say to her.

"What are you doing today?" he asked her, his eyes blazing with intense beauty and a desire he could not hide to save his life or hers.

Brenda was stumped by the question and too dizzy from his passion and her aching desire for him to even know what to say.

"I want you to come to the airfield with me," he said, his lips perilously close to hers and his will wavering like mad.

"Airfield?" she managed to repeat, her eyes dazed and confused, his lips so close and yet so far. Emotions and yearnings whirling madly inside of her like a temptest.

"I’m going to teach you how to fly," he told her.

"A plane?!" she gasped, grabbing his arms, her body jolting with pleasure as the muscles moved smoothly beneath her fingers.

"Yes," Jax said. Because when they were up in the air eighteen thousand feet above solid ground, and she was at the control with only him beside her, she was going to have to bloody well trust him, damn it. And she would have to admit that, and he would know that, and it was all he wanted. It was the only thing standing between them and the volcanic passion they could barely keep a lid on any longer.

"I don’t understand . . ." she said looking more confused than ever. "I don’t want to learn how to fly, Jax."

But Jax was not about to take no for an answer. "Well, how do you know that until you try it?" he asked, his words coming out rapid fire and making Brenda wonder what the heck was wrong with him. Then he thought of something that would spur her into action. "Ariel always wanted to fly my planes."

Brenda was livid at the mention of the ex-fiancee. The house had been so blessedly Ariel-free for these many past days. It had been bliss! No mention of her, no sight of her, no phone calls from her. Why did he have to go and drag up that horrid woman’s name now?

"Was she a good pilot?" Brenda asked blandly, the jealousy tingling down her spine.

"She was terrible," Jax said truthfully.

Brenda’s grin escaped before she could hide it from him. She was sure she would not be terrible. "Maybe one little lesson would be fun," she decided.

"That’s my girl. Let’s go," he said. And he gabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bed so fast she was surprised she didn’t get whiplash.

The initial flight lesson aboard the Cessna Skylane RG went very well, and Jax couldn’t wait to teach her how to fly the jet one day. She was a natural and with time she would be fantastic. When they left the airfield, Brenda was babbling excitedly about how it felt to be up in the air behind the controls. And although it had only been her first lesson and she had not done all that much without Jax’s assistance, she was anxious to do a lot more. From the airfield, they went out to dinner, since they were both starving, and they had run into Dimitri at the restaurant. He reiterated how excited he was about them being at the gala tomorrow and mentioned that he hoped Jax wouldn’t mind that Ariel would be there as his date. Brenda looked up sharply to see Jax’s expression, but either she missed it or he had no reaction to Dimitri’s news. But he had to be reacting, Brenda told herself. The woman he loved was going to be at this party with another man! On the way home she glanced at Jax often and for long periods of time, but to her bafflement, she could find nothing indicative of his being upset or in the least bit bothered by Dimitri’s news.

In a change from the constant snow, it was raining when they got back to the house. A cold, hard, rain that sent them rushing inside, trying to beat each other to the front door. Once they were indoors, Jax started a fire and then went to go check his messages to make sure HQ had not given the green light yet for the Omega Cult mission. In the briefing, the date for execution of the mission was December 29th, but the possibility existed for it to be moved up or pushed back depending on what the President or the attorney general ordered.

Before returning to the living room to see what Brenda was up to, Jax stopped in the kitchen to get them both some hot beverages. When he walked back into the living room he saw her by the fire, the glow of the Christmas tree off to her right. She was laying on her stomach, her legs up in the air, swinging back and forth, while her fingers were leafing through one of his photo albums with interest.

He joined her on the carpet and she glanced over at him with a smile.

"I hope you don’t mind," she said.

"No, of course not," he said, gazing down at the photo she was now gazing at. It was a picture of him and Jerry as kids at Jax’s tenth birthday party. "That was my tenth birthday," he explained to her.

She laughed. "You were one gorgeous little kid," she observed, thinking this must have been the only ten year old boy that fifteen year old girls would be lusting after. Then her eyes went to Jerry. "Your brother doesn’t really look like you." She flipped to the next page which showed a bunch of laughing kids tugging on a rope with a kiddie pool in the middle.

"That’s me, Jerry, my cousin Lance, my cousin Trey, Ariel , and her sister Flossie. We were having a tug of war – that was the fourth of July, I believe. I was 12."

There was another picture on the page of Jax dressed up as an Old West Marshall, his brother and cousins handcuffed together behind him, dressed as outlaws. Ariel in a ballerina costume, in mid-twirl, was trying to give Jax a kiss as he backed away from her and made a face just as the camera snapped.

"That was Halloween – same year," Jax said as Brenda was laughing at, what in her opinion, was a great shot!

The next page had a picture of Jax and his cousin Trey blasting each other with water guns at some theme park, Jax and Jerry hiking up a trail in the pouring rain and smiling like lunatics and then Jax and Jerry caught sleeping in the woods beneath a massive evergreen looking not like the mischievous little boys they truly were, but more like two little angels. There was a picture of Jax and his cousin Lance squirting ketchup on each other in front of a barbecue pit and Jerry sneaking up behind Lance with a botle of mustard, and there was also a photo of Jax and Trey kicking back in a big back yard on a hammock, their arms and ankles crossed identically, their eyes both focused subtly on a cute girl handing a glass of lemonade to Jax's mother, while Ariel and Flossie could be seen in the background staring with girlish glee at the boys. The following page had Jax, Scott and their SEAL unit all looking positively dashing in uniform, and then looking perfectly dangerous and wildly attractive in their combat gear. And then there was a picture of Jax and Scott sipping margaritas on the French Riviera with two beautiful, scantily clad women sitting in between them and fawning all over them.

"Hmmmm," Brenda said.

"I don’t even remember who they were," Jax insisted, giving her a smile that could have melted a mighty glacier.

She giggled and closed the book, turning to him and accepting the hot cider he offered her. "Jax, today was incredible," she said. "I want to thank for taking me."

"You’re welcome," he said touching his cup to hers. "And you were very good."

"I was, wasn’t I!" she agreed.

He smiled. "Yes, you were. Getting through the pre-flight check alone was a major accomplishment. You remembered everything," he said in amazement. "It’s funny, when you’re up in the air like that you have to completely trust in your instincts and your judgment. But you also have to have that same kind of complete trust in your co-pilot," Jax mentioned to her. "Or, do you disagree?"

"No, I completely agree with you," she said. "Trust is crucial up there."

"Did you trust me today?" he asked her, his eyes holding hers captive in his gaze of molten blue.

She nodded. "I did."

He reached forward and his hands brushed against her face. Her eyes closed as she absorbed the splendor of his touch.

"You know that I want you to trust me, Brenda - I make no pretense of wanting otherwise" he said. "But I also want you to be truthful with me. This trust that you felt today in the plane with me . . . is it a one time thing? Or can you honestly say that you trust me now?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to answer him and the phone rang. They both heard the distinctive ring of his Bureau issue phone.

"I have to get that." he said getting up with remarkable speed, agility and alertness for one who had looked so relaxed only a moment ago.

"I know," she said as she watched him take the stairs two at a time and disappear into the study, closing the door as he went in.

Brenda gazed into the fire, wondering how she would answer Jax when he came back downstairs. While she waited for him she turned on the radio, the seductive lure of the fire making her feel in the mood for a soft music station. She kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the couch gazing into the fire where dreams seemed to leap to life. One of the songs that she and Scott had danced to in his ballroom dancing instruction came on, and Brenda’s fantasies came to life.

The violins seems to flow through Brenda’s body as she gazed into the fire and saw herself in Jax’s arms, the two of them in the center of a massive ballroom with chandeliers sparkling above them and awe-struck guests gaping at them as they danced like two prefect partners meant for each other.

Someday, when I’m awfully low
When the world is cold
I will feel the glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight

Brenda wasn’t sure how she knew that there were other people in the room, for she only had eyes for Jax. And she wasn’t sure how she heard the music playing because the sound of her heartbeat was deafening.

Oh but you’re lovely
with your smile so warm
And your cheek so soft
There is nothing for me but to love you
Just the way you look tonight

He tilted her chin to kiss her lips and she felt a wild panic swell within her. Her hands reached out to push against his chest and stop him "Can I trust you?" she asked him. And then to her mortification she felt tears in her eyes. "Please tell me I can trust you, Jax," she whispered, terrified of putting her heart on the line like this when she knew he was in love with someone else. She had been rejected by him once already. She knew how it felt, and she never wanted to feel that again.

"You can trust me," he swore, and there was nothing on earth that would have made her doubt him. But weren’t things always perfect in dreams and fantasies? The real world was something else entirely, wasn’t it . . .

When Jax came back downstairs half an hour later, he found Brenda on the couch fast asleep, the stereo on.

He gazed down at her and then settled himself on the couch and lifted her into his arms, cradling her face against his chest.

"How convenient that you would fall asleep without answering my question ," he murmured, stroking her hair adoringly. "I still love you though," he said. Then he kissed her closed eyelids and leaned back against the couch, satsified for now with the sweet sensation of her sleeping in his arms and the way she automatically snuggled as close to him as possible.

The day of the Crystal Ball had arrived and the town of Great Falls was abuzz with the news of the rich and famous that would be gracing their town to attend the gala. As the hour neared, everyone was donning their most beautiful clothing and sensational jewelry as they prepared for an evening of magic and elegance.

Scott stopped by Jax and Brenda’s before he went to pick up his date. And while Brenda got ready, Jax entertained Scott in the parlor, the two friends sharing a glass of Tequila, while Scott teased Jax about the impending Christmas dinner at his house in which Brenda would be subjected to his family as well as Ariel’s family.

"I’m not going to let anyone make her unhappy," Jax said. "I’ll throw out the whole bloody lot of them into the snow if I have to."

Scott laughed because he knew damn well that Jax would do that too. "Why don’t you just tell her?" Scott asked out of the blue, drumming his fingers against the black marble top of the bar.

"Tell who, what?" Jax asked. Both men were dressed in black tuxedos and looked absolutely magnificent.

"Tell Brenda," Scott clarified, "that you love her. Or at least tell her that you don’t love Ariel. She still thinks you do, Jax."

Jax swallowed the rest of his glass of Tequila. " I’ve wanted to tell her a million times," he confessed. "But I know she won’t believe me. She doesn’t trust the things I say yet – I can tell. She wants to, but she doesn’t. So I have to show her I love her and get her to trust that – get her to trust what she sees. Then she’ll also trust what she hears, and so when I do tell her she’ll believe it’s true and she’ll believe it with all of her heart. And no one will ever be able to make her believe anything differently. That’s the way I want it to be for us. And I’m very close to that point," he shared. "But not quite there."

Scott nodded. "Where is she?"

"Upstairs getting ready," Jax said.

"I’m just going to go up and say hi and then I have to get out of here," Scott said, checking his watch to make sure he would have time to pick up Aurora and not be late. When he went upstairs and knocked on the door, he found a nervous Brenda pacing in front of the mirror looking simply drop-dead-resurrect-and-drop-dead-again gorgeous in a slender winter-white, off the shoulder gown made of soft velvet. It had a sheer white middle, giving an enticing view of a flat, curvaceous stomach, and showcased glittering gold and silver accents throughout. The thigh-high side slit was the icing on one hell of a beautiful cake. Silver and gold ribbons were entwined in a lovely French braid in her hair and Scott was pretty much speechless at the sight of her.

"Has Jax seen you yet?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Wowwww," he said softly, giving her a smile. "Well I definitely pity him trying to keep the roving Romeos away from you tonight. He’s going to have his hands full."

She smiled back, but still looked nervous and shaken and sort of miserable, he thought.

"What’s wrong?" he asked, sitting on the velvet covered bench by the mirror.

"Scott," she said sitting down on the bed, and folding her hands together in her lap. Her head was bent and the shine of her glossy, dark hair was bewitching. She just looked utterly angelic in the white, sparkling gown. "Do you know that despite all the things I’ve said and done ever since I came here to this house, that the truth is that I’ve been in a battle for Jax’s deepest affections ever since I first kissed him and he rejected me back in Port Charles?" She raised her bent head and Scott saw her amber-brown eyes glittering with tears. "I want him to love me so much. I feel like an idiot for thinking I can ever have that, because I know he loves someone else, but I can’t let it go," she confessed miserably. She stared at the ceiling, shaking her head, "And every day I’m with him I want him more and I love him more and I know I should just leave before I fall too deep, but I can’t leave." A tear slid down her face and she brushed it away as if it were a nuisance. "I know I’m a total fool to keep fighting for this, but I just . . I want it so much and . . .I don’t know how to not want it. I don’t know how to make myself give up and . . ."

Scott couldn’t stand to see her this way when she had no bloody reason to feel like this at all, and so he cut off her heartfelt confession. "Brenda," he said, "I want to tell you something. You should just listen to me and say nothing." He instructed her. "Brenda, I know you think you’re in a battle for Jax’s affections. But you aren’t. Trust me, you aren’t. I'm your freind, and I wouldn't lie to you about this."

She felt her heart stop and start. "How do you know that?" she asked, wondering why he sounded so sure. "Tell me," she pleaded, grasping his hands.

Scott phrased his response carefully. "Well, you can’t have a battle without an opponent, right? And you have no opponent, Brenda, " he told her, hoping she would be able to correctly infer that Ariel was a total and complete non-issue. "You also can’t have a battle if the person you think you’re fighting against, or for, has already conceded the victory to you," he added, hoping she’d be able to figure out he was telling her that Jax’s deepest affections were already hers for the taking.

Brenda felt her heart racing. "Oh, please don’t talk in riddles to me now, Scott. What are you saying . . .exactly?" she asked, thinking she knew what he was saying, but wanting him, needing him, to just spit it out and tell her so she could remove all doubts, toss off this shroud of misery, and leap about the room with rapturous joy at what Scott was implying.

But Scott was not going to elaborate because he felt he’d said enough. It was Jax’s place to say the words, not his. "I’m saying, relax, okay?" he said. "Go to this party tonight and have a good time. Dance all night and shine like the Borealis star that you are. And, most of all, put down your battle gear because you don’t need it. You never have," he added softly, and then he fondly chucked her beneath the chin, kissed the top of her head and left her to finish getting ready, hoping she had gotten the gist of his veiled revelations.

Brenda sat on the bed staring at her reflection and thinking about Scott’s parting words: ‘and put down the battle gear because you don’t need it. You never have . . .’

"I never have?" she whispered, not daring to hope he meant what she thought he meant. "I have no opponent . . .and . .the one I’m fighting for has already conceded the victory to me?" she murmured, drumming anxious, beautifully manicured fingernails against the satin bedspread. She got up and took a deep breath. Scott was Jax’s best friend, but he was her friend too. He wouldn’t lead her astray. He wouldn’t try to bolster her hopes based on lies. He would not deceive her, he wouldn’t. But maybe he had to help Jax keep her happy and keep her around? After all, she did admit to Scott that she had thoughts of leaving. They didn’t want her gone until Bastin Reese was found.

Then she shook her head. No, no, no. She had to stop thinking like this! Scott would never use her like that. And he wouldn’t let Jax use her like that either. And Jax . . . Jax would never use her like that. The one time they had wanted to use her as bait they had told her to her face. Jax also could have lied about having a fiancee. He could have kept it a secret until he had gotten his passionate fulfillment from Brenda and then dropped the bomb on her, but he had told her right away. He had allowed himself a few, very hot stolen kisses, but in the end he had told her the truth. She had no reason to be so distrustful of him now, did she?

He had been nothing but wonderful to her ever since he had taken her from Port Charles and taken her into this home. He was kind and sweet and playful in a wicked sort of way that she liked very much. And he was tender and considerate and he made her feel more desired than any man could ever hope to. He was wild and he was high-spirited and fun-loving and more gorgeous than any man had any right being, and he alone held the key to passion’s secret door that she longed to walk through. He held the key to her heart too, she realized with a helpless sigh. What could she do but trust him and try to grab this happiness? The alternative was to give into the doubts and fears of being rejected and played the fool, and to run from him without ever knowing if the paradise she saw offered in his eyes was all just a show, or if it was real -- and just within her reach.

She drew her lipstick expertly along her full lips, picked up her handbag and left the room. As he watched her walk down the stairs Jax felt the room swirl around him.

My head started reeling
She gave me the feeling
The room had no ceiling or floor . . .

Good god above! How in the hell was he supposed to keep the howling wolves away from her tonight? And in his mind he saw himself right there among the wolfpack howling like mad.

"Do I look okay?" she asked, at first delighted by his star-struck look but then confused by the scowl she saw skitter across his brow.

"You look more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen in my life," he responded, but again, he said it as if it were somehow a burdensome thing, and Brenda was confounded.

"I can go and change if you’d like," she offered.

Who was he kidding? She could walk in there in a burlap sack and she would still capture the eye of every man within a ten mile radius, he realized.

He reached out and took her hand in his and then pulled her towards him and brushed his lips against the side of hers. "Don’t ever change," he whispered in a voice that made her heart quiver with an odd joy and she actually felt herself tremble slightly in his arms.

Jax slipped her chic, silver-velvet coat on for her, donned his own coat and they were off to the ball.

Wildwind, Great Falls, Virginia . . .

Jenna walked up the steps of Wildwind, flashed her invitation, took her mask and slipped it over her eyes and then entered the ballroom which was beginning to fill up with guests. Her emerald eyes scanned the throats and wrists of the women and she saw bounty all around her in the form of diamonds and rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Oh yes, the pickings would be good tonight! She tugged on her hair to make sure the black wig was firmly in place hiding her lustrous auburn hair. Then she turned around to find one of those roving waiters and grab a glass of expensive bubbly, when she crashed right into a couple who had just arrived.

"Sorry," the man apologized.

Jenna’s eyes shot up in shock at the sound of the deep, Australian accent. The beautiful, exotic woman next to him had her mask on, but he was just putting on his. And even without it she would have known him anywhere, she realized. An unintentional gasp, escaped her lips and drew Scott’s attention back to her.

He stared at her eyes wondering why they seemed so strikingly familiar – that vibrant, fire-lit, shade of green that glittered like no jewel known to man, and seemed like it had been burned into this very soul somewhere.

Jenna did a swift turn to get out of his vicinity before he recognized her, her heart hammering against her ribcage, but she felt his hand touch her arm and her skin tingled with a rush of heat that nearly sent her to the floor.

"Excuse me," he said wondering why in the bloody hell his blood was rushing wildly in his veins all of a sudden, "but, do I know you?"