Miranda gazed down at Jax’s hand locked onto her wrist, his blue eyes gazing intently at her, demanding answers to his questions. On the one hand, she would dearly love to tell him of his parents’ mission to stop any kind of reconciliation with Brenda and her own suspicions that they were, in fact, responsible for what happened four summers ago. But on the other hand, some deep self-preservation need within her was shouting out a warning to keep silent on this; that Jax’s parents were not people to cross.

“I don’t know anything,” Miranda insisted. “Let me go, Jax. Everyone is staring at us!”

“Everyone was staring from the minute you walked in here screaming and yelling,” Jax reminded her. “You were clearly looking for a confrontation, and now that you’ve got one, don’t try to start shifting the blame elsewhere. And I already know that you do know something, so your continued proclamations of innocence are not doing anything to change my mind. What was your intention behind ensuring that Colin was at my son’s birthday party? And who gave you the money to finance that race in Italy in order to do it?”

He was never going to believe that she didn’t know anything, she realized. Yet, if she told him what she knew, it could be signing her own death warrant, for all she knew. She really had no idea what Jax’s parents were capable of, but she felt it highly unwise to underestimate them.

“All right,” she said, wrenching her hand away from Jax’s hold. “Yes, I do know something. But I’m not going to tell you here or now. I am already thoroughly humiliated, and, as you pointed out, reporters are here and I would really like to leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Jax told her.

“Let me go, Jax,” she said. “Look, I can’t do this right now! Not in public like this. I can assure you that I had nothing to do with Colin Christopher coming to Orlando, but I do know who did. And I know why they wanted him there…”

“They?” Brenda said.

“I can’t say anything else,” Miranda said.

“The hell you can’t!” Jax said, frustrated. “I’m getting tired of your stalling tactics, Miranda. Give us the name of these people. Now,” he ordered.

“Or what?” Miranda shot back at him. “Are you going to choke it out of me? Beat it out of me?”

“Well, if Jax won’t, I’ll be happy to,” Brenda said.

“I am not saying anything else,” Miranda informed them. “And I am leaving.”

“I will hound you relentlessly until you tell me what I want to know,” Jax told her in a low, ominous voice. “You will not have a moment’s peace wherever you go, I promise you that.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Jax,” Miranda snapped. “Because I don’t think you can handle this particular truth.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded, his patience utterly gone.

“Why don’t you look to your loving parents for the answers you’re so hot for?” she couldn’t resist taunting, her voice dripping with sarcasm. And then she spun on her heel, racing out of the restaurant.

“Should we go after her?” Brenda said, looking up at Jax, ready and willing to slip off her heels and give chase.

Jax paused and then shook his head, as he felt an inexplicable chill run through him.

“What did she mean by ‘look to your parents’? Do you think she was just bluffing to try to throw you off or…”

“I don’t know,” Jax said. But there was a seriousness in those captivating blue eyes that made Brenda know that something was troubling him.

Brenda took his hand and led him outside for more privacy - goodness knew they had given the patrons and staff at Top of The Sixes enough of a show tonight, as it was.

Seeing them approaching, Helena Cassadine slipped away into the night.

Jax walked over to his car, and the alarm chirped as he deactivated it and opened the doors. His quiet mood further alerted Brenda to the fact that he was troubled about something.

“You think she might be telling the truth, don’t you?” Brenda said to him.

Jax shrugged as if he had no idea, but his eyes told a different story.

“Well, I do,” Brenda said. “And do you want to know why, Jax? Because the fact is that ever since you and I saw each other again in that hotel in Paris your parents have made it very clear by their actions and words that they feel that Miranda, and not me, is the woman for you. Jax, your mother went so far as to try to blackmail me, so I do think she and your father could be perfectly capable of trying to throw out roadblocks to keep you from me. Hey, you said yourself that whoever is backing Miranda would have to have a lot of money… would have to know a lot about you and me…”

Jax’s eyes moved to lock with hers. “Brenda, do you realize what you’re saying?” he asked. “We have both established that whomever is trying to keep us apart now is likely the same person who deliberately, maliciously decimated our lives that summer. Are you really asking me to believe that my own parents were responsible for doing that to me?”

“No… I mean I don’t know…” Her hands raked down his chest soothingly. She could feel the tension coiling in him. His heart was beating rather erratically, too - this was clearly troubling him.

“You can’t ask me to believe that,” he said quietly, shaking his head as if to banish the very thought.

“I’m not asking you to,” Brenda said, her voice deliberately calm and soothing, as she could sense Jax’s growing distress and confusion. “I was just saying that maybe…”

“I have had my problems with them over the past few years - especially lately,” he confessed, interrupting her, “but you can’t ask me to believe they would have orchestrated and plotted my emotional destruction like that. I am their son, Brenda. They love me.”

Brenda nodded quickly, deeply affected by the wounded look in his eyes.

“These are people who have done nothing but protect me from anything they perceived as pain my whole life,” Jax continued, unable to reconcile the parents he loved with an act so heinous and evil. “Yet, I am to now entertain the thought that they are the ones who, in fact, deliberately caused the deepest pain I have ever known?”

Brenda saw the flickers of deep agitation in Jax’s eyes and knew that he was trying to convince himself as much as her that this was impossible. He was desperate not to believe this, not to even give it a shred of credibility in his mind, yet a part of him was realizing the logic of it… The odd closeness of his parents and Miranda, the fact that his parents were certainly more than wealthy enough to have sponsored Colin’s race in Italy…

“You’re right,” Brenda said, hugging him tightly and just wanting to do nothing but soothe him right now, “it can’t be true. My personal feelings about your parents aside, I don’t think they would do anything to deliberately hurt you like that.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” he said, shaking his head and savoring the comforting feeling of her embrace. “They wouldn’t.” And yet, even as he declared his parents innocent of any involvement in the most devastating experience in his life, he once again felt the icy prickle of doubt tingle tauntingly down his spine.

Helena Cassadine watched from the shadows as Jax and Brenda broke their tight clinch, shared a soft kiss and got into the car and left. As she watched the taillights disappear into the distance, she decided to cease her tailing of Jasper Jacks for the evening and retire to her yacht instead to see if there was any news from Andreas on his search to locate Maximus.

As she walked to her own car, Miranda Jameson’s words to Jax about looking to his parents for the answers began to seem like an excellent idea to Helena. Her eyes narrowed. She’d like to have a little chat with Mr. and Mrs. Jacks herself to fish about and see if this was an innocent adoption on their part or if they were somehow in cahoots with Maximus twenty-eight years ago and had known exactly whom they were raising.

Jax slipped the keys into the lock of the penthouse door and opened it.

Behind him, Brenda walked inside slowly, as it dawned on her that this used to be her home. The home she shared with the man she adored, the man she loved, the man she had committed to spending the rest of her life with.

Jax watched her as she slowly stepped through the doorway and gazed around at the familiar dwelling they had once shared. Her eyes swept over the fireplace they used to make love in front of; each chair and couch they used to sit together on, cuddle on, make love on; the desk, where she would leave many of her zillions of post-it notes for him; the corkboard where Jax used to always pin up his favorite modeling shots of her after a photo shoot. It was there, in fact, that Jax had pinned up her engagement ring, and when she had gone to check the board to see which photo he’d liked the best after her Central Park shoot, to her screaming, squealing delight, she had found the beautiful ring there. It had made their engagement official, and she remembered feeling that day that her life could not be more perfect. And then just a few weeks later, disaster had struck.

She shook her head, fighting off the memories of the devastation she had felt. She had to put that all behind her now, because none of it had been true. Jax had never stopped loving her. He had never cast her aside for someone else.

“You okay?” he asked, his hand reaching out to stroke her cheek.

Brenda nodded, turned her face so that her lips brushed against his hand and then continued glancing around at the place where she was the happiest in her life.

Her eyes moved from the corkboard and over to the mantle, where they grew misty as they gazed at the little yacht that sat in the center.

“My boat,” she whispered, moving over to stand in front of it. “My little boat.”

Jax walked up behind her, taking off his jacket and tossing it across the arm of the couch. “How many times must I tell you, it’s a ship, love, not a boat,” he teased.

“You kept it here all this time?” she asked, her fingers touching the tiny masts.

“Yes.”

Brenda’s fingers glided along the edge of the ship, as she smiled at all the happy memories associated with it. The ship was, in fact, a game piece for a Jacks family game they invented, called Jacks Hit. Brenda was introduced to the game when Jax had first introduced her to his parents. Brenda had had no idea how his parents would react to their son’s live-in girlfriend, but his father had appeared to adore her on the spot. And by day’s end, she and his mother had become very friendly. They had all been so happy then, and Brenda remembered that it was the first time that she had realized she wanted to marry this man and be a part of his life - and his family’s life - forever. Who would have ever guessed that Jax’s parents could be so Jekyll and Hyde? Make her feel so loved and accepted for months, and then, in the space of two weeks, make her feel like a complete unwanted outcast?

That reminded her. She wanted to tell Jax about his parents’ abrupt change of behavior towards her the moment he had left for South America. This might not be the best time to tell him, though. She knew that, despite his apparent good mood now, he was still haunted by Miranda’s taunt that he look to his parents for the answers he sought.

“Can I interest you in a nightcap?” he murmured, his arms settling on her waist and turning her around to face him. “A massage?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows sexily as he moved his hands in heavenly circles along her back. Then he kissed her. “A marriage proposal?” he asked, grinning against her lips.

Brenda laughed and cradled his face, kissing his lips passionately. “I think right now I’ll take the massage,” she said, kicking off her shoes and dropping her handbag on the couch. “Full body please,” she added.

His lips melted against hers. “Oh, my beautiful Brenda, I do hope that you realize that your resistance is futile. You are going to marry me, you know,” he said, sweeping her up into his arms.

Her head fell back as she laughed. And Jax took the opportunity to kiss a heated trail along her throat as he mounted the stairs and steered them towards the bedroom. “I know,” she said on a contented sigh filled with soft laughter, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“So, then you realize you are merely delaying the inevitable?”

“I like to think of it as giving us a little time to know each other again,” she said, her fingertips swirling provocatively in the hair at the back of his head and then shifting to his front to start undoing his tie.

“I know all I need to know about you,” Jax insisted. “I know that my heart beats with every breath you take. I know that I adore every single thing about you.”

“Even my post-it note mania?”

“Even that.”

She laughed. “Wow, you must really love me then.”

“I do,” he said. He carried her through the bedroom door and then slid her slowly along his length until her feet were touching the ground. “I know that you fill my life with joy,” he said, as he undid her dress and slid it from her body, while allowing her to undo his shirt and slide it from his.

“I try,” she said. She slid her arms up along his bare chest and twined them around his neck, the soft silk of her underwear brushing against him as her body slid into his. His hands settled firmly around her waist, as he moved forward, slowly edging her back towards the bed, then depositing her gently down in the center of the very place where they had shared many moments of breathtaking intimacy and tumultuous passion.

Brenda shivered with expectation as she lay in the very bed in the very room in the very house where she had been the happiest she had ever been.

“I know that you make me happy - incredibly happy,” Jax continued, as he came down on top of her, nuzzling her neck, his hand stroking her thighs. “I know that I never really knew what love was until I met you. And, most of all, I know that you love me. Like no woman has ever loved me or will ever love me,” he murmured huskily into her ear and then took her lips in a sizzling hot kiss, as he skillfully removed her bra and panties and shed the rest of his clothing as well.

Heated passion blazed between them; lit by desire, fanned into flame by love.

“I love you, Jax,” Brenda breathed, as she sank into a haze of spiraling desire. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, sweetie. I believe I just proclaimed that to the entire bedroom.”

She sighed with pleasure and closed her eyes. “I love it when you call me that.”

“I love it when you tell me that you love it when I call you that.”

She opened her eyes, laughed and covered him with kisses. “You make me so happy,” she said softly, stroking his golden hair. “So happy,” she repeated, pulling him into a long, deep, blistering hot kiss, as their lovemaking intensified and the earth began to move.

He was intoxicated by the joy in her, the passion in her, the scent of her, the softness of her, the beauty of her. Her love was his soul’s elixir; her body his own private paradise. He had never loved anyone the way he loved her. And he knew he never would.

As they stood at the precipice of bliss, Jax tore his lips from his breathless, writhing love. “I have something to tell you,” he said softly, and she thought she would drown in the depths of the aquamarine brilliance of his eyes.

Brenda shivered with anticipation and made a gleeful little noise, knowing the beautiful words that always sent her over the edge were coming.

And she was not disappointed, as, in between breathtaking, sensuous kisses and scintillating lovemaking, Jax whispered to her: “At moments glance, bewitched by she, By beauty besotted and stunned by grace, Helpless and blessed - in love was he, When first his eyes did gaze her face.”

They surrendered to their climax together, amidst the soft panting of rapturous moans, urgent whispers of love, and a shower of dazzling fireworks

Early the next morning Helena Cassadine received a phone call from her manservant, Andreas.

It was not what she wanted to hear.

According to Andreas, Dimitrius Cassadine - a bitter, greedy Cassadine relation, so far removed from ever inheriting the title, the power, the money or the lands that were the Cassadine birthright that it was laughable - was nowhere to be found. It appeared that he, like Maximus, was unable to be located. Needless to say, Helena was livid.

She had to find out if what she had discovered in those files could possibly be true. The entire foundation of her family depended upon it. If it were true, the foundation would be rocked into rubble. And Maximus was the key to the truth. And Dimitrius was the key to finding Maximus.

Snatching up her elegant gold phone from its cradle, Helena called in an army of her most discreet, ruthless investigators. Maximus would be found and brought to her. She would discover the truth and then terminate her brother-in-law - and, depending upon what the truth was, all of his offspring, as well.

Having taken the rest of the week off as far as going into the ELQ office so that he could devote his time to getting an affirmative response from Brenda to his daily proposals of marriage, Jax and Brenda had arranged to have a picnic lunch in the park with their son, who was bummed out that his snake could not accompany them, but happy to hear that his dog could.

“Daddy, could I put my yellow submarine in the kiddy pool?” Justin asked, as he and his father got out of Jax’s SUV and walked into the supermarket to pick up some last minute items Brenda wanted for their picnic.

Justin had the yellow submarine tucked beneath his arm as Jax grabbed a shopping basket, since Justin had claimed he was too old to ride around in shopping carts now. He was four, after all.

“Sure, if it’s open,” Jax said. It was May 2nd now, but he had no idea if any of the pools at the park were open yet.

“Are you and Mommy gonna get married?” Justin asked, as Jax stopped at the bakery counter to pick up a loaf of French bread and some giant-sized chocolate chip cookies for his son.

“I am definitely working on it,” Jax promised him, leaning against the glass.

“Me, too,” Justin said, mimicking his father’s stance and shooting his dad a conspiratorial smile. “You know what I told Mommy today? I told her - well, okay, first I asked her something, right? I said ‘Mommy, do you love Daddy?’ and she said yes. I said ‘A lot? Or a little?’ and she said a lot. So then I said ‘a gigantical lot, like how you love me? Or just a regular lot?’”

Jax laughed softly.

“And she said a gigantical lot. And so then I told her that if you love somebody like that and you’re a grownup, you’re supposed to get married,” Justin said.

Jax nodded in approval and gave his son a high-five.

“I didn’t tell her about the house yet. Is that still a secret, Dad?”

“Yep,” Jax said, steering Justin towards the beverage aisle, as he searched for his son’s favorite brand of grape juice.

“Ooh, could I get the ones with the swirly straw?” Justin asked.

“Okay,” Jax agreed. “I just have to find them first.”

As Jax perused the aisle, Justin’s sparkling aquamarine eyes narrowed, as he caught a glimpse of someone pushing a cart past the aisle and into the next one. Glancing at his father to make sure he was occupied, Justin slowly made his way to the end of the aisle and peered around the corner to the next aisle to see if he’d seen whom he thought he had. Sure enough, it was the alien grandpa!

Aliens shopped? Well, Justin guessed they had to eat, too. But he thought they ate salt and dirt and stuff like that. As he glanced around, he did notice that the alien grandpa was in the aisle that contained salt anyway. He was probably gonna put ten zillion containers of salt in his cart!

Determined to go through with his alien-spy mission and help his daddy, Justin decided he had to try to get the alien’s fingerprints and run it through his spy kit at home. He popped back into the juice aisle and saw his father still looking for the grape juice packets with the swirly straw. He raced back over to his father and chattered away for a while, so his dad would think he was still there. Then he raced back down the aisle and peered back into the next aisle and saw that the alien grandpa was still there.

He took his yellow submarine and rubbed his shirt on it all over, holding it only by the end propeller as he slowly advanced upon the shopping alien. When he was close enough, he dropped the yellow submarine and gave it a little kick in the alien grandpa’s direction.

John looked up and his eyes registered surprise and then glittered with a creepy kind of fanatic delight at his good fortune to run into the coveted little boy here in the supermarket.

“Well, hello there, little one. Did you drop something?” he asked, as he bent down and picked up the toy and handed it back to Justin, who thanked him and again held the toy only by its propeller, making sure to keep his hands off the rest of it. “Nice little toy you have there,” John said, smiling and trying to engage the child in a conversation.

“My Daddy got it for me,” Justin said. “You know why?”

John was encouraged by the lad’s apparent willingness to talk to him. “No, why?”

“ ‘Cause of the song you always used to sing to him at bedtime when he was little like me.”

“The… song?” John said haltingly.

“Yeah, you know, The Popeye song. ‘I’m Popeye the sailor man, toot-toot,’” Justin said, waiting for the alien grandpa to fall into his trap, his little heart racing with excitement.

“Oh, yes! Of course!” John laughed. “Your father loved that song! I sang it to him every night. He’s been keeping up the family tradition by singing it to you now,” he said, winking at the adorable child.

To John’s bewilderment and annoyance, Justin’s eyes narrowed and he let out a satisfied little ‘hmph’ and abruptly dashed away without another word.

John followed after him but stopped when he saw the child standing next to his father. Cognizant of Jax’s lack of desire to interact with his parents due to Jane’s blunder with Brenda, John knew it would not help matters in his cause to approach Jax now. Still, it was so tempting. He had actually spoken to the child! True, it had ended abruptly and damned oddly. But it was something…

John disappeared back into the next aisle before Jax could spot him, and soon thereafter Jax had gathered all he’d come for and was gone.

When he and Justin got back to the Q mansion, the first thing Justin did was race upstairs and put his submarine in a safe place where no one would touch it until he got back and was able to run it through his alien fingerprint kit. It was too bad the grandma alien had not been there, too. He could have gotten both of their fingerprints. He was grinning, pleased with his progress in his alien exposition, as he came racing down the stairs with Cooper at his heels.

“Are we going now?” he asked his parents.

“We sure are,” Brenda said. “As soon as I put the sunscreen on you.”

Justin made a face, but obediently stood still as his mother covered him in the stuff.

“Hey, where’s your sub?” Jax asked, noticing it was gone. “I thought you wanted to put it in the kiddy pool?”

Justin shrugged. “Nah. I changed my mind. Could we take my soccer ball instead?”

Jax nodded. “Sure. Where is it?”

“In my room, right in front of the closet that has the X-Men picture on it,” Justin said, as Jax disappeared upstairs to get it.

Several hours later, at the park, Jax sat, leaning against a large oak tree; one knee pulled up, one hand stoking Cooper’s head. Brenda sat in between him, her head resting against his chest, as she popped grapes, one at a time, into her mouth.

“Look at him,” she said, as they watched Justin playing on the slide and all the kids following him.

Jax nodded. “He’s a born leader. I told Jerry that at the birthday party. All the kids were following Justin around then, too. Some kids follow; some kids are the ones that are followed. Justin is most definitely the latter. He’s got this unbelievable level of charisma…”

“Definitely,” Brenda agreed, then she tilted her head back and smiled up at Jax.

He bent forward and brushed his mouth over hers. “I think it’s time for my daily proposal,” he murmured, kissing her again. And then he groaned, as he saw Carly and her kids approaching in the distance. “For the sake of preserving the perfection of this day, I think I’ll go play with my son,” he said, getting up.

Brenda laughed. “Hey, you know if we’re going to get married, you’re going to be related to her by marriage, Jax.”

“We are going to get married,” he said. “And I choose to ignore the rest of what you said,” he added, with a quick kiss to her soft lips, as he patted his leg for Cooper to follow him and the two of them headed off towards Justin.

Finally reaching Brenda, Carly sat down next to her. “Was it something I said?” she murmured sarcastically, as she saw Jax’s hasty retreat.

“He just wanted to go play with his son,” Brenda said diplomatically. “Grape?”

“Justin’s here? Yay!” Becky screamed, as she ran off to the playground, with Carson following her.

Carly watched until her kids were safely at the playground and then accepted the sweet grapes her sister plopped into her hands. “Thanks.”

“So where’s your hubby?’ Brenda asked.

“He took Michael to a baseball game. I’m still not really talking to Sonny because I’m ticked at him over refusing to take us to that McElligot’s Lake place.”

Brenda arched an eyebrow. “Ahem, and why would you have been going there, Carly?”

“To look out for you, Brenda. God, what are you doing anyway? What is this with you and Jax joined at the hip all of a sudden? Are you still sleeping with him?”

“Did it slip from your memory the little fact that I am in love with the man?” Brenda said. “And I’m not in the mood for one of your little Jax-bashing fests, okay? So save your breath.”

“Are you still sleeping with him?” Carly persisted.

“Oh, my god, you sound like my mother!” Brenda groaned.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes. Geez, Brenda, I hope you’re at least using protection.”

“Of course, I am!” Brenda retorted. Well, it was kind of true. They had used protection. Last night anyway.

Carly shook her head. “I don’t understand you.”

“I think what you don’t understand is the way that I love Jax. Because you’ve never had a love like that, Carly.”

“Hey, I love Sonny,” Carly said defensively. “I mean, it might not be all heaven and paradise, like what you had with Jax…”

“Have,” Brenda corrected. “And I’m not comparing. I’m just saying that if you loved someone the way that I love Jax and the way that he loves me, then you would understand, that’s all.”

“Well, explain this mystical love to me then,” Carly said, tossing her hands up in the air. “I’m listening. ‘Cause, you know, from where I stand, the guy dumped you for another woman, his parents treated you like dirt, and now here you are salivating over him and biting my head off for daring to tell the truth.”

Brenda sighed. “Okay, look. I already told you that Jax never dumped me for anyone. That wasn’t true, all right? His parents are another story, but they don’t matter right now because this is about Jax and me and this love that’s bigger than the both of us. I mean, have you ever loved somebody so much that you don’t feel complete unless you’re with them; that they’re a half of your heart and a half of your soul? That even if the whole world went pitch black, you know you could find each other?”

Carly placed an arm around Brenda. “Okay, that was so sappy, but, yeah, I get it that you’re crazy in love with the guy. I really do get that. But you were crazy in love with him before, Brenda, and look what that got you?”

“Someone did that to us, though, Carly. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Someone deliberately set out to tear Jax and me apart. And they succeeded mostly because of me. Me and my lack of trust in Jax’s love for me, and then I was pregnant on top of that so my hormones were going crazy and making me super emotional to the idea of losing Jax and I just fell right into this person’s or people’s trap. I left Jax. I just left him, Carly. If I had only waited for him to come back…”

“You only have Jax’s word that someone set you guys up, Bren. You’re putting your heart, your whole future on the line - and Justin’s, too - based on Jax’s word. You have no proof of any of this,” Carly tried to point out.

“But I trust Jax. I trust him with my heart and with my future. And Justin’s. I’m never going to make the mistake I did that summer and allow my trust to waver and doubts and insecurities to fill my head and make me just react. No way. This time Jax and I are together in this all the way. We’re going to find out who did this to us, and they’re going to pay for it. And then we’re going to ruin their lives by doing exactly what they tried to stop us from doing,” Brenda said, raising her glass of chardonnay as she flashed a dimpled smile to her sister and took a swallow.

“You are not, you are not going to marry him!” Carly hissed. “Don’t you think this is going too fast?!”

“Yes, I am going to marry him, and, no, it’s not going too fast. I’m making him date me first,” Brenda explained.

“How long?” Carly asked, accepting the wine Brenda poured for her and taking a sip.

“A week,” Brenda said. “ But don’t tell him that; I want to surprise him. I mean, I’m actually a little scared, and I don’t even know why. I know I love him with all my heart; I know he’s the joy of my life; I know I want to be his wife. I’m just a little scared for some reason, but I don’t want Jax to know that I’m scared. So I figured if I just plunge in and do it, then I won’t be scared anymore. You know? So after this week is over I’m going to say yes.”

Carly spat out her wine. “A week?” she croaked. “A week?”

But Brenda was poking Carly in the shoulder and directing her sister’s attention towards the playground, where Becky was yanking the hair of a cute little redhead, who had committed the mortal sin of jumping onto the other side of the seesaw with Justin.

“Oh, god,” Carly groaned and then hollered: “Becky Corinthos, you cut that out!”

Jax came to the little girl’s rescue, separating them and then lifting the little redhead up and depositing her in the arms of her mother, who was lashing out at Carly about her ‘bratty, little bully’ of a daughter, and Carly retorted that the woman’s daughter was a crybaby and it was obviously hereditary.

Jax gazed over at Brenda and rolled his eyes, as she smiled over at him and waved.

Watching Jax and Justin and Cooper scurry off to the empty baseball field, with Carson following and Becky trying to do so as well but being held back by her mother, Brenda realized just how perfect it was to be a family with Jax and Justin like this. To watch them playing together; Cooper jumping all over them as they kicked the soccer ball back and forth; Jax impressed with Justin’s skill at the game, while, at the same time, Jax patiently was trying to explain to Carson that he couldn’t use his hands.

When it looked like the boys were just having way too much fun, Brenda popped up from her lounging position by the trees and raced over to them to join in, getting scooped up by Jax and kissed upon her arrival.

And several hours later, as the park was emptying out and the sun was hanging lower in the sky, Brenda quietly took out her camera and snapped a picture of Jax laying on his back on the blanket, eyes closed; Justin laying on top of his chest, fast asleep, his little hand curved on Jax’s shoulder; Cooper, his head, resting on Jax’s leg, relaxed as you please. The entire scene was precious.

Brenda put her camera away and then knelt down and kissed her son’s cheek, then lay down and snuggled next to Jax, her hand stroking their son’s back.

“I love you, Jax,” she whispered,

He opened one eye and peeked at her and said, “Then marry me, damn it,” in a cute, semi-sleepy voice.

She giggled and moved closer to kiss his cheek and lovingly stroke his face. “The Quartermaines are having a barbecue on Friday. Want to come?”

“Will you be there?” he asked, gorgeous blue eyes twinkling.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be there,” he whispered, his arm sliding around her and pulling her even closer, as the soft spring breeze tossed their sleeping son’s golden curls around lightly.

“Going to the Q cookout?” Jax asked Jerry, as they shared breakfast at Kelly’s on Friday morning.

“Well, believe it or not, I actually was invited,” Jerry said. “Because of Bobbie, you know. Monica invited her, and I guess I was part of the invitation, being her husband and all.”

Jax laughed. “You should go. It would serve Edward right to have us both there, ruining his afternoon.”

“I can’t,” Jerry said. “I’ve got a meeting with the parental units. They’re adamantly insisting on speaking to me.”

“So, they’re still here then? In Port Charles?” Jax asked quietly, averting his eyes as that unpleasant tingle went through him again as his thoughts went back to Miranda’s words. He’d been trying so damn hard to forget all that. But something would not let him forget.

“Yep, apparently so. I figure I can’t avoid them forever, and maybe if I go and have a chat with them I can convince them that it’s time for them to go back to Alaska,” Jerry said, noticing Jax’s distant mood. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” Jax said.

“Have you had any further conversations with them since Mum’s little bizarre blackmail attempt on Brenda?”

Jax shook his head. “Jerry…?”

“Yes?”

“Do you… that is… do you think our parents are…”

“Are what, Jax?”

“Capable of…”

Jerry’s eyes grew more serious. “Of what, Jax? Come on, tell me,” Jerry encouraged.

Jax took a deep breath. “Hurting us?” Jax finished.

“You and me?”

“Yes. Hurting us. You and me. Deliberately. And very badly. Do you think they are capable of that?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Jerry asked.

Jax shook his head and took a hot swallow of his coffee. “Never mind. I was just… never mind,” Jax said.

“No, don’t brush this off, Jax. I will answer you,” Jerry said, placing his fork down. “The answer is no. Not to you anyway. Never to you.”

Jax’s eyes locked with his brothers. “To you then?” he asked, looking stricken. “Did they do something to you?”

Jerry glanced down, picking up his fork again and stabbing at a piece of Canadian bacon. “Never mind about me,” Jerry said, “You are golden to them, Jax. They would slit their own wrists for you. They would never do anything to hurt you, let alone hurt you badly.”

“But they would hurt you? Is that what you’re saying?” Jax persisted.

“Look, Jax, it’s no big deal. You’re the baby; you’re the special one.”

“For God’s sake, Jerry, I’m not a baby. You and I are both grown men. And I am not ‘special’ - no more special than you are. Do they say things to you? Tell me.”

Jerry let out a loud sigh at Jax’s growing ire on his behalf. “Jax, settle down. This is no big deal. Look, I’ve always been the black sheep of the family. I get into trouble; you bail me out. I lose the family millions on some bad investment; you make us billions on a brilliant one. They can count on you; you make them proud. You don’t disappoint them,” Jerry smiled. “Hell, you don’t disappoint anyone, kid,” he said, reaching over to tousle Jax’s hair.

Jax was not in the mood to be teased or appeased. “They tell you that?” he asked. “They tell you that they can’t count on you? That you don’t make them proud? That you disappoint them?” he demanded.

“Jax, take it easy.”

“Who do they think taught me everything I know? I mean, yeah, they were great parents and taught me values and morals and love and kindness. But you… you taught me how to survive in any kind of wilderness. You taught me how to pick and choose investments, when to walk away, when to push and take the risk. You showed me what it’s like to have someone who is always on your side and always there for you no matter what…”

“Jax,” Jerry interrupted. “It’s okay. I’m a big boy, and I don’t need you getting all riled up on my behalf”

“No, it’s not okay,” Jax insisted, looking disgusted. “If they treat you as if you are some kind of lesser family member and I don’t know about it, then that’s not okay, Jerry. And you know what? I’m starting to wonder how well I know my own parents then? You may think they aren’t capable of hurting me, but what if you’re wrong about that?”

“Okay, okay. Time out. What brought all of this on anyway? I mean, the whole thing about them hurting us?” Jerry inquired.

Jax shook his head. Damn, he didn’t want to think about this. It made him feel almost violently ill. “Nothing. Just my thoughts spinning in my head. Hey, are you going to eat this?” He reached over and stole a biscuit from Jerry’s plate.

Jerry realized that Jax was saying the subject was closed. He obliged his younger brother. “Heard from the jilted fiancée?” he asked, taking a gulp of grapefruit juice.

“No.”

“What? No more threats to sue you?” Jerry grinned.

“I think she left town,” Jax said. “I’ve been calling her. No answer. Not even that damned answering machine of hers. Felicia hasn’t seen her either.”

“Why are you trying to find Miranda?” Jerry questioned him. “I’d think her staying out of sight and out of your life would be exactly what you want.”

“Yes, it is what I want, but she… I think she maybe has some answers to some questions, and I just wanted to run some things by her,” Jax said evasively, not wanting to go into the particulars of Miranda’s cryptic words about their parents. “So, how’s Lucas doing in that chess club of his?”

Changing the subject again, Jerry noticed. But again, he let it go.

Brenda and Justin were breathless and laughing as they climbed out of the pool, having just raced two laps.

“You beat me again,” Brenda said, wrapping a towel around her son’s shoulders and then grabbing one for herself.

“I always beat you, Mommy,” he reminded her.

“Hey, one of these days, you won’t,” Brenda predicted.

“You always say that,” Justin laughed. “And I always beat you anyways.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see you’re as humble as your father,” Brenda said, tousling her son’s wet hair. “And speaking of your father, he should be here in a few minutes,” she said with a smile, as most of the guests had already arrived for the barbecue.

“Mommy, you really need to marry my dad,” Justin said, dragging the towel over his head to dry his wet hair. “’Cause if you don’t, maybe some other lady is gonna marry him, maybe. And then you’ll get real mad.”

“Real mad would not begin to cover it,” Brenda said, reaching for a lemonade offered by Reginald.

“So how come you won’t marry Daddy?” Justin wanted to know. “He asks you every day, right?”

Brenda glanced down at him. “You know, you and your father share way too much information.”

Justin just grinned. “How come you won’t marry him, Mom?”

“For your information, Justin Christopher, I am going to marry him, okay? But you can’t tell him that.”

“ ‘Kay, I won’t,” he promised.

“I am definitely going to marry your dad,” Brenda reiterated. “I just… Mommy’s a little bit scared, okay? That’s why I needed some time.”

“How come you’re scared?” Justin asked, gazing up at her curiously.

“Well, you know the last time I said I would marry your daddy a lot of bad things happened after that. I know that’s not going to happen this time, but… a part of me still is just scared, I guess.”

“No bad stuff is gonna happen this time, Mommy. Daddy already told me he would never let anything bad happen to me or you. I asked him.”

Brenda smiled at her son. “I know, honey. Mommy is really embarrassed about being a scaredy cat about this, believe me. Come on, let’s go inside and get into some dry clothes before your dad gets here.”

“Too late,” Justin giggled, as Jax walked through the patio doors. He was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a light green shirt that brought out the splendid emerald hues of his aquamarine eyes.

He said his hellos to everyone who was sitting around the large patio table, as he made his way towards Brenda and Justin.

“Hey, family,” Jax said, greeting them.

“Hi, Daddy!” Justin said, looking as if he wanted to burst with news, but zipping his lip, as he had promised his mom that he wouldn’t tell his dad she was going to marry him. “I gotta go to the loo,” he said, zipping inside the house and nearly sending Reginald flying, as he raced around and around the butler, laughing, before he finally disappeared into the house.

“Our son definitely knows how to make an exit,” Jax said.

Brenda just smiled at him, gazing into his eyes and feeling her heart racing.

“What?” Jax asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m just really happy to see you.”

“Oh, well, I’m really happy to see you, too,” he said, leaning down as she leaned up and their lips connected in a sweet, lingering kiss. “These are for you,” Jax said, taking a gorgeous bouquet of red roses from behind his back and handing them to her.

Brenda smiled with delight and inhaled the fragrant blooms. “Aww, thank you. They are so gorgeous,” she said.

“You are so gorgeous,” he said, his eyes roving over her bikini-clad body, barely concealed by the towel hanging haphazardly off of her shoulders.

She grinned at him and kissed him again as Edward watched them, shaking his head in defeat. Jax had vowed that Brenda did love him, while Edward had insisted she no longer did, and it was evident who had been proven right.

“Come inside with me, I have a present for you,” Brenda said excitedly, grabbing Jax’s hand and pulling him indoors.

“Isn’t that a coincidence. I have a present for you, too,” he said. “Umm… be careful with those flowers, by the way,” he added, as Brenda placed them on the center table.

“Why, are they made of gold?” she teased. “I’m just going to find a vase to put them in. Then I’ll run upstairs and get you your present.”

“I’ll put the flowers in water for you,” Jax offered.

“Oh, okay, thanks,” she said. “I’ll be right back then…”

But as she tried to race upstairs, Jax caught her and hauled her wet, nubile body up against his. “Not so fast,” he said. “Now that I have you alone, I can give you a proper hello.”

Brenda did not need any convincing of that, as she wrapped her arms around Jax and he kissed her with a fiercely passionate magic that made her feel as if she were floating on the air. She realized she really was floating on the air, as Jax had lifted her right off the floor.

Warm currents of pleasure coursed through her, as their tongues tangled slowly and sensuously in an incredibly intimate caress.

Jax finally lifted his head, as he broke the kiss and slowly slid her down his body and back onto the floor.

“H… ello,” Brenda breathed in a dazzled daze.

Jax smiled at her adorable disorientation. “Didn’t you have a present to go get for me?” he reminded her.

Brenda blinked. “Oh… yes…right. Okay. Yes. I’ll be right back,” she said, getting herself together and sprinting up the stairs.

When Brenda came back down a few moments later, she had changed into shorts and a blue halter-top and was carrying a square box in her hands. Jax was waiting for her, sitting in a chair by the window, one ankle crossed over one knee, reading one of Edward’s financial magazines, his head bent, a lock of his hair falling forward on his forehead, looking absolutely divine.

“Here you are,” Brenda said, sliding right into his lap and handing him the square box.

Jax opened it up and found inside a photo album with the words ‘OUR FAMILY’ emblazoned in silver on the cover. Inside were pictures chronicling Justin’s first years before Jax had even known he had a son. Following that set of pictures were recent photos from Justin’s birthday, photos of Jax, Brenda and Justin from their McElligot’s Lake trip, and even photos from the picnic they had been on two days ago.

Jax was so moved by the gift that he was speechless for a moment.

“I hope you like it,” Brenda said to him.

“Like it? It’s one of the most wonderful things anyone has ever given me,” he told her.

“It can’t even compare to all that you have given me, Jax, And all that you’ve given Justin. We love you… so much and… I know this doesn’t make up for all the years we lost as a family, but…”

Her words were silenced by a turbulent kiss from Jax.

“So you really like it,” she laughed.

“I love it,” he said, kissing her again. “And I love you. Thank you,” he added softly.

“You’re welcome,” she smiled. “I’m sure I forgot to put in a few pictures I wanted to,” she said. “But I was sort of in a hurry because I wanted to make this for you before I go,” she explained.

“Go?” Jax repeated. “Where are you going?”

“The yacht wedding shoot in Vegas. Remember? It’s tomorrow afternoon. I have to go there tonight.” She paused a moment and then gave him an endearing look. “Want to come with me?” she offered, praying he would not tell her he had ELQ business that would prevent his leaving town. “You can be my guest, so you can even come to the ceremony and the reception with me, although you’ll have to sign a confidentiality agreement.”

“Why? Who are the bride and the groom?”

Brenda shrugged. “I actually have no idea. We find out tomorrow. But obviously it’s somebody famous,” she guessed.

“Or infamous.”

“So, want to come with me and find out?”

“I would love to go with you…”

“But…” she said, anticipating a ‘but.’

“But nothing. I would love to go with you,” he repeated. “Just tell me when you need to leave; I’ll have my pilot ready and waiting for us.”

Brenda threw her arms around him and hugged him. “Yes! You are so wonderful. Okay, we should leave about six. It’s only for the weekend, so you don’t have to pack much. Oh, and, if I forget, will you remind me to pick up Justin one of those dancing Elvis dolls? He asked me to bring him back one.”

“Justin likes Elvis Presley?’ Jax asked, surprised - although nothing about his remarkable child should surprise him at this point.

“Not really. He just wants to take it apart to see the mechanism that makes him shake his hips like that.”

“I should have known.”

“So you’ll remind me, right? If I forget?”

“Yes, I will remind you. Now, I also happen to have a present for you, remember?”

“Oh, yeah!” Brenda said, always one who loved surprises. “Where is it?!”

“Before I give it to you, you have to promise to accept it.”

“Hey, you know me. I never decline gifts,” she grinned.

“You cannot decline this one,” he said.

“I won’t!” she laughed. “Come on, where is it?” she asked, feeling around in his pockets.

Jax grinned. “This is immensely enjoyable, however, your present is not there.” He shifted her off his lap so that he could stand up. He walked over to the bouquet of roses, plucked a flower from the center of the bouquet and handed it to her. “It’s here,” he said.

“Here?” Brenda gazed at the perfect red rose, still furled and not in full bloom, in her hands curiously and then a brilliant smile broke out on her lips. “I bet there’s something inside of it, right? Pearl earrings, like the ones you put in that oyster for me that time? Or - oh, remember that time you put that bracelet inside of that coconut that you made me break when we were in Antigua?” she laughed. “Or the time you put all those love notes inside of that giant fortune cookie on Valentine’s Day!” She carefully unfurled the petals of the rose and gasped as her quest uncovered a dazzling diamond heart-shaped ring with brilliant emerald baguettes on the side. “Holy… cow!” she breathed. Then she looked up at Jax. “Jax, this is a…”

“Yes, it is,” he said, taking it from her and sliding it onto her finger without delay. “And I know that you already have one of these, but I thought you might have…disposed of it, given what you believed I had done to you.”

“I didn’t,” Brenda informed him. “It’s in my jewelry box.”

That bit of news clearly pleased him. “Really?”

“I loved you, Jax. Even when I hated you, I loved you. I couldn’t part with it. I even made Julia bury it in the backyard of her house once and then got up in the middle of night and spent three hours digging to find it.”

Jax’s lips quirked into a cute smile. “I see.”

“I was six months pregnant at the time. Quite a sight to see a pregnant woman on all fours, digging around frantically in the earth at midnight.”

Jax flashed a grin and then tried to get serious again. “I’m sure you looked beautiful. But, be that as it may,” he said, “this is a new beginning for us, and so this is the ring I want you to have. Besides, emeralds always did go spectacularly with your beautiful eyes.”

Brenda looked at the fabulously glittering gem and bit her lip. “Wow.”

“You cannot decline this gift,” he reminded her.

“I wasn’t going to,” she informed him.

A boyish grin broke out on Jax’s face. “Does that mean…?”

“It means it’s a stunningly beautiful ring and I absolutely love it, that’s all,” Brenda said.

Jax was grinning. “Oh, is that what it means?”

She laughed. “Yes. What else would it mean?”

“Hey, you two, get out here. The food’s ready,” Ned said, popping his head inside and waving his arms for Jax and Brenda to come on outside.

Brenda turned her ring around so as not to be hounded and harassed by Edward, should he catch sight of it, and Jax laughed at her, knowing why she was doing that.

She shrugged. “I have not said yes to you yet, and if everybody sees it I’m going to be put on the spot and will have to say yes. And you don’t want me coerced into my decision, do you?” she asked sweetly.

“I have news for you, sweetie. You said yes to me the first time we made love in that hotel room,” he informed her. “You said yes with your body and yes with your heart and it was there in your eyes. So I already have my answer. I’ve had it for a long time. I can wait for the words.”

Brenda gave him a look of cute exasperation, but, as he took her hand and led her outside, she smiled. He would not have to wait long! she thought.

Everyone was gathered around the huge patio table, talking and laughing, eating and enjoying the fine early May weather. Brook Lynn was spending the week with Ned, so she and Justin, who had gotten bored tossing water balloons at Edward’s ugly fish statue, were now tossing water balloons at each other, as they raced around the back lawn and a barking Cooper chased after them, wanting to get in on the action.

“Okay, that dog really looks like a wolf,” Alexis mentioned, as Jax passed her the potato salad.

“He’s actually a gorgeous animal,” Alan commented. “But with wolf blood in him he does have the potential to get wild. Does that ever concern you, Brenda?”

“Not really,” Brenda said. “Cooper practically worships the ground Justin walks on. He’s like his guardian angel.”

“He’s a wolf,” Edward muttered. “Wolves, snakes. It’s no wonder that boy of yours is so recklessly adventurous. The two of you have bred it into him.”

“We take that as a compliment,” Jax said.

“You would,” Edward snorted.

“And he should,” Brenda laughed.

“Hey, Jax, have you got any deals in the works involving any of the Cassadine holdings?” Alexis asked curiously.

Jax glanced over at her. “Cassadine holdings? No. Why?”

“Well, it’s just that Helena has been asking me questions about you. Now, I can’t stand the woman, so I basically told her to go take a flying leap. But I just wondered at her sudden curiosity about you and assumed maybe ELQ was looking to raid a Cassadine corporation and she was trying to get some info on the CEO to block it.”

Jax shook his head. “No, we’re not going after anything that should concern her.”

“If you ask me, she just has a major crush on Jax,” Ned said.

“Who doesn’t?” Brenda said, recalling the cowgirl at Disney.

“I don’t,” Edward muttered.

“Thank the lord,” Jax muttered back.

“You know, young man,” Edward said, “if I were CEO of my company, I would hardly be spending the day loafing at a barbecue when there’s business to be done in the office.”

“Daddy has his cell phone!” Justin called out. “It’s always ringing!”

“Always,” Brenda agreed, having lost count of how many times that damned phone had rung while they were on their picnic.

“And he has his palm pilot, too!” Justin piped up again.

“Cell phones, palm pilots - is that any way to run a Fortune 500 company?” Edward continued to lecture. “Why, when I ran ELQ, I was always at the office overseeing everything, and that was one tightly run ship! Then it falls into the hand of this brash, young pirate from down under, and…”

Justin and Brook Lynn were walking by the table with their little sand pail full of water balloons, and Jax plucked one from the pail and tossed it at Edward.

At first there was compete silence, except for Edward’s stunned sputtering and the sound of the water dripping from his face onto the table, and then peals of laughter erupted from one end of the table to the other.

Not to be outdone, Edward grabbed the super soaker water gun dangling over Justin’s shoulder and fired away mercilessly at Jax with a “Take that, you corporate menaaaccce!”

The kids were giggling with glee.

“Honey, here!” Brenda called out, tossing Jax one of Justin’s even bigger super soakers that was lying on the grass.

“Aaaargh!” Edward yelled, shaking his fist, as he was drenched by a wickedly smiling Jax, who was drenched himself.

The kids were screaming with delight, as Brook Lynn jumped on her great-grandfather’s side and began to hurl water balloons at Jax, while Justin immediately took his father’s side and began to bomb both Edward and Brook Lynn with water balloons.

Brenda ran to get her camera to capture the mayhem and frivolity. She’d been snapping shots of them all day and when she came back with the camera yet again, Jax said to his son: “So this is what it’s like to live with her, huh? Flashbulbs going off in your face every five minutes, every moment a Kodak moment?”

Justin laughed and nodded, and Brenda promptly put down her camera and hurled a water balloon at Jax.

When the wild water antics had calmed and the warm sun had just about dried everyone out, the mood grew more relaxed and Ned took out his guitar and broke into an impromptu, jazzy version of “Fly Me to the Moon”. Justin and Brook Lynn watched, snickering to each other, as Alan and Monica swirled around the patio, while Allan did harmony to Ned’s lead. Then AJ grabbed Emily and began a comical tango along the pool’s edge, which had the kids cracking up.

Alexis joined in the fun by sticking one of Brenda’s roses in her mouth and dancing around the singing Ned with Spanish flare.

“You and Uncle Jax dance, too, Aunt Brenda,” six-year-old Brook Lynn said between giggles.

“I don’t know. I think maybe your great-grandfather wants to dance with Jax,” Brenda said, laughing at the scowl Edward sent her way.

“Oh, by all means, I abdicate my dance to you, young lady,” he said.

Jax and Brenda slid into a close ‘I can feel your heartbeat’ clinch for their dance, until their son came barreling over to them, claiming he wanted to dance with them, too.

Jax lifted Justin up, and the three of them danced in dizzying circles.

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars

In other words:
Hold my hand
In other words:
Baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I’ve longed for
All I worship and adore

In other words:
Please be true
In other words
I love you

All of the twirling her boys were engaging her in had Brenda dizzy and feeling slightly nauseous, so, with a laugh, she begged off any more dancing and took a seat, and Emily’s chum, Elizabeth Webber, took Brenda’s place twirling around with Jax and Justin.

“Sure you want to leave her with Jax? She’s got quite the crush on him, you know,” Edward said to Brenda.

Brenda laughed. “It’s okay. I’m unfortunately used to it by now,” she said, taking a few deep breaths to calm her queasy belly.

“Have you ever considered putting a bag over his head?” Edward muttered.

Brenda laughed again and took a few more deep breaths. “You are in rare form today, Edward.”

“Are you all right, my dear?” Lila asked.

“Oh, sure, I’m fine,” Brenda said. “I’m just dizzy. I don’t know how Jax and Justin can spin around like that and not get dizzy.” She checked her watch. “You know what? Jax and I are going to have to leave soon anyway, so I may as well go upstairs and change. Maybe I’ll stop in the kitchen and just get a little gingerale for my stomach.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Edward asked her.

“Gingerale?” Brenda said, baffled.

“No, my dear, taking that blonde pirate along with you on your photo shoot. You will be in Las Vegas, after all. Many a strange and regretful thing occurs in that city. I would rethink this, if I were you.”

“No, I’m sure,” Brenda said with a smile as she went inside.

And she was sure. Sure that she was going to marry Jax.

“We, madam, are all out of options,” John Jacks said, slamming the door to the hotel suite.

Jane stubbed out her cigarette and stood up. “Jerry?” she guessed.

“Complete and utter failure. No, worse than that. We were set up with false information by our little caged birds. I was spouting off a host of untruths to the boy - you should have seen the way he was looking at me as if I was a prime candidate for Bedlam. Now you know he’s going to go straight to that brother of his, and between the two of them they are going to figure out that we are not who we claim to be.”

“They can’t physically prove it though. Not unless they drag us kicking and screaming to the hospital and force us to give blood or DNA samples.”

“Or drag us to the police station and take fingerprints. I fear they will end up doing one of those very things,” he said.

“That’s it then. The plan of last resort goes into effect.”

“Yes,” he said. “The child will be ours. We will bind him to us anyway we can, keep Helena in the dark about him and his father. And then, when he is a bit older and has been properly groomed for his station in life, we will rid him of the one person who has the claim to the title over him, and we will rid him of his greatest threat to his life, and then nothing will stand in our way. We will reveal him for who he is, and we will reap every benefit that goes with being his guardians and advisors.”

“We will have to turn him against his mother. Or do you simply intend to get rid of her as well?” the woman, who had been posing as Jane Jacks for the past four years, asked.

“Getting rid of her would speed up our timetable,” he said logically. “Turning him against her - while it would be sweet revenge for all the trouble that girl has caused to our plans - would not be enough. As long as he is a minor, the rights to him are hers. No. We would be better off with her gone as well. It appears that she and young Jasper are on the road to reconciliation anyway. We could get rid of the both of them at the same time. Helena, however, must go first. But before we see to dispatching any of the potential roadblocks to our master plan, we must get our hands on the little prince.”

She smiled in agreement, thrilled that this insufferable charade was all but over. “When do we do it?”

“This weekend. Sunday. A day of rest and peace, where no one will expect anything to occur on a peaceful spring night. In the meantime, we lay low. We’re checking out of the hotel tomorrow night. I’ve already left the two Jacks boys messages that their parents are doing as they asked and leaving town. They will think we are gone and will never expect what is about to happen. We must tie up all the loose ends,” he said, pouring himself a whiskey. “Including that Jameson woman.”

“And what of the real Mr. and Mrs. Jacks? They set us up with false information, trying to trap us into exposure. I think we really owe them for that.”

“Yes. And I think allowing them to starve to death would be fitting, don’t you? The monthly food delivery we make to our captives is due tomorrow. But, as they will soon discover, it is never going to arrive. They will die in that little stone cottage. Die a slow, awful death, as their bodies ache and scream for a grain of rice, a drop of water. Perhaps they’ll get desperate enough to kill and eat the rats. Then perhaps they’ll start gnawing off each other’s limbs.”

The false John and Jane Jacks laughed at that gruesome imagery.

“A fitting ending for them, indeed,” she said.

“Light! I see light!” Jane Jacks said.

“Where? Are you certain?”

”Yes, yes, over there!”

The dark, muddy maze that had been stymieing John and Jane Jacks for two days seemed to have finally given them reprieve.

“Yes!” John agreed, as he, too, saw the sliver of fading sunlight in the direction his wife was pointing so excitedly towards. “And water. I hear water. The ocean…”

“So do I! And a breeze. Oh, dear God, John, I feel a breeze. This must be the way out; it must be…” she said, as they both hurried towards the sound of rushing water, the cool breeze and the blessed light.

Jerry paced his living room, hands clenching and unclenching, shaking his head to and fro, as he debated what to do. His mind was still a jumble of incredulity and confusion over his lunch with his father. Something was wrong here - very, very wrong.

He could still not comprehend the conversation he’d had with his father. He played it over in his mind because it was so ridiculous and insane that it was difficult to grasp it as reality.

He’d walked into the PC Grille, where his father had been waiting for him at a table. He’d sat down, and his father had immediately launched into a bit of a tirade about Jerry clearly avoiding them and not doing his part to help Jax.

“Help Jax?” Jerry had asked, baffled. “I believe I’m the only one truly helping him. I’m helping him try to find out who ruined his life four summers ago. I’m trying to help him get that life back that he lost with the woman he loves and the child that love bore. I’m not the one stalking the woman he loves and threatening her with blackmail and the like, in order to force her into allowing me to see Jax’s son.”

“Enough!” John said. “I did not ask you here for this.”

“Why did you ask me here then? If you want me to push Jax back in Miranda’s direction, you are out of luck. I know Jax isn’t really speaking with you much, so you may or may not know that his wedding is off and the engagement is broken. For whatever reasons that you wanted Miranda in his life so badly, you can just forget about it now.”

“Jerry,” his father had said. “Why so defensive? Listen to me, boy, we are family, you and I, your mother, Jax. We are a family, and that is the most important factor here, that our family not be destroyed because of this. This is why your mother and I need your help to mend fences with Jax and to be able to bond with our precious little grandson. A child is a bonding force, you know. He can not only bond his parents together, as he has obviously done, but he can bond our entire family together.”

Jerry had looked at his father suspiciously. “So, suddenly Brenda is a-okay with you again?”

“This has nothing to do with her. This is about our family and the importance of that child knowing us all. Jerry, you of all people should know this. Just think of little Victoria - your little girl, who is so far away from you with that Ashley Brent woman. Your child is eight years old now and being raised by that woman’s husband - thinking another man is her father. You always wanted her with you and the Brent woman denied you your own flesh and blood. Surely you are bitter over Victoria not being a part of your life? Of our family? Your mother and I have a powerful reach, Jerry. We will help you, my boy. We will help you get custody of your little one, and, in exchange, all you need do is speak with your brother and soften his stance towards us so that we can work this out.”

Jerry had stared at the man who called himself his father with a mixture of dumbstruck confusion and growing alarm.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” he had asked when he finally found his voice again.

Jerry had not even known Ashley Brent eight years ago. Ashley was not married to anyone and had no children, certainly not Jerry’s.

John had seemed startled and jarred by Jerry’s reaction. He had cursed under his breath and then tried to shell out some lame excuse about merely using it as an example of how Jerry would feel if he had a child.

“That is not what you said,” Jerry charged. “You said that I have an eight-year-old child with a woman I only met five years ago and never slept with, by the way. You even claimed this child had a name and are telling me how upset I was when she was taken from me, all of which is complete fabrication. None of that ever happened. My god, you sound like a lunatic. Why are you acting like it’s a part of our history that we all know so well? What the hell is going on with you, Dad?” he had demanded.

Then to add to the bizarre day, John had stood up, claimed to have a splitting migraine and simply left the grill, taking the elevator back up to his suite without another word. When Jerry had retuned home there was a message on his machine from John that he and Jane were going back to Alaska immediately.

It was like a scene out of the bloody Twilight Zone!

“This is… this is bloody insane,” Jerry hissed, as he grabbed his phone and dialed the Quartermaine house.

“Quartermaine residence,” Reginald answered.

“Reginald, it’s Jerry Jacks here. Listen, could I trouble you to fetch my brother for me? I need to speak with him.”

“Oh, you just missed him, Mr. Jacks. He and Miss Barrett must be in the air by now. He’s accompanying her on a photo shoot she’s got in Vegas for the weekend.”

“Oh, I see,” Jerry said. “So, they’ll be back on Sunday then?”

“Yes,” Reginald responded.

“Thank you.” Jerry hung up the phone and let out a series of short breaths as his mind whirled with options. He could call Jax on his cell phone or call Reginald back and get the name of the hotel they were staying at in Vegas and call Jax there. Or he could hold off with this alarming information until Jax came home on Sunday. As much as Jerry wanted to pick his brother’s brain about this latest and most bizarre behavior of their parents, he also had a feeling this trip to Las Vegas might be of special significance and that it was important to give Jax this time alone with Brenda to win her back completely.

“I’ll wait,” Jerry decided. “Just two days. I can wait.”

About an hour later Jerry’s cell phone rang. As he picked it up to answer it, he debated what to do if it happened to be Jax. Should he tell him or still hold off?

“Jacks here,” Jerry spoke into the phone.

“Barrett here,” came a cute little voice. “But really I’m a Jacks, too, right? You think Mommy will let me change my name?”

Jerry laughed. “Well, hello there, nephew. I see you still remember my cell phone number. Bloody amazing.”

Justin laughed.

“So, how are you doin’, kid? Missin’ the folks already?” Jerry guessed.

“I’m okay. I mean, yeah, I do miss them. I wish I coulda went with them. Hey, Uncle Jerry, could you do me a favor, though?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, I left my purple Gameboy and my Pokeman Green edition at my daddy’s house. And when Daddy and Mommy called me from the plane, I told him I left it at his house yesterday, right? And so he told me that you had the key, so you could take me there and I could go get it. Could you please take me there?”

“You got it. You just sit tight, and I’ll be right over to get you,” Jerry said, inordinately pleased at being able to be of assistance to his brother’s young son. Even more pleased that Justin had called him.

When Jerry picked the four-year-old up twenty minutes later, he noticed Justin wearing an X-Men backpack.

“Hey, mate, you look like you’re going hiking in the outback, not going to retrieve one of your toys from a cushy penthouse,” Jerry teased him.

“Oh, he always takes that thing everywhere he goes.” Emily said, grabbing Justin and giving him a big kiss on the forehead. “Even if I just take him down to the mailbox, he takes it.”

Jerry laughed. “Is that a fact? What’ve you got in there, sport, secret microchips from the Pentagon?” he whispered.

Justin just smiled mysteriously, waved to Emily and scrambled out the door behind his uncle.

When they entered the lobby of the PC Hotel, Jerry was steering his nephew towards the elevator bank when Justin stopped. “Oh, could I just go say hi to Rick, Uncle Jerry? He’s just right over there,” he said, pointing to the nearby front desk clerk, who knew Justin quite well by now.

“Two seconds,” Jerry said, allowing the child to go, as Jerry waited for him by the elevator, keeping an eye on the four-year-old the whole time.

“Hi, Rick,” Justin said.

Rick peered down over the front desk and smiled. “Hey, Justin. How’re you doing, buddy? Where’s your Dad?” Rick asked, gazing around, concerned to see the child by himself.

“He went away for the weekend with my Mom. But my Uncle Jerry’s right there,” Justin said, pointing at Jerry.

Rick glanced up and waved at Jerry. “Cool, so what can I do for you then?”

“Oh, I was just kinda wonderin’, you know. What floor are the al… ummm… I mean, my grandma and grandpa on?”

“Oh, they’re just one floor below your Daddy’s place. Room 22C. Your Uncle Jerry knows where it is. I’m sure he can take you right there, okay?”

“’Kay, thanks!” Justin said racing back over to his uncle. “Ready,” Justin said to Jerry.

They rode up to the penthouse and Jerry used his spare key to let them inside. “Okay, mate, where do you think you left this Gameboy contraption?” Jerry asked, shutting the door as they walked inside.

Justin shrugged. “It could be anywhere, Uncle Jerry. When I come here I’m kinda all over the place,” he confessed.

“Okay. Well, how about you start checking the living room and the dining area. Don’t go into the kitchen, though; I’ll check there, understand?”

Justin nodded obediently.

“But I’ll start upstairs in the two bedrooms and the den, then I’ll come back down and check the kitchen. If you find it first, you just yell, okay?”

“Okay. Hey, don’t forget to check the bathrooms up there, too, ‘kay? ‘Cause I maybe might have left it in there. It’s purple see-though, and it has a green cartridge in it,” Justin said.

“Got it. Okay, you look around down here, and do me a favor and steer clear of your father’s desk ‘cause if you knock anything over we’re gonna have a heck of a time setting it back right. Jax is a sort of a semi-neat-freak.”

“Okay,” Justin said. He began to circle the couch, bending down and looking for the Gameboy as Jerry disappeared up the stairs.

The moment Jerry was gone, Justin quietly opened the front door and scampered out. Then he opened the stairway door and went down one flight until he was on the 22nd floor. He glanced at the huge dial on his Phantom Menace watch and figured he had about four minutes before his uncle would come back down.

Closing the stairway door quietly as he stepped out on 22, Justin knelt down for a moment to take off and open up his backpack and remove his spy camera and slip it around his neck, then he also took out his canister of ‘Alien Expose’. All he had to do was knock on the door and spray this on those aliens and they would jump out of their human skin and he would snap the picture and then he could show his daddy that his parents were not really his parents, but aliens using his parents’ bodies! Then his daddy would understand why his parents were not acting like themselves and why nobody liked them.

Justin checked his watch again, and, holding the canister of green slime in front of him, quietly tiptoed down the corridor looking for 22C.

He scrambled back towards the stairs, though, when he heard someone get off the elevator and saw an old lady with blonde hair go right up to 22C and knock on the door. He watched as the door was open by the alien grandma, who seemed shocked to see the old, blonde lady.

“Mrs. Jacks?” Helena Cassadine said, her eyes narrowing slightly at the recognition she saw in the other woman’s eyes upon opening the door. To her knowledge she and Mrs. Jacks had never met.

“Yes. May I help you?” she said.

“I am Helena Cassadine, Mrs. Jacks. May I come in? I’d like to discuss some business with your husband.”

The husband in question appeared then, mumbling something that sounded like ‘who the devil is it? We’ve got to get packing.’ And then he pulled up short upon seeing who was at the door.

Helena’s eyes narrowed further at Mr. Jacks’ apparent recognition and startled reaction to her presence, as well. She had never met this man either. Something was very off for them to react to her in such a manner, having never met her.

Her suspicions grew as the Jackses exchanged a telling flicker of eye contact.

“This is really not a good time, Mrs. …?” Mr. Jacks said.

“Cassadine,” Helena said. “But then, apparently, you already know who I am, don’t you, Mr. Jacks?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you mean. I’ve never seen you before in my life, madam.”

Justin shifted over ever so slowly so that he could see better. It was really cool that this old lady was keeping the door open like that.

“And we certainly don’t know what business you could possibly have with us, Mrs. Cassadine. At any rate, we are in a bit of a hurry, so, as my husband said, this is really not a good time,” Mrs. Jacks said, stamping out her cigarette in a marble ashtray.

Helena gazed at the stamped out cigarette with interest. “Very unusual brand,” she commented. “I have a relative whose wife smokes the very same. She’s always complaining that she has such a devil of a time finding them outside of Greece.”

“How nice for you,” Mr. Jacks said. “If you will excuse us, Mrs. Cassadine.”

“Of course,” Helena said. “I’m sorry to have dropped by at such an inconvenient time.” She smiled apologetically, and then, with amazing speed and without warning, she reached across and sank her nails into the face of John Jacks.

Justin clapped his hand over his mouth with his hand to hold in his gasp, as his eyes widened to see if green blood would come oozing out of the alien. But no blood came out at all. And as the child watched in fascinated horror, the old, blonde lady dug her nails deeper into the struggling man’s face, pulling away skin. Skin that was like… like rubbery or something! And it kept pulling and stretching until it just… came off! Justin’s eyes bugged out, as the true alien face was revealed. It still looked human, but it was a younger face with black hair and black eyes, and the old blonde lady’s blue eyes were glowing with some kind of triumphant fire.

“Why, Dimitrius. How convenient to find you here. Where is Maximus!” she said in a voice that sent shivers up and down Justin’s spine. He shook his head out of his temporary daze and quickly grabbed the spy camera from around his neck and took three pictures, so glad that his spy camera barely made a sound when the pictures were taken and the film advanced.

Having taken the third picture, his little palms sweating, his little heart racing like mad at his up close and personal alien encounter, Justin ran like the devil himself was chasing him, back into the staircase and up to the penthouse floor.

Helena whipped her head sharply to the left at the sound of the staircase door closing, and that gave Dimitrius Cassadine the opportunity to grab the marble ashtray from his wife and crack it down on Helena’s head.

“Hit her again! Kill the witch!” Kevita Cassadine hissed at her husband.

“No, you fool! Anyone can open a door on this floor at any time or step off the elevator. Leave her there - if we’re lucky, one blow was enough to kill the frail, old goat. We must get out of here immediately,” he said, ripping off the rest of the latex mask he had had to wear for the past four years. His wife had gone even further, having her face surgically altered to that of Jane Jacks’s. But Dimitrius was not about to age himself like that and then go through the agony of altering his face back once the goal was achieved and the boy was theirs. He preferred the heat, the rashes and the overall discomfort of the latex mask to numerous bouts of plastic surgery. “Grab the floor plans!” he said.

She did so, and then he grabbed her hand, yanking her out of the room and locking the door, stepping over Helena as if she were a carpet.

“Where are we going now?” Kevita asked.

“Into hiding. We’ll go to the sleaziest motel in the area. Somewhere neither Helena nor the Jacks siblings would ever think to look for us.”

“And then on Sunday night we grab the boy?” she asked, as he led her down the staircase, avoiding the elevator, so that less people would see his true face.

“No,” he said, speaking in his native Russian, his voice guttural, raspy and deep and nothing remotely like that of the man he had been masquerading as for the past four years. “The old bat from Hades is on to us now. We are out of time in the truest sense of the word. We take the boy tomorrow night,” he growled.

Poem Credit: “Bewitched” written by Bill.
Song Credit: “Fly Me To the Moon” written by Bart Howard from the CD Frank Sinatra Duets II, Artist: Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobin