It had taken a little longer than usual for Brenda and Thomas to get back to the penthouse. Thomas had assured Brenda she was not going to be late at least a dozen times on the trip home. He enjoyed seeing her like this, looking forward to a private evening with Jax. He intended to tell the front desk, in case Jax had forgotten, that no calls were to be put through to the penthouse tonight. He knew that if he or Travis needed to get in touch with them, they would be able to, but he couldn't see any reason for anyone to interrupt this evening.

As they were riding up in the elevator, Brenda kept looking at her watch. "Thomas, are you sure we haven't forgotten anything? Oh, darn!! I had intended to stop at the desk to tell them to hold all of our calls tonight! Let's go back down." Just as she reached for the buttons, Thomas grabbed her hand.

"I'm sure Jax already took care of that. But just in case he didn't, I'll stop on my way out to remind them. Okay?" Thomas could not keep the smile off his face as he answered. "What?"

"You. What are you smiling about?" Brenda asked.

"Nothing. It's just nice for me to see how happy you and Jax are together. Brenda, I have to tell you that you are exactly who I hoped Jax would find. I don't mean you specifically. I just wanted him to find a woman who completed him the way that my Leta did me. After being around you both the last several weeks, I see that he has. Thank you." Thomas had taken Brenda's hand in his as he was speaking.

"Why are you thanking me?" Brenda was confused by what Thomas had just said.

"Because you've shown me that what I had with Leta is the kind of happiness that everyone deserves and is entitled to. I have felt guilty about how happy I was with Leta when Jax had so much trouble in his young life. But seeing him with you, all of that disappears. When he's with you or talking about you, I feel his happiness. You love him and protect him, and most importantly you support him. That is all anyone can hope for his little brother. So again, thank you." Thomas hugged Brenda just as the elevator doors opened. "Well, here we are -- safe and sound. Do you want to go to the house same time tomorrow morning?"

"I don't think so. I think I'll be spending most of the day here with Benton arranging our move. Why don't you take some time for yourself tomorrow? I promise if I decide I need to go anywhere, I'll call you, big brother!" Brenda quickly hugged Thomas and inserted her key in the lock. As she slowly opened the door, she turned toward him again, "Thomas? Thank you for being Jax's friend all these years. More importantly, thank you for comparing me to your Leta. I'll never forget the compliment. Jax has told me about her. She must have been an amazing woman. For you to compare me to her means more than I can tell you. I hope I'll never make you regret making the comparison." She stood on her toes and kissed him softly on the cheek, just before the elevator doors closed between them.

Brenda turned and walked into the penthouse. "Jax? Honey, are you here?" she asked as she closed the door.

"Right here" came Jax's voice from the chair by the window. When she looked up she could see in the window behind him that it had started to snow. "Hi, there. What were you and Thomas talking about for so long out there?" He looked at her slightly concerned that there might be a problem that could ruin their evening. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. We were talking about you and Leta and how glad Thomas and I are to have both been a part of your life -- just that kind of stuff. Why? Were you expecting something to be wrong?" She had taken her coat off and started walking toward him as she had been speaking. When she reached him, she wrapped her arms around him and just stood like that for a while. "This feels so nice. We don't do this nearly often enough lately, you know." She smiled and looked up at him. He bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. "Ummmm… that makes it even better. Would you please do that again?" Jax did as she asked and kissed her again, this time a little more passionately. Brenda pulled back slightly from him when the kiss was over. "That was nice. I'd really like to take a shower before dinner though. Is there time?"

"Why are you asking me? You can do whatever you want." Jax couldn't resist smiling as he saw the slightly confused expression on her face.

"I thought you had something special planned for this evening. Did you change your mind?" She looked a little disappointed as she waited for his reply.

"Of course not. I just meant that you have plenty of time. I ordered a late dinner. I thought we could spend some time alone here just looking back on some of the things we've done here. After all, in just four days we'll be moving out of here forever." Jax had pulled her back close to him as he had been speaking. "Is that okay?"

"Sounds perfect to me. I'll go take my shower and meet you back here in a little while. You know you could always join me in the shower if you wanted to…" Brenda looked up at him with a hopeful expression on her face.

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid if I did that we might never make it back here by the time dinner arrived. Why don't you go ahead and take your shower, and we'll see what happens later. After all, we still have to figure out if there are any places in this apartment that we've neglected, you know." The look in Jax's eyes made Brenda blush. She had to admit that they had been quite adventurous in their lovemaking. They had been prone to make love whenever and wherever the mood had struck.

"I guess you're right. I won't be long." Brenda kissed him one more time before heading off to the bathroom. She almost skipped into the master suite to shower and change. As she reached into the shower to turn on the water, she couldn't help but remember so many of the wonderful times that they had spent in this penthouse. She was going to miss this place, that was for sure. When she stepped under the hot water, she had an idea: since Jax had already paid the rent on the penthouse for the balance of this year, why not hold on to it? They could always use it as a hideaway. Instead of leaving town, they could just come here and no one would be able to find them. That way they could keep their happy memories of this place alive for years to come. Brenda decided to hurry with her shower and ask Jax what he thought of the idea.

About thirty minutes later Brenda came back into the living room. When she looked out the window, she saw that it was snowing harder than before. Jax was now sitting in the chair by the window, watching it snow. "Looks like I got home just in time. The snow is really coming down out there." She came up to the chair where Jax was sitting and sat down gently across his lap, her legs draped over the chair arm and her arms around his neck. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, all kinds of things… the first time I met you was in this room -- right over there in front of the fireplace. This was where I brought you after our wedding on the yacht, and where we came back to after our second wedding to honeymoon. This apartment has been the happiest place for me that I can remember. I kind of hate the idea of leaving it for good. Does that sound silly?" He looked up at Brenda and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Is something wrong, honey?"

"No, not at all. It's just that when I was taking my shower, I was thinking the same thing, and I came up with an idea. You've paid the rent on this place until the end of the year, right?"

"Right." Jax said.

"Well, how about if we hold on to it even after we move. That way if we decide to get away for a while, we could come here, and no one would know where we were or how to reach us, if we didn't want them to. Think about it, Jax -- who would ever think to look for us here, since we have a perfectly beautiful house just twenty minutes away, not to mention a house in Malibu and one in Fiji. What do you think?" She looked at him with the excitement of a child at Christmas.

"I love the idea. I was trying to figure a way of suggesting the very same thing to you. I'm sure we can count on the staff to keep our secret. If the Quartermaines question them about our keeping it even though it's empty, we can instruct them to say we are keeping it as a corporate apartment for visiting business associates or out-of-town friends. That way no one will question if there are suddenly room service orders from the place, and the Q's won't have a reason to rent it to someone else or redecorate it. What do you think?"

"It sounds perfect! Thank you!" Brenda wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and kissed him passionately. Just then Jax realized something she had said and pulled back from the kiss.

"What did you mean when you said we had a house in Malibu? You know as well as I do that the feds took that house with the rest of the J&J Jacks of Alaska assets. When I tried to buy it back after our trip to Monte Carlo, it had already been sold, and I haven't been able to find out who bought it yet." A sad expression came over Jax's face. Of all the things he had possessed in the past that he had to give up, losing that house had hurt the most. His memories of that house would stay with him until he died. It had been there that he had realized that he was in love with Brenda, when he had taken her there the first time to recover from her accident. It was on the beach in front of that house that he had accepted her marriage proposal, and it was in that house they had recommitted their love to each other afterwards.

Seeing the sad expression on his face, Brenda moved one arm from around his neck, "Jax, I was going to wait until Valentine's Day to give this to you, but I decided today was a better time." She reached behind the chair they were sitting in and opened the small wooden box on the table. Inside was a small package, about the size of a watch box, wrapped in red foil paper. "This is for you, Jax. Don't say anything until you open it. It's pretty much self-explanatory." She handed him the box and wrapped her arm around his neck again, never leaving the comfort of his lap.

"Brenda, what did you do this for?" Jax said, shaking his head and looking at her. He loved giving her presents, but always felt strange receiving them from her. Maybe it was the fact that he had grown up with a life of gifts and surprises and she had not, but he always felt awkward when she gave him things. Obviously this was very important to her, so he would do his best to accept it graciously.

As Jax pulled off the wrapping paper, Brenda began to fidget in his lap, making it difficult for him to concentrate on what HE was doing and not on what SHE was doing. "Will you please sit still if you expect me to open this! I can either open this package, or we can continue what you have definitely started here. Which will it be?" He looked down at her, smiling.

"Sorry, but you're taking so long to open it that I'm getting nervous. Just open the dumb thing!" Brenda's excitement was contagious. Jax ripped the last of the paper off the box and opened it slowly, expecting to find an expensive watch. He was surprised to find a folded note and a smaller box. Written on the outside of the note were the instructions to read the note before opening the smaller box. Jax did as instructed. When he finished reading he looked at Brenda with tears in his eyes. "How did you manage to do this?"

"Well, right after everything came out about your family and all your property was seized by the government, I went to Ned to ask for his help. He was a little reluctant to do anything to help you at first, but when I convinced him that it was as much for me as for you, he was more than willing to help. He made the actual purchase, and I paid the final installment to him yesterday. It's ours, free and clear again. No mortgage, no lien, no government red tape -- nothing. Do you like your gift?" She looked at him with tears in her own eyes, waiting for his answer.

"You know I do. Where did you get the money to do this amazing thing?" Jax was concerned about Brenda having overextended herself and not letting him help her.

"Remember that original seed money we had in Monte Carlo -- my modeling money? Well, when you returned my investment, you returned it with interest. I took that money and had Ned put it in high yield, quick profit investments, and as soon as it earned enough, I sold out and made a huge profit. What do you think?"

Jax pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply. "I think you are the most amazing woman I have ever met! Brenda, no one has ever done something like this for me in my entire life. I know you find that hard to believe, considering my background, but it's the truth. No one has loved me the way you do and shown it like this. Thank you!" Jax again kissed her. He picked up the note and read it again, seeing the love in every word she had written:

My Darling Jax,

From the day we met, you have supported, protected, and loved me in a way no one else ever has or ever will. But you never let me do the same for you, until the trouble with your family. I saw the pain you suffered because of their actions and the price you had to pay. I hope this gift will show you that not everything bought with your family's money was tainted or corrupt. The house in Malibu was our refuge. It was where you took me to heal, from the hit-and-run accident and the plane crash. It is where we realized (at different times) that we loved each other. It was where the happiest moment in my life happened -- you accepted my marriage proposal. There was no way in the world that I could let our special place be taken away because of the actions of your father and brother. If you open the enclosed box, you will find the key to the front door of the house in Malibu. It is ours again, my darling -- forever and ever.

When you gave me our new home for Christmas, I worried that you might not want the Malibu house again because of it's ties to your past, but now I know that the house is as much a part of us as the little yacht and the steam engine. You gave me a home when I married you Jax, and the house here in Port Charles is just a symbol of that home. Please accept my gift of this home as a symbol of our life, our past, our present, and our future.

All My Love,

Brenda

Jax could not believe she had done this. No one had ever given him so much. He felt as though she was a part of him -- there was no point where he ended and she began. They were one person now. He pulled her to him and began to nuzzle the side of her neck, loving the feel of her hair on his cheek and the smell of her cologne. Just then they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Damn! That must be dinner. Remember my place," Jax said as he kissed her again, stood up with her in his arms, set her back in the chair, and headed over to open the door for the waiter.

Jax and Brenda enjoyed a leisurely, romantic dinner set up beside the windows so they could watch it snow as they ate. While the waiter was setting up the table Jax had stoked the fire in the fireplace and turned off the remainder of the lights. The room was bathed in candlelight and firelight as they ate their dinner.

When dinner was finished, Jax rolled the table out to the hallway and locked the door. He had already given instructions to the desk to hold all calls. Since the office had already been moved to the house, there were no faxes or business calls to worry about. He had already turned off all the cell phones, except the one that Travis had given him as an emergency phone -- that one stayed on at all times. He and Brenda had moved to sit on the floor in front of the fire, cuddled together, with Brenda sitting between his legs in much the same way they had been that night in Malibu when he and Brenda had become engaged.

"Comfortable?" Jax asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Umm, I could stay like this forever. I'm so glad we decided to keep this place. Jax, a lot of important things in our life have happened in this apartment. Not all of it was happy, but we learned from all of it -- both of us." Brenda snuggled deeper into his embrace. She could tell he was remembering some of their less pleasant memories, like the day Sonny had forced his way in, finding clothing strewn around the living room, and telling Jax to get out of Brenda's life. When Jax tried to force him to leave he had punched Jax. When Brenda came in, Sonny was almost as vicious to her, telling her Jax was no good for her and would only hurt her. She knew then that Jax was the one hurt, and it had infuriated her. They had argued about it after Sonny had left, but like all their arguments, it ended quickly and the lovemaking afterward was incredible!

There were other things that were probably best forgotten -- like her addiction and rehab, the fights with Robin about Sonny and Jax's family that resulted in the eventual ending of their friendship, and, of course, the betrayal by his family. All of those things though, as bad as they seemed at the time, had only helped to make them stronger. No longer would they fight their battles alone; they were one now against the world! Brenda turned part way around to look up at Jax as he stared into the fire. When he felt her watching him, he looked down at her, and she could see the sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong, honey?" she asked as she reached up to stroke the side of his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about some of the things that have happened to us here. We have a lot of memories here, Brenda, not all of them good. Are you sure you want to hang on to this place after we move?"

Brenda reached behind his head and pulled his lips down to hers, planting a passionate kiss before answering. "Oh, yes, I want to keep this place. Jax, all the memories we have here -- good and bad -- are a part of what makes us who we are. I can't honestly say I would change any of it, because, regardless of how bad it was at the time, it didn't destroy us. In fact, all of the memories combined only made us stronger." She kissed him again and again and again. In no time at all, they were laying on the floor doing what they had done hundreds of times before, making love with their whole heart, their whole soul.

February 11, 1999

7:30 a.m.

Jax awakened to the feel of Brenda's soft breath against his skin. He opened his eyes to find her sleeping soundly -- her naked body snuggled up next to him, her right arm wrapped around his neck, and her leg draped over his. He softly stroked her hair for several minutes as his thoughts drifted back to last evening. He still could not get over her gift of the house at Malibu. She could not have known that his only regret in the loss of everything connected to his family had been that house. He had never mentioned it to her. Yet somehow she had managed to know that house was as much a part of them as breathing. He would always be grateful to Ned for his helping her keep their house safe from strangers. He knew he had to call Ned today to thank him for his part in this miracle. When he thought about it, the whole situation made sense now. Only Ned or someone of his influence would have been able to hide the purchaser's identity so well from his inquiries. Brenda had wanted it kept a secret until she was ready to reveal it, and last night she was ready.

Just then Brenda stirred slightly and looked up at him, the love obvious in her still sleepy eyes. "Hello there, Mr. Jacks. Did you sleep well?" She kissed him softly on the chest before reaching up to kiss his lips.

"Well, when I did manage to get some sleep, I did, yes. But someone kept waking me up most of the night." He could not keep the smile from his lips as he remembered being so beautifully awakened by Brenda to make love again and again for most of the night.

Brenda pulled herself up to rest her arms on his chest, "Well, excuse me, sir, as I remember it, I wasn't the only one doing some late night romancing. I believe you had a few ideas of your own on that subject during the night." She laughed softly as she ran her hand gently across his chest. "Are these complaints I hear?"

"Absolutely not! You are welcome to wake me in that manner any time the mood strikes you, my love. Trust me!" Jax tightened his arms around her, as she rested her head on his chest again. "Really, Brenda, last night was incredible. I don't just mean the lovemaking, although I do have to admit that was pretty terrific. I mean everything -- our dinner, the plans to keep this place, and most importantly, your gift. I don't know if I will ever be able to explain to you how much that house means to me. What you did to protect it for us is more than can I ever thank you for."

Brenda softly stroked his cheek as she looked up at him, "Jax, I know that. That's why I did it. I could never forget the time we've spent there and the changes in our lives that have taken place there. No matter what else may happen in our lives, I wanted to make sure that house would always be a part of our future and our children's future."

Jax stirred a little, deciding now was the time to broach a subject he had been thinking about ever since Christmas. ""Now that you mention it, that's something I want to discuss with you." He pulled her up so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "Remember last fall when you thought you were pregnant?"

Brenda thought for a moment before answering, "Yeees. Why?"

"Remember what we decided, that we would start working on having a family on our wedding night? Unfortunately, circumstances got in the way of that. Between my family's secrets and the loss of our income, we had to postpone those plans for the time being. Remember?" Jax was trying very hard to keep the excitement out of his voice. Now that he had brought it up, he was kind of scared to continue.

"Where is all this coming from, Jax? Have you decided the time has come to start working on that plan? Now? With all that is going on with our moving and the possible business trouble with Jerry and your dad?" She asked, startled by how much the idea appealed to her.

"Well, I wasn't thinking about right this minute -- no. What I was thinking was that our original plan had been to stop using protection on our wedding night, right? Well, how about if we do that starting on Valentine's Day? I think that would be the perfect way to christen our new home, by conceiving our child on Valentine's Day, the anniversary of the day we met all those years ago. What do you think?" He looked at her, holding his breath waiting for her to answer.

She didn't say anything for a minute or so, she just stared into his eyes, trying to decide if this was really what he wanted. She knew it was what she had wanted all along, but she had been afraid to suggest after what had happened. "What do I think? I think it is a great plan! I also suggest we get as much practice as possible before then, so that when we do spend our first night in our home that we know exactly what we are doing! Okay?" She softly ran her lips over his.

Jax pushed her back for a moment to look into her eyes, "You really do want this, don't you, Brenda? I mean, you're not just saying this because I want us to have a child, are you?"

"Jax, no! I wanted us to stick to our original plan of starting to work on this baby on our wedding night. I understood that it was not a good idea at the time because of all that was happening in our lives, but nonetheless, I still wanted it. Of course, I want to do this! I think it will make our lives in the house complete. To tell the truth, Matthew and I had already made plans to turn the small room next to ours into a nursery when the time came. Matthew has already found the furniture and stored it in a warehouse at PCU for us. The decorations and linens are there as well, just waiting for baby Jacks to put in an appearance.

"Now what do you say? Should we start practicing our baby making skills?" She leaned down and kissed him deeply again and again. Before either of them knew it, they were again making love with all the passion and commitment two people could share.

As they lay wrapped up in each other afterwards, Jax softly stroking her hair and Brenda softly running her fingertips over his chest, they were both lost in visions of what their child would look like. Jax pictured a girl with Brenda's coloring and spirit; Brenda pictured a boy, a miniature version of Jax -- strong, energetic, fearless.

Jax was the first to break the mood, "Brenda, I hate to do this, but if we don't get up now, I'm going to be very late for work and poor Benton is going to be standing out in the hallway waiting for you." Grudgingly, he kissed her gently on top of the head and started to disengage himself from her. She resisted his leaving.

"Jax, noooo! Do we really have to get up? This feels so perfect! Can't we stay here for a little while longer?" She looked up at him with the saddest doe eyes he had ever seen. She was really good at that, he realized.

"No, we can't stay here. Remember, Brenda, we only have three days until we move. If we want everything to go smoothly so we can spend our first night in the house under perfect circumstances to possibly conceive our child, I think we better get moving. What do you think?"

"Well, since you put it that way, what are we waiting for? Get up! I'll go shower and you call room service for breakfast. I promise I won't be long." She gave him a quick kiss and jumped out of bed, not bothering to grab a robe or any other covering, just running naked into the bathroom.

Jax fell back on the bed. How was he ever going to make it through the next three days? He couldn't believe he had brought up this subject now. He had planned to wait until they were in the house, but when she had mentioned children, he couldn't keep it to himself any longer.

10:15 a.m.

Jax and Brenda had just finished breakfast when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other, wondering who it could be, before Jax got up to answer it. When he opened the door Jax found himself face to face with Benton. "Good morning, Benton. Come in." When Jax offered to take Benton's coat for him, Benton was startled. This was his employer, not his servant. He should be offering to assist Mr. Jax. Jax suddenly realized Benton's discomfort and decided now was a good time to get some things straight about their relationship. "Benton, I think we need to make sure we all understand how Brenda and I want the house to run. Please take a seat." Jax indicated that Benton should take a seat on the couch opposite where Brenda had seated herself, and he sat next to her.

"Certainly, Mr. Jax. What did you want to discuss?" Benton was not used to an employer offering him a seat. Normally his employer would be seated, and he would stand to receive instructions.

"That's one of the things we wanted to discuss. Neither Brenda nor I are comfortable being addressed so formally. We would prefer that you simply call us Brenda and Jax. Can you do that?"

"Well, Mr. Jax… er, Jax… I can try. It'll take some getting used to, though. I'm not used to such informality. Please excuse me if I slip up every once in a while. I promise though I will try to refer to you and Mrs. Brenda -- I mean Brenda -- on a first name basis." Benton looked embarrassed as he realized that he had already slipped.

"Fine, we'll do our best to keep an open mind in case you do occasionally slip. Secondly, I would like your cooperation in a rather involved project. We only have three days to coordinate our move from this place to the house. Now neither Brenda nor I have any experience is coordinating this kind of a move, so I'm relying on you to make sure that everything goes according to schedule. I want NOTHING to stop us from spending the night of February 14th in our new home. Understood?"

"Understood, sir. I have already taken the liberty of engaging a moving company through Mr. Clark in your security office, as instructed, to furnish the packing crates and personnel to pack those items Mrs. … Brenda designates should be packed and to be labeled and inventoried appropriately. In fact, that is the reason for my being here this morning, to set up with Brenda the materials to be moved. I understand that the furniture will be remaining here, is that correct?"

"Yes, in fact we will be leaving a few items in the penthouse. Jax and I will be keeping it as a kind of retreat. Please don't mention that fact to anyone. Jax and I will tell those people who need to know, but other than that we don't want anyone to know we'll be using it from time to time, okay?" Brenda asked.

"Of course, Brenda. If you're ready, we can get started with the packing lists." Benton reached under his coat to retrieve his leather folder. He never seemed to be without it or the yellow legal pad it contained.

"Well, I'll leave you two to your work. Brenda, I really need to get to the office. Will you be here all day?" Jax asked.

"I plan to. Since we're getting such a late start as it is, I just hope we get everything done before you get home from work tonight. I promise you, Jax, when we move into our home, everything will be perfect. Nothing -- and I do mean nothing -- is going to stop our first night in our home from being perfection!"

"I have no doubts, Brenda. Call me if you need anything. How about if I bring dinner home with me? Got a taste for anything special?" Jax had walked over to the desk to retrieve his coat as he had been talking.

Brenda waited at the door for him with a glint in her eyes that Jax knew all too well. She waited as he put his coat on, hardly able to keep from smiling, when she saw Benton start toward Jax to help him with his coat and then stop suddenly, remembering Jax's instructions about this being an informal household. When Jax joined her at the door she stood on tip toes to whisper in his ear, "You mean other than you, luv? Why don't you surprise me?" She kissed him softly on the cheek before opening the door.

Jax bent down with a wide grin on his face to whisper in her ear, "You are so bad sometimes, Brenda, but I wouldn't have you any other way! See you about 7:00, with dinner in hand." He returned her kiss and headed out the door.

Brenda stood leaning against the door for a minute or so after he left. She missed him already, and he had just walked out the door. She took a deep breath, shook her head to clear it, and turned back to Benton, "Ready to get to work, Benton?"

"Yes, ma'am. Where do you want to start?"

"Let's start in the bedroom. There will be several things of both of ours I plan to leave here…" Brenda kept talking as she led the way to the bedroom. For the rest of the morning she and Benton made lists, plans, diagrams, and piles of things all over the place. After taking a break for lunch, the movers Benton had arranged arrived to begin packing the materials as sorted. Benton watched them like a hawk to make sure everything was packed securely and labeled correctly. When the boxes were completed late in the afternoon, he had them move the full boxes into the study to clear out the bedroom again and provide a central pickup point in the apartment.

Before either of them realized it, the day was coming to an end. The shadows in the apartment began to grow long when Benton realized the time. "My goodness, Brenda, it's nearly 6:00. Unless you want to start something else, I probably should be leaving. Jax will be home in about an hour."

"That's fine, Benton. Thanks for all your help. Would you mind coming by tomorrow morning around 10:00. I'd like to finish our plans, so the movers can begin taking some of our things over as soon as possible. Do you really think we can have everything in place by the 14th?" Brenda's concern was obvious in her voice.

"I don't foresee any problem, Brenda. I had made arrangements with Thomas to be here tomorrow afternoon while I go to the house to oversee the unpacking. Thomas will oversee the final packing here, if that's okay with you?" Benton didn't anticipate any problem. It was obvious how eager she was to have everything in place when they moved, and he had Mr. … er… Jax's special instructions for the 14th, so he knew there would be no problem.

"That'll be fine, thanks. Now I better get cleaned up before Jax gets home. I'll see you tomorrow, Benton." Brenda walked Benton to the door. Closing the door behind him, Brenda allowed herself for the first time that day to actually get excited about the move. Three more days and they would be in their new home. Not only that, but they would begin working on having the family she had always wanted, her family -- Jax, herself, and their child! Now THAT was a family! She smiled smugly and headed into the shower to get cleaned up before Jax got home. After all, they had SO MUCH practicing to do before they could begin working on making their baby!!! She laughed out loud as she turned on the shower.