July 8, 1999

Because the Fourth of July holiday fell on a Sunday, Jax and Brenda decided to take a long weekend in Malibu. With everything happening around them lately, both of them wanted the time away, especially since neither of them could be sure when they would be able to get away again. They had jumped at the chance to take a long weekend at the beach house. In addition, Brenda's advancing pregnancy would soon close the window of opportunity for them to fly anywhere, let alone all the way out to California, making it understandable that they would drop everything and just go.

They decided to fly out on the morning of July 1st. They never even left the house for the first two days they were there. They simply enjoyed the beautiful view from the terrace and the wonderful weather. Most of all they enjoyed the peace and quiet. Charles made sure that all of the phones were turned off, except for those in the work areas of the house, and instructed all members of the staff that they were to take messages for both Mr. and Mrs. Jacks. Only emergency calls from Thomas or Allison were to be put through, and then only after Charles screened the call first. This arrangement worked perfectly. There were no calls deemed important enough to disturb either one of them. Each afternoon just after lunch Charles would bring them their messages, allowing them to decide which calls to return and which to ignore. Those first two days all calls were ignored.

On Saturday they decided to go down to Rodeo Drive to see how the renovations on Rebecca's shop were coming along. Brenda was surprised at the amount of progress in getting the store ready for the new maternity line. As promised, Jax had purchased the large shop next door to Rebecca's, and the architect and construction crews had almost completed the renovations without too much disturbance to the existing store.

Many of the prominent designers that Brenda and Rebecca had approached about contributing to the store had jumped at the chance to showcase their new maternity lines at Rebecca's of Beverly Hills, especially when they found out about the partnership arrangement with Brenda Jacks. Several of them had already sent newly revised maternity designs for the current season, and the rest had contracted to furnish full maternity lines for the fall/winter season.

Discreet advertisements had been placed in the top fashion journals, and items had even begun showing up in the society and about town pages of the LA papers. All of this had led to a long list of prospective clients waiting for invitations to the fall showing that was scheduled for the first week of September. Rebecca had asked Brenda and Jax to attend, but they had told her that because of Brenda's fall due date that they would not be able, but that they were sure she would be a huge success without them. Brenda made Rebecca promise to call her the day after to give her all the details. Of course, Brenda being Brenda, she had not been able to leave the store without buying at least one new outfit from the summer maternity lines already available. Jax simply laughed and encouraged her to buy more than one, which she did.

Because of the holiday falling on a Sunday, the city of Malibu had scheduled the municipal fireworks display for Monday night, the legal holiday. Jax and Brenda decided to celebrate on Sunday anyway. They hosted a party for a few of their friends in the Malibu area. Since they didn't want to attract the attention of the society columnists, they limited the size of the party to just a few couples. They enjoyed a leisurely evening of dinner and dancing on the patio. Once everyone left, Jax and Brenda changed into more comfortable lounging clothes and snuggled down under a comforter to watch the sun rise on the new day.

Neither of them was eager to fight the crowds of tourists who showed up every holiday, so they planned to spend Monday at home. Since the beach in front of the house and those on either side for quite a distance were private and closed to all tourists, Jax spent much of the very early morning hours in the ocean. He surfed for awhile just after sunrise and then spent about an hour working out in his ocean kayak. By the time he came back up the cliffside stairs to the terrace, Charles had already set up breakfast on the poolside table. After putting on the robe Charles offered him Jax found it necessary to wake Brenda, who had slept through his entire workout - needless to say this was a cause for some very serious ribbing on Jax's part for much of the rest of the day. When nightfall finally came, they sat cuddled together on the terrace, watching the fireworks display that the city of Malibu put on, much of it reflected in the softly rolling waves of the calm ocean before them.

The remainder of their trip was spent relaxing and making love, something that they knew would eventually have to be put on hold once Brenda's pregnancy got close to her delivery date. They joked that they were storing up memories for those weeks they would not be able to be intimate before and after the baby was born.

When their plane touched down in Port Charles earlier this evening, it was necessary for Jax to wake Brenda from a deep sleep. When she tried to deny she had been sleeping and failed, she immediately took the opportunity to attack, claiming that if Jax hadn't kept her up all hours of the day and night making love she wouldn't have been so tired that she fell asleep on the plane. Even though he willingly agreed about their long hours of making love, Jax refused to accept her excuse that it was his fault. They ended up spending most of the ride home from the airport playfully arguing about it.

Since Jax had called ahead of time to let Benton and Mrs. Kelly know when they would be in, it was not surprising that Mrs. Kelly had their supper waiting for them. After fussing over them like a mother hen, she insisted that they hurry out and eat the dinner she had prepared and that was waiting for them on the terrace. To their mutual surprise, both Jax and Brenda discovered that they were actually very hungry. They said very little during their meal, concentrating instead on enjoying the food and looking at the beautiful surroundings of their own back yard. It wasn't until they were both full that either one of them said anything.

After they finished, Jax asked Benton to clear the dinner dishes. He did so very quickly and also brought them a fresh pitcher of iced tea, leaving them alone again, quietly closing the breakfast room door as he went back inside. Jax and Brenda moved over to the two-person chaise while he was clearing the table. Jax quickly realized that there was more to Brenda's silence than being sleepy and well fed. He could feel a kind of tension throughout her entire body as she lay snuggled close to him. He gently stroked her hair and tilted his head to look into her face. He slowly lifted her chin with his finger so he could look into her eyes. "What's bothering you, sweetheart?"

Brenda smiled up at him and gently ran her hand across his chest, eventually undoing several buttons on his shirt and sliding her hand inside to softly stroke his chest. "How do you always know when something is bothering me?"

He returned her smile with one of his own that told Brenda how much he loved her. "It's not hard. You're a part of me, Brenda. When something is bothering you, I just know it. I may not know what exactly it is, but I always know when something is wrong. Why don't you tell me what it is? Maybe I can help."

Brenda let out a deep sigh and snuggled closer to Jax. "I was just thinking about Madeline." Brenda sat up suddenly and turned to face Jax. "We laid an awful lot on her and then just left. I know we need her help with getting rid of Everett, but when we were in Malibu I started thinking about how I would feel if I was in her position. How I would feel if someone told me you had done all those awful things to our children." Brenda reached up and softly stroked the side of Jax's face. "Honey, I've got to tell you I'd be devastated!"

Jax pulled Brenda back to him and gently stroked her back. "I know, sweetheart. I've been thinking about the same thing, especially on the flight back. I think we should tell her the next time we see her that we will resolve this problem on our own. We should tell her we don't want to hurt her any more by asking her to help us."

Jax and Brenda sat silently for several minutes; both of them had their eyes closed to just enjoy the silence of the evening and the comfort of each other's presence. Finally Jax looked up and realized that the sun had set long ago and they were sitting in deepening darkness. "Do you want to go inside?" He didn't even bother to look around at Brenda's face, convinced that she had fallen asleep. He was startled when she answered him almost immediately.

"Actually - no, I'd like to sit out here for a while. Do you mind?"

Jax tightened his arms around her. "Of course not. How about if I light a couple of the torches though, so we can at least see each other?" Jax reluctantly pulled out of her embrace and got up to light several of the torches that circled the terrace. As soon as he sat back down next to her, Brenda snuggled close and wrapped her arms tightly around him again, almost as if she were afraid he'd disappear if she didn't. "What's this all about? Is there something else?" He tilted his head around so that he could see her face.

Brenda never even looked up as she answered him. "I just feel really bad about what we did to Madeline, that's all."

"You don't need to, Brenda. It was something I needed to hear."

Both Jax and Brenda jumped at the sound of Madeline's voice. They had not expected to see her out on the terrace since the only times either of them had seen her was in their suite. They sat up on the chaise to see her walking toward them from the shadows, near the breakfast room doors. As she got closer to them, Brenda was relieved to see that the look of pain that had haunted her dreams was no longer on Madeline's face. Instead, she seemed to have made peace with the information they had given her. "Are you okay, Madeline?"

Madeline stood before them and looked wistfully off into the darkness for a moment. "I don't think I can say that I'm okay, but I think that what you told me has made it easier for me to understand a lot of things. For me that is just as important." Madeline sat down in the chair next to the chaise, as Jax and Brenda turned around and brought their legs around so they were both sitting on the edge of the chaise, facing her.

"What do you mean?" Jax asked.

Madeline took a deep breath before answering Jax's question, "I think I always knew in the back of my mind what Everett's priorities were. Oh, don't get me wrong! He was always very loving and attentive to me and to the children, but…"

When Brenda saw the look of confusion come across Madeline's face, she leaned forward and put her hand on Madeline's. "Take your time, Madeline. We're not going anywhere." She looked into Madeline's eyes and smiled when she saw Madeline begin to relax.

"… but there was always the feeling that he wanted to be somewhere else or doing something else! At the time, I thought it was just my imagination, but after what you two have told me, I think my suspicions were right!" Madeline patted Brenda's hand reassuringly to let her know that she was okay. Brenda leaned back and wrapped her arm around Jax's waist, causing him to do the same to her. Madeline smiled when she saw how instinctive the action was; neither of them even seemed to realize that they had done it.

When Jax noticed the smile on Madeline's face, he looked over at her. "What?" He looked over at Brenda with a smile and noticed that she was nervously smiling as well.

Madeline continued to smile as she slowly shook her head at them. "You two don't even realize what you just did, do you?" When she saw the confused looks on their faces, she pointed to them. "You just seem to automatically wrap your arms around each other whenever you are close. If not that, then you're touching each other in some way. That is what I always believed truly being in love was supposed to be." Madeline paused for a minute to collect her thoughts before continuing, "That's what I THOUGHT I had with Everett, at least at first. But now that I see what it really looks like, I realize that we never had it - not really!

"Don't get me wrong! I'm not saying that Everett and I didn't love each other - because we did, very deeply! I have just recently come to realize though that it was not the all-consuming love that I wanted it to be. True love is what you two share! Don't ever let it go!" Unshed tears hung in Madeline's eyes as she spoke, so much so that they could almost be seen in the deep shadows of the terrace.

Madeline quickly wiped her cheeks as her tears began to fall. "Now, how can I help you two?" The sincerity of her desire to help them was evident in her voice.

Jax and Brenda looked quickly at each other before Jax answered her question with one of his own, "Madeline, are you sure you want to do this?" He paused for a moment before continuing, "I think I can imagine how you felt when you heard the things Thomas found out about Everett and your children. Do you really want to put yourself through that again? You don't have to, you know. Brenda and I have talked about this a great deal, and we've decided that there must be another way to stop Everett without you being involved." Jax reached over and for the first time touched Madeline's arm, surprised at how real she felt. "We don't want to cause you any more pain. We've both had enough pain in our lives to want to spare you that."

Madeline smiled warmly at Jax and placed her hand atop his. "Thank you. Thank you both for that, but it's not necessary. I truly want to help you. In spite of everything he's done, I still think there's a way that I can reach him and make him stop all of this." Madeline paused, and Jax noticed a strange look come across her face. She seemed almost reluctant to ask what obviously was a very important question to her. "I know I have no right to ask this…"

Madeline didn't seem able to finish her question so Jax spoke up, "You can ask anything you want Madeline. What is it?"

Madeline looked up at him with a sad smile. "I was just wondering if you knew what happened to my children when they moved back into the house and away from their father?"

Jax and Brenda were both startled by Madeline's question. "We were hoping you could tell us that, Madeline." Brenda started to fidget nervously and glanced quickly at Jax and then back at Madeline.

"Why would you think I would know? I just found out what happened between them and their father from you two. How would I know what their lives were like?"

After looking imploringly at Jax, who gave her a reassuring nod, Brenda turned her attention to Madeline. "Well, as we told you your oldest son reopened this house when he went to work for Stanhope Industries. Over the next year or so, he brought both of your other children here to live with him." Brenda stopped when she saw the shocked expression on Madeline's face. "Are you okay, Madeline?" her concern for Madeline obvious in her voice.

Madeline slowly nodded her head. "What else do you know about them?" She sat very straight in her chair, trying to keep her emotions in check until she heard the rest of what Brenda had to say about her precious family.

"Well, we really didn't find out much more. The younger children were enrolled in school here in Port Charles and apparently were doing very well. When Everett died, the children had his body returned here, and he's now buried next to you." Brenda stopped suddenly when the absurdity of what she had just said sank in. She became so flustered she wasn't sure how to continue. She had not meant to just blurt it out like that. When she looked up at Madeline, she was relieved to see a reassuring smile on her face. She got the same encouragement when she looked over at Jax. He gently squeezed her hand to let her know it was okay to continue. "Sorry about that, Madeline. I didn't mean to just blurt that out like that." She paused and took a deep breath. "Anyway, it seems the children moved away from Port Charles shortly after the funeral, and we couldn't find any record of them."

Now it was Madeline's turn to be confused. "How is that possible? There must be school records of some kind! Where did Everett work? How did they support themselves? There has to be something!"

It was becoming obvious that Madeline really didn't know anything about the children. This gave Jax an idea. "Madeline, when did you first return to this house?" Brenda wasn't sure where he was heading with that question, so she looked over at Madeline for her answer.

Madeline sat silently thinking for a while before answering. "I think it was some time in the 1920's. I remember wondering what the workmen were doing taking out the gas jets and putting in the wiring for the electric lights. Why? Is that important?"

"I think it might be." Jax didn't say anything for a few moments. "Since our resident spirit expert is not here, let's see if we can figure this one out on our own." He got nods of agreement from both Brenda and Madeline. "I think that you didn't come back to the house until someone other than your immediate family was getting ready to move in. My guess is that you were able to rest in peace while your children were living here because your son took such good care of them. It seems, from what we've been able to find out, that the younger children thrived here. They did well in school, and all three of them were very active in charity work, especially in supporting the charity hospital that was named in your honor."

Madeline was startled. "There was a hospital named in my honor? Why?"

Jax softly cleared his throat. He wasn't sure how to explain this to her. He looked into Brenda's eyes and got the immediate reassurance that he needed. "Remember that Sunday you were at the fundraiser and the rain storm started?" Jax paused for a moment while Madeline thought back to that day. When she slowly nodded her head he continued, "Well… that was also the day you got sick after staying out in the rain to make sure that all the children were safely inside the church. Remember? Well, after your death…" Jax paused again, uncomfortable at having to say these things to her, "the fundraising committee and the county hospital board thought that it would be appropriate to name the hospital in your honor, since it had meant so much to you that you risked your life for those children."

Madeline smiled as the memories of the underprivileged children enjoying that picnic came back to her. She was honored that they had decided to remember her that way. "I wonder if the hospital is still operating?" she asked no one in particular.

Jax and Brenda looked at each other and smiled before they looked back at Madeline. Brenda answered her question for her, "As a matter of fact, it is. It has grown a great deal, in fact, from that small, understaffed facility for the poor into one of the finest hospitals in the country. In fact, both Jax and I have recently been under their care." She smiled sweetly at Madeline as she saw the look of shock cross her face as she realized what hospital Brenda was talking about.

"Brenda, are you telling me that the charity hospital I was raising money for is now General Hospital?" Brenda, still smiling, slowly nodded her head. When Madeline looked over at Jax, he gave her the same nod. "That's amazing! I'm so glad to hear that!" Suddenly Madeline's joy at the news of her hospital disappeared as she seemed to suddenly realize the meaning of something Jax had said earlier.

Brenda saw the sudden change in her expression as well. "What's wrong, Madeline?"

"I was just thinking of something Jax said earlier. If I wasn't around when my children lived here because they were so happy here, then I won't be able to help you understand why Everett is doing this. There is really nothing I can do to help you!" Madeline covered her face with her hands and let out a deep sigh of frustration.

Jax reached over and removed her hands from her face as he quickly corrected her. "That's not exactly true, Madeline. There is a great deal you can do to help us. We just have to wait until Thomas gets back from talking to his grandfather to find out how." He smiled at her and gave her a quick wink, which caused Madeline to blush and Brenda to chuckle. Suddenly though, the smile disappeared from Jax's face and was replaced with a look of deep concern.

Madeline noticed it right away. "What's wrong Jax?" she asked. "Can I help?"

Jax looked at Brenda and pulled her closer to him. "Actually, you may be the only one who can help me with this, Madeline. I need you to promise me that you will watch over my family whenever I'm not here."

Both Brenda and Madeline were surprised by Jax's abrupt change of subject. Brenda pulled slightly away from him so she could turn to look into his face. "Why are you suddenly worried about us, Jax? We all know that Everett cannot leave the library, so as long as I stay out of there when you aren't around, why would you think he could be a threat to me?"

Jax ran his fingers through his hair in obvious frustration. "I know, I know - but he has left that room at least once that we know of - remember when he pushed me down the stairs that night?" Brenda shuddered when Jax mentioned his fall. He pulled her back close to him again, and her fears started to quickly fade away. "I just have a feeling that we shouldn't take that fact for granted. I would just feel better if I knew that you would be keeping an eye on Brenda when I'm not around, that's all - at least until we have a chance to hear what Thomas finds out from his village."

Madeline smiled reassuringly at Jax. "In that case, I promise you that I will keep a close watch on your family. No harm will come to them when you are not here. I promise you that." Both Jax and Brenda seemed to relax when she made the promise.

Madeline was amazed at the depth of the love that passed between these two. It was very obvious to her that the most important thing to each of them was the comfort and safety of the other. This was what she thought she had found with Everett but had now come to realize she had not. Now that she had seen what true love looked like and had seen the depth of the commitment Jax and Brenda shared, she was not going to allow anything to harm that - especially not Everett!

When she looked back at Jax and Brenda, it was obvious how exhausted Brenda was getting. She decided that she needed to be the one to put an end to their conversation. She slowly got up from her chair. "Why don't we call it a night? I have some serious thinking to do, and I think you could use some rest, not to mention some privacy." This time she winked at Jax, who actually blushed slightly. "Sleep well, both of you. I promise there will be no trouble this night." With that said, she slowly walked into the darkness close to the house and disappeared.

When Madeline was gone, Brenda leaned her head on Jax's shoulder and tried to stifle a yawn. She wasn't fast enough though because Jax had seen her. "Hey you, I think Madeline was right. What do you say we call it a night and head on up to bed? It has been a VERY long day for all of us!" He smiled at her as he stood up and held out his hands to her.

Brenda didn't even attempt to protest. She slowly got up, nodding her head in agreement. "Sounds like a plan to me." This time when she started to yawn, she didn't try to stop it. "Sorry, about that," she said, rather embarrassed.

Jax chuckled as he went around the terrace to extinguish the few torches that had not already burned out on their own. He then came back over to Brenda and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he leaned down and placed a loving kiss on the top of her head. "Come on, Mrs. Jacks. Let's get you and that little one up to bed." Jax reached down with his free hand and gently stroked Brenda's abdomen. He stopped for moment when he thought he felt something beneath his hand. He held still for what seemed to him like a long time, but when he didn't feel it again, he decided he must have been imagining things. Brenda looked up at him curiously, waiting for him to explain, but all he did was shrug his shoulders and start them walking toward the house.

After locking up downstairs, Jax and Brenda headed up to their suite. Once they were settled in bed together, Brenda lifted her head from Jax's chest. "Did something happen when you put your hand on my abdomen before?" she asked.

Jax looked down at her without stopping his gently stroking of her back. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. For a second I thought I felt something, but I guess I was just imagining it."

The tone in Jax's voice sounded almost like disappointment to Brenda. She looked very seriously into Jax's face. "What did it feel like?" She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about, but she wanted to hear him say it to make sure.

Jax exhaled slowly. "Actually, it felt almost like rippling water." He reached his hand up to caress the side of Brenda's face. "Why?"

Brenda smiled brightly at him. "That was not your imagination, Jax. That was your child moving around!" When she saw the shocked expression on his face, she leaned down and quickly kissed the tip of his nose.

Jax lifted her off him and pulled himself up to a sitting position against the headboard. "Are you sure, Brenda?" He had his hands on her upper arms and was looking deeply into her eyes for confirmation.

Brenda reached forward and stroked his face before answering. "Yes, luv, I'm sure. I felt the baby move at just about the time you caressed my abdomen. I guess the little one has finally gotten big enough to let daddy know he's around." She pushed herself up next to Jax against the headboard and reached for his hand, placing it on her abdomen. "Let's see if he'll do it again." They lay there like that for several minutes, but nothing happened.

Finally Jax looked up at her with a familiar twinkle in his eyes. "Maybe the little one has gone to sleep already." Jax gently pushed Brenda back down so that she was lying almost beneath him. "What do you say we see if we can wake the little one up?" Jax leaned down and kissed her quite passionately.

As they kissed, Brenda wrapped her arms around Jax's neck and held him close. When they finally broke the kiss to breathe, Brenda looked up into Jax's eyes and whispered, "I think I know the perfect way…" She slid her fingers up into the back of Jax's hair and pulled his face back down to her, kissing him with the same passion that he had just shown her. Very soon their nightclothes were discarded, and they were once again showing each other the depth of their love.

After totally enjoying each other, not once, but twice, a very sleepy, but very satisfied Jax and Brenda lay snuggled together spoon fashion. Jax's arms were wrapped protectively around Brenda, when he suddenly felt that same rippling movement. His eyes popped open as he lifted himself up on one elbow. Brenda rolled onto her back and smiled up at Jax. She reached for his hand and placed it on her abdomen again. "I guess we succeeded in waking the little one."

Just then Jax felt the rippling for the third time. The expression of wonder and joy that came across his face told Brenda everything she needed to know. She slowly rolled back on her side, pulling Jax back down. He quickly snuggled behind her, wrapping his body protectively around hers and placing his hand gently on her abdomen. Brenda never stopped smiling, as she put her hand on top of his and closed her eyes.

As they both drifted off to a sleep that would be filled with wonderful dreams of their child, Madeline emerged slowly from the shadows of the fireplace to look down at the sleeping couple. She wiped away the single tear that had started down her cheek when she had witnessed their joy at their child's movement. She was more determined than ever to put an end to any possible threat to their happiness that forces in this house might present. She smiled slightly as she thought back to the concern both Jax and Brenda had shown for her feelings earlier. They had been willing to risk everything to avoid hurting her.

Tonight had only reinforced her opinion that Jax and Brenda and the child they were expecting were exactly the right people to live in her house. She walked over to the side of the bed "Sleep well, both of you. I promise you that there is a way to make this go away, and I swear to help you find it and stop it. No matter what I have to do!" She leaned down and pulled the cover up a little higher on the sleeping couple, before fading back into the shadows.