"Lois is gonna have the baby? She’s in labor?" Ned asked Jax. Ned was still sitting at the other end of the dining room table from a fairly calm Lois.

Jax took Lois’ left hand in his and felt for her pulse, glancing down at his wristwatch as he answered Ned. "Well, mate, I would know for sure if I asked her to hop up here on the dining room table and spread ‘em, but I didn’t really think you wanted me to do that right now."

"NO!!!" Ned, Lois, and Brenda all chorused the answer together. Jax chuckled as he put Lois’ hand back down on the arm of the chair. He quickly shed his sport coat, and Brenda couldn’t help but admire his muscles beneath the short-sleeved shirt. Jax reached into his back pocket, pulled out a plain ring of keys, and tossed it in the air to Brenda.

"Would you be a love and go get my bag out of my car? It’s in the well behind the passenger seat." Brenda nodded mutely and quickly exited the dining room. Jax looked back at Lois and crouched down next to her, patting her arm for reassurance. "Lois, who’s your OB-GYN? Somebody at Cedars, I assume?"

Lois nodded. "Lynn Meadows. I think her number is in the phone book in the kitchen."

"I’ll get it!" Ned suddenly shouted, jumping up from the table, only to be stopped by Jax’s hand in the air.

"It’s after hours, Ned. You would probably have to reach her through the exchange." He continued to soothe Lois as he looked at Ned. "Did Lois pack a bag for the trip to the hospital yet?"

Ned ran both of his hands through his hair. "No. The baby wasn’t due for another three weeks, so we thought she had time….." As Brenda re-entered the room, Ned’s voice began to raise in pitch again. "Oh, my God! The baby wasn’t due for another three weeks! Something’s wrong!"

Jax grimaced as he felt Lois tense. "Ned, you are about as much help as a one-armed wallpaper hanger!" he muttered. "Why don’t you go upstairs and get a small bag and put in a comfortable nightgown for Lois and some of her favorite paperback books – probably Brenda’s," he snorted ironically. "Or anything else she decided to use as a focus if you two took Lamaze classes." Ned nodded and was out of the room in a flash as Brenda came from the front of the house, carrying Jax’s little black doctor’s bag.

Jax saw Brenda come back into the room and he took the bag from her. "Thanks, Brenda," he said, quickly opening it and pulling out his stethoscope and applying it to Lois’s abdomen. "This isn’t really made to listen for fetal heartbeats, but it’s better than nothing at this point," he explained to Lois.

"I didn’t think anyone still carried those little black bags," Brenda quipped softly, coming behind Lois to pet her hair and try to calm her nerves.

Jax smiled. "I don’t really get a chance to use it that often, but I still carry it, just in case I come across a traffic accident with injuries or good friends go into labor during a dinner party." As he pulled the stethoscope out of his ears, he grinned pointedly at Brenda. "Chalk it up to my conservative, stuffy Boston upbringing."

Brenda tipped her head to the side and grinned back. "Touché, Doctor Jacks."

Ned reappeared in the dining room with a small canvas bag. "How is she? Is something wrong with the baby?"

Jax straightened up and put his stethoscope back in his bag. "As far as I can tell without a pelvic exam, mum and baby are fine at this point, Ned." He slapped him on the back. "Take it from the voice of experience, my friend. Babies don’t follow time-tables for their appearances."

"You’ve delivered a lot of babies?" Brenda asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"No – he’s got two of his own," Ned answered absently before Jax could speak. Both men missed it when Brenda’s jaw hit the floor. Before she could question him further, Jax began giving orders again, taking the keys from Brenda’s hand and throwing them to Ned.

"Ned, why don’t you take Lois to the hospital in my SUV? It’ll probably be more comfortable for her than that little sporty model you drive." Ned looked down at the keys as though he had forgotten what they were for.

"Thanks, Jax." Lois spoke up, saving Ned from looking like a complete idiot. "I been tellin’ Ned that we need to get more of a family-type car than what he drives, but we thought we had more time!" She inhaled to say something else but then a contraction hit her and she reached out to grab Ned’s hand. "Speakin’ of time, honey – IT’S TIME!!!" she groaned.

Jax ushered them to the front door. "You two go on to Cedars and I’ll drive Ned’s car and meet you there."

"Hey!" Brenda exclaimed as they went outside and began to help Lois get into Jax’s SUV. "What about me? I want to be there to see the newest Ashton come into the world, too!"

Jax slammed the door on Lois’s side. "I’ll bring Brenda with me in Ned’s car," he assured Lois. "Then I’ll bring her back here after mum and baby are doing fine and follow her home to make sure she’s safe."

Lois smiled and patted Jax’s hand on the rolled-down window ledge. "The doctor! We forgot to call Dr. Meadows!" Ned suddenly screeched.

"*Don’t worry*, Ned" Jax said patiently. "You two head on out to the hospital. Brenda can stay here with me and help me close up and I’ll have Dr. Meadows paged to the ER. She’ll meet you there, I’m sure." He slapped the roof of the SUV twice. "NOW GO!!!"

Brenda stood for a minute with her arms wrapped around her body, watching her best friends drive off with Ned and Lois still arguing about names for the baby. As they walked back into the house, Brenda felt a little uncomfortable alone with Jax. But he soon put her at ease, suggesting what needed to be put in the refrigerator as he called Dr. Meadows through her exchange.

Ten minutes later, Jax was driving Ned’s sporty Jag convertible towards Cedars. "Wow – you were really amazing back there, you know?" Brenda marveled.

"How so?" Jax thought he probably knew the answer, but compliments from Brenda were so rare that he decided to go for it.

"You were so calm and patient with Lois and Ned." Brenda shook her head. "Of course, I guess you get lotsa practice at handling stuff in a crisis being in the ER all the time, don’t you?"

"Yeah, that’s part of it," Jax replied as he watched the stoplight turn green. "But it’s also since I’ve been through it two times before with my own kids, and Lois isn’t my wife!" He threw Brenda a crooked smile and her heart fluttered in a funny way that had nothing to do with blood vessels. "Believe me – when I was the daddy, I was the very definition of panic!"

Brenda was about to ask about Jax’s children when they pulled up at the emergency entrance to Cedars. To Brenda’s surprise, Jax whipped the car through the main gate and headed for the doctors’ parking area. "I thought we would avoid the ER, if that’s OK with you," he explained.

"But isn’t that where Lois will be?"

Jax deftly maneuvered the car into Ned’s reserved parking space. "I don’t think so. They probably transferred her up to the OB floor once they checked her in." He jumped out of the car and ran around to open Brenda’s door for her. As he extended a hand to help her out of the low-slung car, she decided (for tonight) to accept it. "I’m just afraid that if I show my face in the ER, they’ll start shoving charts in front of me and asking me questions and I’ll never get out of there and up to OB to check on Lois."

"Good idea," Brenda panted, trying to keep up with Jax’s rapid pace and long legs. He realized that he had been walking at his "Dr.-Jacks-to-emergency-stat" speed, and he slowed down to accommodate her.

He ushered Brenda in a side door and onto an elevator and they soon found themselves facing the nursing station on the OB floor. As Jax strolled up to the hub, Brenda couldn’t help but notice the respectful look on the faces of some of the interns that passed them. AND the looks of pure lust (or not so pure) that came from an entire gaggle of candy-stripers.

A nurse seated at a large console of switches and monitors looked up and smiled when she saw Jax. "Dr. Jacks! I wasn’t expecting to see you up here tonight!" She frowned slightly, glanced down, and began flipping through some of the pile of charts in front of her. "Did you transfer someone up here from the ER that we should know about?"

"Relax, Andrea," Jax smiled. "I’m here on a strictly personal mission tonight – not professional. I was having dinner with Dr. Ashton and his wife when she decided to go into labor." He ran his fingers through his blonde locks distractedly. "She bloody well better be here since I let Ned borrow my car!"

Andrea’s face calmed as soon as Jax had reassured her that he wasn’t checking on a patient. "Ah, yes……Mrs. Ashton." She looked down and found a file near the top. "Yes…..Lois Ashton was referred up here about 15 minutes ago." She opened the chart and scanned it quickly. "Dr. Meadows has been paged and is on her way here. And Mrs. Ashton has been checked into Birthing Suite #5 if you want to go see her."

At that point, Andrea gave Brenda a pointed look. "Are you family, miss? Because only physicians and family are allowed in the birthing suites." Andrea was reciting hospital procedure, but what she was really dying to know was why the extremely eligible and to-die-for handsome Dr. Jacks had his arm around Brenda. And wasn’t moving it. Gossip spread like wildfire in the hospital, and there had been no news lately that Jax had finally dipped a toe into the dating pool.

Jax pulled Brenda closer to him, much to Andrea’s curiosity. "No, she’s not family, Andrea. Brenda was my dinner date at the Ashton’s tonight. But she’s an old friend of Lois’s, right?"

Brenda nodded with a friendly smile, but she could immediately read the curiosity in Andrea’s eyes. Brenda’s mischievous nature got the better of her. "Yes…..I’ve known Lois just about forever, and Jax just *insisted* on driving me here tonight rather than me driving alone." She put her arm around his waist and gave him a friendly squeeze, which was not lost on Nurse Andrea.

"You know, I’ve seen my share of deliveries, Andrea," Jax said, returning the squeeze and giving Brenda a seductive glance. "So I think Brenda and I will just sit this one out on those wonderful, comfortable couches in the waiting room if you don’t mind." He gave Andrea one of his devastating smiles, and then turned back to her as he and Brenda headed for the upholstered torture racks. "Oh, and if you don’t mind…..don’t let them know down in the ER that I’m up here. If they find out I’m on the premises, I’ll be paged down there to help with some minor crisis. Brenda and I really want to stay up here to make sure Lois makes it through all right."

{V is going to have a *cow* when she hears this! Dr. Jacks has a girlfriend!} "I understand, Doctor," Andrea answered sweetly. She pretended to turn a key and lock her lips. "Mum’s the word."

Jax turned back to Brenda and guided her to the couches with a hand at the small of her back. "I’m afraid I laid it on a little thick about the seating accommodations up here," Jax smiled as Brenda sank down into one of the dusty sofas. "I don’t think they’ve purchased new furniture for the waiting room since 1968."

As Jax sank down into the cushion next to her on the couch, she laughed. "I guess most of the dads are so busy in the delivery rooms that nobody waits out here anymore!" She sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. "So……were you there when your kids were born?"

"Do you mean did I cut the cord and help with the panting and the pushing and all that?" Jax gave Brenda a look that was a combination of embarrassment and regret and shook his head. "I’m afraid not. I was so busy finishing med school and learning my profession that I pretty much let Miranda handle that part of having babies."

"Miranda is…..?"

"My ex-wife." Jax nodded and looked down at his hands. "She still lives in Boston with the kids."

"You mentioned two kids when we were at Ned’s house," Brenda led gently.

"Yeah," Jax nodded again. "Randall is 8 and Hunter is 6."

"Randall and Hunter Jacks." Brenda tried to look impressed. "Sounds very …..{Stuffy? Conservative?}….formal." Brenda tried to think of something nice to say about two children who probably wore little coats and ties with their diapers. You must be pleased – two boys to follow in dad’s footsteps."

Jax smiled grimly. "Not two boys. A boy and a girl. Randall Jasper and Hunter Elizabeth. I’m afraid I let Miranda pick the names, too." He looked down at his hands which were folded and placed carefully in his lap. "I didn’t realize what a mistake *that* was until Hunter was born. She hates her name, and I think she hates me for allowing her mother to talk me into it. She goes by the nickname "Ellie" most of the time."

Brenda tried to smile in encouragement. "Ellie…..that’s a pretty name." She almost felt sorry for Jax and she patted his arm sympathetically. "And I’m sure she doesn’t blame you for it. Most kids hate their names no matter what they are." She tried to laugh. "And at least your wife only gave your son the name "Jasper" as a middle name!" Jax smiled weakly and put his hand on top of hers, and Brenda felt a funny sensation again. {He’s still an MCP, Bren. Don’t let him give you the cow-eyes routine and win your sympathy.}

"So – do you get to see the kids very often?"

Jax brightened considerably. "I haven’t seen them very much but they’re coming in for the holidays. Miranda always did hate snow for Christmas so I invited her and the children to spend some time in California this year."

{She hates snow for Christmas and names girls after men who shoot Bambi. Oh, this babe is a real gem. He at least gets a few brownie points for dumping her.}

They both sat there for a few minutes until Ned appeared in the hallway, clad in a sterile gown. As Brenda and Jax were struggling to get up from the sofa, he rushed over to them. "Don’t even try to get up. I know about the furniture. Lois is doing fine."

"Is she in a lot of pain, Ned?" Brenda asked, settling back into the couch’s depths.

"They’re almost ready to give her an epidural, so she shouldn’t have to put up with much more." He looked at the two of them and knew that Lois would be happy to hear they were still together and hadn’t killed each other. Yet. "So, are you two going to wait until the newest Ashton makes his or her debut here tonight?" Jax nodded and looked at Brenda, and she nodded similarly. "Well, then, I’d better get back to Lois. I’ll come out and let you know as soon as there’s any news."

Ned rushed off and the silence surrounded them again. Brenda glanced up one time and saw Nurse Andrea watching them with an eagle eye from the nurse’s station. Thankfully, Jax broke the ice. "You don’t happen to have a deck of cards with you in that purse, do you?" he joked.

"Actually, I might," Brenda replied in surprise. She began rummaging through her purse and gave a little cry of victory as she pulled out a deck. "I *love* to play cards and always carry some with me." She eyed Jax warily. "What’s your game, Dr. Jax?"

Jax tried to push away from her a little on the couch. "Poker, ma’am," he drawled in the most awful cowboy imitation that Brenda had ever heard.

"YOU’RE KIDDING!" Brenda almost shrieked, but she remembered to tone it down when Jax put his finger to his lips. "I *love* to play poker!"

"You’re not into all those girlie varieties like One-Eyed Jacks and 10-2-and 4 are wild but only on odd-dated Tuesdays, are you?" Jax said, eyes narrowing.

Brenda pulled the cards out of the box and started shuffling. "5 card stud," she replied with a sneer, and Jax laughed heartily. "A nickel to open?"

Jax’s eyes sparkled as he dug deep in his pockets. "You’re on, *Ms.* Barrett," he replied.

As they played several hands of poker, Brenda caught herself smiling a lot more than she had with other blind dates lately. When Jax lost a particularly close hand, he leaned back against the arm of the couch. "You’ve got a good poker face, Brenda. I never would have thought it of you."

She shrugged her shoulders and shuffled the deck. "I get lots of practice." Then she gave Jax a smile that made *his* heart flutter in a way that a stethoscope couldn’t detect. "I have some friends over to the house on Thursday nights to play poker every week." She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if you joined us."

Jax gave her a wary look. "Are they fellow romance-writers who’ll talk about mushy prose all night?"

Brenda laughed and had to remember where she was when she got another dirty look from Nurse Andrea. "Hardly! Why don’t you come over next Thursday and meet the guys? Oh, and be sure to bring your wallet." She dealt the cards. "We play for a little higher stakes than this."

Jax watched her pick up her cards and spread them in her hand, re-arranging them. {It’s not my money I’m afraid of losing to you, Brenda. It’s my heart.}

Jax wove his way through the crowded cafeteria until he saw Ned slumped at a table. He smiled with boyish mischief, purposely avoiding a table of nurses’ aides who were drooling at the prospect of having lunch with the charming and available Dr. Jacks, and sat down next to a sleeping Ned.

Jax took a sip of his iced tea and then finally gave Ned’s arm a push. "Dr. Ashton? Ned? Are you in there?"

Ned sprang to an upright seated position, a long red streak glowing across his forehead from resting it on his arm. "Four o’clock! 2 ounces, microwave on medium for 30 seconds, test it first by shaking it on your wrist!"

Jax laughed and squeezed a packet of mustard on his ham on whole wheat. "You’ve got it bad, Ned!" He leaned over with mock sympathy. "Baby still not sleeping much at night, huh?"

Ned sighed and lowered his head to his arm again. "Christopher Lawrence Ashton only sleeps when I’m at work." He raised his head just slightly to give Jax a pained look through blood-shot eyes. "He’s six days old now, Jax! How long does this "mixed up days and nights" thing go on?"

Jax chewed his sandwich thoughtfully. "As long as it takes for you to think you’re going completely insane. Then suddenly, he’ll get into the swing of things and you’ll never remember that you had problems with him at all."

"Promise?" Ned looked at the coffee and soup on his own tray and pushed it aside with disgust.

"I promise." Jax shook his head at Ned and broke off half of his sandwich. "Here – something to keep your strength up so all the burden doesn’t fall to Lois."

Ned sighed. "Well, we’re getting a break in that department. Lois’s mother Gloria is coming for a visit this weekend to let us get some rest. But maybe by the time grandma Gloria arrives, Chris will finally be on some kind of schedule."

Jax swallowed and took a long drink of iced tea. "You know, I think the *only* thing I didn’t have to endure while I was married to Miranda was having her mother come to stay with us after the kids were born." He shook his head. "We probably would have split even faster if I had to have two Jameson women underfoot while I was doing my residency."

Ned swallowed his bit of sandwich with sudden glee. He was awake enough to recognize an opportunity when it was handed to him on a silver platter. "Speaking of women…….how are you and Brenda doing?"

"Nice segue, Ned," Jax said sarcastically. "Real smooth."

Lois had been pestering Ned ever since she got home from the hospital for details on how Jax and Brenda were getting along. Ned knew they had stayed until Christopher made his screaming entry into the world at 1:30AM. He had found both of them asleep on the abyss in the waiting room with Brenda in Jax’s loose embrace. Then, Ned had taken a few days’ off to help Lois with Chris coming home from the hospital and he had ignored his duties as matchmaker’s assistant.

He had been anxious to run into Jax ever since his return to work the day before. Or, more precisely -- ever since the friendly and helpful x-ray tech who brought Ned the Sanderson X-rays mentioned that she had heard from someone in Oncology that Dr. Jacks was involved with a woman. Ned had tried to play it cool, but when he questioned the bouncy tech, she explained that she didn’t know that many details, since the oncology nurse heard it from an orderly on the 6th floor, who heard it from a gray lady in the gift shop, who heard it from a candy striper in geriatrics, who heard it from a nurse on the obstetrics floor. The one thing the tech was sure of was that the news had spread as far as the ER, and Nurse Ardanowski was royally p*ssed off.

Ned would expect have expected Nurse Ardanowski to be angry when she heard the gossip. Everyone in the hospital recognized V’s swooning breathlessness whenever she was in the presence of her boss. She managed to maintain a proper doctor/nurse relationship when they were running a trauma -- ever the consummate medical professional. But in those moments when they had some quiet time in the ER or she had to discuss administrative details with him, it was more than obvious that she had a huge crush on Jax. Ned found it amusing that the only person in the entire hospital who didn’t see how deep her feelings were was the very man who was the object of her adoration.

Jax waved a hand in front of Ned’s face. "Ned? Did you suddenly learn how to sleep with your eyes open?"

"No -- I was just thinking about something while I was waiting to hear how you and Brenda are doing."

Jax wiped his mouth with his napkin. "We aren’t *doing* anything, Ned." At Ned’s raised eyebrows, Jax continued. "We stayed at the hospital until Christopher was born and then I took her back to your house to get her car. I followed her back home like I promised Lois," Jax nodded to Ned, who made a gesture that he was checking it off his list, "and I sat in my car until she got safely inside her front door. End of story."

Ned swallowed hard. "You didn’t even get out of the car? You didn’t try to kiss her goodnight?"

"Last time I tried that we had the beginnings of World War III. I thought I would try the strong, silent approach this time."

{So then what’s all the hubbub about? Why does the hospital gossip have them eloping next week?} "And you haven’t seen her since?"

Jax drank the last of his tea and shrugged. "She’s been busy on some book tour promoting her latest bodice ripper and I’ve been pulling some double shifts in the ER. We really haven’t had *time* to see each other." Then Jax blushed just a little. "Although -- she did invite me to her weekly poker game." He glanced down at his watch. "I think she said it was on Thursdays -- that would be tonight, I guess."

"So......." {This sounds promising. Lois will love it. Inviting Jax to meet her poker buddies is like inviting the girl of your dreams home to meet momma.} ".......are you going?"

Jax pushed his tray away. "I don’t know, Ned. We got along fairly well the other night, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to spend an evening playing cards with some other Femi-Natzis who probably are just dying to have a token man to pick on."

Ned almost choked as he swallowed the last of his lukewarm coffee. "Jax -- Brenda does NOT play cards with fellow feminists. Believe me -- her poker club is a very eclectic bunch."

Just then, Jax’s beeper went off. He glanced down at it and frowned. "You got an emergency?" Ned asked.

"I’m not sure," Jax grimaced. He rose and picked up his tray and Ned followed suit. "The page is from the ER, but lately V’s been beeping me for the simplest things." Ned smiled to himself at Jax’s naiveté. "I just don’t understand how she could go from such a competent chief ER nurse to a woman who acts as though the most complicated thing she’s had to do in the hospital is empty bedpans!"

The two men exited the cafeteria and Jax sighed. "But.....I can’t be sure it’s V paging me. It might be a real emergency. So I guess I’d better be going." They came to the elevator and shook hands. "Good luck with the mother-in-law this weekend, Ned," Jax smiled.

"Like I said.....she’s a real gem, Jax," Ned argued as Jax got on the empty elevator. As the doors began to close, Ned frowned. "D*mn!! I forgot to show you the baby pictures!"

Jax waved and shouted something about seeing them next time, but Ned smiled to himself as the doors closed. Between Nurse Ardanowski’s intensified pursuit of the elusive Dr. Jacks and Brenda’s beautiful face and figure haunting Jax’s dreams, he was sure it was just a matter of time.

{Yep. Lois will be a happy woman, Ned. There *will* be sex again for you in this lifetime.} Ned went up the stairs to Radiology with a smile on his face and a bounce to his step. {I just love it when a plan comes together.}

To be continued......