"They need you in trauma 2, Dr. Jacks," Amy replied. She knew that V had paged the ER chief and she wasn’t about to catch any of his wrath in the event he exploded at the smitten nurse.

Jax gave her a puzzled look, but then continued on down the hallway. When he entered the trauma room, he made a grim face as he saw V walking towards him with a chart. A male patient, looking fairly stable and healthy except for his right leg in a makeshift cast, lay on the examining table.

"Dr. Jacks, I’m glad you got here so….." V began, but Jax cut her off short.

"What’ve you got, V?" His eyes were a no-nonsense shade of gray and V lost some of her color.

"21-year-old male, vitals normal, apparent fracture to the right tibia…." Jax grabbed the chart from her and scanned it quickly as she began to explain that he had fractured his leg while doing a simple maneuver at karate class.

Jax smiled at the patient. "Would you excuse us, Mr...uh….Watson?" he asked politely, glancing down at the chart to confirm the name, and then pulled V by the arm into the hallway. He ran his hand through his already-mussed hair in frustration. "You paged me down here for a simple fracture?"

"She paged you at my request," a female voice replied behind him. Med student Karen Wexler walked up to Jax, not losing any of her composure in the face of her tall Australian boss.

Jax scanned her nametag and met her gaze head-on. "Ms. Wexler, was there something about a simple fracture that seemed too difficult for you to handle?"

Karen took a large white envelope from beneath her arm. "Would you care to have a look at these X-rays, Dr. Jacks?" Jax nodded sternly and they went over to a large viewing screen in the hallway, V still trailing behind them. Karen shoved one of the X-rays against the screen while she flipped the switch to turn on the light. "Take a look at the place where the break occurred, Dr. Jacks," she said grimly.

Jax leaned into the screen and then caught his breath. "Bloody h*ll," he swore softly, giving Karen a more understanding look. His gave traveled back to the screen. "A small tumor at the sight of the fracture." V stared down at the chart as Jax pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Have you had a needle biopsy done yet?"

"No, sir," she replied. "I thought I’d better confirm my suspicions with you first and then talk to the patient."

"Did someone in radiology confirm that the x-ray is accurate?" Jax asked, hoping against hope.

Karen nodded. "I had a senior radiologist take another set, just to make sure. They match these identically."

Jax nodded and took the chart from V with a long sigh. "OK." He glanced back at V. "Sorry I exploded at you before, V. Ms. Wexler and I will take it from here." V smiled warmly at Jax before departing in the other direction. Jax turned back to Karen. "Have you ever discussed a life-threatening condition with a patient before?"

"No, Dr. Jacks," Karen admitted. "Actually, I was hoping that maybe I could observe you this time……"

He nodded grimly. "I don’t blame you, Ms. Wexler. These aren’t exactly the cases I enjoy." He inclined his head towards trauma room #2. "Shall we?"

Fifteen minutes later, Jax and Karen emerged from the trauma room. Karen looked up at Jax, who was still making notes in the chart. "Do you think it’s malignant?"

Jax shrugged. "Won’t know until the results of the biopsy come back," he answered bluntly, handing Karen a small cup containing some cloudy fluid. "But from the opaque appearance of the sample and the way the bone broke at the site of the tumor….." He let his statement trail, and Karen nodded her head sadly.

Just as Jax finished making his notes in the chart, the double doors of the ER burst open. Jax handed Karen the chart and ran for the door. "What’ve you got, gentlemen?" he asked as two paramedics wheeled in a blood-soaked gurney.

"39-year-old male put his hand through a plate glass door," one of the paramedics responded as they wheeled the gurney through the hallway. Jax pointed to one of the vacant trauma rooms and several nurses and orderlies followed them inside as Karen stood watching.

V walked up to stand beside her. "It’s never exactly boring around here, is it?" Karen asked V, who shook her head with a sad laugh.

"Are you kidding? This is a *slow* day!" V responded. After about a 15 second delay, the doors of the trauma room burst open again, with Jax and one of the nurses pushing the gurney.

"V! Call the OR and tell them I need a room, stat! Page Bobbie Spencer for me – tell her to report to the OR and scrub in. Oh, and you’d better call vascular and tell them I’ll need a consult!" He was pushing the gurney and shouting orders at V as they rounded the corner towards the elevators. "And get one of those nurses in the trauma room to call those type and cross-match results up to the OR as soon as they’re ready!"

V nodded and rushed back towards the hub of the ER. So much for a slow day.

At 8:45 PM, V finally got a chance to take a break and get some coffee. When she entered the lounge, she found Jax, making notes on charts at one of the tables. "You done for the day?"

Jax looked up at the sound of her voice and smiled. "Done with the tough stuff, I guess." He sat back and tapped his left hand with the pen in his right. "This paperwork almost seems like a welcome break after the day I’ve had today." His eyes looked weary as he blinked them repeatedly. "I hadn’t exactly planned on spending two hours in the OR re-attaching some hothead’s fingers, and then turning around and spending another two hours assisting Monica with bypass surgery."

V poured herself a cup of coffee and began to pour another one for Jax, but he waved her off. "Were you able to convince that spouse abuse victim to press charges against her slime of a husband?"

Jax nodded sadly, picking up the cup of coffee that had been hidden by the stack of files. "I will *never* understand how victims of physical abuse refuse to recognize that the way to help their spouse is to get them into some kind of rehab, and that starts with pressing charges." He shook his head. "I guess a concussion and three broken ribs finally convinced Mrs. Flinders to let Mr. Flinders spend the night in jail."

"Well, I guess at least you didn’t lose any patients today – kind of a silver lining in this cloud of a day," V laughed. She walked over to the table where Jax was seated. {I know a perfect way to help make you feel better, Dr. Tall, Blonde, and Handsome.}

Jax snorted. "Thank heaven for small mercies, huh?"

V played with her coffee cup. "You know – there’s a new jazz club opening tonight downtown. If you want something to restore your spirits, there’s nothing like some cool music and smoky atmosphere," she suggested.

Jax sighed again, much to V’s dismay. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "No thanks, V. I think that the best thing for me to do tonight is……" He didn’t finish the sentence, but suddenly sat straight up in his chair and looked at his watch.

"What’s the matter, Jax? You don’t have another surgery tonight, do you?" V asked.

He broke out in a smile and rose quickly from his chair, grabbing the files in one hand and his coffee cup in the other. "No, I don’t, V." He left the table, throwing his coffee cup away and stopping at the door to turn back to her. "Oh, but thanks for the offer about the music, anyway."

"So……you’re going straight home to bed?’ V asked hopefully.

Jax flashed her a brilliant smile. "Not exactly. Let’s just say I’ll be taking a gamble tonight, and if I play my cards right, bed is just where I might end up!" He was out the door before he saw V slam her fist down on the table or heard the very unprofessional epithet that came from her lips.

"Brenda! Earth to Brenda!" Nicholas Cassidine laughed as he waved his hand in front of Brenda’s face. "Ante up!"

Brenda came out of her trance and smiled weakly at Nicholas. "Sorry, guys, how much is it to me?"

"A buck and a half," Lucky Spencer answered. "You in?"

Brenda glanced down at her cards. Two jacks. {Jax. He said he might show up tonight.} She glanced at the clock on her living room wall again. 9:30. {He’s not coming. Well, Brenda….it’s all your own fault, Lois would say. You and that big mouth of yours.} She smiled again at Lucky and sighed. "No, I think it’s getting a little too rich for me, Lucky. I’ll fold."

She put her cards down on the table and looked around at her poker group. "Looks like we need more refreshments. Why don’t you guys finish this hand and I’ll go out in the kitchen and get more chips and beer." She rose slowly and went to the swinging kitchen door as three sets of eyes followed her retreating form.

"She must be having money problems," Nicholas said grimly, shaking his head.

"Naw…..she’s sick," Lucky contradicted. "Maybe she’s got some kinda flu bug or somethin.’"

"She’s sick all right, but it’s not her stomach," Reginald said wisely, rising from his chair to follow her into the kitchen. "I fold too."

"Whazzat supposed to mean, Reggie?" Lucky asked, leaning back and scratching his belly through his stylish white undershirt.

Reginald stopped with his hand on the swinging door and put his finger to his lips to hush Lucky. "It means, you Neanderthal, that it’s a MAN! It’s her heart that’s sick, not her body."

Nicholas’s jaw dropped. "You mean, you think she’s in *love* with some guy?"

"That’s the way it always looks when it happens to me," Reggie quipped grimly before turning back to the kitchen and going through the door.

Lucky shrugged and looked at Nicholas. "Well, I guess if anyone would know, it would be Reggie." Nicholas nodded and pointed to the remaining cards and chips, and the two of them continued to play.

Brenda was in the kitchen, idly pouring potato chips into a bowl, when Reggie came up behind her. "Man problems, sweetie?"

She jumped a little, but then smiled. "Is it that obvious?" She shook her head as Reginald went to the refrigerator and got out a large bowl. "You know, Reggie, I didn’t think I really liked him that much. But I invited him to play poker with us tonight, and he’s not here yet, so I guess maybe I was right in the first place. He’s a jerk."

Reginald spooned some of the green dip out of the bowl into a smaller one. "Well, sweet thing, you know sometimes people get delayed in traffic. Where does he work?"

Brenda chuckled a little. "Actually…..he works at Cedars with your bosses, the Quartermaines. He’s the new co-chief of the ER."

Reginald quickly turned from the refrigerator. "Oooohhhh, I think I heard Monica talking about him the other day. Says he’s a real smart doc." He smiled as he closed the refrigerator again. "Well, if he’s as dedicated as my bosses are to their patients, it’s no wonder he’s late." He put his arm around her and gently bumped his hip against hers. "Now, why don’t we take those chips and more of Cook’s fantastic guacamole out there so Lucky can inhale it."

Brenda nodded and hugged Reggie back. "You’re pretty smart, did you know that, Mr. Jennings?"

"Of course I did, sweetie. It’s just the rest of the world that needs enlightening." Reggie followed her with the bowl and some of the beer bottles through the swinging doors. As they were setting things down on the dining room table, the front doorbell rang. Brenda’s head shot up and she raced to the door as Reggie looked at the other two card players. "If that’s a certain doctor at the door, he might be just what Brenda’s heart condition needs."

Lucky and Nicholas’s mouths opened to round O’s, and they both turned to the door expectantly. Brenda’s lack of a love life had been of major concern to the three men ever since they started playing cards with her. They often joked about being Brenda’s three fairy godmother matchmakers, with Lucky making comments under his breath about only one of the three of them really fitting the title.

Brenda smoothed her hair back into her ponytail before she pulled the door open to reveal Jax’s smiling face. "Hi!" she said softly, trying to disguise the pure joy she was experiencing down deep at his arrival.

"Hi, yourself," Jax replied, wondering why all the bad things that had happened during the day suddenly seemed to fade into nothingness. Then his face took on a comical grimace. "Don’t you know you shouldn’t open the door without checking first to see who it is?"

"Yo, Bren, if that’s fresh meat at the door, bring him in!" Lucky shouted. "You’re not rich enough to keep up with us and we need new victims!"

Brenda smiled and nodded over her shoulder. "My poker buddies. Did you come to play?"

{Now *there’s* a loaded question if I ever heard one.} Jax had to pull his imagination out of the gutter. "After my third surgery today, I decided that a rousing round of poker was just what I needed. Is it too late?"

Brenda opened the screen door. "Obviously not. Come on in – if you’ve got cash with you, that is!" she laughed. "I don’t take plastic!" As Jax came through the door, she was gratified to see that he had worn a short-sleeve mint green shirt and khaki Dockers. There was nary a tie or a sport coat to be seen.

She closed the door behind him and when she turned around, he extended a bottle of white wine. "A peace offering? I remembered you liked white," Jax said hopefully.

Brenda’s smile lit up the room. "Thanks." She extended her hand and led him to the dining room table, where three sets of eyes gave him the once-over like a father inspecting the boy taking his only daughter to the prom. "Jax, these are my good friends and poker buddies. Guys – this is Jasper Jacks, a surgeon who also happens to run the ER sometimes down at Cedars."

Reggie rose to the occasion first. "Hi, Jasper, I’m Reggie Jennings," he said warmly, lisping ever so slightly. "I’m a butler for the Quartermaines and Monica just can’t say enough about you."

Jax shook Reggie’s hand but gave Brenda a funny look. "Nice to meet you, Reggie. And it’s Jax – with an "x". I hate my first name."

"Me, too!" Reggie gushed. "Look, Bren, we already have something in common."

Brenda sighed at her friend’s antics and pulled Jax closer to her for reassurance. Jax glanced down at the small movement, liking it a lot and not really caring why she did it as long as she did. "That’s Nicholas Cassidine. He’s an antiques dealer and sells to a lot of the shops downtown."

Jax shook hands with Nicholas, who courteously welcomed him to the game. "A surgeon, huh? You know," Nicholas said, dollar signs dancing in his eyes, "you might be interested in a new credenza that I just got in. Really nice mahogany finish. Would look great in a den or library."

"Thanks. I’ll remember that," Jax replied. "As soon as I get a den or library, I’ll give you a call."

"And this," Brenda said, gesturing to the third man, "is Lucky Spencer. He’s an electrician. Right now he’s doing some rehab work on some old houses."

"Ahh, rehabbing. There was a lot of that in Boston – where I lived before I moved here," Jax explained.

Lucky looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah – well, I always say, let an electrician un-do your shorts." He glanced at the other two men and back to Brenda. "So, now that we’re all chumsy-wumsy, can we get down to playin’ again? I’m down 20 bucks to you, Bren, and I don’t like it."

Brenda pulled an extra chair over for Jax. "I’ll be right back as soon as I put this in the frig and get Jax something to drink." She looked at him. "White wine?"

"That would be great, thanks," Jax nodded, eyeing the other three poker players carefully and swinging a leg over the chair. As Brenda disappeared from the room, Jax felt three sets of eyes focus on him intently. "Is there a problem, gentlemen?"

"Not as long as Brenda’s happy," Lucky replied, not exactly smiling. "You bein’ here seems to make her happy, and that’s what counts."

Jax took in the information and was secretly glad to hear that Brenda had been missing him. Things today were definitely looking up.

Two hours later, Jax wasn’t so sure things were going that well. He and Brenda hadn’t had an argument since he arrived, but then he hadn’t had any time alone with her, either. And although he was seated next to her at the table, every time he tried to scoot his chair a little closer to hers, he got the evil eye from one of the Three Stooges.

Jax threw his cards into the center of the table. "Well, gentlemen, that’s it. I’m tapped out for the evening." He glanced at Brenda. "You didn’t tell me that you and your friends played for blood."

Brenda blushed a little and looked at Reggie, Lucky and Nicholas. "Jax and I played a few friendly hands of poker the other night while we were waiting for Lois’s baby to arrive. I told him that you guys played for higher than a nickel ante, but I guess he didn’t believe me." She rose from the table and started to take some of the empty beer bottles and glasses to the kitchen.

"Here, let me help you with those," Jax offered, finally seeing an opportunity to have some time alone with the only poker player in the room that really mattered to him.

"Thanks." Jax followed Brenda through the swinging doors, his arms laden with empty glasses and the empty bowl that had contained the potato chips. Once they were in the kitchen, she looked back at him with embarrassment. "You think they’re awful, don’t you?"

Jax set down the glasses and walked over to where she stood at the sink. "Awful? I’m not sure that’s how I would describe them." As Brenda began to run some soapy water and submerge the glasses, Jax leaned against the sink and folded his arms across his chest. "Let’s see – Nicholas wants to sell me some expensive old piece of junk that I’ll never use but will make him a fat commission. Lucky looks like he would break my kneecaps if I ever so much as looked cross-eyed at you. And Reggie…." Jax rolled his eyes. "…..Reggie keeps looking at me like *I’m* the fat, brown Thanksgiving turkey and he wants the drumstick!"

Brenda dried her hands on a towel. "Well, you have to understand. They’re just very …..protective…. of me. I met all of them in different ways since I moved to this part of the city, but they just sort of meshed into a nice poker group. I think they all kind of see me as their little sister," she blushed.

Jax moved in closer to Brenda. "How fortunate for me," he murmured. "No competition there." He leaned down to graze his lips over the soft skin where her shoulder met her neck. "You smell incredibly good, do you know that, Ms. Barrett?"

Brenda giggled, although she was nearly melting on the inside from the way his lips on her skin made her feel. "That’s pretty amazing considering that I’ve just spent several hours with three beer-swilling, chip-devouring males."

Jax smiled against her neck. "I noticed you didn’t include me in that group. I must be making some progress," he said, trailing one hand to the small of her back. As he began to trace small circles through the thin fabric of her sundress, Brenda gripped the sink for support as her knees threatened to buckle. His hand moved lower as his lips moved to the soft spot behind her ear. "Do you know you have the most incredible…."

"YO, BRENDA-AAAAA!" Lucky’s voice rang out, making her name into three syllables. "Enough of the nooky in there! Me and Nick is leavin’ and we wanna say our goodnights!"

Jax pulled away and lay his head in frustration on Brenda’s shoulder. "How can someone whose most common expression is "YO" be so insightful?"

Brenda shrugged her shoulders, but then made the mistake of looking up into Jax’s eyes as she turned away from the sink. "Why don’t you say good-bye to the three of them so we can get down to some serious……necking?" Jax asked, his voice husky, his finger trailing down the side of her cheek to rub over her lower lip.

"YO, BREN, TELL HIM TO TAKE HIS HAND OFF YOUR @SS OR I’M COMIN’ IN THERE!" Lucky repeated, and Brenda managed to pull herself away from Jax’s sensual touch.

"No that’s OK, Lucky, I’m coming," Brenda replied with a smile. She put her finger to Jax’s lips. "But hold that thought," she whispered, and his heart did a funny tap dance again as she walked through the swinging doors.

Jax sat nonchalantly on the couch, his arms spread behind him, as the Three Players said their good-nights. "Just page me if you need me, Brenda," Nicholas said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "I can be back here in a few minutes – I’ll only be down at the warehouse checking on some of the newest shipments." He gave Jax a meaningful look as he went out the door.

Lucky took her in his arms and looked deeply into her eyes. "I have one simple thing to say to you, Brenda," he said seriously. "Just use your knee and aim for his n…."

"I GOT THE PICTURE!" Brenda cut him off before he could be too graphic in his instructions. Jax uncomfortably shifted position on the couch, re-crossing his legs and wincing slightly as Lucky gave him a pointed look.

Finally, Reggie leaned in for a kiss and a hug. "Let me guess….you have one simple piece of advice for me too, right?" Brenda sighed.

"Not really, sweetie," Reggie whispered, "because if you don’t want him, he’s ALL mine!!!"

Brenda pushed him out the door and finally closed it and threw the dead bolt. The silence in the room magnified the sound, and Brenda turned back self-consciously to Jax, who was still sitting on the couch.

He extended his hand to her. His hair fell down across his forehead as he sent her a smile that she swore could melt granite. "So……you wanna make out?"

To be continued……