Rated: PG for language and situation

"Geeeeeez, Mac……" The new wrinkle caught Jax completely offguard. The physical resemblance between the two men was striking – that was a fact that couldn’t be ignored. Brenda could have easily mistaken one for the other that day in the traffic jam, particularly if she had been on the verge of a panic attack. But Jax couldn’t quite ignore the niggling doubts that plagued him – was Mac really a psychotic killer, so desperate to avoid capture that he would incriminate his own son?

"I know, Jax……" Mac sank into his desk chair and covered his face with his hands before looking back up at Jax with tears in his eyes. "How do I tell Felicia that her firstborn might be a serial killer?"

Jax struggled to remain cool and objective – to approach this as he would any other murder investigation. He couldn’t afford to accept Mac’s word carte blanche. Not with Brenda’s life at stake. "How long have you suspected him, Mac?"

"I think it was sometime after about the fifth murder." Mac balled a fist and put it to his lips, resting his elbow on the armrest of his desk chair. His other hand rubbed back and forth nervously on the opposite armrest. "I told you that Mac, Junior was coming back home from college a lot this year…….more than usual."

"Yeah." Jax walked slowly over to the chair in front of Mac’s desk and sat down. "You mentioned you thought it was a girlfriend."

"I wish to h*ll it was that innocent." Mac shook his head and stared off into space. "The kid won’t talk to Felicia or me, but I kept telling myself it was some kind of hormonal thing. Then I happened to notice that most of his little trips home coincided with the dates the Slasher struck."

"Most?"

"The times he came home and we knew about it." Mac cleared his throat and stared down awkwardly into his lap. "We……uh…….well, we haven’t been getting along so swell lately, so we found out there were a few times he came back to Port Charles and didn’t ……. didn’t stop in to see us."

Jax nodded thoughtfully. "OK – let’s look at this like the DA would, Mac. So we MIGHT have opportunity." He leaned forward, his hands clenched before him. "But why would Mac, Junior do it? What was…….IS his motive?"

"I told you, Jax – we haven’t been getting along. " Mac’s breath caught as he inhaled. "Truth is the kid hates me."

"Why would he hate you?"

"H*ll if I know!!" Mac suddenly rose from his chair and put his hands on his hips, staring at a corner of his office where the ceiling met the wall. "Maybe it’s because his mother and I had some problems in the marriage there for a while. Maybe it’s just all that teenage angst sh*t that all the shrinks talk about!"

"But if the kid hates *you*, why would he kill other people?" Jax’s voice was gentle. "Why wouldn’t he…….I mean……."

"Why wouldn’t he just slice MY throat?" Mac laughed sarcastically. "Don’t you see, Jax? This is much better!" He leaned over his desk towards Jax, his eyes sparkling with a combination of anguish and fury. "Committing the perfect crime – eluding the police for months on end – making me look bad with the mayor and the people of Port Charles – that’s the ultimate scr*w you to his old man!"

Jax chewed silently on his lower lip. "I don’t know, Mac. I guess that *does* make sense, in a sad kind of way. And the fact that his trips home coincide with the killings is evidence – but it’s circumstantial at best."

"He’s got motive. He’s got opportunity….." Mac straightened and stared bullets at Jax. "And he’s got means."

Jax’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. "You found a murder weapon?" Another puzzling aspect of the Slasher case was that the actual knives the killer used were never located.

"Sort of. Felicia has been missing kitchen knives lately." Mac sat back down and pulled his desk chair close in so he could speak in hushed tones. "They disappear for a few days, and then show up back in the rack as though nothing had happened." He snorted sarcastically again. "Maxie’s been making jokes that the house is haunted by a bunch of Japanese fry cooks."

Jax crossed his legs, propping one ankle on the other knee, his one eye narrowed suspiciously. "And that’s all you’ve got?"

"That……." Mac sighed loudly and sank back into his chair. "And the ski masks." He shook his head and rubbed his forehead with his thumb and first two fingers. "They had blood stains on ‘em, Jax. I would bet my pension on it."

The air left Jax’s lungs in a long whoosh. "Then why didn’t you do anything about it, Mac? Why didn’t you have the ski masks tested….."

"I know, I know – I SHOULD HAVE!" Mac exploded. He rose from his desk again and pounded a fist against the wall with a sharp expletive, making Jax jump a little in his chair. Mac’s shoulders shuddered with the release of tension and then he turned back to Jax. "But I just kept telling myself that it couldn’t be true – that the blood came from cuts he got shaving or that he cut his finger on the snow shovel and rubbed it on his face to stop the bleeding." He shook his head. "But if they came back positive, how could I ever tell Felicia? How could I explain to the families of the victims that my kid killed their loved ones to get even with me for some wacked out psycho-babble reason?"

Jax took a deep breath and then rose. "We need those ski masks, Mac. Now."

Mac’s eyes rose to meet Jax’s and then lowered. "They’re gone."

"Gone?"

"Felicia was dumb enough to let it slip that she was going to clean his room for Thanksgiving – cause we had company coming." Mac grimaced. "Mac, Junior figured out that she might find something, so before I could get in there, he took everything out of his drawers and hauled it God knows where."

Jax whistled softly and then ruffled his hair with his fingers. "Well, we have to do something about this, Mac. Even though it’s painful, you can’t just ignore it anymore."

"I know." Mac put his hands on his hips. "And I know what needs to be done." His gaze was cool and calculating when he met Jax’s. "But we’ll need Miss Barrett’s cooperation."

Jax felt a momentary shudder of panic run through his body. "How so?"

"Mac, Junior is scheduled to come in tomorrow night for another visit home. I’ve….uh……" Mac stared down at his desk for a moment before looking back up into Jax’s eyes again. "I talk about my work a lot at home, so he knows about the Slasher case."

"Including that Brenda saw his face?"

Mac nodded. "And that she couldn’t remember what the Slasher looked like. He was with me that night – waiting in the car – when you told me about your scheme to flush out the dirtbag."

Jax’s features grew stony with understanding. "So now you need to tell Mac, Junior that she really remembered what the Slasher looks like."

"Um-hmmm. And since he knows where Brenda lives….."

"He’ll come after her." Jax’s voice was clipped.

"But we’ll be waiting for him." Mac pointed a finger at Jax. "You HAVE to make Miss Barrett understand that we won’t let anything happen to her!"

"You bet your @ss we won’t." Jax eyed Mac frostily for ten more seconds before whirling to leave the office.

"Jax!" Mac’s call made Jax freeze in the doorway and turn back. "I don’t……." He looked down, clenched his fists again, and when he looked back up again, tears glinted in his eyes. "Serial killer or not, he’s still my SON, Jax! I don’t want some half-cocked rookie taking a pot shot at him. He deserves a fair trial – no matter how bloodthirsty his crimes have been."

Jax’s chin firmed but then he grimaced and nodded brusquely. "Agreed. I’ll only use officers I can trust for the bust. And I’ll make sure they understand that Junior is to be taken alive, if possible."

"Thanks, Jax." Mac exhaled quickly. "I guess it’ll be good to get this out in the open – and have it over with."

"Yeah." Jax’s thoughts flew to a dark-haired beauty waiting for him at the Port Charles Hotel. "Have it be over for all of us."

*~*~*~*~*

"You’re KIDDING me!!"

V sat on the edge of the sunken bathtub in the middle of the Honeymoon Suite’s "living room." Her chin was cupped in her hands, her eyes round with amazement. "How much do you think I could get for my Malibu Ken doll?"

"Depends on the condition." Brenda scooped up double handfuls of luxurious bubbles and blew them away playfully. "If it’s still in the original box and has all the marketing materials that came with the doll – anywhere from $500 up."

"HOLY SMOKES!!" V laughed giddily and cradled her head in her hands. "I never realized that my old doll collection could bring that much money!"

"Well, we’d have to find the right buyer, of course," Brenda added seriously. She leaned back in the tub, sinking her shoulders beneath the lavender-scented water. The few wispy tendrils of hair she allowed to escape her upswept bun curled riotously around her ears. "If you like, I could make some discreet inquiries with a few of my fellow dealers – just to see if anyone would be interested in that particular style of doll."

"That would be FANTASTIC, Miss Barrett!!" V stared off somewhere over Brenda’s right shoulder and sighed. "Just think -- if I could sell just a few of those old dolls, I could put the money away in a long-term CD and have a nifty nest egg by the time I’m ready to retire!"

The sound of a key in the door to the suite made V scramble to her feet. Brenda muffled a yelp and sank lower in the tub. As V reached for the Glock pistol at the small of her back, the handle turned and the door opened just a crack.

"I smell that girlie perfumey stuff I love so much!! Are you decent, Laura, honey?"

Brenda’s eyes grew as wide as saucers at the sound of Jax’s voice. She shook her head briskly at V in the negative and pointed towards the bathroom. "Uh…….not quite, Luke," she called nervously. Then, she turned to V in full panic mode. "Get me a towel!" she growled softly. "NOW!!"

"Well, ready or not, here I come!!" Just as V followed Brenda’s orders and disappeared into the bathroom, Jax bounded through the front door of the suite. He closed it behind him, apparently not noticing that Brenda had turned as red as the Christmas poinsettias in the lobby. The sight of Brenda’s bare shoulders rising from the fragrant bubbles in the tub made him pause momentarily as his too-long-denied libido went into overdrive.

"Jax! Lieutenant! Sir!!" V’s cheerful greeting sounded like a cannon shot in the silent room. She rubbed her collarbone briskly with her free hand while juggling a fluffy white bath towel in the other. "You …..uh……" As Jax slowly started to advance, V rushed towards him and tried to put herself between her senior officer and a certain Brunette Temptation named Barrett. "We didn’t expect you back this soon!"

The hint of a smile curled his lips upward. "Yeah……obviously."

"Well……" V was gesturing wildly in her nervousness. "Miss Barrett was just getting kind of anxious and I thought that maybe ……. well, I mean since we didn’t expect you back this soon…….and since the suite is paid for and everything……"

"V!!" Jax held up a hand to stop the avalanche of excuses. "It’s fine." Brenda felt his gaze burning into her back and sank even lower in the tub. "You can go now."

"Go?!" Brenda shot up a little – at least, as far as the height of bubbles and common decency would allow. She pointed towards V. "You mean, you’re back, like in everything’s finished?"

"Yep." Jax shoved his hands in his jeans pockets.

"Already?" Brenda’s voice squeaked a little.

"Yep." Jax smiled mischievously as he reached out to take the towel from V. "I’ll take over from here."

"Yessssss, sir……" V looked hesitantly from Jax to Brenda and back again. "I’m….uh…….." She laughed loudly as Jax took the towel from her. "I’m sure you will!"

To Brenda’s dismay, Jax retained possession of the towel as he walked V to the door of the suite. She chewed on her lower lip, debating whether she should try to make a mad dripping dash for the bathroom. But just as she was gathering her courage and gripping the sides of the tub for momentum, the door slammed shut, prompting her to sink back down in the scented froth again.

"Sooooo……" Jax strode back to the tub. He slipped off his bomber jacket, tossed it – AND the towel – on a nearby chair, and then settled – much to Brenda’s consternation – on the side of the tub next to her right arm. "Is it working?"

"Excuse me?" Brenda paddled at the water a little, trying to stir up more bubbles to replace the ones that were disintegrating far too quickly for her demure taste.

"The bubble bath….." Jax raised his eyebrows innocently. "Is it working? To relieve your stress?"

"Yeah!" Brenda smiled brightly. "It’s wonderful!" Then her expression changed from sprightly to serious as she momentarily forgot about her predicament. "But what happened with Mac? Why aren’t you all tied up with fingerprinting and mug shots, booking him for all those murders?"

"Because it turns out that Mac wasn’t the Slasher after all. His son is."

"His son?" Brenda frowned. "Are you sure?"

"The kid’s a dead ringer for his old man." Jax rose slowly to his feet and started unbuttoning his shirt. "There’s this picture of the kid on the wall in Mac’s office, and if I hadn’t seen the building in the background, I would have sworn it was the Commissioner himself." When he shrugged out of his shirt, his broad chest glistening in the flickering candles Brenda had lit for relaxation, she felt like somebody turned up the temperature in the tub 1000 degrees. "The kid’s been coming home a lot more often from college this year, and his trips coincide with the dates the murders were committed."

"Amazing……." Brenda’s head bobbed up and down like a plastic dog on the back deck of a car. When Jax started to slowly slide the zipper on his jeans down, she swallowed hard. "Uh, Jax…….what are you doing?"

He froze just for an instant, his hands on the waistband of his jeans, and stared matter-of-factly into her eyes. "I stink."

"You WHAT?"

"I said, I stink." Brenda felt her heart rate at least double as Jax shimmied the jeans down his legs. Although he was still clad in his navy satin boxers, she could see clearly see that cleanliness wasn’t the only thing on his mind. "After I spend any time at all in the precinct, I always feel like I smell like cigarettes and cheap booze from all the bums." He hooked a thumb in the elastic of his boxers. "Mind if I join you?"

"You……you……." Brenda swallowed once and tried to appear nonchalant. "Well, I’m…..uh……I’m not sure that there’ll be room in here for the both of us……."

"Ohhhh, I think we’ll manage just fine," Jax replied with a confident smile. He quickly rid himself of the boxers, giving Brenda a glimpse of heaven before he disappeared into the bubbles at the opposite end of the sunken tub.

"Jax!" Brenda squealed in spite of herself when she felt his bare toes slide up the side of her leg.

"You know, I’ve got an idea……" In the wink of an eye, Jax pulled on Brenda’s ankles, dragging her body towards him. Before she could register a complaint, he caught her around the waist and nestled her onto his lap, straddling him intimately.

"Jax……" His name came out on a soft whimper as Brenda felt his impressive masculinity settle against her tender, responsive flesh. "I don’t……"

"You don’t think this is better?" He lifted her gently out of the water, his hands still at her waist, and then lowered her again, rubbing her already swollen and aching breasts against the golden fur of his chest. "Because I can stop if you want me to……."

"…..don’t stop don’t stop don’t stop……." Brenda gripped his shoulders tightly and moaned aloud when Jax traced a path down the front of her neck to bathe the hollow of her throat with his tongue.

"We’ve denied ourselves for long enough, Brenda," he crooned, pulling away just long enough to reach a hand out of the tub. He fumbled momentarily in the pocket of his jeans for something and then smiled triumphantly. "Now that we know who the Slasher is, and that he’s miles and miles away from us……"

"So, you mean that it’s safe……..*we’re* safe, and we can…….." Brenda moved her hips in anticipation against Jax’s body, trying to soothe the need that had raged in her ever since their first kiss.

"Yes." He gave her another broad smile and a long, drugging kiss after protecting her. "NOW we can."

She watched the intense delight wash over his face as he purposefully lifted her again, then lowered her with exquisite slowness. Her own pleasure spiraled upwards as he filled her at an oh-so-leisurely pace until they were completed joined. Once he had her firmly in place, Jax placed his hands at her breasts, drawing them to his seeking lips.

She had never felt so safe. So feminine. So powerful, and yet so overpowered. Brenda’s senses soared as the water swirled and eddied around them with their movements. Jax’s hands left her breasts and slid down to grab her hips again, setting up a new rhythm that made her catch her breath. Reeling from the intensity of the pleasure, she placed her hands against the flat of his chest for balance, her thumbs brushing against his dark brown nipples.

Her touch drew a guttural moan from deep within Jax as his excitement rose. "Ahhhhh, Brenda……..I want to get lost in you and never find my way out." His hands slid even further down to cup her bottom to increase the speed and power of their joining. It was almost more than Brenda could stand. Her eyelids fluttered as a joyful cry of fulfillment pierced the heady silence in the room.

Brenda’s head drooped forward onto Jax’s shoulder as it was his turn to hurtle towards release. When it came, she held him tightly, feeling him shudder as he murmured his love to her over and over. "I love you, too, Jax," she whispered, trying to control her ragged breathing. "I love you, too."

*~*~*~*~*

Something in your eyes makes me want to lose myself,

"Your brother-in-law is going to KILL you when he sees this hotel bill!"

Brenda giggled as the juice from a luscious strawberry dipped in champagne dribbled down her chin. She sat cross-legged on the enormous heart-shaped bed with Jax, both of them wearing the complimentary white terrycloth robes that the hotel provided. It had been long after dark – almost 8 o’clock – before they called a temporary halt to their lovemaking and decided to summon room service and much-needed food.

"Well, if he DOES decide to do me in, at least I’ll die a happy man!" Jax retorted. He refilled a flute of champagne, handed it to Brenda, and then proceeded to do the same for himself before clinking it against hers in a toast. "I don’t think I’ve EVER been as happy as I am right now, Brenda," he whispered, staring deeply into her eyes before giving her a champagne-flavored kiss.

Brenda reverently traced the side of his face with her fingers. "I DO love you, Jax," she confessed softly. "You left me so fast this morning that I didn’t get a chance to say it back to you!"

"I wasn’t quite sure……." He grinned and stared down into his lap self-consciously, a shock of blonde hair falling down over his forehead. "Well, I just didn’t know how you’d feel about it." His eyes suddenly misted over. "Brenda, I didn’t think I would ever feel this way about someone again…….not after Miranda." His chin quivered ever so slightly. "For a long time, all I wanted to do was die, too. I guess I felt guilty that I was still alive…… and she wasn’t."

If you knew how lonely my life has been

"I know." She cupped the side of his face tenderly and tipped her head to the side with a smile. "We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to."

"No!" Jax placed his hand over hers and then turned towards the side to place a kiss in her palm. "I *want* you to know, Brenda!" He took the champagne glass from her and set it on the floor next to the bed along with his, then held her hands in his. "I haven’t felt this perfect …….this *complete* since Miranda died. And now that I have……." He raised her hands to his lips reverently. "Now that I’ve found you, I never want to let you go."

"Jax….." His name came out on a whisper. "You know that this all……" Brenda gestured to the room and its furnishings. "This whole *adventure* doesn’t change the fact that the Slasher is still out there, and he wants to kill me."

"But after tomorrow night it’ll all be over, Brenda!" Jax objected. "The Slasher will be behind bars and you and I’ll be free to start a life together!" He gathered her to him and held her head fast against his rapidly beating heart. "Our perfect, perfect life……."

Feels like home to me, feels like home to me,

They cuddled silently for thirty seconds, and then Brenda broke the solitude with a soft laugh. "It’ll hardly be perfect – not with *me* around……"

Jax pulled back and placed his knuckle to her chin to lift her face. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

"Me? Little Miss Scared-of-the-Outside-World Nutcase?" She gave him a mock scolding stare. "Have you forgotten, Lieutenant?"

Jax grimaced. "I *told* you I was sorry about that, Brenda, and I meant it!"

"I *know* you are, Jax," she countered, "and you’ve been great about my agoraphobia, making sure I’m not frightened about going places and taking care of me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this…….this comfortable, or this *safe* with anyone before in my life." She scooched back a little on the bed and stared down into her lap. "But I get the feeling that you’re talking about us being together for more than just a few weeks, and after a while, you’ll get tired of being cooped up inside that old brownstone with me." Her eyes misted over. "Just like Sonny did….."

Jax reached out to slide a hand beneath the hair at the nape of her neck and cradled her head gently. "I’m not like him, Brenda. I won’t get tired of you, or get bored being in that old clattertrap of a house all the time……" He snorted wryly. "If anything, I won’t have to worry about you going out and getting ……well, having some drunk driver take you away from me."

Brenda blinked back tears. "I guess neither one of us is exactly perfect, are we?" Jax laughed softly with her and shook his head. "I mean, I’m afraid of the big, bad world, and you’re …… you’re…….."

He chewed on his lower lip and then sighed with mock sadness. "Deathly afraid of cockroaches."

"Cockroaches?" Brenda’s eyes widened and she wiped at her eyes with the back of one hand. "You’re afraid of *cockroaches*?"

"Yep." Jax nodded somberly. "Can’t STAND the little buggers, pardon the expression." He sighed. "Gotta have Blue stomp on all the little blighters down at the PCPD while I stand *way* up on my desk chair to make sure they don’t touch me with those big feeler things they have up on their heads!"

Brenda stifled her giggle as best she could. "And just what do you do if Blue’s not around to kill one, Lieutenant?" She glanced over his shoulder towards the door to the suite and wove her fingers gracefully in the air in front of his face. "Or what if I told you one was creeping towards us even as we speak, waving its little antennae like mad, just looking for YOU?"

"I’d say……." Jax thought for a moment. "I’d say I’d have to GRAB you and THROW you on the bed to save you from the big, bad cockroach monster!!" he yodeled, demonstrating his technique on Brenda as she squealed with laughter.

They fell back onto the bed together, a tangle of arms and legs and hands and warm, half-naked bodies. Jax slid Brenda beneath him, seizing the opportunity to lick the tender, sensitive flesh behind her ear. Then he nipped the point of her chin before trailing kisses down the front of her throat to the shadowy valley of her breasts inside the robe.

"Jax……."

"Hmmmm…….you say that a lot, you know." His blonde head was buried between her breasts. "But go on – I’m listening."

"You can listen……" Brenda gasped and took a long, shuddering breath when his tongue did delicious things inside the robe. "…….but I’m not sure I can talk when you’re doing that!"

"Then don’t talk." Jax gave the belt of her robe a yank, revealing her flushed body to his sparkling eyes once more. "You are SO perfect. SO beautiful."

"Jax," Brenda suddenly gasped. "We CAN’T do this!"

"Why not?" He raised his head. "I stopped by my apartment on the way over here from the station, so we don’t have to worry about protection anymore……"

"No, it’s not that!" Brenda seized his blonde head as he lowered it towards her breasts again, forcing him to look into her eyes. "It’s……it’s……" She glanced upwards at the mirror over the bed. "It’s THAT thing!"

Jax’s eyes lifted towards the reflective monstrosity over the bed. "It bothers you?" He smiled again wickedly. "Just ignore it!" he chuckled, and then dove towards her body again with hedonistic relish.

Brenda’s eyes slid closed as Jax stroked her breasts gently, circling them with his long, lean fingers, inching ever closer to the centers. But when he pulled away to shed his robe and she opened her eyes languidly, the magic spell broke and she shot straight up in bed again. "Jax! I just……I can’t!" she cried, shaking her head firmly. She glanced up at the mirror. "I can’t ignore it and I just……well, I feel like some kind of pervert or something!"

Jax grimaced and settled back on his haunches, his hands planted on his thighs for balance. He thought for a moment and then smiled at her. "I’ve got an idea." Not at all bothered by the fact that he was naked as a jaybird, he bounced out of the bed, strode over to the entertainment center and fiddled with the knobs until he found some sultry, seductive jazz on the radio. When he turned back to her, Brenda couldn’t tear her eyes away from the love that was shining in his.

When Jax returned to the bed, he removed Brenda’s robe slowly, placing kisses along the tender flesh of her shoulders that he revealed as he did. He joined her in the bed, laying her on her back as he settled on his stomach on her left side. "Just relax, Brenda," he crooned in her ear as his left hand splayed over her stomach while her breasts swelled in anticipation. "Lie back and watch – watch me love you."

"Jax, I……"

"Shhhhh……" Jax swallowed her objections, sinking his tongue deeply into her mouth while his hand found her throbbing softness. His kiss plunged and then retreated, teasing Brenda into a mindless ache that only his loving could soothe. When he broke the kiss and nestled his face in the crook of her shoulder, her eyes fluttered open and focused on the mirror above them.

He talked to her – whispering his praise, his love, how her response to his touch thrilled and excited and pleased him. As Brenda’s chest began to rise and fall more rapidly, she watched Jax’s fingers explore and caress the swollen folds of her most feminine place. She saw his body flex and clench next to hers, the muscles golden and glowing with a fine sheen of perspiration in the candlelit room. Her hands moved unconsciously to his shoulders when his thumb probed, swirled, and found the one spot that, in his words, "made her make those silly little noises in the back of her throat." Still he kept encouraging her, murmuring erotic suggestions that brought a deeper blush to her cheeks and sent images through her brain that only intensified the pleasure.

If you knew how happy you are making me

When he finally moved over her to make them once yet again, she was more than ready. "Watch us, Brenda," Jax whispered in a husky, hitching voice. "Watch how perfectly we fit together."

Feels like home to me, feels like home to me

She followed his instructions, her mouth forming a perfect "O" at the sight of their pleasure. It was almost surreal – the feel of Jax loving her, the sound of his love chant in her ears, the taste of his salty, glistening skin, the sight of their bodies joined in the most intimate, most traditional of ways. When fulfillment came, there was light and heat and a sense of drowning in the most perfect pool of pleasure they had ever experienced.

Feels like home to me, feels like home to me

When rational thought returned, Brenda stroked her fingers through Jax’s damp blonde hair lovingly. "Thank you…….for loving me."

He chuckled softly. "I think that’s supposed to be my line, love." He pushed the hair back off her face and placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Just 24 more hours and this will all be over and we can be together, Brenda. Remember that."

She nodded somberly. "24 more hours. And then we’ll be happy."

Feels like I’m all the way back where I belong………

To be continued……

Music credit: "Feels Like Home," written by Randy Newman, performed by Chantal Kreviazuk on the "Dawson’s Creek" soundtrack.