"I always took you for a smart woman, Miss Davis." He shook his head, clucking his tongue in mock pity as he stared into his coffee. "Passing up a half million dollars that night was probably the most short-sighted thing you’ve ever done."

She snorted sarcastically. "At least you had the good grace not to call me stupid."

"It WAS though, you know," John retorted, arching a gray eyebrow at her. "Stupid, I mean." His eyes were cold, calculating as always. "You could have spared Jax a great deal of pain by accepting my offer."

"I…….I could have spared him pain??!!" Alexis choked back a gasp of surprise, pressing her hand to her chest in shock. "THIS, coming from a man who *knowingly* sent HIS OWN SON off on an emotional wild goose chase for over a year??!!"

"I wouldn’t have had to do it if you had just taken the money." Nary a flicker of emotion passed over John’s face. "You forced my hand, Miss Davis."

She took a breath to respond to his accusation but then let it out slowly, her eyes narrow with contempt. "You know, I never could figure out exactly WHY you were so h*ll bent to keep me from marrying Jax." Her acid smile didn’t phase John in the least. "Was it that I wasn’t good enough for him?" She flipped a hand airily to her side, imitating a fashion model. "Because I wasn’t a natural beauty, like the *world famous* Brenda Barrett?" she seethed derisively. "Because my cheek bones weren’t high enough, or my lips weren’t full enough?"

John’s lips fluttered as he snorted disdainfully. "Don’t be ridiculous……."

"Or was it because my bloodlines weren’t *pure* enough to mingle with the DNA of the almighty Jacks family? Because I was the bastard daughter of Mikkos Cassadine?" Alexis hissed, desperately fighting the tears that stung her eyes.

John set his coffee cup down on the sideboard. "You’re making far too much of this, Miss Davis……."

"Or was it that I wasn’t *smart* enough to marry your *brilliant* last-born son?" She came closer to him, assuming more of a casual stance laced with venom as she ticked off her accomplishments. "Did you know that I graduated summa cum laude? In the top one percent of my class? And you *still* thought that wasn’t good enough?"

John’s eyes glittered with barely-controlled anger. "Nobody’s ever accused you of being a dim bulb, Alexis." His look sent chills racing down her spine. "In fact, very often you’re too smart for your own d*mn good."

Her eyes suddenly widened. "That’s IT, isn’t it?" She followed him when he abruptly strolled across the room towards his desk. "THAT’S why you didn’t want me to marry Jax!" She set her hands flat on his desk as he went behind it, supporting her weight as she leaned towards him. "Brenda may have been beautiful, but she was no Phi Beta Kappa. If you told her to do something, she did it – no questions asked. She wasn’t *smart* enough to ask why." She straightened, almost speaking more to herself than to her almost-father-in-law. "Brenda was a beautiful showpiece daughter-in-law, but the most important thing was that you could *control* her. And you couldn’t do that with me."

"If Jax had married you, I’m sure that carrying on the status quo in some areas would have been…….challenging." John’s icy composure slipped – but only for a millisecond. "No doubt it would have made certain aspects of *my* life more difficult."

"Ohhhh, and *far* be it from me to make your life DIFFICULT!!" Her chest heaved with indignation but then, just as John took a breath to volley her verbal lob, Alexis held up both hands towards him, palms outward, in a signal to stop. "You know," she sighed with a wry smile, glancing up at the ceiling, "I told myself on the way here that I wouldn’t let you get to me." Her eyes took on just a hint of the cold vehemence in his. "You always *were* one of the few people who could make me lose my cool when we matched wits."

John’s grin was smug. "Perhaps I was right the first time, Alexis. Perhaps you AREN’T as bright as I thought." He sank into his padded leather desk chair, gesturing towards a chair in front of the desk for her to do likewise. "It’s never wise to let your opponent know that you have an Achilles heel."

"Perhaps you have one too, Mr. Jacks." She mirrored his self-satisfied smile as she took a seat. "But yours has a name."

"My, my…….." John rested his elbows on the arms of his chair. He placed the steeple he made of his fingers against his lips, his eyes twinkling like a predator toying with its prey. "Has our purer-than-driven-snow assistant district attorney decided to resort to blackmail these days?"

"Hardly." Alexis crossed her legs, trying to look as dignified as she could in her worn black jeans and leather jacket. When Taggert called her at breakfast that morning, she had left the house in such a hurry to get to Von Alden’s interrogation that she hadn’t changed clothes. And after talking to Von Alden, what she was wearing was the LAST thing on her mind.

"Mr. Jacks, just how well were you acquainted with Miss Chloe Morgan?"

"Ahhhh, ever the efficient interrogator, aren’t you, Miss Davis?" John’s smile grated on Alexis’s nerves like nails on a chalkboard. "All right – I’ll play your little game." He folded his hands in his lap with a smile that was as innocent as she supposed he could muster. "Chloe Morgan was supposed to be your maid of honor, I believe."

"WAS being the operative word," Alexis shot back cynically. "Particularly since she was murdered last week."

"Yes – I believe Jax mentioned that." John shook his head, clucking his tongue. "Such a pity."

"Mmmmm……." Alexis fought the bile that rose in her throat at John’s feigned sympathy. "I’m sure you must have been *devastated* when you found out about her death."

"Well, I’m not sure devastated is the word I would use……" John gestured to the side with one had. "After all, I only met the young woman the night of your engagement party."

"And you’ve had no contact with her since then?"

"Why should I?"

"I don’t know." Alexis sat back in her chair, trying not to look too anxious as she got to the issue that prompted her visit. "The same way I don’t know why you would have paid off the twenty thousand dollars she owed a local loan shark."

"The answer to that is easy, Miss Davis." John’s cool, composed expression didn’t falter. Not a muscle moved in his face, much to her chagrin. "It’s because I didn’t do it."

"Damon Von Alden says you did."

"I have no idea who you’re talking about."

"Maybe you don’t. Maybe you never bothered to ask his name." Alexis suddenly felt the icy fingers of self-doubt clawing at her stomach. "But I’ve got the loan shark in custody, and he told us that you paid off Chloe Morgan’s marker to the tune of twenty thousand dollars the same day she was murdered."

"And you believed him? With no other corroborating evidence?" John Jacks rose from his chair, smirking broadly. "REALLY, Miss Davis………" He strolled nonchalantly towards the windows in the study that faced the garden. "I’m beginning to think more and more that I’m going to have to re-evaluate my opinion of your intelligence……"

The remnants of Starbucks coffee and raisin toast churned madly in Alexis’s stomach. HAD she been too quick to jump to conclusions, just because John Jacks was involved? Should she have checked out Von Alden’s story before charging out to the Jacks estate and making false accusations? But Chloe had been carrying John’s first grandchild. And even if Jerry’s affair would have wreaked havoc with his political campaign, Alexis knew that blood ties were important to John Jacks. The simple fact that Chloe was carrying an infant with Jacks bloodlines would have bought John’s support and open checkbook.

"But it all makes such perfect sense, Mr. Jacks," she argued, rising to her feet. It took all of her intestinal fortitude to keep a quiver of doubt from sounding in her voice. "You probably knew about the fact that Jerry had gotten Chloe pregnant, didn’t you? And when you found out about her marker with Von Alden, you thought that if you paid it off, she would OWE you." Alexis shrugged her shoulders as she laid out her case to a stoic audience of one. "Maybe even owe you enough to agree to go away quietly and have the baby where nobody could find out about it." She came up just behind him as he stared out intently at the gardens. "But then when you went to see Chloe to tell her about it, maybe she didn’t agree with your little plan."

"And exactly WHEN would I have gone to see Miss Morgan, hmm?" John spun around so quickly that it drew a small hiccup of surprise from Alexis. "Didn’t my wife already tell you that she and I had dinner with friends the night your friend was murdered?"

"Yes, she did – but according to my information, your reservation with the Baldwin’s at the Grille was for eight-thirty, which would have given you several hours before that to meet with Chloe." Alexis’s gaze was just as unwavering and glacial as his. "So exactly where WERE you between the hours of five and eight last Monday night, Mr. Jacks?"

"THAT’S ENOUGH!!" Both John and Alexis turned when Jax burst into the room. He strode quickly over to where they stood, raking his fingers through his tousled blonde hair as he did. "Don’t say another WORD, dad!"

"Jax, my boy!" John’s gleeful chortle was almost as disturbing to Alexis as the sight of the one man she had ever loved. It never ceased to amaze her – that even sleep-rumpled and hopping mad, the man still looked better in a pair of blue jeans than any mortal had a right to. That even though Jasper Jacks had broken her heart into a thousand little pieces, every time he came into the room, a little part of her went all hot and liquid and effervescent inside.

"Dad……" Alexis was drawn back to reality when the bridled anger in Jax’s voice cut through her longing like a knife. He settled his hands on both hips, glaring first at her and then at his father. "What’s going on here?"

"Why, Miss Davis and I were having a nice chat, weren’t we, my dear?" John replied. His smooth, oily glibness made her aborted breakfast threaten to reappear. He moved to the sideboard, lifting the coffee pot and an empty cup. "Would you care to join us?"

"No." Jax wound an arm through Alexis’s and before she could voice an objection, dragged her towards the door to the study. "Miss Davis was just leaving."

She sputtered vague objections, but Jax was a man on a mission. Just as he opened the door to the study with his free hand, John shook his head and smiled malevolently. "Isn’t that just like my baby boy – always playing the white knight?"

Jax’s eyes flared briefly but when Alexis lurched back for her purse, he tightened his grasp on her arm. "That’s enough, dad……"

John knew that Jax understood his tactic – he was a lion, toying with Alexis like a downed deer before striking the killing blow. And his son could do nothing to stop him. "My Jax – always watching out for the people he cares about……"

When Jax saw the curiosity on Alexis’s face, he knew he had to get her out – fast. "We’ll be leaving now….."

"Willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING to protect the one he loves……."

Muttering an obscenity beneath his breath, Jax practically pushed Alexis back out into the foyer of the huge mansion. "GOODBYE, dad!" he growled, his handsome face twisted with rage. He turned back to his former fiancée, putting a hand to her elbow to forcibly guide her, but only managed to get a few steps before she dug in her heels like a recalcitrant toddler.

"What the h*ll was that all about?" Alexis asked. She jerked her arm free of his grasp, tottering slightly when his grip turned out to be weaker than she expected.

"I might ask you the same thing!!" Jax propped both hands on his hips, trying desperately to play the outraged innocent. He knew he had to distract Alexis from his father’s words before she started to ask questions he wasn’t prepared to answer. "So much for our little DEAL!"

Alexis stepped back, her face dropping in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I THOUGHT, Counselor," Jax hissed, coming closer to her and taking her arm again, "that you agreed not to question any members of my family until AFTER Jessie’s wedding!"

Momentary guilt sparkled in Alexis’s eyes, followed just as quickly by professional determination. "I had a credible lead this morning." Jax folded his arms, silently indicating she should continue. "Taggert brought in the man we discussed yesterday who leant Chloe the money."

Jax arched one eyebrow in a this-better-be-good gesture. "And?"

"And Von Alden said that your father paid off Chloe’s marker the afternoon she died," Alexis shot back, fiery and indignant as h*ll.

"And you believed him?" Jax countered, coughing incredulously. "You came out here to accuse my father of God knows what, based on the word of ONE lowlife loan shark?" One eye narrowed in prosecutorial fashion. "And isn’t questioning people about Chloe’s murder more Taggert’s realm of expertise?"

Alexis fluttered her eyes defensively, once again momentarily taken aback at her foolish, naïve impulsiveness. Just then, the doors to the study opened again and John Jacks put his head out. "Jax, my boy – you have a phone call."

Jax didn’t even look at his father. He kept his eyes locked on Alexis’s face, his back to John, his stance still grimly accusatory. "Take a message."

Alexis could see the victorious smirk on John’s face. "It’s Courtney Corinthos….."

{Great. What did I ever do to deserve this morning from h*ll?} "Tell her I’ll call her back," Jax snapped, reaching to take Alexis’s arm. "Right after I walk Miss Davis to her car."

"She wants to know what time you’ll be picking her up for the Symphony Auction on the 24^th," John called gleefully.

When Jax saw Alexis’s eyes widen with unspoken pain, he was suddenly, unabashedly, undeniably embarrassed. "She’s new in town and didn’t have anyone else to go with," he stuttered. Alexis shook her head quickly in a "that’s OK" denial, but he went on anyway. "It’s just some boring auction to raise money for the upcoming season….."

"She said that dinner at La Veranda before the auction sounds perfect!" John crowed with a broad smile. "She wants to know which Scotch you prefer so she can stock the bar in her apartment ….."

"Well, then," Alexis hissed, pulling her arm free again. "You’d better go talk to her, Jax! I’m sure I can see myself out!" When he reached for her again, she stepped back from the door, tears visibly stinging her eyes. "After all, you wouldn’t want your little "friend" to buy the wrong kind of Scotch, would you?"

"Alexis…..STOP!" Jax reached out for her as she spun around and strode angrily towards the door. "We need to talk!"

She grabbed the front doorknob and jerked the door open vehemently before turning back to him. "You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want me talking to anyone in your family, Jax!" Alexis shoved her purse beneath her arm with all the pride she could muster. "It’s probably best if we extend that ban to YOU, too!"

Jax’s shoulders jerked in time with the slam of the front door as Alexis exited. His head drooped, then he turned and glared at John with enough venom to put his father six feet under. "You’re treading on dangerous ground, old man," he snarled as he brushed past on his way into the study. He paused long enough to point a finger in warning, his chest heaving with impotent rage. "Don’t you EVER say something like that to Alexis again!"

John waited until Jax had picked up the phone to close the door behind him. "Me?" he asked with a mock innocent chuckle, leaning against the knob with a malicious, twisted smile. "Did I say something wrong?"

*~*~*~*

"Taggert!" Alexis swallowed a bite of sandwich quickly, took a sip of her soft drink, and then flipped a page in the file open before her. She never even looked up at the door to see who had made the noise in her outer office. "I’m glad you came back!" She frowned, pushing her glasses up higher on her nose as she squinted at the papers. "I just can’t seem to make heads or tails of Mac’s notes in the Washburn case."

"I’m afraid I won’t be much help." She froze and then quickly tried to calm her racing heart at the sound of a deep, Aussie-accented voice. "I…..uh……." Jax tentatively stepped through her open door, looking around her office to see if they were alone. "I never was very good with hieroglyphics."

"Jax!" Alexis quickly closed the file and took off her glasses, trying to set them as calmly as possibly on the desk in front of her. "How…….um…" She took a discreet deep breath and attempted the nonchalant expression befitting a former-and-never-will-be-again lover. {Remember how he hurt you. Remember that he’s probably already seen *all* of Miss Courtney Corinthos’s hidden assets, no matter how platonic he tells you their relationship is.} "What are you doing here"

"Looking for you, actually." He moved farther into the office. {At least she hasn’t thrown anything at me yet.} "I went by your house but nobody was home….."

She nodded an interruption, still awkwardly polite. "Stefan’s chess tournament starts this afternoon. He probably won’t be home till late." {Why is he here? To rake me over the coals again about breaking our "deal"? Why is he being so …… contrite?} "But when I decided to try to get some work done at home, I found out I forgot a few of the files I needed, so I came in here to get them."

Jax pressed his lips together and nodded. "I see. And since you were here, you just *couldn’t* pass up the opportunity to get a few more things done." He inched forward yet again until he was standing between the chairs in front of her desk. "You always *were* a workaholic, Alexis," he added with a wry smile, pointing to the two neat columns of files on her right.

"Mmm……" Her echoing smile was thin-lipped. Twenty awkward, painful seconds of silence later, she sighed and her shoulders slumped into a more relaxed position. "Jax…….you didn’t answer my question the first time."

"D*mn." He snorted and shook his head. "I should have known better than to think you would overlook that little detail. I just…….." Jax slid into a chair, shucking off the stonewashed denim jacket he wore over a light blue cable knit sweater and black jeans. "You left the house yesterday in such a rush, and then I had more pre-wedding parties to endure last night before I got a free minute……" He tunneled his fingers through his already-unkempt hair. "I just couldn’t leave things between us the way they were ……"

A disturbing thin film of sweat rose on the back of Alexis’s neck as she tried to remain cool in the face of Jax’s apparently genuine concern for her. "There IS no US anymore, Jax," Alexis announced shakily, pushing one file aside to reach for another. Anything to keep her hands busy. "Not in any sense but a professional one, that is……." Pens squirted across the desk when she knocked over a small cup that held them. "I mean, you’ve obviously moved on and your social life is none of my business……"

"Lexie……." She prayed that he couldn’t feel the mad throbbing of her pulse when he caught her hand in mid-air. "I meant it when I said that Courtney was just a business acquaintance." When her eyes widened as Jax tried to fold her hand more tightly in his, he let go and dropped his eyes, staring at his feet guiltily. "I only agreed to take her to the symphony auction because my father set it up……."

"Ahhhh……" Alexis’s chin firmed and then lifted in understanding. "I should have known." John Jacks’ pervasive influence cast an icy chill over her raging hormones. "When the almighty Mr. Jacks talks, people obey."

{OK – at least she knows it wasn’t my idea. Let her hate the old man. That I can live with.} A twitching muscle at the corner of Jax’s eye betrayed his negative opinion of his father. "Well…….I didn’t come here to get into a debate about my father and his supposed Svengali powers." He rose from his chair, swiping his jacket and throwing it over his shoulder. "I’ll just leave you alone so you can get that work done….."

"You know, I keep thinking about something else John said yesterday……" Jax was almost to the door when Alexis’s voice stopped him cold. He stood, his hand poised over the doorknob, as she got up and walked around her desk, resting her hip on one corner. "About you being a white knight……"

{Double d*mn.} "I suppose he was talking about the fact that I came into the room just as you were questioning him….." Jax laughed lightly, hoping that Alexis wouldn’t hear the elephants break-dancing in his stomach. "You know – coming to his rescue to provide him with legal representation."

"I don’t think so." Alexis walked slowly over to where Jax stood. "He said something about you being willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING," she continued, folding her arms across her chest, "for the woman you love."

{This was a BIG mistake. You never should have come here. You should have just let her think the worst about you and Courtney.} "He……." Jax shrugged his shoulders. "He was probably talking about Brenda….." {That’s it. Turn the conversation to Brenda. Maybe that will make her remember how I hurt her and she’ll let it go.} He turned back to face Alexis and tipped his head to the side nonchalantly. "You know, about how I gave up so much of my life just searching for her……"

"But that doesn’t make sense." Alexis’s gaze trapped and held Jax’s. "Because you didn’t FIND her, Jax." She held both hands out to the side, palms upwards, much as she would have when trying to convince a jury. "If you had given up your life to search for Brenda and found her, THEN you would have sacrificed everything for her – the woman you loved." Alexis suddenly realized that Jax was very uncomfortable with the way she was unraveling the mystery. "But you didn’t – so your father wasn’t talking about Brenda."

He swallowed hard. "I suppose……"

"So then……" Alexis’s voice dropped to a whisper. "Was he talking about ME, Jax?" When she came closer to him, he could see the faint glint of tears in her eyes. "Did you really love …….?" Her voice broke and she wrapped one hand nervously around her throat.

"Do you really need to ask that, Alexis?" he choked, his chest heaving. "Of *course* I loved you!"

She quickly shook her head, blinking to clear the tears from her eyes. "So then what did he mean? What did you sacrifice for me?"

"Let it go, Alexis……." A firestorm of anger and resentment at his father for causing Alexis so much pain churned in Jax’s heart. "You know how much the old man just loves to twist the needle…..just to get you going ……."

"Oh….my…..God……" Alexis placed her fingers against her lips as partial realization dawned. "Those eighteen months after you came back from Europe …… when you didn’t call me…….." She reached out a hand tentatively towards him. "It was because your father MADE you stay away from me, wasn’t it?"

The anguished storm in Jax’s eyes gave her the answer to her question. "I don’t think I’ve ever spent a more miserable eighteen months in my life," he whispered.

"But it just doesn’t make sense!" Her eyebrows drew together in a frown. "You’re a grown man, Jax – not some impressionable teenager! Your father shouldn’t be able to dictate to you about whom you’re allowed to see….."

"You just don’t GET it, Alexis!" He covered his face with his hands, fighting back the rage that threatened to spill out, and then gave her another agonized look. "My father is RELENTLESS when it comes to controlling people. He’ll spare no expense to find something – ANYTHING – that will give him the ultimate control in a situation!"

"And he found something in your past that he could use against you?" Alexis shook her head, still confused. "But Jax, you could be the poster boy for integrity, for God’s sake! I just don’t see how……" The wretched despair on his face suddenly sent a shiver down her spine. "It was ME, wasn’t it? You were protecting ME!" she murmured, tears welling afresh in the corners of her eyes. "John found out something awful and then threatened to make it public unless you went along with his wishes!"

Torment seared Jax’s heart, just as keen and painful as it had been that night eighteen months earlier. "You were just getting your big break in the District Attorney’s office, Lexie," he explained softly. "You had such a bright future ahead of you. I couldn’t let my father ruin that."

She pressed her lips together to stifle a sob, then nodded once quickly. But when Jax reached out for her, Alexis just turned and walked back to her desk slowly. "Was it……" She finally turned back to him, tears running down her cheeks. "Was it because I was illegitimate? Because my mother had an affair with Stefan’s father, Mikkos?"

"No." Jax followed her and carelessly tossed his jacket on the chair again. "Nothing like that."

"But I can’t think of anything ……." Alexis wiped away the tears quickly and let out a shaky breath. "I mean, there’s nothing else that I’ve ever done……not even a speeding ticket……"

"Is it REALLY that important?" Jax countered, suddenly grabbing her by the shoulders. "Isn’t it enough to know that I love you – that I’ve never STOPPED loving you?" He stepped closer, pulling her into his embrace as he pressed his lips to her forehead, then her nose, then her cheeks. "God, Alexis…….the thought of living without tasting you again was enough to make me want to kill myself……."

She should have stopped him. Alexis called herself a thousand kinds of a fool as she melted into Jax’s arms, helpless to resist those Caribbean blue eyes and rock hard biceps. She tried to tell herself it was just a kiss – just one quick embrace for old times’ sake. Just one more "for the road" and then she could get him out of her system and work on putting Jerry behind bars for killing her best friend. But as soon as Jax’s hand tunneled beneath her hair to hold her head steady and their bodies touched from shoulder to thigh, she knew she was in BIG trouble. Calling this "just one little kiss" was like calling Hurricane Andrew a "pesky little thunderstorm."

When he gently stroked his tongue across her lower lip and then slipped it inside her mouth, fire licked across her skin. Soft moans broke the silence in the room as the lovers re-acquainted themselves with each other’s bodies. When Jax pulled her more tightly against him, the feel of his desire for her against her thigh made her knees start to melt.

It was always like this with Alexis. Jax vaguely had the realization as he pulled back to stare into her beautiful, soft brown, limpid eyes. Like a late summer thunderstorm – all thunder, and lightning, and breathless heat followed by sweet darkness. Instead of just wanting to deepen the kiss, he found himself seriously considering tossing all the d*mn paperwork off her desk, laying her down there amid the clutter to tease her until she was breathless, and then filling her with his aching body. Lawyer’s heaven – making love amongst the files.

She was shocked by her fantasies as she threaded her fingers into the spun gold at the nape of Jax’s neck. Part of her wanted him to push her up against the wall, and then do it standing up. To take her higher than any man ever had before or ever would again. She wanted him to get lost inside of her and never find his way out. But then that annoying little voice of reason that seemed to interrupt Alexis’s life at the most inopportune moments buzzed in her ear. Would that solve their problems? Would that make John Jacks and his mysterious secret about her somehow disappear, never to come between them again?

"Alexis….." As Jax brought a hand up from her waist to gently cup her breast, a breathy moan tumbled from her lips. "I love you……"

"I love you too, Jax……" She surprised him when she placed both hands against his chest, putting a sobering distance between them. "But loving someone means being honest with them….." Alexis felt his muscles tense when he realized the direction she was taking. "….and if you won’t tell me what big secret your father knows about my past……"

Jax growled some choice expletives as he pushed away from her, rubbing his face with both hands to bring back some sense of composure. "Bloody h*ll, Alexis!! You know the truth know about what kept us apart! Isn’t that enough??!!"

"I have a RIGHT to know the WHOLE truth, Jax," she insisted, a hard edge to her leftover breathlessness. "And we won’t truly be BACK TOGETHER until I do!"

He wearily leaned down to pick up his jacket and toss it over his shoulder. "Then I shouldn’t be the one to tell you," Jax replied in a defeated whisper. "Tell Stefan you want to know about what really happened." He licked his lips, looked down, and then up into her astonished eyes again. "He’s the one who has the right to give you the answers you’re looking for. Not me."

*~*~*~*

Thinking back on it later, Alexis didn’t know how she managed to drive all the way back home and pull into the garage without hitting something along the way. A fireplug, a tree, something small and furry……anything that had the misfortune to cross her path as she drove back from the office late that fateful Sunday afternoon would have been a goner in her distracted state. As she switched off the ignition, her hands visibly trembled. Several well-used tissues lay next to her purse on the front seat.

After making his cryptic announcement about Stefan holding the key to the truth, Jax had stumbled out of her office in silence. She had tried to regain her composure and finish her work, but every file she opened seemed to have turned to nonsense. The words ran together in a mental blur. When she realized that part of the problem was that her tears kept making blotches on the pages, Alexis had decided she would call it an afternoon and go home.

So many pieces of the puzzle that kept her and Jax apart had come together in the past twenty-four hours. First, John Jacks had admitted that he sent Jax off on his wild goose chase in Paris to prevent him from marrying her. She was brighter, stronger, more opinionated than Brenda, and wouldn’t have made the kind of Stepford wife that Jacks men needed. And when he returned, John had blackmailed Jax into not contacting her because he knew some awful secret that could destroy her career. Jax had gone along with his father because he loved her and wouldn’t see her hurt.

But one last piece remained outstanding – what the h*ll was the secret? Stefan had the key, Jax had said. And on the drive home, Alexis decided that the only way she would ever have any peace of mind was to confront her brother about it. She had to know. Unfortunately, since Stefan wasn’t due home from the chess tournament for another six hours, she would have a long wait until she had a chance to talk to him.

Alexis sighed loudly as she turned the key in the door leading to the kitchen from the garage. A single light above the sink burned in the kitchen – not surprising, since Stefan had been scheduled to leave for the chess tournament shortly after noon and not return until close to 10. She tossed her briefcase and purse on the kitchen table, then reached for a light switch and glanced up at the clock. {Half-past 6. I should make myself something to eat and try to relax. I’ve probably got at least three more hours to kill until…..}

Loud noises from the living room made her drop her coat as she shrugged out of it. The sound of explosions made her heart skip a beat – then she realized that Stefan had probably inadvertently left the television on in his haste to get to the tournament. Yet……..it wasn’t like Stefan to be that distracted. Apparently a fanatical tendency to neatness was part of the Cassadine legacy.

A frown creased Alexis’s face as she entered the hallway leading into the living room. The sound of the television got louder – almost ear-splitting, in fact. She was surprised she hadn’t heard it all the way out in the garage. Her frown deepened at the sight of the bright lights spilling into the hallway from the living room. Stefan would NEVER have turned that many on – especially since it was clear and sunny when he had left.

"Stavros!! Where are you??!!" A guttural, whining cry made the breath catch in Alexis’s throat. She took the final few steps into the living room on the run, pulling up short when she entered the room and caught sight of the speaker. Stefan sat in front of the television in his wheelchair, his hair disheveled, his shirt half-buttoned, with one shoe off and one shoe on.

"Stefan?" She ran to him when he whimpered again loudly. Alexis took the remote from his lap, turned off the television, and then crouched next to his wheelchair. "Why aren’t you at the chess tournament?"

"Mother?" When Stefan turned to Alexis, his eyes widened and his lower lip trembled. A confused wildness clouded his features. "Did you find Stavros? We have to find my brother!!"

"Stefan……" Alexis kept her voice level even though she teetered on the edge of panic. "What’s the matter, Stefan?" She put her hand to his forehead. "Are you feeling ill?"

"Don’t you SEE, mother?" Stefan groaned, slowly blinking his eyes. He reached out towards Alexis but then his hand fell back in his lap limply. "I CAN’T just attend the academy by myself! I need to ask Stavros if he’ll go with me!!"

"Stefan, your mother and brother are both dead," Alexis intoned somberly. She placed her fingertips against Stefan’s wrist and felt the icy tendrils of fear when his pulse was weak and thready. "What happened to you? Did you fall, or take some new kind of medication?"

"I can’t…….." Earnest tears ran down Stefan’s cheeks. "I can’t find mother, and I don’t WANT to go to the academy alone," he murmured, settling into some kind of eerie private reverie. "And Stavros…….he’s not here, either……"

"OK……OK……." Alexis put her hands out to try to calm Stefan. "I’ll go look for Stavros, OK?" She rose to her feet, glancing towards the telephone. "I just have to call someone first, alright?

"OK….." Stefan hiccuped quietly. His eyelids fluttered several times until they rested firmly against his cheeks.

"Oh, my God…….don’t let him die……. Please don’t let him die……." Alexis chanted the prayer to herself several times as she scooted past Stefan’s wheelchair towards the phone. She grabbed the receiver off the hook and quickly pressed 9-1-1. A sigh of relief escaped her lips but then as she quickly turned back towards her brother, the room seemed to spin.

"Hello, 9-1-1 Emergency, Can I help you?"

"Yes……." Alexis licked her lips and grimaced at the brightly-colored spots that danced in front of her eyelids. "I think…….."

"Ma’am……." The female emergency operator’s voice took on a sense of urgency. "Ma’am? Is there some kind of trouble?"

Alexis’s knees turned to jello and she sank to the living room floor, resting against the couch. "Yeah……." She swallowed hard as another wave of light-headedness robbed her of her wits. "I think we’ve got a BIG problem," she whispered.

And then the room went black.

To be continued…….