Brenda lolled indolently against the mountain of pillows Jax had piled at the head of his bed. Even though Dr. Weber – whom they had picked up on their way back to Wyndemere – pronounced her fit to walk, Jax had carried her up the curving staircase that led to the mansion’s second floor. After trekking through a maze of hallways, he had kicked open a door that led to his spacious, sparsely-furnished master suite.

She felt like a fairy-tale princess when Jax gingerly set her down on the crushed red velvet spread that graced his four-poster mahogany bed. After slipping off her shoes and precisely pointing out her wounds to Dr. Weber – even though the handsome young physician could have found them on his own, no doubt – Jax disappeared into the bathroom. He materialized a few minutes later at Jeff’s side with antiseptic, gauze pads, and hypo-allergenic adhesive tape. Only when Jeff reassured him for the fourth time that the cuts were superficial did Jax finally allow himself the leisure of removing his tuxedo jacket and loosening his tie.

Jeff gave Brenda a thorough examination – at Jax’s not-so-discreet insistence, of course. He found no other ill effects from her encounter with "Spook," which seemed to visibly lift a huge weight from Jax’s shoulders. After leaving a single dose of a mild sedative on her bedside table along with his home phone number in the event of an emergency, Dr. Weber smiled broadly at the lovers and slipped out of the room so that Thomas could take him home.

"Jax? Did you hear what I just said?"

"Hmmmmmm?" He emerged from the bathroom again, wearing a loosely belted, dark maroon smoking jacket over navy silk pajama trousers.

"I SAID that you don’t have to wait on me hand and foot and treat me like an invalid!"

"I heard you quite distinctly. But when will you EVER learn, Miss Barrett," he teased, giving her a smile that could stop traffic in Times Square, "that I don’t respond well to direction?"

"Jax……" Her lower lip protruded in a pretty pout. When she crossed her arms across her chest, the red ostrich feathers of her ballgown ruffled gently. "Dr. Weber TOLD you that I was FINE!" She shook her head at him, a smile lifting the corners of her rouged mouth. "I’m not going to fall apart like some kind of porcelain doll just because of what happened tonight!"

"You’ve been through an ordeal, Brenda," Jax replied, perching on the bed next to her. "Which definitely qualifies you for some pampering." He tenderly pushed some of her hair back off her forehead. "You almost died at that monster’s hands, and it was all my fault."

"YOUR fault??!!"

"MY fault." He shook his head and sighed. "I should have realized that the whole "blown fuse" thing was a setup. I was in charge of the renovations, for God’s sake! I ought to have KNOWN that none of the contractors I used would have allowed something like that to happen." He looked down into his lap sheepishly. "I should have stayed with you ….. and then I would have been closer to the Ladies’ Room when all h*ll broke loose….."

"But that *monster* didn’t hurt me, Jax!" She reached out to cup the side of his face lovingly when she saw his anguish. "Besides, you can’t POSSIBLY expect to protect me from everything and everyone that’s dangerous in my life!"

"I can d*mn well try!" An impish grin suddenly spread across his face. "Now why don’t you just follow that old Chinese proverb – you know, when spoiling is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it!"

After a soft knock at the door sounded, Thomas poked his head inside. "I’m going to take Dr. Weber home now, boss – if that’s OK with you…"

"Fine, Thomas," Jax nodded. "And would you please call the PCPD and tell them Miss Barrett will come down tomorrow to make her statement?"

"Will do." He tapped a finger to his forehead in salute. "Anyone else you want me to call?" Thomas glanced towards Brenda. "Like, is anyone gonna worry if you don’t show up at your place tonight? Family or somethin’?"

Her mind briefly drifted towards Lois, but then Brenda’s eyes widened and she sat up straight in bed. "Julia!! I have to call Julia!!"

"Julia? Your sister?" Jax frowned. "Brenda, I hardly think that news of what happened tonight will have reached Washington yet….."

"No, no! You don’t understand, Jax!" She folded her legs beneath her to sit Indian style on the massive bed and reached for his hands. "When Spook was talking to me tonight, he mentioned that Sorel knew a lot of people in Washington, including my SISTER AND HER TWO CUTE KIDS!!"

Jax’s face grew cold, his eyes like steely flint. "Use the telephone on the nightstand," he growled, nodding towards the piece of furniture behind her as he rose from the bed. "I’ll be out in the hallway if you need me."

"Thanks." Brenda’s lower lip trembled slightly as Jax leaned over and brushed a kiss across it. He straightened and walked to the door, speaking in a low voice to Thomas as they exited the room. She quickly wiped the wetness from her eyes and then twisted towards the nightstand to pick up the receiver and dial. It took three rings before her sister answered it. "Julia?"

"Wow, Bren……calling me twice in one day!" The sound of Julia’s cheerful voice in the context of Spook’s threat refreshed the supply of tears in Brenda’s eyes. "This must be some new kind of record….."

"Julia!" Brenda gripped the mouthpiece end of the receiver tightly. "Are you and the kids OK?"

"Of COURSE we’re OK, Brenda," Julia replied, a mixture of befuddled and annoyed. "Other than Ethan still being a little sore from his potty strike stunt this morning….."

"But you’re there by yourself, right?" Brenda’s heart beat faster when she remembered that her brother-in-law was away at a conference. "That’s why you said that Ethan went on the potty strike, right?"

"Yeah – Alexei won’t be back until day after tomorrow….."

"Listen, Jules, you need to take the kids and get out of the house." Brenda spoke slowly, enunciating her words in an effort to convey their seriousness. "Go stay in a hotel or something for a few days – just till Alexei gets back."

"Brenda? What’s wrong with you?" She could well imagine her older sister frowning and putting a hand on her hip. "I mean, I KNOW I need a vacation from taking care of the kids by myself, but you sound so funny……"

"Listen, Julia," Brenda said, nodding grimly as she spoke, "something happened tonight……and I’m FINE, OK?………but I need you and the kids to just sort of disappear for a while….."

She heard the electronic beeping of the connection in the silence that ensued until Julia spoke again. "Are you trying to tell me that someone threatened us, Bren? Is it because of some case you’re working on?"

"Look, it’s probably nothing," she replied, putting some false lightness into her voice, "but just to be on the safe side, I’d feel better if you and Ethan and Roni were someplace safe……"

Just then, the bedroom door opened and Jax entered, a cell phone pressed to his ear. "That’s right," he nodded. "I need you there in forty-five minutes." He swiftly walked towards the bed, then covered the receiver portion of the phone and looked warmly at Brenda. "Tell Julia to pack a bag for the kids and herself. I’ll have a chopper there in forty-five minutes to pick them up."

Brenda’s eyes misted over at his tenderness. "Jax, you don’t have to……"

"What’s that?" He abruptly turned his attention back to the cell phone. "Yes, a woman and two toddlers. Connecting at JFK." He nodded, then covered the mouthpiece end with his hand again to speak to Brenda. "Your sister and the children will board one of my private jets in New York and go on to London to pick up your brother-in-law. After that, they be flown to my villa in Cape d’Antibes until things settle down."

Her eyes widened. "But……"

"No BUT’s about it!" He pointed a finger at Brenda for emphasis. "And tell Julia NOT to contact Alexei – my people in London will make sure that he gets the word." His lips thinned grimly. "We don’t want to take a chance that Sorel may have ears in the woodwork over there….."

Brenda chewed on her lower lip nervously and then nodded once. "Everything’s going to be fine, Julia. Just listen carefully and do as I say and there won’t be anything to worry about." Jax nodded, turned on his heel, and made a beeline for the door, muttering into the phone as he disappeared once again. Meanwhile, Brenda quickly outlined the plan, leaving out specific destinations in case Sorel had bugged the telephone line in her sister’s house.

"But what about YOU, Bren?" Julia finally asked, worry evident in her voice. "Can’t you just come along with us until this all blows over?"

"No….." She lifted her eyes in the direction Jax had gone, guilt at her hypocrisy surfacing once again. Solving the Sorel case was just as important to her as it was to Jax. Until tonight, she hadn’t realized that she was just as much of a stubborn vigilante as he was. "I really need to wrap things up on this end, Jules," she finally sighed. Then a soft smile teased at her lips. "But you don’t have to worry about me. Jax seems bound and determined not to let me out of his sight until the case is closed."

"Hmmmm……sounds like you’re one lucky lady to me, Bren," Julia crooned. "Maybe you finally found your hero, huh?"

She arched one raven eyebrow. "Maybe, Jules….." When the bedroom door opened again, she quickly switched back to a more business tone of voice. "So I’ll talk to you tomorrow and just be careful, OK?"

As they said their goodbyes, Jax closed the door behind him, carefully and deliberately throwing the dead bolt. Then, he turned back to her and strolled slowly over the bed. He carried a large silver tray, laden with two silver chafing dishes and a sparkling lead crystal bowl filled to the brim with bright red, ripe strawberries. Two flutes of a golden liquid flanked the bowl and when he set the tray down on the nightstand, Brenda could see tiny bubbles rising to the top of the glasses.

"Everything OK now with Julia?" he asked softly, sitting down next to her on the luxurious bed.

"She’ll be fine," Brenda nodded. "The kids will think it’s all just a big adventure." She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a winsome smile. "They’ve never been in an airplane before, you know." She glanced over at the tray with mischievous delight. "What’cha got there?"

"Well," he sighed matter-of-factly, "I just thought that I owed you this after the evening came to such an abrupt ending." His blue eyes twinkled with heated sensuality. "We didn’t even get a chance to have…….dessert."

Suddenly her eyes grew warm and liquid again as she raised them to meet his. "Jax, I need to tell you…….." Brenda reached out to take his hands in hers. "I realized tonight that I owe you a big apology." She took a deep breath, hesitating before she spoke as she searched for just the right words. "This morning, I gave you a hard time about single-handedly trying to bring down all the bad guys in the world, particularly Sorel, by going around the system. And then tonight……." She licked her lips delicately. "……before everything happened with Sorel, I was talking to someone and I realized that I’ve been just as bullheaded as you about cracking this case." She grimaced and stared down at the coverlet, picking at some non-existent slub in the fabric. "And the way I went around the mayor to get Dara to give me an extra two weeks really isn’t any different than you going around the police to put the criminals who deserve it behind bars."

"Hmmm……an interesting revelation……" Jax nodded thoughtfully before reaching over for a flute of champagne. "Care to tell me exactly *who* the someone was who inspired this moment of truth?"

She smiled sweetly as she accepted a glass from him. "It’s not really important." Then her features firmed slightly with determination. "I mean, don’t get me wrong – it doesn’t make what EITHER of us are doing RIGHT." She tipped her head to the side in concession. "Let’s just say that now I guess I understand WHY you do it a little better."

Jax clinked his glass against hers lightly. "Apology accepted, Miss Barrett," he murmured. He put a knuckle to her chin to lift her face. "Now – can we get on with the more ……. pleasurable……aspects of the evening?"

Her smile lit her entire face. "I thought you’d never ask……" Brenda took a sip of champagne and then peered over at the bowls on the tray. "I can see the strawberries, but what’s in the other dishes?"

Jax took her champagne glass from her and then set both on the tray. "Have I ever told you how much I LOVE chocolate?" he asked in a husky voice, removing the cover from one of the chafing dishes. As Brenda watched in silent amazement, he took one of the large strawberries and dipped it in the rich, melted confection before placing it against her lips. "Taste……"

"Mmmmm……." Her eyelids fluttered closed and she lifted her fingers to wipe away the remnants of the gooey chocolate that clung to her lips. "Delicious……." she whispered, opening her eyes to find him staring at her with unabashed desire.

"Yes…….you are………" Jax leaned forward to flicker his tongue over the spot on her lips where chocolate lingered, drinking of Brenda’s sweetness at the same time. He gently took her shoulders and eased her back into a reclining position on the bed, his fingers softly playing at the dropped neckline of her velvet gown. "I’ve been thinking about you all evening, like this," he whispered in a throaty voice as he slid the dress down her arms to reveal the red satin bustier. "Dreaming about your perfect breasts……." Her eyes remained locked with his as he reached around to undo the bra and slip it from her body. Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears as he leaned forward to reverently place a kiss on the swell of her right breast. Then, he raised his head to give her a naughty wink. "But I can think of something even better – a way to combine the two guilty pleasures I love MOST……."

He was her Svengali – weaving his sensual, hypnotic spell as he reached over towards the silver tray. Jax scooped up some of the dark, exotic liquid with his forefinger and trailed it across her breast, tracing a line of thick, rich brown droplets, gradually spiraling inward to the rosy point of her nipple. Then he laced the other breast with the same dark, forbidden web as Brenda watched him silently, the fire in her abdomen flickering outward to consume her whole body. Just the touch of the gooey, warm liquid on her skin and the silvery, hot fireworks in Jax’s eyes aroused her almost beyond bearing. Unconsciously she squeezed her legs together, as if to still the growing ache there. But nothing could ease that ache except Jax’s touch. Jax’s flesh.

She wove her fingers deeply into his hair when he leaned forward, his mouth hovering over her breast. Then, slowly, leisurely, his tongue came out and scooped up the droplets of chocolate, moving around her breasts, spiraling up until it rimmed the center. He skimmed his flat tongue over the hard point, then returned, dragging it over the glistening nipple. Again and again his faintly rough tongue crossed it, bringing Brenda to a fever pitch of desire, and then his mouth came down to completely engulf the sweet tip.

Brenda arched her back, moaning loudly, and Jax widened his mouth, pulling in more of her breast in response. At last he left the nipple, love-swollen and almost as dark as the chocolate itself, and trailed his tongue across her skin to the other breast. With great care he licked the chocolate from it, too, but this time, as his mouth drank the sweet confection from her skin, his hand slid over to the first breast to palm it gently.

"Jax….." she whispered, her voice throaty with desire. "I need you……now……."

"Ahhh, my dear, but I’m just getting started," he crooned, lifting his head to gaze into her eyes. Brenda watched transfixed as Jax shifted his weight to stand next to the bed. He divested himself of his jacket, and sat back down on the bed. Slowly he scooted down to her feet, clasping her ankle to slide both hands sensuously up the curve of her cal. Pushing her dress up around her waist, he leaned forward to place a scorching kiss on her inner thigh before unclasping the garter belt from her red silk stocking. Heat rippled under her skin as he blazed a trail of kisses while rolling her stocking down her leg. He tossed the flimsy bit of fluff to the floor, then repeated the same agonizing process with her other stocking. Finally, he eased the red satin bikini panties off, consigning them to the growing pile of lingerie.

When she saw him nudge her legs further apart to take a place in front of her on the bed, her thighs quivered and burned in anticipation. Brenda wanted to tell him to stop – that he had already sent her pleasure meter well past the "overload" point. But before she could, he bent forward and parted her protective folds. She saw his head lower and then felt the lighting flash of his tongue against her most sensitive spot. The startling jolt of pleasure and need and fire was so intense that all she could do was relax back against the pillows and pray that he would never stop.

Her legs eased farther open. Jax stroked her again, exploring and gently teasing until he found just the right spot that generated a two-octave moan. Hot sensations rolled through Brenda, making her thighs shake and her breasts swell even more than his previous loving. Low in her belly, her muscles tensed and released in time with his movements. He kissed and licked and caressed that one precious bundle of nerve endings – never too hard, never too fast, always just right. Almost as if he could read her mind or feel what she was feeling. As if they were already one.

"Jax……." Her head thrashed from side to side on the pillows as she reached above to grip the bedrail for support. "I can’t………take much more…….." She felt him smile, then continue his ministrations ever so lightly and slowly. Then suddenly she couldn’t think – couldn’t speak – couldn’t do anything but savor the wonder of his touch as a passion storm began deep inside her and spiraled out. When it reached the place that he was favoring with his most fervent attentions, she exploded into a thousand pieces of light and heat and the most incredible sense of well-being she had ever felt in her life. She was drowning in a pool of his loving.

In her dreamy state of afterglow, she vaguely saw Jax shed his pajama trousers. She smiled contentedly when she felt the pressure of the velvety tip of Jax’s desire for her. He eased his way inside to make them one, then glided his body smoothly upwards to press his chest against her still-sensitized breasts. Little tongues of flame danced through her veins while waves of golden explosions inside her embraced him, making their joining even deeper. Jax stretched out over her, lacing his fingers through hers above her head as he stared into her eyes.

"I love you, Brenda," he whispered, punctuating his words with tiny movements of his hips. "More than life itself." His lips feather-touched hers, coaxing her with tantalizing persuasion to meet his rising tide of passion. When he pulled one of her legs higher so that her ankle hooked around his lower back, he seated himself even more deeply within her, fully stroking her with every inch of his potent masculinity.

The urgency of his desire sparked her own. She pulled her hands free to rake her nails down Jax’s back, clutching her to him as she whispered hot, sensual promises in his ear. When she felt herself nearing the edge again, she opened her eyes to stare into his stormy ones. "I love you, too, Jax," she murmured, nipping gently at his lower lip in a passionate frenzy. "I’ll always love you……..no matter what else happens between us……."

A few seconds later, she shattered one last time into a million glowing stars. The last thing she remembered hearing before she collapsed into hazy oblivion was Jax calling her name as he experienced his own fulfillment.

*~*~*~*

He never really slept anymore – not since he woke up from the coma. In fact, he had often joked with the nurses in the hospital that after being "asleep" for nine months, he had a lot of "waking up" time to catch up on.

Jax stretched carefully, trying not to awaken the sleeping woman next to him. As he reached over her towards the end table for his wristwatch, he saw Brenda’s still kiss-swollen lips pursed in a gentle pout. Her chest rose and fell evenly in the rhythms of deep slumber – all of which worked to his advantage, given his objective. He glanced down at the pulsing red digits on the watch – 4:30 AM.

After delicately disentangling his left arm from beneath her, Jax gently massaged his eyelids with his fingertips and let out a soft sigh. How many times had they made love during the night? Three? Four? Had they ever really stopped in between, except perhaps to remove various articles of clothing that they were too impatient to remove the time before? It had never been like this for him with any other woman – never this intense. Never this REAL. And, he realized, he would never again share this perfect physical and emotional "fit" with any other woman as long as he lived. Brenda was his one and only love. His true soul mate.

All of which only made his what he had to do that much more imperative. In all of his police work – in all of his numerous escapades as Kismet – Jax had NEVER experienced terror equal to that which he felt when he saw Brenda stagger out of the Ladies’ Room. Never that gut-wrenching, lung-constricting, absolute horror that gripped his soul when he saw the faint trickle of blood at the side of her neck. And at that awful moment, he realized something else – that he NEVER wanted to feel it again. Which was why he had to do whatever it took – use whatever tricks he had in his arsenal, dirty or otherwise – to make sure that Joseph Sorel and his henchmen could never threaten Brenda’s safety again. The REAL kicker was, considering the beautiful brunette’s stubbornness, he had less than two weeks to pull it off.

After taking one last glance over his shoulder at Brenda, Jax swung his legs silently out of the bed. He opened a drawer in the nightstand, removing a pair of worn black jeans and black t-shirt. Moving like a dark shadow in the night, he stealthily left the bed to dress, avoiding shoes and socks for the moment. He glided noiselessly to the window to pull back the blood red damask drapes ever so slightly. They were still several hours away from daybreak. His eyes narrowed with desperate determination – these were the hours of the night he liked best; the transitional time just before the dawn when he got his best work done.

Jax allowed himself one last, lingering gaze at Brenda’s sleeping form before he slipped towards the large fireplace at the end of the room. He grabbed a pair of worn black velvet scuffs along the way, tucking them under his arm. Huge pewter candlesticks flanked either end of the Italian marble fireplace. He took one of them, then ran his hand deftly over a row of leather-bound books that edged the mantle. His fingers danced among the volumes until he came to a particular dark red tome. After pulling it back towards him about an inch, a low hissing noise came from the area to his left. He looked back to Brenda – although he couldn’t see her face, her chest still rose and fell in even patterns. Pressing his lips together in a grim line, Jax floated towards an opening that had appeared between two rich mahogany panels in the wall and disappeared through it.

He was already halfway down the darkened corridor when he heard the secret doorway closing behind him. Pulling a book of matches from the pocket of his jeans, Jax struck it against the rocky wall of the hallway and lit the candle in the pewter candelabra. It wasn’t long after he moved to Wyndemere that he had discovered its numerous hidden passageways and rooms. The cavernous space in the bowels of the old mansion served his purposes as Kismet well, providing a home for his numerous computers and the gadgetry that kept his identity a secret. After pausing again to quickly slip into the scuffs, he strode quickly through the maze of tunnels that eventually opened into his "office," deep beneath the surface of Spoon Island.

"Lights, 70%……" A bank of recessed lighting hummed to life at Jax’s growled command. A quick puff of breath extinguished the candle, which he set next to the doorway to his lab. Even as his verbal ID was verified, blinking orange and yellow lights on a large row of computers demanded his attention. He slid into a desk chair on wheels, his fingers flying as he flipped switches and pressed buttons to acknowledge the incoming information. Apparently the criminal element of Port Charles had had a busy night without Kismet around to keep it in line.

Jax scanned the array of monitors quickly, typing commands into keyboards that sent new displays of data scrolling before him. Pushing off with one foot, he rolled down the long tabletop towards another computer to boot it up. As he waited for the Windows program to load, he glanced at himself in the still-dark monitor. The shadows of his dark features contrasted with the lightness of his hair made him look like some other-worldly creature – a ghost, perhaps.

{That’s what you’ve been – a slave to the night. A creature condemned to darkness, prowling the streets to keep them safe. Until now.} Jax’s thoughts drifted to the woman sleeping several stories above him in his bed. {Brenda changed all that for you. She’s brought light and happiness into your life. Now you need to do everything you can to do the same for her. No matter what it takes.}

A printer hummed steadily as a long printout fed onto the desk in front of it while Windows opened on the computer in front of him. Jax slid down the row to pick up the last few pages, his eyes blazing with excitement as he perused the latest reports. "That’s good…….very good……." He pushed off with the ball of his foot to glide back down to the computer, furiously typing in commands while still reading the printout.

"Now…….if we can just cross-reference this information with the database I created the other night……" Jax’s gaze bounced back and forth like a rubber ball between the papers and the monitor. The corners of his mouth lifted in a tentative smile. "Well, well……..maybe we just might be onto something here," he murmured, leaning closer to the monitor. He studied the screen for a few more seconds, then sat back to once more send his fingers flying over the keyboard. After hitting the "enter" key, he folded his arms while the computer ground out yet more data for his consideration.

Thirty seconds later, the printer started humming again. Jax rolled down to it, tearing off the first sheet with a satisfied grin. "Maybe there’s hope," he whispered, sighing loudly. "Maybe I FINALLY know something you DON’T, Sorel!"

But there was one other thing Jax didn’t know at that moment – something that could bring his carefully-constructed plan for a life with Brenda tumbling down around him like a deck of playing cards. Three stories above him, she was AWAKE.

*~*~*~*

The rush of cool air on her still-moist skin tickled like the gentle brush of a feather duster. Brenda lazily opened her eyes, forgetting for the moment where she was. She almost thought she was back in her own apartment – that a spider or some other nasty creature of the night had chosen to share her bed.

But when she blinked again rapidly to clear her head and she rolled over, feeling the fine satin sheets against her naked body, Brenda remembered everything. Her lips tilted upwards in a feline smile of pure sexual satisfaction. Yes, she had shared her bed with a creature of the night. But this one was FAR from nasty.

The realization that she was alone in Jax’s bed followed close upon the heels of her coherence. Brenda reached out a hand – his side of the bed was still warm. She wrapped her arms around her waist and closed her eyes, settling further down into the luxurious mattress. Never before in her life had she ever experienced such total sensual abandon. When Jax made love to her, it was as though every other person and moment in the world ceased to exist. It was just the two of them, in some kind of erotic fantasy bubble in time where nothing and nobody else mattered.

After replaying some of the more memorable moments of the past few hours in her mind, Brenda’s eyes suddenly popped open again. She rolled over in the bed towards Jax’s side, drawn by the sight of his wristwatch on the nightstand. Rubbing away the sleep, she read the digital display – 4:45 AM.

"Jax?" She rolled over in the bed again, clutching the sheet to her breast as she looked towards the doorway of the room. Brenda’s eyesbrows knit together in a frown when she saw the deadbolt still thrown, just as Jax had left it when he came into the room with the tray of dessert. The antique styling of the lock overruled Jax leaving the room and locking it from the outside.

{But then – where the HECK is he?}

Wrinkles danced in Brenda’s forehead as she crawled over to the side of the bed. She pursed her lips in distaste – her red velvet dress was hopelessly wrinkled and lay in a disheveled heap on the floor, along with all of her extravagant lingerie. As she sat back on her heels in the bed, she admitted to herself that she REALLY didn’t want to crawl back into that uncomfortable strapless brassiere contraption anyway. At least, not with the mystery of where Jax had gone haunting her.

When she glanced down towards the foot of the bed, her eyes lit up like Christmas trees and she did a little "happy dance" wiggle. In the blink of an eye, Brenda bounded out of the bed and quickly picked up Jax’s discarded dark maroon smoking jacket. She slipped it on, pushing the sleeves up to her elbows and belting it securely. It pleased her to no end that when she looked down at her bare feet, the jacket hung well past her "delicate assets."

But even with the "bare essentials" covered, goosebumps still rose on Brenda’s bare legs. She pranced over to the fireplace and took the large poker to prod the logs, trying to get a fire going once again to warm the large room. When glowing red embers sizzled and popped, another smile of accomplishment graced her face. As she put the poker back, her gaze fell on the long row of books that lined the mantle.

Even with the mystery of Jax’s whereabouts, she couldn’t help but be fascinated by his choices of reading material. Proust, Chaucer, Hemingway, Faulkner, 18^th Century Romantic poets……..Jasper Jacks was obviously a man of diverse literary tastes. As Brenda ran her forefinger down the row of exquisite leather covers, she suddenly stopped. "Shakespeare, huh?" she purred, gently caressing the cover of the red volume. "A Midsummer Night’s Dream?" She glanced up at the ceiling and smiled again. "Well, maybe that might be JUST the thing, especially after the adventures we’ve had tonight so far……"

She pulled the book towards her, thinking to read for a while until Jax re-appeared from wherever he had gone. But just as she did, there was a loud hissing noise and she jumped back from the mantle, placing her hand over her mouth to stifle the scream. Brenda’s eyes grew wide as saucers when an opening appeared in the wall next to the mantle.

{THAT must be where he went!} Her mind raced with old stories of Spoon Island and Wyndemere – Brenda vaguely remembered reading something in the newspaper when she had first come to Port Charles about the folklore of mysterious "tunnels" connected with the old mansion. She licked her lips nervously as she stared at the yawning entrance to God knows what. But it didn’t take long for curiosity to get the better of her. Grabbing a lit candle off a small shelf near the opening, Brenda gingerly strode through into the beckoning dark hallway.

"OK……..I never was a Girl Scout……." She peered into the inky darkness, never even noticing that the wall had closed behind her. Holding the candle high up in front of her as a lamp, Brenda inched her way through the dank corridor. "I SURE hope this thing doesn’t turn out to be one of those old-fashioned maze things……." She swallowed hard as the ground beneath her dipped, leading her deeper below the earth’s surface. "Cause I…..uh……" Her false laugh echoed in the hollow darkness. "Well, they drummed me out of the Brownies when I couldn’t find my way around a square city block, ‘ya know!"

As she proceeded further through the tunnels, her curiosity overshadowed her fear of the unknown. "Jasper Jacks…….." She muttered to herself, partly to keep from thinking too much about what other little nocturnal "creatures" might be sharing the tunnels with her. "What the HECK are you doing down here?" Stopping again to gather her courage, Brenda chewed nervously on her lower lip. "I’ll bet this has something to do with Kismet," she whispered, realization dawning. Then a partial smile flickered over her face. "Maybe I’ll find the batcave, and George Clooney will be waiting for me right around the next corner!"

Brenda squinted at the area in front of her. Was the ceiling getting higher? And the air getting warmer? She stopped in place, lifting the candle even higher. Was that……..a humming noise? Something mechanical…not that far ahead of her? Filling her lungs with a deep breath for courage, she nodded her head in determination and walked slowly towards the source of the noise.

The sudden change in lighting made her stop for a moment. The clattering of printers and grinding noise of terminals seemed almost deafening after the silence in the corridors. As Brenda made her way slowly down the series of steps that led to the main bank of terminals, her mouth formed a small "O" of amazement. She quickly blew out the candle, then set it down on a desk. When a stack of printouts drew her attention, she walked over to the desk where they lay and picked one up to read it.

Jax was so engrossed in his search for more data that he never noticed Brenda enter his lair. He pumped his fist, then suddenly frowned again in confusion when the entries on the screen led to a dead end. After muttering a choice obscenity, he rose from his chair and strode around the end of the desk, halting in his tracks when he saw his destiny in front of him.

There was no chance to defend himself against the slap she delivered to his cheek. As he recoiled from the force of it, Jax saw hot, furious tears running down her cheeks. "Brenda……please…….I can explain……." He reached out for her but she backed away, her sob audible above the din of the machinery.

"You…….you………" Brenda’s chest heaved in anger as she wiped her cheeks briskly with the back of her hand. "YOU SON OF A B*TCH!!!!"

To be continued…….