Jax looked up from the printout he was studying. His heart skipped a beat at the sight of Brenda in a pair of skin-tight hip-hugger jeans. The sleeveless, black silk blouse she wore clung to her luscious curves, showing momentary glimpses of skin at her sides where it was cut high.

As she walked slowly to the computer console where he sat, he swallowed hard, reminding himself why they needed to spend the next few hours working and not making love. "What’s not fair?"

Brenda came to stand next to him, sliding her fingers though the tousled wave of hair that refused to stay off his forehead. "Life," she sighed, looping her arms loosely around his neck. "Life isn’t fair."

Jax turned to gently nuzzle the sweet valley between her breasts before pulling her onto his lap. "Because one miserable excuse for a human being like Sorel can turn so many good people’s lives upside-down?" he asked.

"Nooo…" She smiled winsomely. "Life isn’t fair because when a woman loses an entire night’s sleep, she ends up looking like a refugee from a horror movie – dark circles under her eyes, limp hair, pasty skin….." She caressed the side of his jaw lovingly with the backs of her knuckles. "Men, on the other hand, just end up looking more dashing." Her raven eyebrows drew together even though she was still grinning. "Why is it that a five o’clock shadow looks so much better on you than it does on me?"

Jax chuckled and leaned in for a sizzling open-mouthed kiss. "I think you’re being far too HARD on yourself, Miss Barrett," he murmured, pulling back just enough to ruffle her hair with his breath. When he took a love bite out of the side of her neck, she craned it to the side to allow him better access. "You look exquisite to me……"

"Hmmmmmm……" She arched her back with feline pleasure, rotating her bottom back and forth on his lap. "Speaking of HARD….."

A sudden beeping noise on the computer console behind them made Brenda pull out of the embrace. "What’s that?" She remained on Jax’s lap, her arms wound around his neck, as she stared over her shoulders at the maze of blinking lights. "Did I accidentally touch something I shouldn’t have?"

"Not at all." He reached around her to switch off the alarm, then tapped a few more buttons on the keyboard. "I was just downloading the information from your office computer to my equipment here." She slid off his lap to watch in amazement as his fingers flew over the keys. "That way, we’ll have access to all of the information you’ve already gathered on Threads, Incorporated and Elanco."

"WITHOUT the nasty little roadblocks that you were throwing in for me, of course," she countered sarcastically, crossing her arms across her chest.

"We’ve been all through that before, Brenda." Jax’s gaze flitted towards her before returning to the monitor screen. "I had to do whatever was necessary to keep you safe." He typed in another command and then leaned back in the chair while the complex machine in front of him ground out the data he requested. "So – did Lois get settled in OK?"

"I think so." Brenda nodded but her attention was really centered on the alphabet soup that was flashing on the screen. "That was really nice to buy her a new wardrobe for while she’s here," she added, smiling and caressing the back of Jax’s neck again.

"Well, I have to admit to being partially selfish," Jax grinned. When the lights on the console flashed again and the monitor beeped, he sat up straighter. "I only have a limited number of sweatpants to go around, you know!" His smile was replaced by intense concentration as he began to type again. A few seconds later, he hit the return key, prompting a list of file names to appear on the screen. "And there you have it – all your data on the Brighton case."

Brenda took his place in the chair when Jax stood, never taking her eyes off the computer screen. "You’re sure it’s all here?"

"Unless you had any handwritten notes in your office that you hadn’t recorded electronically." Jax smiled smugly. "Plus, you’ll be able to cross-reference your information with some pretty extensive confidential databases that I have access to."

"Good." Brenda nodded, her chin firm with determination. She glanced up at him, all playfulness gone from her eyes, her fingers poised over the keyboard. "Show me how. Now."

"Now?" Jax tunneled his fingers through his hair. "You sure you don’t want to have some dinner, or rest for a bit?" He rubbed her back affectionately. "After all, it WAS only 24 hours ago that you had your little run-in with Spook."

She settled herself more firmly in the chair. "I want my life back, Jax," she murmured, watching as more file names appeared on the screen in front of her. "I want my nephews to be able to go back home and play with all of their little friends. I want Lois to be able to watch her favorite Audrey Hepburn movies in her *own* bedroom." When she lifted soft brown velvet eyes to meet his gaze, it took his breath away. "And that won’t happen until I can find concrete proof to put Sorel behind bars for a very long time."

"I understand." Jax nodded once, then leaned forward to type some commands on the keyboard. "Although I’ll have to do some pretty fast talking to convince Thomas that you’re not anxious to go home because you hate his cooking!"

The two of them went to work in companionable silence. Jax prowled the cavernous computer lab like a caged beast, occasionally checking his special monitor to make sure that Kismet’s intervention wasn’t required that night. He circled back to stand behind Brenda while she typed furiously, smiling contentedly at the soft growls that she emitted when "file not found" came scrolling across the screen in response to her commands.

After about an hour, she flopped back in her chair, her hands folded behind her head. "OK – I’m officially stuck." She looked over her shoulder at him, arching one eyebrow critically. "Are you SURE you’re not still locking me out of the information I need?"

"The only block you’re hitting now is yourself, love," Jax sighed. He pulled another chair up beside hers to stare at her screen. "What have you got so far?"

"Not much more than I had back at the office." She grimaced, nodding towards the screen. "Beds and Beyond – the linen shop that blew up – is owned by a company called Threads, Incorporated." She leaned towards the screen again, pointing with her finger to a block of data. "And THAT’S what I’ve got so far on Elanco, the conglomerate that owns Threads."

"Hmmmmm……" Jax chewed on the inside of his cheek while he studied the data. "So the CEO is John Smith?"

"Yeah….." She snorted sardonically. "Pretty original, huh?"

Jax’s head bobbed once in agreement. "What about the other members of the Board of Directors? Got anything on them?"

Brenda frowned. "Only a list of names." She tapped a command into the computer and was rewarded with new data. "Most of which probably don’t exist, just like their addresses."

Jax studied the screen for a few minutes before his eyes crinkled at the corners. "Wait a minute……" He scrolled down, highlighting one name. "Take a look at this guy’s address." He hit another key, zooming in on that line. "5472 Harborview Towers."

"That’s impossible." Brenda shook her head. "There’s no such number in the Towers. They only use single digits for their addresses." Suddenly, her eyes widened. "But ………" Her fingers hesitated in mid-air above the keys before settling to start typing rapidly. When another set of data flashed on the screen, she crowed triumphantly. "Look at this address for one of the other members – Jack Johnson! 5472 Huntington Drive!"

"We may be onto something….." Jax rolled his chair away from her towards a different computer monitor. He squinted back at her data, then began to type on his own keyboard. "There!" He pointed to some print on his screen. "Look at the zipcode for Russell Washington! 05472!"

Suddenly a frown caused creases in Brenda’s forehead to deepen. "But do you really think it could be that simple, Jax?" She turned to stare at the data on her screen. "Do you think that Sorel would be stupid enough to leave clues like that in such obvious places?"

"What’s so simple about it?" Jax leaned back in his own chair to fold his arms across his chest. "All we’ve got so far is a four-digit sequence. It could be any number of things – a combination to a safe, part of a phone number, part of a corporate ID number……" He tunneled his fingers through his hair. "H*ll, we don’t even know if the digits are in the right order or not."

Her chin suddenly firmed with determination and Brenda turned back to her own keyboard. "Well, we’re NOT going to give up!" she muttered. The tapping of her fingernails on the keys echoed in the cavernous room. "We’re on the right track – I just KNOW we are!" She peered intently at the monitor in front of her. "If we found ONE clue, we can find more….."

Jax let out a long breath, then pulled his own chair back up to the computer in front of him. They worked silently for about five minutes until his fingers froze at the keyboard. "Wait a minute ….." He glanced over at her monitor. "Put that list of Elanco directors up again."

"OK…." Brenda quickly changed screens, bringing up the data he wanted. "What’ve you got?"

Jax worried his lower lip with his teeth. "Maybe nothing….." He narrowed one eye at the data, then turned back to his own monitor. "And then again……" He pointed to one line of print. "Look at this zip code for Threads. 32311."

Brenda squinted at the screen. "OK."

"Now look at the area codes for Elanco and John Smith’s phone numbers."

Brenda’s entire body tensed as his reasoning sank in. "They’re the same first three digits – 323." She suddenly waved her hands in the air in excitement, then lowered them to the keyboard, causing a new stream of data to appear. "That’s GOT to be it, Jax – 32311!" A beautiful smile graced her face. "The 323 keeps repeating…….AND there are exactly *11* directors on the board of each subsidiary of Elanco!"

He shared her smile, then reached for a large yellow pad of legal paper and a pen. "OK – so let’s put it together so far." He wrote the two number sequences on the blank page, putting one at the top and the other at the bottom. "We’ve got two sets of numbers, one with four digits and one with five."

The shadow of a frown flitted across her face. "But we have NO idea how they fit together or what they could be."

"Don’t be so negative." Jax tossed the pad of paper on the desk next to the keyboard and pulled his chair in so that he could type. "Remember – the journey of a thousand miles begins with baby steps….." A lock of golden hair fell across his forehead when he smiled crookedly at her. "…..or something like that."

She returned his confident smile. "You’re right." Then she sighed and pulled herself up to her own keyboard. "So let’s try the obvious first." Brenda glanced over at the two series of numbers written on the pad. "Maybe it’s a zipcode for someone – or for the REAL corporation behind all of these fakes. You know – the nine-digit kind of zipcodes."

"OK…." Jax nodded. "We can check that out quick enough." He began to type in the digits. "We’ll try the numbers in the order given – first the five digits and then the four." He stared at the screen as words appeared in response to his command. "Nope. No such zipcode exists."

Brenda peered over his shoulder at the screen. "How about if you switch them around?" She waited silently for a few seconds. Her face fell when another set of data appeared on the screen. "Shoot. That doesn’t work either."

"That just means it’s not a zipcode." Jax paused to look intently at the digits, his finger poised over the keyboard. "Maybe it’s an street number AND a zipcode."

"Geeeeeez……." Brenda sighed loudly. "We could be here *all day* searching for something without the name of the street." She looked at the numbers again, then shook her head firmly. "No, I think it’s got something to do with the numbers alone." Her eyes suddenly brightened. "What about a phone number? Or maybe a cell phone number?"

Jax shook his head. "Too many digits."

Brenda sank back in her chair. "But it’s something with numbers – maybe a combination for a safe or something." She shook her hands at her sides, releasing nervous tension. "Something with nine digits altogether."

Jax’s eyes abruptly widened. "That’s it!" He sat up straight and started to type again. "We’ve been getting hung up on the 5 digit, 4 digit combination!"

Brenda’s eyes crinkled at the corners with a frown. "What do you mean?"

He paused a few seconds until more data appeared on the screen. "I was right!" He clapped his hands together gleefully before starting to type again. "You need to split the first series into a set of 3 digits and then 2 digits! It’s a social security number!" Jax hit a few more keys, then the "return" button triumphantly. "And in a few seconds, thanks to this nifty little secret data base of mine, we’ll find out who it belongs to!"

"JAX!" Brenda jumped up from her chair. "You can’t do that!" She gripped his arm, drawing his attention away from the screen. "It’s against the law to have that kind of data! Social security numbers are confidential!"

His lips thinned into a smirk. "What about that big speech you made a few minutes ago about wanting your life back? Didn’t you mean it?"

"Of course I did …….. but at what cost?" She put her hands on her hips with a loud sigh. "Breaking the privacy laws?"

"Oh, I get it," he returned sarcastically. "It’s OK for Sorel to break the law and get little kids hooked on heroin, but you don’t want me to break some privacy law so we can put him behind bars."

Brenda growled loudly, gripping the hair next to her face in frustration. "Jax, you KNOW that’s not what I……."

"Hang on……" He interrupted her, holding up one hand as they both turned towards the screen. "The program came up with a match……" Silence reigned in the room until the screen resolved into one small line of type. "Well, now………" Jax sat back in his chair, his face reflecting his surprise. "I didn’t expect that."

"Justus Ward?" Brenda’s face wrinkled in a frown as she stared at the screen. "That social security number belongs to Mayor Ward?" When Jax nodded silently, she shook her head as though trying to clear away the confusion. "But that doesn’t make sense! I thought we were going to find Sorel through all of this!"

Jax rose to his feet, silently stroking his chin in thought. "Maybe we were on the wrong track to start with." He walked slowly around to the other side of the bank of computers. "Maybe this tells us that Sorel isn’t the top man in this crime ring."

"And Justus IS?" Brenda asked incredulously. "Are you asking me to believe that the MAYOR of Port Charles is the head of the biggest drug cartel in the state of New York?"

"It makes a lot of sense, if you think about it." Jax folded his arms across his chest, tipping his head to one side. "Sorel was always one step ahead of us, knowing when you would be near the linen shop, or at the Mission to see Jimbo. Justus probably has spies everything who’ve been feeding Sorel the information under the table." His lips thinned in a grim expression. "H*ll, that was probably the way he found out that Garcia and I were undercover cops five years ago."

Brenda shook her head with a loud sigh. "So it turns out that Mayor Ward has been protecting Sorel all these years while I was doing my d*mndest to try to take him down." She snorted sarcastically. "He probably thought he hit the lottery when you came along and "persuaded" him to take me off the Brighton case!"

"Don’t remind me." Jax straightened abruptly with a biting snort. "I could have saved myself a lot of money if I had known sooner."

"Oh, my God!" Brenda’s face suddenly blanched. "I have to tell Ned!"

Jax quickly strode back around the desk towards where she was seated. "No, you don’t."

"Yes, I DO, Jax!" she shot back. "Ned is like a brother to me!" Jax crouched in front of her chair, swiveling it so that she faced him. "Ned is pinning all of his hopes for a future in politics on Justus’s career! I HAVE to tell him that he’s working for a crook!"

Jax held up a hand to stop her flow of words, nodding calmly. "Brenda, if we took this information to Ashton now, he would laugh us right out of his office." He stared deeply into her eyes and saw her comprehension slowly growing. "All we’ve got so far is a social security number that HAPPENS to match the digits in some of the data for Elanco and Threads."

Her lower lip drew into a pout. "So then we REALLY don’t have anything, do we?"

"I wouldn’t say *that* either, love. What we’ve got is a KEY." Jax launched himself back into his chair and started typing furiously. "And now, all we have to do is use that key to get through some of the doors that were locked to us before."

Brenda shook her head, staring blankly at the monitor in front of Jax. "I don’t get it."

"Now that we’ve got Justus’s social security number, I can use some of my other data bases to track down his bank accounts, including the ones he probably thinks are well hidden in Switzerland."

"And?"

Jax stared at the data flashing before him on the screen. "I can get information on when he’s made any large withdrawals or deposits electronically." He sat back with a smug smile. "And if I’m lucky, I’ll find that there’s another account that he’s been regularly doing business with."

Brenda’s eyes widened. "Sorel’s!"

"Exactly. Hopefully I’ll be able to match up withdrawals from Justus’s account and identical deposits to Sorel’s." Jax sat up and typed again when the computer buzzed at him. "And THAT will be the kind of proof we can take to the grand jury – and that you can show to Ned," he added, nodding his head in concession to her.

Brenda gazed at the screen until she suddenly turned away, shielding her eyes. "Of course, I’m not watching any of this," she announced in a theatrical voice, "because it’s against the law to break into banking information like that, and as Assistant District Attorney, I would NEVER…."

"Of course you wouldn’t." Jax shot her a cocky grin. "Never."

While his fingers flew over the keyboard, she chewed on the inside of her cheek. "So how long will it take to put the information together?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.

"If I’m lucky – not more than a few days." His focus never strayed from the computer.

"Because we still have that agreement, you know," she countered insistently. "I told you I would only give you two more weeks to take down Sorel."

"I remember." Jax typed in one more command, hit the enter button, and then rose to his feet. "Now why don’t we both call it a night?" He stretched his arms up over his head, lacing his fingers and turning his hands palms-up to the ceiling. "It’s been a long day, and there’s really nothing more we can do at this point."

"It’s been a long forty-eight hours." Brenda sighed wearily, sliding under his outstretched arm. They ambled lazily towards the passageway leading back to Wyndemere’s upper structure. "And I really need to get some rest so I can get back to the office tomorrow."

He halted abruptly. "No way." He put his fingers over Brenda’s lips to stop her objections. "I TOLD you that Wyndemere is the only place where I can be SURE you’re safe until we put Sorel away."

"Jax, I can probably do a lot of my paperwork from here, but I have a court appearance in a few days." Brenda gave him a gloating grin. "You CAN’T bring the entire legal system to Spoon Island!"

He started walking again, pulling her tightly against her side. "Then I suppose Kismet will just have to make some daytime appearances in courtrooms, won’t he?" His loud chuckle echoed in the darkened tunnel. "Isn’t it about time the good old caped crusader did his civic duty and sat on a jury?"

*~*~*~*

"D*mn it……I *know* it was just here……" Brenda scowled fiercely as she pushed papers around on her desk, peering under a large stack of files at her right side. "What did I do with the Bockmann brief?"

"It’s on the left side of your desk, hidin’ under that gigunda book you were just lookin’ at." Thomas folded down a corner of the newspaper page he was reading to peek at her. "And you never did call Judge Forsythe back, either."

"I know." Brenda pursed her lips and wrinkled up her nose. "He wants me to have lunch with him, which is fine, but he always picks one of those nasty "old boys’ clubs" that reek of stale cigar smoke and undercooked beef!"

Thomas’s eyes twinkled. "Have I told you lately how much I LOVE a rare steak?"

Brenda reached for the missing file and opened it in front of her. "Don’t you have something else that needs your attention back at Wyndemere, Thomas?"

"Miss Barrett!!" He tossed the newspaper to the other side of the small couch where he sat. "Is that your polite way of sayin’ that you’re sick of my company?"

"I’m *saying* that I think there’s somebody back at Wyndemere who enjoys your company, too," she retorted with a sly smile. "Somebody you have a lot in common with, like watching old movies and making popcorn at 1 in the morning."

Life had settled into something of a routine once Lois got settled into Wyndemere. Brenda did as much of her work as she could from Jax’s computer center, while Thomas spent a lot of time watching Lois juggle schedules for rock bands from her own small office that Jax had set up for her. Nearly every night, Brenda found herself wrapped in Jax’s arms as she fell asleep, only to wake several hours later to find his side of the bed empty. While she didn’t like the fact that he still felt the need to patrol the streets as Kismet, she did appreciate the fact that he was making inroads into cutting the crime rate that Mac’s police force couldn’t hope to touch with a ten foot pole.

The large man bristled and picked his newspaper back up. "Just because two people happen to appreciate the talents of Audrey Hepburn and William Holden does NOT mean they are doin’ nothin’ kinky."

Brenda nodded, holding back the laughter that threatened to spill from her lips. "Of course it doesn’t, Thomas. I just thought….."

A knock on her office door interrupted Brenda’s train of thought. When the door opened a crack, Thomas sprang up from the couch. He reached inside his suit jacket for weapon he carried in his shoulder holster, only to relax when Jax’s blonde head appeared. "Anybody here order some lunch?" he asked, flashing an infectious smile while holding up a large wicker picnic basket.

"Jax!" Brenda immediately rose from her desk. "What a nice surprise!" She covered the distance towards him as quickly as the confines of her slim suit skirt would allow. "I thought you were going to be tied up on that docks renovation meeting all day!"

"We managed to cover the ground more quickly than I expected. I thought you might feel like taking a break for some lunch……" He winked furtively at Thomas. "Unless, of course, you’re too busy to take some time out for the man who loves you more than anything else in the world….."

A coy smile graced Brenda’s lips. "I think the wheels of justice can manage to grind for a few hours without me," she crooned, wrapping her arms possessively around Jax’s neck. "Don’t you?"

When he leaned down to capture her lips in a sizzling kiss, Thomas looked away discreetly. "OK – I get the picture!" he announced loudly, holding up his hands in surrender. "You two just keep your clothes on until I get out of the room, OK?"

"I think we can manage that, Thomas," Jax replied, his gaze never straying from Brenda’s face. When he heard the sound of her office door opening, he finally glanced over his shoulder. "I’ll stay with Brenda until she’s done here, Thomas. You go back to Wyndemere and take over for Leo guarding Lois."

"Good." Brenda stifled a giggle when she heard Thomas snort disgustedly. "I don’t like the way he looks at Miss Cerullo, if you know what I mean."

Jax waited until Brenda’s office door closed to give her a broad, conspiratorial smile. "I’m beginning to think that Cupid is using Thomas’s heart for target practice."

"I’m glad for her. Lois deserves a good man, and now that you’ve redeemed Thomas from his criminal ways, I think even her mother, Gloria, would approve of him." Brenda peered down at the large picnic basket that Jax still held. "What’cha got in there, hmmmmm?" Her face suddenly fell. "NOT protein shakes, I hope!"

His dimples deepened with secretive delight. "Why don’t you open the basket and find out for yourself?" he teased, reaching around Brenda to place it on her desk.

She lifted her shoulders gleefully while grinning at him, then spun around to lift one side of the wicker basket. Brenda let out a sudden gasp of surprise, which was followed by a loud, happy squeal. "Oh, my God – JAX!!"

He stepped back a little and folded his arms across his chest while watching the joyful expression on her face. "So you like it?"

"Ohhhhh, Jax……… I LOVE it!!" Brenda turned to face him, struggling to hold three pounds of wiggling black puppy. "It’s just…… he’s just……" She paused, lifting the puppy under its front legs to inspect its external plumbing – or lack thereof – and confirm her suspicions. "HE’S adorable!!" she finished, cradling the inky-furred creature to her chest.

"The guy at the pet store said that this little fellow is something they call a Yorki-poo," Jax explained. He scratched just behind the large red bow that was tied around the puppy’s neck. "Part Yorkshire terrier, part poodle." Brenda buried her nose into the puppy’s fur, eliciting an excited yelp from the dog. "He’ll definitely fall into the "dustmop dog" category when he grows up."

She sighed contentedly when the dog reached up to lick the bottom curve of her chin. "I’ve always wanted a dog, you know." A shadow suddenly passed across her face. "Although I’m not too sure the management in Harborview Heights allows their tenants to have pets."

"Which is just another *good* reason why you should stay at Wyndemere with me – even *after* you put Sorel behind bars," Jax smiled. He leaned towards her to place a kiss on Brenda’s cheek. "And just so you don’t think I wasn’t serious about lunch, someone from Café Matisse should be here in a few minutes to deliver a gourmet lunch for two and a bottle of their finest champagne."

"Champagne? For *lunch*?" Brenda fought to keep a grip on the puppy when he began wiggling mightily in her arms. She finally gave in and set him down on top of her desk, keeping one hand on him so he didn’t try to "explore" amongst her files. "There. Maybe NOW you’ll be happy."

The puppy sat back on its haunches for a few minutes, its pink tongue a stark contrast to its black fur when it licked its lips. But then, he lifted his back leg to scratch in annoyance at the festive red ribbon around his neck.

"You don’t like that fancy thing too much, do you?" Brenda crooned. She bent over the dog, reaching for the bow to undo the ribbon. "Why don’t we just take this off and then……"

Brenda’s sharp intake of breath was audible. Jax pressed his lips together, suppressing his strong urge to grin like an idiot. He waited until she straightened again, holding the small object that had been tied around the dog’s neck on the ribbon.

"Jax……." His name drifted from her lips on a sigh as she held up a platinum ring set with a three carat heart-shaped diamond solitaire at its center. "It’s…….breathtaking."

"No more than you are, my love," he whispered. He took the ring from her, then reached for her left hand. "I didn’t quite know how to ask you to marry me, but then my little furry friend over there said he would help me out."

"Mmmmmarry?……." She blinked her eyes rapidly to fight back tears. "Marry you?" She wiped at her eyes with the back of her free right hand. "This is an engagement ring?"

He raised his eyebrows, deadpanning. "Well, unless you’re only sticking around for the fantastic sex and then you’re going to dump me!" She choked back laughter as Jax slid the ring onto her third finger. "In which case I guess this becomes a REALLY bloody expensive friendship ring."

"Ohhhhh, Jax………" Brenda stared at the ring on her finger for ten seconds before launching herself at him, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck. After about fifteen seconds of a silent hug, she finally pulled back to stare dreamily into his Caribbean blue eyes. "I love you SOOOO much…."

"And I love you, too, Brenda," he whispered, placing a quick but heated kiss on her lips. He turned around to settle his bottom on the edge of her desk, still holding her in his arms as he sat. "You know, I *swore* to myself five years ago that I would NEVER do this again."

Brenda’s raven eyebrows drew together in a frown. "Do what? Ask a woman to marry you?"

"No." There was just a hint of sadness in his smile. "I promised myself that I would never let anyone get close enough so that they could get hurt because of me, or what I do."

Brenda’s eyes widened in understanding. "Like your partner, Garcia," she murmured, nodding as she looped her arms loosely around his neck.

"Like Garcia." Jax blinked rapidly, banishing old painful memories. "But then you came into my life, like some kind of miniature tornado……"

"As I recall, it was YOU who was more like the tornado!" Brenda giggled, tapping his chest with her first finger. "Swooping down on me in alleys and scaring the daylights out of me……"

The sound of growling and papers rustling behind them startled both Jax and Brenda. "Looks like we’ve got a NEW tornado in the family, though!" Jax laughed heartily. He helped Brenda back to her feet and then scooped the puppy from beneath a maelstrom of papers and files. "Maybe you should name him Taz!"

"Knock, knock……" They both turned at the sound of a male voice in the doorway. Ned’s head appeared a few seconds later. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all, Ned!" Brenda straightened her skirt self-consciously. "We were just having a little impromptu …… picnic lunch."

"Uh-huh……" Devilment twinkled in Ned’s eyes as he walked towards them. "And I take it that little fellow is an ant with a hormone problem?" he asked, pointing to the puppy.

Brenda took the dog from Jax and cradled him to her chest. "Ned, I’d like you to meet Taz Barrett, newest member of the family," she said, supporting the puppy’s chest with her left hand. "Jax just surprised me with him."

As Ned tickled the dog beneath the chin, there was another knock at Brenda’s office door. Two white-coated waiters from Café Matisse pushed a large linen-covered table into the middle of the room while another set up a silver champagne bucket.

"Now THAT’S what I call a picnic!" Ned chuckled, whistling under his breath while the waiters exited. He strolled over to check the label on the champagne bottle and then turned back towards Brenda. "So that little ball of fur is the reason for the expensive champagne in the middle of the day?"

"No……." Brenda shifted the dog in her arms to show Ned her left hand. "Jax gave me something else, too." She glanced back over her shoulder at her smiling fiancé. "He asked me to marry him and I said yes."

"Actually, you said a LOT of things, Brenda, but I don’t recall that "yes" was one of them," Jax drawled, earning a punch in the arm from his intended.

"Well, I just stopped in to see if you were doing OK after the disaster at your apartment last weekend, but I guess now I don’t need to ask." Ned came back to her to give Brenda a kiss on the cheek. "Congratulations, Bren."

"Thanks, Ned. As soon as we set a date, I’ll let you know." When the puppy started to squirm in her arms, she set it back in the basket behind her on the desk. "I’ll need *someone* to walk me down the aisle, you know."

Ned’s dimples winked his reply. "I wouldn’t miss it for the world." The smile faded when he glanced down at his watch. "I hate to run, but I promised Justus that I would brief him on some of the issues before his news conference this afternoon." He gave Brenda another quick kiss on the cheek, not noticing her sudden pallor or in-drawn breath. "Call me as soon as you make any firm plans for the wedding."

Ned dashed out of the office so quickly that Brenda’s face still showed some residual chalkiness. "This is just KILLING me, Jax!" she cried, shaking her clenched fists at her sides. "We HAVE to tell Ned about Justus’s involvement with Sorel before he gets hurt!"

"I know how you feel, Brenda." Jax rose from her desk and took her into his arms in a loose embrace. "Despite the fact that we’re often on opposite sides of the fence business-wise, I like Ned, too. I’d hate to see Justus take him down with him." He sighed loudly before pulling back to stare into her eyes. "But I just don’t have enough concrete evidence yet to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mayor Ward is guilty."

The corners of Brenda’s mouth drooped in a pout. "When, Jax?" When Taz started crying pitifully in his basket-jail, she went over to her desk and took him out to cradle him. "How much longer will it take before this nightmare is over?"

"Very soon, Brenda – I promise you that." The cleft in Jax’s chin firmed with his resolution. "Soon we’ll be able to put this entire mess behind us and live our lives again."

She nodded grimly. "Then let’s pop open that champagne bottle and drink to that, hmmmm?" She peered at the puppy, then held out her left hand proudly when the diamonds in her engagement ring caught the mid-day sun. "Let’s drink to the rest of our beautiful lives together."

To be continued………