"ELIZABETH!!" Brenda noticed that Jax’s face was turning a lovely shade of purple. His fists were clenched at his sides in rage.

"What’s the matter?" Lissie was nonplussed. "I only asked cause I figured old Jasper here would want to know before he did it with you the first time….."

"ELIZABETH JANE JACKS!!!" Jax was clearly both mortified and furious. "How DARE you say such a thing! You know full well that I have NEVER made an improper advance towards any of your nannies!"

"Yeah……" Her father’s anger had no impact on Lissie. "That’s probably because most of the other ones looked like they were in some kind of suspended animation and just got thawed out……"

Brenda had to stifle her smile as she watched the interchange between father and daughter. She was neither insulted nor surprised. If anything, Elizabeth Jane Jacks reminded Princess Brenda a lot of herself at the awful age of 13.

Puberty had hit Princess Brenda like a ton of bricks, leaving King Harlan and Queen Veronica quite unprepared for it. Whereas Princess Julia had been a model teenager, Brenda was the ingenue from h*ll. She was always in trouble with her tutors for failing examinations. The only thing she seemed to be able to memorize was the name, age, and telephone number of the newest recruit to the elite Palace Guard. As Julia progressed through her teen years, she grew taller. Brenda, instead, grew rounder. Her lush figure was the subject of many adolescent dreams among the young men of the nobility.

Only with the help of some wonderful counselors from the University was the royal family able to cope with Brenda’s rebellious ways. She snuck out of the palace repeatedly and particularly hated the strong security measures her father insisted on after what had happened to Albert. There was a rather embarrassing situation that had been captured by the tabloid press on film, but King Harlan managed to buy off most of the copies before they saw the light of day. Sometime around her 19^th birthday, King Harlan had hired a new private investigator in the search for Albert. While reviewing the particulars of his kidnapping one night with Brenda present, it seemed as though a fog had lifted from her eyes. She realized all of the grief that she had put her parents through and how precious she truly was to them. Of course, she was also amazed at how much her parents had matured and learned in the last six years!

The sound of father and daughter seething at each other brought Brenda back to the present. She smiled angelically at Lissie and walked slowly over to her. "I’m very pleased to meet you, EJ." Brenda heard the girl’s soft gasp of shock. She leaned forward with a devilish glint in her eye. "And yes – they’re definitely real." Her eyes dropped down to Lissie’s chest and then back up again. "Which is probably more than you can say, hmmmmm?"

Lissie coughed loudly and almost swallowed her gum. Brenda mentally grimaced again as she took in Jax’s daughter’s appearance. {Yep. Classic teen rebel costume. Thigh-high black boots, black mini-skirt, clingy black shirt tied just under the breasts……..and a Wonder bra that’s probably stuffed to the brim with tissues or toilet paper. Add black mascara, black nail polish, and dark red lipstick for good measure. The spitting image of me at that age.}

"They…….my boobs…….they ain’t fake." Lissie’s statement caused her father to go into another tailspin but Brenda saw straight through her bravado. "And I ain’t no football player turned murderer."

"And I can see you ain’t no Phi Beta Kappa either, dear." Brenda smiled as Lissie almost growled out loud. The tension in the room was broken by the sound of the buzzer on Jax’s desk phone.

"WHAT IS IT????!!!" Brenda felt sorry for Addie and sincerely hoped the woman had a good pair of earplugs if it was always like this around the Jacks household. "He’s not?" Jax’s face paled slightly. "But I thought……" He listened again and then grimaced. "All right. I’ll try looking in this part of the house. He can’t have gotten out again – not since we had that new security system installed." He hung up the phone and sighed loudly.

"Is there a problem?"

Jax put his hands on his hips after ruffling his hair with his right hand. "I’m not sure. My son – Scott – he’s …….well, he’s……..missing."

Son missing. Security system installed. The words struck terror in Brenda’s heart. "Missing? Oh, my God…."

"Don’t have a cow, man," Lissie drawled. She looked accusingly at Jax. "I told you that you should have gotten a better harness than that cheap one from the dollar store……"

Brenda’s eyes widened but Jax was too busy glaring at his daughter. "That was NOT the problem, Lissie! YOU were supposed to be watching him, but instead YOU were too busy riding your skateboard to care about what happened to your brother!"

Lissie put her hands on her hips in an exact imitation of her father’s stance. "I WAS watching the runt of the litter, but you KNOW he can get out of almost any leash that you put on him now that he’s older……"

"Harness? Leash?" Brenda’s questions finally managed to interrupt the conversation. Jax and Lissie both turned towards Brenda, and Jax flushed a bright shade of pink. "I don’t mean to butt in, but I just don’t quite understand….."

Jax took a deep breath, stared down at the floor, and then looked into Brenda’s eyes. "Scott is my six-year-old son. He…….well……." He shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "…..Ever since his mother’s death, Scott’s been……well……"

"He likes to pretend that he’s a dog." Lissie’s curt factual statement caused Jax to sigh again and rub his face with his hands in frustration. "You know," Lissie went on in clarification, "Scott – scottie dog. Like in woof, woof."

"Scott retreated into a fantasy world shortly after his mother’s death," Jax said softly. "I’ve had him to doctors and they just tell me to be patient – that it’s something he’ll outgrow someday." Brenda swore she saw the glint of tears in his eyes. "Someday…….I begin to wonder if someday ever comes."

{How many times have you wondered that yourself? "Prince Albert will be found…..someday."} Brenda fought the mist that threatened to flood her own eyes.

Jax suddenly looked around and his eyes flared. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to find him before he gets into something that he can’t handle….."

Brenda waved Jax off sadly as he dashed towards the office door and out. An ache blossomed in her heart for the angst-ridden teen and the little boy who obviously missed his mother so much that he had to take on another persona. When Lissie turned back to Brenda with a stare of cold disdain, Brenda made up her mind to nip at least one of the problems in the bud.

"You know," Brenda started in a quiet voice, walking closer to Lissie, "I’ve only met your father a little while ago, but he seems like a very nice man to me."

Lissie shrugged her shoulders. "He’s all right, I guess. If you like tall, blonde, and a great butt."

The teen almost swallowed her gum again when Brenda grabbed her hand. "Which is precisely why he doesn’t deserve any more embarrassment than he’s already had this morning." She sighed. "You know, Lissie, you’re not the first young woman in the world to go through the painful stages of puberty, and you won’t be the last. It didn’t kill me, and it won’t kill you."

Lissie stared at her defiantly. "You? Puberty? What was that, like back when the dinosaurs were walkin’ around?"

Brenda just ignored the barb and smiled. "Now why don’t we try that introduction again, just the two of us?" Brenda shook Lissie’s hand and held it firm. "I’m Brenda Barrett, and I’m pleased to meet you Lissie." Lissie just eyed Brenda up and down and didn’t say a word. Brenda’s eyes narrowed slightly and the pressure on her hand increased. "Now this is the part where you say, "I’m pleased to meet you, too, Miss Barrett," and smile."

After about 30 seconds of painful silence, Lissie replied, "I’m pleased to meet you too, Miss Barrett." She still frowned, but Brenda held her ground until Lissie cracked a smile that lasted all of two nano-seconds.

"Wonderful." Brenda finally dropped her hand. "I knew we would get along. Now, you already know that your father is considering hiring me to be your nanny. It’ll only be temporary, since I’m not available to work past the first of the year. But in the meantime, while he’s out of the room, I think you’re entitled to ask me any questions you might have."

"*Any* questions?" Devilish glee sparkled in Lissie’s eyes.

"You can *ask* any questions you want." Brenda strolled behind Jax’s desk and then turned back to Lissie with a smile. "I didn’t say I’d *answer* them all."

Lissie folded her arms across her chest and shifted her weight to one hip, the very picture of skepticism. "Are your ears pierced?"

Brenda didn’t flinch. "No. Are yours?"

"No." Lissie frowned. "My dad won’t let me."

Brenda cracked just the hint of a smile. "My dad won’t let me either."

Lissie’s eyes widened. "He won’t? But you’re an OLD lady!" She paused and narrowed an eye. "How old ARE you, anyway?"

"27." She leaned towards Lissie. "Which doesn’t put me in the same category with your father -- of being over 30 and no longer trustworthy."

"I never said I didn’t trust him." Lissie lifted her chin a notch. "I just don’t like him very much sometimes."

"I didn’t like my father very much either when I was your age," Brenda admitted. "He wouldn’t let me date until I was 18."

"Wow!" Lissie’s face finally showed a genuine emotion. "That REALLY blows!" Suddenly, she realized that she was allowing herself to get close to Brenda and she dropped the ice curtain again. "So how come you can’t stay past Christmas?"

Brenda took a long, deep breath, not really sure how to answer the question. She was spared when she heard footsteps in the hallway and Jax appeared in the door. Relief was written all over his face. "I found Scott." Brenda let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. "It turns out he just wandered to the family room." Jax arched an eyebrow towards Lissie. "He was watching a video when I found him."

"Ten bucks’ll get you fifty it was Lady and the Tramp," Lissie murmured caustically.

Jax ignored the comment and smiled at Brenda again. "So…I thought I would bring him on down here so he could get a chance……" He froze and turned to stare down the hallway. "Scott?" Jax frowned. "Now I could SWEAR he was here just a minute ago……" He put his hands on his hips. "SCOTT??!!"

Lissie cleared her throat loudly and leaned towards her father. "Um…..dad?" Jax turned towards her. "Buy a clue." She postured grandly. If you whistle, he will come," she pronounced in a false, dramatic baritone voice.

"Whistle?" Brenda looked from father to daughter.

Lissie nodded. "Like you do for a dog. Like a "here, fido," kind of thing."

"And you KNOW that I refuse to treat my son like a dog, despite what that crack psychiatrist said, Lissie….." Jax was clearly becoming frantic.

But before either Jax or Lissie could say another word, Brenda put her fingers between her lips and gave a sharp whistle. Jax’s eyes widened and Lissie openly gawked at her. Then, with a rustle of noise and a soft yelping sound, a little human cannonball shot out of nowhere and wrapped itself around Jax’s leg. "Scott!" Jax was so glad to see his son that he ignored Brenda’s taking control of the situation. He tried in vain to uncurl Scott’s fingers, but the little boy held fast and buried his head against Jax’s upper thigh. "Come on, Scott," Jax crooned. "There’s someone here I want you to meet."

"That’s quite alright." Brenda’s voice was soft and gentle as she walked slowly over to father and son. She crouched down and gingerly reached out her hand to stroke the tousled blonde locks of the six-year-old. "It’s hard when you’re shy, you know," she explained to Jax. "Perhaps Scott is embarrassed because he doesn’t know how to shake hands yet."

Brenda kept petting Scott’s hair and smiling at him, and in a few seconds, she got her reward. The little boy lifted his face from against his father’s leg and stared into her eyes. There was no doubt about it – if Lissie had gotten her mother’s looks, Scott was a miniature Jasper Jacks. From his wavy sun-kissed hair to his stormy blue-green eyes, he was the spitting image of his father. But his eyes were so much more troubled than Jax’s, and Brenda couldn’t help but wonder if the father only hid his pain better than the son.

"Hi, Scott," Brenda whispered. The little boy continued to stare at her vacantly until she could feel her heart breaking in two. "I’m Brenda. I’d like to be your friend."

As quickly as the connection had been established, it was broken. Scott buried his face in his father’s pants leg again and clung that much tighter. Brenda looked up to see frustration and pain written on Jax’s face, but she just gave him an indulgent smile. "Well, I’m glad I got a chance to meet you, Scott," she said in a louder voice, patting the boy on the back. She straightened up and rubbed her hands together. "Since it’s such a beautiful day, perhaps Lissie can take Scott outside for a little exercise." She backed up so that she could include Lissie in the conversation. "After all, a frisky young thing like him needs fresh air, don’t you think?"

Jax rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand briskly and then looked towards Lissie. "Why don’t you take Scott out in the garden for a while, Lissie? Addie will call you when it’s time for dinner."

Amazingly, Lissie nodded and walked towards her father. As soon as she tapped her brother on the shoulder, he let go of Jax and transferred his grip to his sister’s hand. He still buried his face in her side and Brenda couldn’t help but notice that Lissie hugged him to her tightly. She was about to leave when she turned back towards Brenda. "Do I get to finish my questions later?"

"I think that’s up to your father." Brenda smiled at the teenager, who, despite her cynical attitude, loved her brother unconditionally. "I enjoyed meeting you – both of you."

Lissie gave the barest hint of a nod and then disappeared from the doorway. Jax waited until the sound of their footsteps echoed down the hall and the sound of a closing door signaled their exit. He turned back to Brenda with a wry smile. "Shall I call a taxi for you?"

Brenda arched an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Jax sighed and walked slowly to a small bar on the side wall. "I would think that after meeting the children, you’d be anxious to get as *far* away from us as *quickly* as you could." He took a short glass, tossed in a few ice cubes, and then poured in two fingers’ worth of an amber-colored liquid.

"It’s not really that bad, you know." Brenda’s calm statement froze Jax’s arm in space as he prepared to down the Scotch. He set the glass down on the bar instead, his look openly skeptical. "Scott’s been through a very traumatic experience, losing his mother at such an early age. And you said that you had taken him to doctors, and they were all hopeful that he would grow out of it."

"Yes, but what do I do in the meantime?" Jax sighed in exasperation and went back to his desk without his drink. "What do I do about school, and family gatherings? The other children are starting to talk, and I know even though Scott pretends not to hear them, it still hurts….."

Brenda had settled into the chair opposite Jax’s desk again. "Well, I’m no psychiatrist, but I would think that when Scott feels safe being a little boy again, he will."

"He must feel safe around you." Brenda lifted her eyes to meet Jax’s intense scrutiny. "Didn’t you notice that he didn’t drop down on all fours when you were talking to him?" He propped his elbows on his desk chair and covered his lips with his fingertips. "That’s better than he’s done with a stranger in some time."

Brenda silently thanked her lucky stars that she had managed to make a connection with the boy. If she ever hoped to find her own long-lost brother, she had to get inside the Jacks household and trace the whereabouts of Roy DeLucca. "Well," she demurred softly, "that was probably just beginner’s luck."

Jax sighed and threw his head back. "Of course, you *still* might not want to take the job, considering the welcome that my lovely daughter gave you."

"Now THAT I can deal with," Brenda laughed, breaking the tension. "Typical teenage angst."

"It is?" Jax looked equally confused and relieved.

Brenda delicately placed her fingers against her lips. "Let me take a wild guess. Her grades in school are beyond abysmal, she wears clothing and uses language that makes you want to lock her up and throw away the key, she insists on listening to music that sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard……"

"Does running away from home fit into that scenario anywhere?"

Brenda sighed sadly. "Oh, my……I was hoping Lissie would fall short in at least *one* category of noxious behavior associated with puberty."

Jax shook his head. "Well, maybe I wouldn’t really call it running away since she never got that far from the estate, but she’s given us all a few anxious moments." He glanced out the window at the setting sun. "That’s part of the reason I had the new security system installed. To protect Scott, and to keep better tabs on Elizabeth."

"You have to understand that she’s going through a rough time." Brenda’s voice was gentle but firm. "Maybe I can understand it better because I went through it myself."

Jax smiled wryly. Then suddenly, he glanced down at his watch. "Well, it’s getting late and I’m sure you hadn’t expected this interview to last this long." He sat up straighter and folded his hands on the desk. "I’ll be honest with you – based on the way my children reacted to you, I’d hire you on the spot, even though it’s only short-term. Are you still interested in the position?"

{Yes!} Brenda wasn’t sure if she was happier because it gave her a chance to look for Albert or because she was so drawn to Jax’s children. Not to mention the added plus of spending time with the handsome billionaire himself. "Of course!"

Jax was obviously relieved. "Great! When can you start?" His smile faded only slightly. "Subject to satisfactory references, of course."

Brenda kept the smile pasted on her face somehow. {References!! What am I going to do about the references? Oh well, don’t worry about that now. Figure it out once you get back to the hotel.} "Is first thing tomorrow morning too soon?"

"Not for me," Jax replied. He reached for a pad of paper. "Now, if you’ll just give me your home telephone number, I’ll call you and confirm the position once I have Addie check out the references…."

"I don’t really have a *home* phone – I’m living in a hotel, presently." Jax looked up in curiosity as soon as Brenda managed to get the words out. She knew how suspicious they must sound, particularly to a man who was willing to entrust his children’s lives to a complete stranger. "I’m originally from a small country near England called Baeristonburgh, but I’ve been in the United States for almost a year now," she quickly added, and Jax’s smile returned. "I’ve been working on a ……. special project."

"That accent of yours didn’t quite sound like southern California," he quipped. He arched an eyebrow as Brenda gave him her phone number at the hotel. "Baeristonburgh, eh? You’re a long way from home, Miss Barrett."

"Well, if we’re talking about accents, I don’t exactly think *you’re* a native southern Californian either, Mr……" He held up a hand and she nodded. "…….Jax," she finished. Brenda hoped sincerely he would take the bait and veer off the topic of how someone from a tiny principality in Northeastern Europe would land in the United States.

Her prayers were answered. "That’s true," Jax nodded. "I was raised in Australia. It seems the accent just hangs on, even though I’ve been in America for most of my adult life." He glanced down at the phone on his desk and when he saw most of the lights blinking brightly, Jax swore softly. "Addie will have my head for leaving her to the wolves this long." He rose from his desk chair and Brenda did likewise. "Perhaps we can discuss our mutual accents tomorrow after you get settled in."

Jax extended his hand to Brenda and she clasped it warmly. "That’s what I like – a positive thinker." The handshake seemed to linger just a few seconds longer than necessary, but then the buzzer on Jax’s desk broke them apart. "I’ll make sure to get those references to you as soon as I get back to my hotel," Brenda promised as she backed towards the door. Jax waved at her and sat back down to pick up the phone. He never saw the look of anguished desperation on Brenda’s face as she tried to think of a way to become Mary Poppins in 45 minutes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Mrs. Lois Ashton, please," Brenda intoned firmly. She was sitting at the desk in her hotel suite, sipping on the last of a diet cola from her room service dinner. "Princess Brenda of Baeristonburgh calling."

After only a few seconds of listening to the electronic beeping of the long-distance connection, Brenda hit the jackpot. "QUEENIE!!!!!" She had to hold the phone away from her face a little to avoid damage to her eardrums. "How ‘ya doin’?" Brenda didn’t even get a chance to take a breath to answer before another question was fired. "Oh, my God – did ‘ya find Al yet?"

Brenda had become acquainted with Lois Cerullo Ashton of Port Charles, New York while tracking down one of the other dark-haired infants adopted from the Children’s Home Society when Albert was. Brenda had suspected that Lois’s husband, Ned Ashton, was Albert, but after a thorough check of his heritage, it became doubtful. A private investigator finally managed to locate Ned’s birth mother, Tracy Quartermaine Ashton, and she put the final nail in the coffin. But Brenda’s disappointment was tempered by the fact that meeting Lois was probably one of the best things she had ever done in her life.

The women became fast friends as Lois helped Brenda to find the truth about Ned. Even after Brenda moved on to investigate other potential Albert’s, she kept in touch with Lois. Lois was the first real friend that Brenda ever had in her life, and she wasn’t about to let go of that anytime soon.

"Hi, Lois." Just the sound of Lois’s voice brought a smile to Brenda’s face. "No, I didn’t find Albert yet. But I’m hot on the trail of another suspect, and that’s why I called. I need your help."

"Name it, girlfriend. What’cha need? The private jet? A quickie loan? An intro to some big shot muckety-muck who won’t see ‘ya?"

"No, none of those." Brenda took a deep breath. "I need you and Ned to make me a fake resume, Lois. I have to get a job as a nanny."

"A NANNY?" Brenda moved the phone away again and winced. "Are you nuts? You? The royal princess of Bear-claw-land? A nanny?"

"Now, Lois – you *know* I’m great with children," Brenda argued. "I took care of little Brooke Lynn for you and Ned when I visited last time, didn’t I?"

"Well, yeah – but why do you have to be a nanny, Brenda? What’s that got to do with Albert?"

Brenda went on to explain in 50 words or less the dilemma with tracking down the elusive Mr. Roy DeLucca and his connection to Jasper Jacks. "It’s perfect, Lois. Jax’s kids are in school for most of the day, and he’s tied up with meetings all the time. And he’s going to be even *busier* than normal for the next few weeks, he told me that himself. Some kind of important mergers or acquisitions or such. So after I take the children to school in the morning, I’ll have the whole day just to snoop around the estate and look for information on Albert. I mean, Roy. I mean, Albert."

Brenda could just imagine Lois chewing on one of her elaborately-manicured fingernails. "Yeah, well I guess it does make sense to kinda spy on the guy this way." Her voice lightened. "And I guess Ned and I could dummy up some stuff for you. After all, Ned’s the CEO of ELQ and you took care of our kid. That should pack a punch with this Jacks guy."

"And go ahead and put Julia down as a reference, too. I already told Jax about being from Baeristonburgh, and it can’t hurt to have royalty give you a plug."

"But will Julia back you up on this crazy story?"

"She knows I’m deep into another investigation. I’ll try to give her a call now, just to be sure she doesn’t blow my cover."

"Speakin’ of Julia, she called here yesterday lookin’ for you, you know," Lois said dryly. "She said Captain Scorpio is havin’ a royal fit with you again."

"Captain Scorpio worries too much." Malcolm Scorpio was the head of security in Baeristonburgh, and the well-being of the remaining members of the monarchy was his personal responsibility. He had added many gray hairs during Julia and Brenda’s search for their brother as he tried to assign private guards to them. More often than not, especially Brenda managed to elude the guard and disappear for days at a time while following up a lead.

"Well, Julia said he was really PO’d this time and he was probably gonna track you down if it took an entire infantry of bloodhounds to do it."

Brenda sighed. "If I know Scorpio, he’ll probably have some private investigator trailing me before the end of the week." She shook her head. "That guy he hired when I was in Albuquerque gave me the positive creeps."

"So then why don’t you just save him the trouble and give him a call, Brenda? Maybe the man would be less paranoid if he knew where you were."

"I’ll think about it, Lois." Brenda reached for a scrap of paper. "But in the meantime, here’s the number where I need the fake resume faxed. Can you do it for me?"

Brenda heard Lois’s smile. "What are friends for, Queenie?"

"Great. Now remember – I’m not Princess Brenda anymore. I’m going to give you the number of Jax’s estate, and you need to put this name on the resume……."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Forty-five minutes later, Jasper Jacks smiled as a fax spit out of the machine in his office. He glanced at the names and brief statements of Brenda’s qualifications and then let out a long sigh of relief.

Maybe someday would come sooner than he thought…….

To be continued……