Brenda thought for a moment that she must have been transported to some parallel universe. Was Jax suffering from some kind of amnesia? She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself. {It’s OK, Brenda. This is just some kind of joke. When you open your eyes, Jax will take you in his arms, show Mac the proof he’s innocent, and sweep you off your feet and carry you off into the sunset.}

But when she opened her eyes and looked at him again, she immediately realized her dreams weren’t going to come true. He was still leering at her suggestively, and Mac was still fuming.

"What the hell kind of joke is that, Jax? You know d*mn well who this is!"

Jax shook his head. "Sorry, Mac." He looked at Brenda once more, and then winked at Mac. "Wish I did, though. Your taste in women is improving. She got a great body."

Brenda was stung by his words, although she tried to keep telling herself he must have had a good reason to be saying them. "OK, Jax, go ahead. Play your little game. But you’re not fooling me for a minute. You know d*mn well that this is the woman who’s been hiding you the past week."

Jax shook his head once again with a smirk and continued to leer at her, but Brenda suddenly didn’t have time to be offended or puzzled. Mac apparently couldn’t stand Jax’s triumphant grin for one more second, because he leaned over and opened a drawer in the table, pulling out a police pistol. Brenda saw him and let out a scream as he took off the safety and aimed it at Jax’s chest, holding it in both hands.

Jax paled slightly at Mac’s actions, and when Brenda turned back to face him, she saw him straighten up and put his hands high in the air. All of the officers in the outer squad room saw Mac too, and finally they sprang to life, coming towards the room and drawing their weapons. Jax glanced back at them briefly, and then turned a little to the side so they could see the front of his body.

"I’M NOT ARMED!!!" he shouted, and Brenda put her hand over her mouth to stifle more screams. She couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him killed before her very eyes. Not when they had come this far.

Mac was breathing hard, and when Brenda glanced over at him, the pistol was shaking just slightly. It was still aimed at Jax’s chest, as were the weapons of most of the officers in the squad room. But they all were holding their fire, and for that Brenda was thankful. As she continued to pray silently with tears running down her cheeks, Jax surprised her once again by smiling over at Mac.

"You can’t do it, mate," he said quietly. "If you shoot me now, it’s murder. I’ve officially surrendered and made it known that I’m not armed. If we were just in a forest somewhere – just the two of us -- you would probably lie and say it was self-defense." He glanced back at the squad room. "But here, I’ve got a whole bunch of witnesses, and you can’t possibly buy them all off."

Brenda was still breathing hard, but his words began to make sense to her. Although Mac could certainly arrest him, he couldn’t shoot him now. Jax had effectively taken Mac’s shoot-to-kill order and let the air out of it like a balloon.

"You’re a d*mn fool, Jax," Mac hissed. "You think you’re so smart, don’t you?"

Jax smiled again, still holding his hands high in the air. Brenda saw some of the officers in the squad room relaxing a little. "Actually, no," Jax replied. "If I had been smart, I would have thought of this days ago. You didn’t expect me to surrender, did you? Sorry for spoiling your little plan, Mac. Now you’ll just have to explain it to the taxpayers."

Mac still held the gun on Jax. "It doesn’t matter, Jax," he sneered with a smile that scared Brenda again. "You’re still a dead man. You’ll never get out of this one alive."

Jax shook his head and clucked at Mac as though he were correcting a small child. "Mac, Mac, you disappoint me. Is the mind going already? Quite sloppy of you – threatening me in front of a witness." Jax nodded his head in Brenda’s direction, and she tried to pull herself together for his sake. She realized that she was the only other person who could really hear all that was being said, and her testimony might be vital at some point.

Mac laughed again, and it unnerved Brenda. He slowly put the safety back on his pistol and then lowered it to the table and put it back in the drawer. "I’m not making threats, Jax," he replied snidely. "I’m only stating the obvious facts." He looked into Jax’s eyes as he spoke. "You know d*mn well that you’ll never make it to trial alive." He looked down and casually examined his fingernails as he spoke. "The guards are all cops, and you know how they feel about cop killers." He looked back at Jax. "They won’t bother to ask questions. They’ll just act on what they believe is right. Accidents do happen, you know."

Brenda inhaled sharply and Mac continued to her horror. "And if you somehow manage to elude the guards, I’m sure the prison population will be REAL glad to see you, pretty boy," he said sarcastically. "Why, those convicts will be standing in line to get a piece of you. They don’t get too many blue-eyed, blonde gods in prison, you know." He leaned forward and took great pleasure in tormenting Jax. "How will it feel to be some con’s boy toy, Jax?"

Jax tried not to show it, but he could see that Mac’s words were upsetting Brenda immensely. His main objective in this was to get her out of headquarters and under Blue’s protection. He had called Blue once more to advise her of the plan, and she was on her way to the PCPD at that moment. "Look," Jax said, trying to change the subject, "we can discuss my future for as long as you want, but why don’t you let the beautiful broad go. She’s got nothing to do with this."

Mac leaned back and smiled again, folding his hands against his chest. "I’m afraid I can’t do that, Jax. She’s under arrest."

"Ohh," he said, pretending innocence, "so vice DID bring her in, then?"

Mac was losing patience. "No, you idiot. She’s under arrest for hiding you from our troopers. Harboring a fugitive, I believe the charges read at this point."

Jax snickered. "Which fugitive, Mac? I told you, I’ve never laid eyes on her before in my life. You can’t hold her if you don’t have any charges that will stick."

"You’re lying, Jax," Mac said nervously. "You spent days at her cottage. We’ve got your prints all over her place. And we’ve got a shirt with your blood on it." Mac shifted papers around in hopes that Jax wouldn’t see through his ruse. "And we’ve got her voluntary statement." He was wrong.

"You haven’t got diddly squat," Jax said with venom. "You couldn’t possibly have those lab results back yet, and even when you do, we both know you won’t have any fingerprints. And blood work takes at least 36 hours. And as long as I keep denying that I know who she is, you don’t have anything concrete to hold her on." Jax saw Mac pale, and he pressed further. "But of course, if you have a signed statement…."

Brenda saw her chance. "I never signed anything," she said defensively, "and I don’t intend to."

Jax clucked at Mac again. "Mac, Mac. You ARE getting sloppy in your old age. Every rookie on the force knows that you can’t hold someone without evidence or a signed statement." He began to walk around a little, his confidence growing. "I’ll bet you tried to get her to sign it though, didn’t you? I’ll bet you and Garcia played "good cop/bad cop" with her. Which one of you got to be the good guy this time? I’ll bet it was you. You always enjoyed being the white knight, rushing in with the coffee and Tylenol."

Jax saw he was making points, and he continued. "If she’s not some hooker off the street, you’d better pray she’s not some important babe with a lot of money or a rich daddy. I have a feeling the good citizens of Port Charles won’t look kindly on their tax dollars going to defend you for a wrongful arrest and harassment suit."

Mac just buried his head in his papers on the table and Jax perched on one corner, balancing on his hip. "Now, if you’re keeping her around here to improve the scenery, I heartily approve." He gave her a suggestive once-over again. "God knows she gives me a lift." Brenda inhaled and acted insulted, trying to play along with his game. "But otherwise, why don’t you go ahead and release her and then you and I can talk about these trumped-up murder charges against me."

Mac finally shook his head and began to laugh, and it chilled Brenda’s blood again. "You know, Jax, you must think I’m a d*mn fool." He looked Jax in the eyes again. "If you really don’t know the broad, why are you so hellbent to get her released? Why should you care about her if you really don’t know her?"

Jax leaned forward to Mac, determined to give as good as he got. "But I’m not thinkin’ of her, mate. I’m thinkin’ of you." He straightened up again and mirrored Mac’s action of examining his fingernails. "Let’s add it all up – you don’t have a signed statement, you don’t have any proof of my fingerprints at her place, and now your "dangerous fugitive" is in custody. Even a rookie knows there’s no judge that will let you hold her on that. So release her, and save yourself a lot of grief and a lot of the taxpayers’ money. And pray that those blood tests prove you right."

Mac glared back at Jax and Brenda glanced between them, not sure exactly who would come out on top in this contest of wills. Just as Mac took a breath to speak, there was a commotion in the squad room. The three of them all turned to see what was causing all the noise, and Brenda’s heart sank as she saw what it was.

"Where is she? D*mnit, I said where is she?" Sonny was shouting, and his two bodyguards were coming threateningly close to the officers that were blocking his path.

{Oh, God, just when you think things can’t get any worse…..}. Brenda buried her face in her hands, and Jax tensed momentarily at the sight of the mobster who was so intent on finding his girlfriend. Sonny finally pushed his way through the officers and came straight for the interrogation room, followed by a man in a dark suit and then by Jason.

Sonny swept into the room, moving past Jax as though he weren’t even there. "Babe, are you alright? Scorpio hasn’t done anything to hurt you, has he?" Sonny swept Brenda into his arms, and she had to consciously make the effort not to cringe or pull away. His back was to Jax, with Brenda facing him, and she shot him a momentary "sorry" look. He just tried to take it all in stride, but on the inside, he was itching to permanently separate the mobster’s head from his shoulders.

Sonny pulled back from her and held her by the shoulders, looking her over carefully. She smiled at him weakly. "Are you OK, babe?" he repeated. "You don’t look so good."

"I’m OK, now that you’re here," she lied. "I’m just tired and have got a killer headache. I just want to go home and have something to eat."]

Sonny pulled her against him again and stroked her hair gently. Then he released her and switched places with her to come face to face with Mac. "What the h*ll do you think you’re doing, Scorpio? Has she been arrested? You can’t hold her here without evidence, you know."

Jax smiled and stared down at the floor, and Mac shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Mac, meanwhile, was thinking that obviously Sonny didn’t know what his little girlfriend had been doing when he was out of town. "Sorry, Sonny. I was just about to release Miss Barrett."

"See, babe, now that I’m here, everything’s gonna be fine," Sonny said with pride, and it took all of Brenda’s strength not to vomit. He looked over at the man in the dark suit. "Valentine, go out there and make sure Brenda’s paperwork is all set and we can get out of this joint." After the man left, Sonny finally noticed Jax in the room.

Jax was still giving Brenda lustful glances, which wasn’t too hard for him to do, considering his feelings at that moment. Sonny glared at him. "Have you got a problem with my woman, blondie?"

Brenda stood between Jax and Sonny, and she could already feel the testosterone in the room reaching a boiling point. {Don’t do anything stupid, Jax. Don’t let him get to you.} But as she looked into those sparkling pools of blue, she knew that he couldn’t just let things be.

"No problem at all," Jax replied, still leering at Brenda. "Sorry about the misunderstanding, miss," he said to her with a smirk. But then Jax turned toward Mac, and Brenda realized that he wasn’t going to let things rest at that. "Scorpio, I didn’t realize you were into sharing." Brenda heard Sonny gasp and prayed Jax would shut up, but she wasn’t that lucky. "Does she only do threesomes, or does she let Garcia get in on the action too?"

Brenda felt Sonny’s body tense and as he was about to launch himself at Jax, she put her arm up to stop him. "SONNY, NO!" she screamed, and she almost thought she wasn’t going to be able to stop him from attacking Jax there and then. To her dismay, Jax actually looked like he would have enjoyed going a round or two with Sonny, and Brenda had no doubt he would have wiped the floor with Sonny in a fair fight. But in this room, she didn’t think a fair fight would have been possible.

She was holding Sonny back as he seethed, "Let me go, babe. He’s not gonna insult you that way and live to talk about it." Brenda turned to face him and put her hands on his shoulders. "Come on, Brenda, get outta my way. I can’t let him talk about you that way."

She took her hands and cradled Sonny’s face. "Sonny, look at me." He finally gave her his attention. "I’m a big girl now, honey. Let me handle this." Sonny’s body was still a tense mass of muscles, but he finally relented and took a deep breath. He nodded to her and she turned back to face Jax.

Jax was still smirking at her, and Brenda walked over to him, mustering all of her courage. When she finally stood in front of him, he rose from the corner of the table where he had perched and faced her, putting his hands on his hips. "You listen to me, you insensitive PIG," she growled. "I don’t know who you are, but don’t you EVER speak to me like that again!"

At that, she pulled back and slapped his left cheek with her right hand. His head turned to the side with the force of the slap, and after it was done, she had to bite her cheek from crying when she saw the angry red imprint her fingers had left. The tears that began to roll down her cheeks, though, served her dramatic purpose. "And I hope you understand EXACTLY what I meant by that, you PIG!" she said in a low voice.

Jax took his left hand and began rubbing his jaw, opening his mouth slightly. His eyes flashed with a familiar fire, and Brenda was reassured that he was remembering his words to her when he had first come to her cottage and she had slapped him after their first kiss. Brenda was still breathing hard, and she rejoiced at his words when Jax replied, "Oh, I think I know EXACTLY what you meant. Obviously I was wrong. Mac would never be involved with a HELLCAT like you!"

Brenda almost sobbed in relief, but then tensed when she felt Sonny’s arms come around her from the back. "Come on, babe, let’s get out of here," he said near her ear. She nodded silently, and let him pull her towards the door.

Mac, meanwhile, had had enough of standing in the background. "Erickson!" he barked to one of the officers in the room, "Cuff Mr. Jacks." The cop moved forward and pulled Jax’s arms behind him, and Brenda saw him wince as he pulled the left shoulder that had so recently been wounded. Sonny was still pulling her toward the door, but she deliberately moved slowly, hoping to see more of what was happening.

Jax’s eyes followed her, and she saw the mist in them and had to try hard to keep from crying herself. But he was soon distracted as Mac came over to him and jerked his face toward him. "Jasper Jacks, I am placing you under arrest for the murders of Officers Thomas Kavanaugh and Marcus Taggert." He looked back at the young cop who had cuffed Jax. "Read him his rights," Mac said tersely, and then left the room triumphantly.

*~*~*~*

Brenda was standing glumly in the squad room, watching Sonny and Valentine arguing with the desk clerk about her final paperwork. After Jax had been cuffed, he had been led off into another hallway and Brenda’s heart already felt empty. He had surrendered to save her, and now was facing certain death in a jail cell.

Her heart sank even further when she saw Sonny coming over to her with a huge smile on his face. "Good news, babe. You’re free to go. Let’s go back to your cottage and I’ll make you some supper and then I’ll make you feel ALL better." He began to lead her out of the station, followed by the ever-faithful Jason.

Brenda sighed deeply. {How will I be able to be in the same room with the man? How can I stand the feel of his hands on me? I can’t do this. If pretending that I don’t know Jax means I have to let Sonny make love to me, I’ll take the next available jail cell in a New York minute.}

As Brenda turned with Sonny’s arm around her to leave the squad room, she heard a familiar voice and almost jumped for joy.

"Cousin Brenda! Sweetie!" Blue was standing in the doorway of the squad room and waving frantically.

Brenda felt Sonny’s body tense and she heard Jason’s quiet exclamation of "Aww, geez……" Blue smiled broadly at Brenda and extended her arms in an invitation for a hug. She didn’t need to ask twice.

"Rona!" Brenda exclaimed, and ran for her arms. She was sobbing by the time she reached Blue’s embrace, and Blue held her and hugged her tightly. Brenda lay her head on Blue’s shoulder and cried, "Oh, I’m SO glad to see you!"

Blue held the sobbing girl. She petted Brenda’s hair. "There, there," she crooned, "let it all out, sweetie. I’m here now. Everything’s gonna be fine. Cousin Rona will take care of it all." As she rocked Brenda, she looked over at Sonny and Jason and smiled weakly. {OK, that must be the slimy mobster boyfriend. Time to get him out of the picture.}

Brenda pulled back from Blue’s embrace and Blue gently pushed the hair off her face. "Blue," Brenda whispered, "I can’t go back to the cottage with him. I just can’t," she said, her voice breaking.

"I know, sweetie. Not to worry." Blue turned Brenda to face Sonny and Jason who were approaching. She kept her arm around Brenda to bolster her sagging spirits. She looked at Jason. "Well, hello again, Mr. Twin-of-Brad-Pitt. I didn’t think I would ever be lucky enough to see you again. But obviously this must be my lucky day." She looked at Brenda. "Brenda, are you gonna introduce me to this handsome gentleman?"

Brenda tried to take a deep breath to speak. "Rona, this is my boyfriend," she almost choked on the word, "Sonny Corinthos. Sonny, this is my cousin Rona. She’s been visiting me for the last couple of weeks. Jason met her at the cottage once before."

Sonny put out his hand suspiciously, and Blue extended her hand to shake it. She nodded at Jason, who nodded in return. Sonny, meanwhile looked curiously at Jason. "Yeah, we met at Brenda’s once before. She was visiting with Brenda for the day. We talked about motorcycles."

His suspicions satisfied a little, Sonny’s handshake became a little more enthusiastic. "Well….Rona….I’m glad to meet you. Brenda just never mentioned having a cousin before. Certainly not a cousin named Rona," he added.

"Well, honey," Blue purred, still holding his hand but not breaking the grip, "she’s certainly told me a lot about you, but it doesn’t do you justice." She looked Sonny up and down like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. "Now, Brenda," she scolded, "you told me he was hot, but you didn’t tell me that Sonny was so…so…."

At the implied compliment, Sonny began to preen. "…swarthy?" he suggested, still holding her hand warmly.

"No…" Blue shook her head, as though still trying to remember.

"….dangerously handsome?" Sonny suggested again. Blue repeated shaking her head in the negative.

"…magnetic?" Sonny tried one more time.

"No…" Blue replied, and then her eyes lit up as though she though of the word she wanted. She looked him up and down hungrily, and then, pausing at a strategic area of his body, said the word. "Small. Yep, that’s the word. You never told me he was so small." She nodded with satisfaction, but didn’t miss seeing Sonny bristle.

Brenda had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. "Although I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with small," Blue went on. "Why, we had an uncle Stanley who was so short that he had to have his suits made special. He even had his cars made with special pedals since his legs were so short. Why, I remember he had a l972 Chevy that he drove for years, but it was such an ugly purple that I never could understand it for the life of me. That purple car drew the attention of every cop in the county. But most of them would stop the car and when they saw Uncle Stanley, they would just smile. Why, Brenda, did I tell you the time…"

As Blue took a deep breath to start another "Uncle Stanley" story, Sonny put his hand over his mouth and leaned over closer to Jason. "Now I see what you mean about family resemblance," he said softly. He put his arm around Jason and patted him on the back. "Man, you deserve a medal for courage under fire for putting up with both of them at once. How long did you stick it out?"

Jason dropped his head. "Not long, man. The cousin is almost worse than Brenda. But the two together – it was worse than being in the hospital after my accident."

Sonny nodded in sympathy. At that point, Blue had finished her story and Brenda was finally finding something to smile about in this horrible day. "Say!" Blue exclaimed, causing both Sonny and Jason to jump. "I just had a great idea! Why don’t the four of us go back to Brenda’s cottage and we can have dinner together and get to know each other better. We can just talk and talk and talk…."

"NO!!!!" Jason and Sonny both exclaimed at the same time. Sonny re-adjusted his sport coat lapels and moved his head uncomfortably when Brenda shot him a dramatic look of disapproval. "I mean, I have a lot of mail to catch up on at my penthouse. I really need to get back there right away." He moved to take Brenda into his arms. "You understand, don’t you baby?"

{Thank you, God. Thank you.} "Well," Brenda drawled, trying not to jump up and down in ecstasy, "I guess our reunion will just have to wait a few days until cousin Rona leaves. But you have NO idea how disappointed I am that you won’t be coming back to the cottage with us." {Yeah – I am ZERO disappointed.}

Sonny gave her a wet kiss, but Brenda managed to endure it since she knew he would be leaving and there wouldn’t be any further demonstrations of his affection today. After Sonny and Jason left the headquarters, Brenda turned to Blue. "We have to do something! Jax is in danger!" she whispered frantically.

Blue nodded knowingly, and although Brenda didn’t notice, Blue’s eyes followed a petite brunette who had just walked into the station. She was wearing a navy power suit, white silk blouse with a jabot, and carried a large black briefcase. She went to the front desk and the sergeant looked at her with irritation. "Yeah?"

The brunette placed her business card on the desk and looked him in the eye. "I’m here to see Jasper Jacks."

The sergeant glanced at the card but then brushed it aside and went back to reading his newspaper. "He’s busy, lady. He’s somewhere bein’ booked. You can wait in those chairs over there."

The brunette let out a disgusted sigh. She reached over and pulled his newspaper down flat on the desk, slamming her open hand over it and making the sergeant jump in the process. "I said, I’m here to see Jasper Jacks. I have two words for you, and I want you to try to get them through that pea-sized brain of yours. FIND HIM!!!"

The sergeant swallowed hard and immediately left the desk to go follow her orders. She readjusted the jabot of her blouse and looked over at Blue, smiling slightly. Blue returned the smile, and spoke softly to herself. "Houston, the eagle has landed." Then, she turned and grabbed Brenda by the arm. "Come on, sweetie, let’s get you out of here."

"But Blue," Brenda protested, "we can’t just leave Jax! Didn’t you hear what I said?"

"I heard fine, and now I just want you to talk to your dear cousin Rona like it’s been years and come with me to my car," Blue said between her teeth as some officers walked past them. They began to walk out of the station, Blue pulling Brenda and Brenda sputtering in indignation all the way.

When they got outside, Blue steered Brenda toward her blue Jag convertible and pulled out the remote for the keys. Unlocking the security alarm, she opened the door on the passenger side for Brenda, and then whipped around to the driver side to get in.

Once they were finally in the car, Brenda folded her arms. "OK, that’s it," she said succinctly to Blue.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked suspiciously.

"I MEAN," Brenda said, turning to face her, "that I refuse to go another inch. I WON’T put my seatbelt on. Little Brenda Mushroom has left the building, Blue. I’ve been kept in the dark and fed enough sh*t to last a lifetime." She looked at her with deadly serious eyes. "I want to know EXACTLY what’s going on, and I want to know NOW!"

To be continued…..