Brenda had gone past the point of a headache an hour ago. As she massaged her temples, she felt like her head was an overripe watermelon that was thisclose to bursting.

"All right, Ms. Barrett," Alexis Davis said, "let’s go over that timetable one more time. You say you left the offices of Deception Perfume at 10AM on January 10 and went straight to the airport?"

"No, Ms. Davis," Brenda growled. "I didn’t SAY I did that. I DID do it!" She looked daggers at the slim, attractive brunette woman sitting across the table from her. Alexis had shed the coat to her navy business suit an hour ago, right after Brenda’s headache had grown to monumental proportions.

As Alexis folded her hands primly on the large conference table, Jax emerged from the kitchen of the suite, carrying a large tray with coffee and ice water. "Problems?" He walked to the table and set the tray down in the middle, grabbing a glass and filling it with ice water for Brenda. He offered it to her and sat down next to her, rubbing her back as he did. He looked questioningly at Alexis, and she just shrugged her shoulders.

Brenda took a drink of the water and closed her eyes. "Jax, this is the fourth time I’ve told Ms. Davis about the day we took off and everything I did. I just don’t see the point in going over it again."

Alexis leaned forward on the table. "Ms. Barrett, I hate to disappoint you, but I’m a pussycat compared to the way those lawyers and the judge will be questioning you tomorrow." She sighed and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Besides, the more times you tell the story, the greater the chance that you might remember some minor detail that will break the case wide open."

Jax had continued to rub Brenda’s back and his fingers moved to the base of her neck. "Headache?" Brenda nodded. "Do you want some Tylenol or something else for it?"

"I’d better not," Brenda sighed. She looked back up at Alexis. "All right. Here it is again, one more time. I met with Lucy Coe at 10AM at the offices of Deception perfume in Sydney to take a quick look at the first proofs from the shots we had taken the day before. I only intended to stay with her for maybe 20 minutes since the flight left at 11:30, but somehow things always get bogged down with Lucy around. I ended up leaving Deception at 10:45 There wasn’t much traffic that morning, so luckily we made it to the airport in 15 minutes."

"Did anyone see you board the plane, other than the baggage clerk?" Alexis asked, glancing over at Jax. "Jax?"

He shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. I was running late myself that morning, and Brenda had already boarded the plane by the time I arrived. She was seated and ready to go when I came aboard."

"Any flight attendants?"

Brenda shook her head, and Jax nodded. "No. We usually don’t have flight attendants when there’s only one passenger."

"A co-pilot? Any other member of a flight crew that could corroborate your story about not carrying the metal suitcase aboard the flight with you?"

"Not a soul," Brenda sighed. "It was just Jax and I on the flight." She looked at Jax. "I guess this mysterious baggage clerk was the guy who tagged my luggage when I got to the airport and checked in for the flight."

Alexis shuffled through her notes, and then looked up at Brenda with a pained expression. "Ms. Barrett, I realize that this might sound like an indelicate question, but I need to ask it – did Sonny Corinthos ever ask you to bring drugs into the country for him when you went on modeling jobs?"

Brenda stiffened in her chair. "NO!" She looked at Jax, and then back to Alexis. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I mean, I know that Sonny has his faults, and probably is involved in a lot of illegal things, but I don’t think that he would EVER get involved with the drug business. He always told me that there wasn’t enough profit involved to justify the risk he would be taking." She cast her eyes down.

Alexis’ voice was soft. "Are you still seeing him?"

Brenda’s eyes shot up, meeting Alexis’ firmly. "No. I broke up with him in early March. I’m not seeing him anymore."

Alexis took a deep breath and moved some papers around. "Well then, I think we’d better start again from the beginning."

Brenda threw her hands up in despair and Jax put his arm around her. "Alexis, I think it’s time for a break. You’ve been at this for hours, and you’re just going over the same territory time and again."

"But Jax, we need something…..*anything* that might help us at the hearing tomorrow," Alexis protested. "It’s right out there, I know it is ……we just have to pinpoint it and going over it again and again is the best way."

Jax looked at Brenda fiercely, noting the dark circles under her eyes and hearing her stomach rumble. "Ms. Barrett is done for today, Alexis," Jax said suddenly. "She’s exhausted and hasn’t had any lunch." As Alexis was about to protest that lunch could be brought in, Jax put up his hand, glanced at Brenda, and continued. "Brenda is pregnant with my child, Alexis. She needs her rest, and she needs to eat something nutritious. NOW." Jax rose from the table, as did Alexis. She recognized when her boss was calling it a day.

Alexis walked around to the side of the table where Jax stood and Brenda was still sitting. "I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that congratulations were in order." She put out her hand to Jax, who shook it firmly. "I’m going to check in with Anna Devane. She told me she had a hunch she was going to work on that might be brilliant." She looked at Brenda, smiled, and then her face was deadly serious. "Let’s hope for Brenda’s sake that she’s struck gold."

Alexis turned to leave the suite, but when Jax turned back to Brenda, he wasn’t prepared for her scowl. "What’s the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," Brenda said sarcastically, rising from her chair. "Why don’t I make it easier for you and just hang a big sign around my neck that says, "I couldn’t keep my legs together, and now I’m carrying a married man’s child!"

Jax raised an eyebrow. "Brenda – aren’t you happy about this baby?" he said softly.

Brenda grimaced and put her hands on her lower back, massaging it. "Yes, I’m happy," she replied, turning to look into his eyes with tears in hers. "It’s just that this all seems like a nightmare. I’m a very methodical person. Organized. My life before the island fit into neat little boxes. Now, all of a sudden, nothing fits anymore." Jax put his arms around her, and she buried her face in his chest.

"I know," he crooned to her as he rubbed her back and stroked her hair gently.

"No, you DON’T!" Brenda cried as she looked up at him again, the tears running down her cheeks. "You’re not the one who’ll make the cover of the National Enquirer for weeks to come! You’re not the one who might end up rotting away for the rest of you life in an Australian jail! You’re not the one who’ll make headlines because you’re carrying the child of a very rich, very successful, very MARRIED man."

Jax wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb as a chuckle rumbled low in his chest. "Well, I have to say that it would certainly make headlines if I WAS pregnant by a married man!"

Brenda finally cracked a smile, too, but then lay her head against his chest and sighed. "I’m just so SCARED, Jax."

He hugged her to him protectively, and then surprised her when he swept an arm beneath her knees and lifted her into his arms. "Jax – what are you doing?"

"I’m taking you back to your suite. Tomorrow is going to be a tough day, and you need your rest." He began to leave his suite still carrying her, and she finally broke into giggles.

"Jax, I’m pregnant – not paralyzed! My suite is only down the hall – I can walk, you know!" She wiggled a little in his arms, and it took all the will power he had not to lay her down on the carpet and make love to her in the hallway.

"I know," he smiled, still carrying her. "But you deserve some pampering. You’ve had a rough morning, and you haven’t eaten." He stopped at the door of her suite, looking at her with concern. "How’s the little one today?"

She smiled wryly. "Still too little to make his presence known, except for some occasional indigestion." She exhaled. "But at least that morning sickness thing is over with. That was the pits."

Still firmly ensconced in his arms, Brenda reached into her pocket and pulled out her room key/card, which Jax swiped through the lock. As soon as the light turned green, he pushed the door open with his foot, and there was a strangled yelp from the couch.

As Jax pushed the door shut again with the same foot, he started to laugh at the sight on the couch. Apparently, their unexpected return had interrupted a rather heavy make-out session for Jerry and Lois. Jerry was lying on top of Lois, and as Jax started to smirk, Lois turned a bright shade of red.

"JAX!" Jerry cried, pulling Lois up to a sitting position beside him. "Have I ever told you what a really rotten sense of timing you have?" Jerry ran a hand through his hair and began to re-button his shirt.

"Good afternoon to you, too, Jerry," Jax smiled, carrying Brenda over to a large overstuffed chair.

Lois suddenly seemed to come back down to earth. She smiled, but then her face froze in fear. "Jax, why are you carryin’ her? Is somethin’ wrong? Oh, my God!" Her hands flew to her mouth in fear and she jumped up from the couch to run to the chair where Brenda rested.

"I’m fine, Lois – really!" Brenda protested, shooting Jax an "I-told-you-so" look. "We just had a really intense session with Alexis this morning, and I got pretty tired, so Jax insisted on carrying me back to the suite."

Jax went over to the couch and pulled Jerry up by the hand. "Lois, I want you to make sure she eats something nutritious for lunch, and then takes a long, hot soak in the tub. A nap would be a good idea, too." He reached down to caress the side of Brenda’s face, and then looked at Jerry. "Come on, Romeo. Let’s go find Anna Devane and see what’s happening."

Jerry followed after Jax, whining, "Don’t I get lunch, too? I’m tired too, you know, Jax. I flew the plane all the way here!" He glanced back at Lois and winked suggestively. "And I could use a good soak in a bubble bath myself, don’t you think?" He leered at the two women as they began to giggle. "Personally, I’m a Lilac Spring kind of guy deep down at heart."

Jax pulled him by the arm. "Yeah, Jerry, I know." He looked back at Brenda, quickly left Jerry’s side to go and give her a passionate kiss, and then pulled a grinning Jerry out of the suite.

Brenda shifted nervously in her seat. The hearing had begun an hour earlier, and so far they had been listening to boring testimony from experts about the chemical composition of the contents of the suitcase. As it had been explained to Brenda, this was simply a preliminary hearing, and it was up to the Judge to weigh the evidence and decide if indictments were justified.

Brenda glanced up at Jax as he was testifying. Most of his testimony had been about the actual finding of the suitcase, but the prosecutor had also asked him questions about whether or not he had seen Ms. Barrett board the flight, and if she was carrying any luggage with her. Jax had to admit that she had boarded the plane before he did, so he really hadn’t seen any of her luggage.

Jax smiled wanly at Brenda as he walked back from the witness chair, but she still felt like she had a whole truckload of butterflies in her stomach. Brenda had turned back to the front when a ripple of murmurs went through the courtroom. She turned around to see what caused it, and Jax was at the center of it.

A stunning brunette had entered the courtroom and was deep in conversation with Jax. Under her tan trench coat, she wore black pants, a red silk shirt with full long sleeves, and a black brocade vest. Her extremely long hair was pulled into a knot on top of her head. Brenda wished she could hear what they were saying as Jax’s eyes began to widen.

"Jax," Anna Devane whispered, "just how much did you say you were paying me for this job?"

"Why?" A hopeful grin graced Jax’s face.

"Because, whatever it is," she smiled and handed him a piece of paper triumphantly, "it’s not enough."

He read for a few moments silently, and Brenda watched as he pumped his fist in silent victory. "Where is he?"

"Outside, love, ready to testify." Jax grabbed Anna into a big hug, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and as the judge began to gavel the room back into quiet, Jax ran to Alexis and they bowed heads in whispered consultations.

Brenda was bursting with curiosity when Alexis rose. "Your honor, we have a new witness whose testimony we believe will be critical to this investigation. We would like to call this witness at this time."

"It’s highly unusual to call a new witness this late in the proceeding, Ms. Davis, but you may proceed," the judge said seriously. Jax pumped his fist again, and went back to take his seat, but not before he gave Brenda a thumbs-up on the way past her.

"Your honor, we wish to call Mr. Arnold Williams to the stand." Brenda looked to the back of the courtroom, and the brunette was bringing a small, grizzled man through the doors. Her fingers went to her lips when she recognized him and tears began to gather in her eyes.

Mr. Williams was led to the witness chair and after swearing to tell the truth, Alexis approached him and Anna left the courtroom again. "Would you please tell the court exactly what you do for a living, Mr. Williams?"

"I’m a cab driver – have been for 25 years, love," he said in a heavily accented, gruff voice.

"And were you on duty the morning of January 10 here in Sydney?"

"Yes, ma’am," he replied. "It was a pretty slow morning until things picked up around lunchtime."

"Do you recall picking up any fares in particular that were going to the airport?"

"Yes, ma’am," he smiled, and looked over at Brenda. "That young woman right over there. I picked her up at some fancy perfume company. She was real upset, she was, because she had a special airplane flight to catch and she was running late."

"Your honor," the prosecutor rose and objected, "that was almost four months ago. This man is obviously a busy cab driver. How can he be sure he remembers this one passenger out of the hundreds he must drive each month?"

"Oh, no, sir," the driver interrupted before Alexis could speak. He looked at the judge seriously. "See, I always like to talk to my passengers." He smiled at Alexis. "I’m a friendly kind of guy, you know. And I specifically remember that young lady because we got to talking about my grandkids."

"She reminds you of your grandchildren?" Alexis prompted.

"Oh, no ma’am," he winked, "but I was tellin’ her how the grandkids love this new noise they call music, and she told me she was some kind of big shot owner of a record company."

"Your honor, again I must protest," the prosecutor intoned. "This man could have read in any one of the newspapers about Ms. Barrett’s business ties, or even have been coached by the defense team." He gave Alexis a dirty look, but she just smiled benignly.

"Your honor," Alexis continued, "we will be able to refute the prosecutor’s objection if you will just allow me to continue." The judge finally nodded slowly, and Alexis turned to the cabbie. "Is that the total extent of your conversation with Ms. Barrett, Mr. Williams?"

"No, ma’am. I was tellin’ her how the grandkids all keep buggin’ the wife and I for these new CD’s when the come out." He turned to the judge and smiled conversationally. "The wife keeps thinkin’ they’re talkin’ about bank notes – certificates of deposit!" He turned back to Alexis, who made a gesture that he should go on. "Anyways, when I told Ms. Barrett that, she said that she would send us some free CD’s for the grandkids! Wasn’t that nice?"

"Your honor?" the prosecutor began.

Alexis again made a hand motion at the Arnold, and he continued. "Well, I didn’t have any paper with me to write down my address and neither did she, so," he reached into his pocket, "she gave me one of her business cards with the address of her record company. She told me to send her a letter – or send it to her secretary, I mean – and she would take care of sending us the CD’s." He held the business card up to the judge. "See, you can see right here she wrote the name of her secretary for me."

The judge took the business card from Arnold and looked sternly at Brenda. "What is your secretary’s name, Ms. Barrett?"

"Robin Scorpio, your honor," Brenda said in a shaky voice.

The judge looked down at the card. "That does appear to be the name written on the card." He handed the card to Alexis. "Proceed, Ms. Davis."

"And what happened when you arrived at the airport with Ms. Barrett, Mr. Williams?"

"Well, since she had been so nice and all, I thought it was the least I could do to help her with her bags. She’s such a little thing, ya’ know." He looked fondly at Brenda. "So I helped lift them out onto the sidewalk for her so that the baggage bloke could check ‘em in."

"And how many bags were there?"

"Well, she took her purse herself. Said she could manage that. And then there was this little overnight bag, and a satchel."

"Mr. Williams, could you be more precise when you say "satchel"? Was it metal, with a hinged lock?"

"Oh, no ma’am. It was kind of like one of those duffel bags like the kids use for school. All soft – like the bags we used in the army years ago."

"So you only put two bags on the sidewalk for her when she checked in at the airport, is that right, Mr. Williams?"

"Yes, ma’am. And I checked the cab afterwards, and there was nothin’ else. Some people get in such a hurry they leave bags behind, but not her. The cab was empty."

Brenda began to breathe a little easier and Jax leaned forward and rubbed the back of her shoulders affectionately. As the judge called for order, Alexis thanked Arnold for his testimony and the cab driver was excused. But as Alexis approached the table, she looked at Jax, who came forward to crouch behind Brenda. "Don’t celebrate yet, kiddies. Right now, it’s still Brenda and Arnold’s word against the baggage clerk."

Just then, Anna Devane came rushing into the courtroom again. When Jax turned and saw her, he immediately jumped up and ran back to her. She spoke with him in whispers and handed him another piece of paper. Jax read for a few seconds, and his face turned into a somber grimace. After asking Anna one more question, he came back to Alexis and she remained at the courtroom doors.

Jax conferred with Alexis for a few minutes, showing her the piece of paper. Alexis’ face brightened considerably, and then she turned to the judge after handing the paper to her clerk and pointing towards a copy machine. "Your honor, considering the discrepancy in the two versions of Ms. Barrett’s luggage, wouldn’t it be appropriate to hear from the baggage clerk again?"

"I heartily agree, Ms. Davis. Should I assume that you’ve had him brought to court?"

Alexis smiled. "We aim to please, your honor." She glanced back at Anna, who went out briefly and then returned with a very reluctant J&J Charters employee. He was still wearing the polo shirt with the company logo, and Jax had to quell the urge to strangle him there on the spot as he went by.

Alexis approached him. "Would you please state your name for the court and your occupation?"

"John Rollo," the man said shakily. "I’m a baggage clerk for J&J Charters."

"Mr. Rollo," Alexis began, "are you aware that there is a considerable difference between your version of how many bags Ms. Barrett brought to the airport and the cab driver’s sworn testimony just a few minutes ago?"

He swallowed hard. "Yes, ma’am."

"And I’m sure you also realize that making a false statement to the police is almost as serious as perjury, aren’t you, Mr. Rollo?" He answered in the affirmative again, but offered no explanation.

Alexis shocked Brenda. "Well, you know what, Mr. Rollo? I don’t think we should even get into that whole thing right now." There was murmuring in the courtroom, but Alexis looked calm. "I think we should talk instead about your employment history. Would that be all right with you?"

"Your honor," the prosecutor objected, starting to rise from his chair.

"I’ll allow it," the judge replied, "based on the fact that Ms. Davis seems to be right on the mark this morning, and I want to hear where this is going."

"Thank you, your honor," Alexis smiled. "I won’t disappoint you." She turned to Rollo again. "How long have you been employed with J&J Charters?"

Rollo took a deep breath. "About 18 months, ma’am."

"And have you spent that entire 18 months working out of the Sydney airport?"

Rollo shifted uneasily in his seat. "No, ma’am. I started out working in London, and then I transferred to Hong Kong after about 6 months. I’ve only been in Sydney for about 3 months."

"I see." Alexis walked back to the table and picked up a piece of paper. "And before you worked for J&J Charters, you worked for…."

He cleared his throat. "I worked for a major airline company in their baggage department."

Alexis looked down at the paper. "Mr. Rollo, I have here a schedule of your employment history for the past 3 years." She walked over and handed it to him. "Would you say that it is accurate?"

After briefly scanning the paper, he handed it back to her. "Yes, ma’am," he said quietly.

"Good." Alexis handed the copy to the judge and went back to her table, getting more pieces of paper. She walked to the prosecutor’s table and then went back up to the judge. "I have here a copy of Brenda Barrett’s travel schedule for the past four years as a model for Deception Perfume." She handed a paper to Rollo. "Isn’t it amazing, Mr. Rollo, that you always seem to turn up working in the same city as Ms. Barrett’s modeling jobs?" She turned to the judge. "In fact, there is an EXACT correlation between Ms. Barrett’s destinations for the past three years and Mr. Rollo’s city of employment." She turned to him. "Don’t you find that HIGHLY coincidental, Mr. Rollo?"

Rollo shrugged and stared at the floor. His face was beginning to turn extremely red. "Mr. Rollo," Alexis pushed, "how long have you been using Ms. Barrett to transport drugs into the United States?"

There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Alexis glanced back at Anna Devane, and Anna again exited the courtroom. She turned back to Rollo, who was still staring at the floor and breathing hard. "Mr. Rollo," Alexis said gently, "you’ll excuse me, but you just don’t seem like a drug czar to me. You know what I think?" Rollo looked up at her, and the silence in the courtroom was deafening. "I think that you just were taking orders from someone else. I think that you were just hired help in this operation." She looked at him keenly. "Is that true, Mr. Rollo? Did someone pay you to follow Ms. Barrett on modeling assignments and make sure drugs were smuggled into the United States, tagged as her luggage?"

Rollo looked hesitant and turned to the judge. "If I tell the truth, would it mean that I was in less trouble about lying to the police about my earlier statement?"

The judge took a deep breath. "Mr. Rollo, I have to advise you that you are not required to incriminate yourself. However, any testimony that you may offer that would ultimately help us find out how drugs were smuggled out of Sydney would be considered extremely helpful by the court."

Rollo inhaled and gripped the seat of his chair. "Yes, ma’am. Someone’s been paying me to tag suitcases of heroin with Ms. Barrett’s name for three years."

Brenda’s sob echoed throughout the courtroom. She covered her mouth with her hands, and Jax rushed up to sit beside her and take her in his arms. The bailiff moved towards them, but the judge waved him off.

"Mr. Rollo," Alexis continued when order had been restored. "Will you tell us the name of the person who hired you?"

"No, ma’am," Rollo answered quietly. Again, a collective hum of whispers went through the court.

"You won’t, or you CAN’T, Mr. Rollo?" Alexis prodded.

"I can’t." Rollo looked over at Brenda, who was still breathing hard as Jax held her tightly in his embrace. "I met the man five years ago in New York when I was doing odd jobs for a friend. He asked me if I would do some jobs for him. I was busy then, but he called me again about 4 years ago when I was out of work. I’ve met him a couple of times since then, but we never bother with names. Sometimes he’s just a voice on the phone, and the money always is wired directly to a bank account in Zurich. I can’t tell you his name because I don’t know it."

"Do you think you would recognize the man if he were in this courtroom?" Alexis asked, and suddenly Rollo’s face went white. "Mr. Rollo?"

He pointed to the back of the courtroom. "That’s him. He just came in the door. That’s the man who hired me."

Everyone turned to look at the back of the courtroom. Lieutenant Hart and Sergeant Doyle stood in the doorway, holding a short, dark man who had been handcuffed and was obviously present against his will. As he glared at Rollo, Brenda finally saw who it was and she screamed.

"SONNY!" She launched out of her seat, and Jax barely caught her around the midriff, holding her back. "YOU B*STARD!! YOU USED ME!!" She dissolved into sobs, and Jax held her in his lap, stroking her hair gently.

As the judge still demanded order in the room, Brenda continued to cry, although her shoulders shook less violently as Jax ministered to her. The two policemen led Sonny to the front of the courtroom where they were going to present their warrants to Judge Macmillan. As he went by, Sonny leered at Brenda. "You were a great ride, babe. It’s a shame neither you or pretty boy here will live long enough to enjoy each other."

Jax looked up at Doyle and Hart. "Get him out of my sight," he growled. "He used my airline and he nearly destroyed the woman I love."

As the bailiff came forward to assist the sergeant, Lieutenant Hart crouched down next to Jax and Brenda. "I’m so sorry that we had to make life so difficult for the both of you. Is there anything that we can do to make it up to you?"

Jax held Brenda tightly as her breathing finally slowed to hiccups. "No, thank you Lieutenant. We’re going to be fine now. Just fine."

To be continued….