The Kiss -19

by CJ :

The Kiss - 19

It was Thursday.

Tracy knew from her chauffeur that Jax and Brenda had returned to Port Charles that morning, but had avoided the press, as Jax was so clever at doing. There had been not one word of denial from Jax about the engagement rumor that Tracy had leaked out on Monday. Not one word of denial. God in heaven, could it actually be true? Tracy had been counting on her gut feeling that Carly had made it all up proving itself out. But so far Carly’s claims
had not been refuted by the very man who should be refuting them like mad if they were in fact false. Surely Jax was aware of the rumor by now. Who wasn’t? It was EVERYWHERE. Magazines, news shows, on line polls were all speculating on what dress Brenda would wear, where they would hold the ceremony, who would attend, how long the marriage would last. Why had Jax not exposed the rumor for a lie? Unless it wasn’t a lie - - - -

Edward came into the study muttering angrily as she tossed down the PC Times in disgust. "Every damn day since Monday these ridiculous papers have been covering this wedding rumor as if it were fact! If I were Jax I would sue the pants off of these media delinquents!"

"Maybe he can’t sue them," Emily said stuffing one of cook’s blueberry crepes in her mouth. "Maybe he can’t sue them cause they’re not printing lies."

"Of course they are!" Edward thundered. "It’s preposterous to think Jax would actually MARRY that girl! Why, can you imagine that overly spirited little cottage bumpkin as an elegant lady of the Jacks house? Mother to the Jacks heirs? She may be beautiful, and he may be crazy about her, but good god he’s not THAT crazy," Edward laughed humorlessly.

"That’s what I’m counting on," Tracy said quietly as she crossed her fingers. "Have we heard nothing about any press conferences set up by Jax or any of his spokespersons?" she asked, glancing at her father.

"Not a word," Edward said. "Of course there is the Railroad press conference tomorrow morning. Although I can’t for the life of me imagine why on earth Jax would wait so long to shut down this absurd rumor."

Tracy could not understand that either. Waiting was not Jax’s style. Jax was a man of action. IMMEDIATE action. Everyone knew that about him. More and more she began to quake inside as she wondered if Carly had been telling the truth after all. Good god above, was Brenda Barrett actually about to become Mrs. Jasper Jacks? Tracy felt faint at the prospect of the man she had always desired to wed, had vowed, bragged and sworn to wed, ending up
wedded to her worst enemy in what would undoubtedly be the wedding of the year. She turned on CNN in the hopes that any moment now Jax would be calling a press conference to deny this horrid rumor.

# # #

Jerry was fed up with his inability to reach his younger brother. Ever since the breakout of that ludicrous engagement rumor the whole family had been trying to reach Jax and he was making himself unreachable. But Jerry knew that Jax’s jet had landed that morning so the kid had to be in town someplace. There was no answer at his house, no answer at Brenda’s cottage. Yet they had to be somewhere and Jerry intended to find them. He knew that this
engagement rumor was the farce of all farces, and he couldn’t understand for the life of him why Jax did not declare it for the rubbish it was with haste instead of allowing it to be continually blown out of proportion as the days without denial went by. For heavens sake, the public was already planning out the whole fantasy wedding while Jax sat back silently and allowed this madness to fester to it’s current fever pitch. Jerry would find him
today and wring some sense into his little brother’s besotted mind!

# # #

Jax sat in his plush office at the J&J Jacks building staring at the report in front of him. It was the findings of someone he had hired to find out what Brenda had done in those three hours she had been missing from the timeshare in Maui. According to this report she had actually gone all the way to the airport, placed a frantic phone call to one Police Officer Jagger Cates in Los Angeles and arranged for him to send her a ticket to get her from
Maui to L.A. where she ostensibly would hide out for a while until the embarrassment of the truth about the engagement rumor had died down. Jax’s source also told him that Jagger Cates was only too happy to bring Brenda to L.A. and had spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to convince her to simply move out there and stay with him. Jax crumpled the report in his hands and tossed it into recycling bin.

She had been intending to leave that night. His proposed handling of the engagement rumor had gotten her so upset that she was going to leave. She had only come back to get her things and then was going to steal away to the airport for her flight to Los Angeles. He wondered if he would have ever seen her again.

He closed his eyes and folded his hands together as there was a gentle rap on his office door.

"Yes?" he said, quietly.

"Mr. Jacks? Miss Barrett is here to see you. I know you didn’t want to be disturbed today but I thought Miss Barrett would be the exception to that mandate," Addie disclosed. Behind her Brenda peeked her head out so Jax could see her, and she gave him a little wave.

"She is the exception," Jax concurred, giving Brenda slight smile and crooking his finger for her to come inside.

Addie moved aside to allow Brenda entry into Jax’s office.

The first thing Jax noticed was the way Brenda was dressed. She wore a short, snazzy dark blue suit, black pumps, had her hair in a pretty French braid with those wispy bangs he loved so much. She didn’t have her usual backpack style pocketbook, but instead was carrying a chic leather briefcase. She looked as if she were going on an interview or to a business meeting. She looked fabulous.

"I thought when I dropped you off at your Aunt Erica’s this morning, we had agreed to keep our distance from one another today," he reminded her. "So that no one could corner us and ask us anything about the engagement until after my press conference tomorrow."

"I know, but I had to see you," Brenda said.

Jax gestured for her to sit in the luxurious seat across from his gleaming mahogany desk.

"How did you get past the reporters in front of the building?" he asked her.

"I just paraded in with a bunch of lawyers. No one even noticed me. "

Jax smiled a little. "I find that hard to believe. You’re the most noticeable woman I know." Then he glanced at her attire again. "You have an interview?"

"No, a business meeting."

Jax nodded. "With who?"

"With you," she stated. "You haven’t changed your mind about what you’re going to say at that press conference tomorrow have you?" she asked hopefully.

Jax looked at her with what she could have sworn was amused eyes, but he shook his head. "No I haven’t."

"You're still going to deny it?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "That’s what I thought." She reached into her briefcase and pulled out a videotape, placing it on the desk in front of her. "I think I have something that you want," she said.

"You have many things that I want," he responded.

She struggled not to smile and to stick to her guns here. "I was referring to this," she said tapping her fingernails against the videotape.

"What is it?" Jax asked her.

"Something you really, really want, Jax. And I want you to have it. I want to give it to you. But the thing is, I want something from you as well."

Jax rose a curious eyebrow. "I see." He glanced at the tape. "What’s on the tape, Brenda?"

"Rob Hanson telling me how repulsive his wife is and that he only married her for her money. Take a look," she said, getting up and popping the tape in the VCR and turning on the TV in his office.

Jax watched the incriminating videotape in amazement. "How did you get this?"

She flashed her dimpled smile proudly. "I was out videotaping some of the sights in Maui that day you were in your last meeting, and Mr. Hanson came up to me while I was sitting on the bench by that waterfall pond at the Westin Maui shopping center. He just started babbling away saying the most OUTRAGEOUS thing, and when I realized what he was saying, I just kind of nonchalantly turned on the camcorder and let him hang himself."

He grinned in delight of her ingeniousness. "And he has no idea you have this?"

"No," she said with a grin. Then she forced herself to got serious again. "Now, you want this tape, don’t you?"

"You know I do. And I take it you want something in return? From me?"

"That’s right," Brenda said, entwining her fingers together nervosuly.

"Name it," Jax said.

Brenda took a deep breath and blurted it out. "I want a big splashy wedding."

Jax’s blue-green eyes narrowed with interest. "To whom?"

Brenda rolled her eyes at his deliberate denseness. "To YOU that’s whom! Jax, I’m sorry that I have to do it like this, but I TOLD you before, Tracy Quartermaine is not going to make a fool out of me and I meant that."

"So - - - - -you are blackmailing me, basically?" he asked her, leaning back in his chair and looking so amused she wanted to scream.

"This isn’t a joke," she told him.

He grinned. "No of course not. You are blackmailing me, aren’t you?"

"Well you’re the one who told me that this kind of thing goes on all the time in your business, right?" she pointed out defensively. "And you said that I shouldn’t be shocked about it, right? So YOU shouldn’t be shocked about it either," she said, feeling herself losing her nerve to go through with this bold plan.

"So, in order for me to get you to give me that tape, I need to confirm the engagement rumor at the press conference tomorrow morning, is that about right?"

"Yes," she said, moving about restlessly in her seat.

"And then I need to actually MARRY you on top of that?"

"Yes. October 3rd."

Jax laughed as if he was having the time of his life which made Brenda realize that her ultimatum was failing miserably. "Oh you set a date for us too? How sweet," he said winking at her.

Brenda felt her will to carry this out fading as she saw how unfazed he was by it all. She had expected him to be stunned and maybe angry, but not this. Not laughing and smiling and winking at her, and acting as if they were having a grand old time! She tried to keep a steady course.

"It won’t be a real marriage or anything," she continued haltingly. "It only has to last a year so everyone will think we really wanted to do it and - - - oh here, just read this," she said reaching into her briefcase and pulling out a piece of paper which she handed to him.

"Hmmm," Jax said stroking his chin as he perused the document. "This would be what - - -some sort of contract?"

"Exactly. Although I wrote it up myself so I’m not sure how legal it is, but we can have lawyers make it legal for us, right? Anyway, it basically says that if I give this tape to you, you’ll agree not to humiliate me tomorrow, Jax. You’ll marry me, we’ll pretend to be married for a year - just a business contract kind of thing, then we’ll just have this big public breakup and - - - "

He put his finger to his lips to shush her as he read over the document. To her distress the amusement in his eyes increased. He was not taking her in the least bit seriously!

"We’re going to have separate bedrooms?" he asked her with a grin of surpise. He gazed up at her and gaze her a look that made her blush. "That will certainly be a challenge to uphold."

Brenda glared at him. "Are you taking ANY of this blackmail seriously, Jax?"

"Of course," he said, doing his best to look serious. "Separate bedrooms?" he repeated, gazing questioningly at her.

"Well I don’t want you to think I’m trying to trap you or anything!" she said in frustration. "This marriage won’t be consummated, it’ll just be for show. I intend to abide by everything I’ve written down there," she promised.

Jax glanced back at her meticulous little list. "So according to this, it is your intention to be my most obedient wife in name only, who will sleep in her own room and be celibate, and will not take advantage of having my name, my money or any of my worldly belongings."

Brenda nodded.

Jax glanced back at the paper. "You are allowing me to have all the mistresses I want and - - "

"What?! I didn’t write that!" she said leaping out of the chair.

He was laughing and she felt herself blushing. This was all just one big, hysterical game to him. Couldn’t she even blackmail the man properly, she groaned to herself.

"So basically you’re just going to become my house guest for a year, is that it? If I were to agree to this, that is?" A smile curved his lips again, and Brenda sighed.

"You know what. Nevermind," she said, snatching her "contract’ form him and getting up. "Let’s just act like this never happened," she said feeling utterly foolish.

{No, don’t back down, sweetie. Don’t give up.} "If that’s what you want," Jax said enigmatically, watching her carefully.

Brenda had her hand on the door handle when she suddenly spun around. "No ,it’s NOT what I want. Look Jax, I know you want this tape, and you know that I want you to confirm that we're getting married at your press conference. So are you going to let me blackmail you or not?"

{Good girl} Jax’s eyes swept over her and she could hardly hide the thrill she felt at it. "You are the cutest thing ever," he said. Then he folded his hands on his desk, and gazed at the ceiling as if in deep thought. "I’ll let you know my decision tomorrow," he decided.

"You’ll let me know TOMORROW?" She panicked. "But Jax the press conference is tomorrow! I really need to know what you’re going to do now. Right now!"

"Tomorrow," Jax repeated.

He waited to see what Brenda would do next.

She seemed frustrated and confused about what her next step should be. Then she hissed her teeth and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute," Jax said. "Aren’t you forgetting something?" he reminded her, inclining his head towards the VCR which had the Rob Hanson tape inside of it. "One of the first rules of blackmail is to hold onto all your cards until you get what you want."

"I’m not taking it with me," she informed him. "I know that if you’re going to be able to use this you need it right now, so you can have it. But I DO intend to get what I want," she insisted, trying to handle this the way Jax would if the shoe were on the other foot"

"How?" he asked with a curious smile. "I have to tell you that this is the worst attempt at blackmail I have ever seen, although I have enjoyed every second of it. But here you are giving me what I want. You’re going to have nothing to bargain with now."

"That’s not EXACTLY true," she said softly, looking at him in a way that made him slightly nervous. "Because maybe I know something that you don’t THINK I know, Jax. and maybe that’s what I’m really counting on. Moreso than this tape." She put her contract back on his desk and leaned across and kissed him. Then she opened the office door as he stared at her trying to figure out the riddle of her words. "I’ll be waiting to hear from you
tomorrow, okay?" she reminded him.

He nodded.

"Before the press conference, right?" she asked a tad nervously.

His eyes were noncommittal. "Maybe."

"JAX!" The man was going to give her a nervous breakdown!

"Bye bye, luv," he said, waving to her and then picking up a remote control unit that shut his door.

Brenda stood there glaring at the closed door for a moment and then took a deep breath and headed for the elevator. She was as nervous as hell, but she had to just remember one thing. He loved her. He loved her and he would not humiliate her at that press conference, she had to believe that. His love for her wouldn’t let him do that to her. But the nervousness over what Jax would actually do and say tomorrow when he was in front of those
myriad of cameras and flashbulbs would not leave her, and she was a mini-basket case by the time she got back to her aunt Erica’s house.

In his office Jax was rather jumpy himself. She knew something he didn’t think she knew? What the hell was that all about? And what was with that triumphant look in those beautiful eyes of hers when she had said it?

He got up and retrieved the Hanson video from the VCR. He then took it and Brenda’s little list of promises that she called a contract, pocketed it and left his office, leaving word with Addie that he would be at Wyndamere with Stefan Cassadine.

# # #

In the ballroom at Wyndamere the two men were dressed in gray fencing outfits skillfully dueling back and forth across the huge room, their foils clashing, then breaking free as they parried with grace and expertise.

"She tried to blackmail you?" Stefan repeated with amused laughter. "Oh, I do so like that girl’s style!"

"You would," Jax muttered. Then he grinned. "The damnable thing is, so do I."

"I know," Stefan said lunging at Jax’s chest plate and making contact, setting off the red light that signified a hit. "You weren’t angry with her, were you?"

Jax shook his head. "No."

"You know she was not trying to entrap you."

"Yes, I know that. The whole time she was ‘blackmailing’ me she seemed so apologetic about it," he said with semi-smile.

"She was only trying to protect herself the only way she knew how. You do understand that she is in an impossible position due to this rumor," Stefan added.

"Actually, I do not understand that at all, although she has been trying to convince me of this for the past week. And do you know what truly amazes me? That gorgeous little vixen has been plotting this blackmail scheme ever since Monday!" Jax laughed. "She obviously taped Hanson on Monday. That was what she was so excited to tell me when she called me on my cell phone. Then the whole engagement rumor thing broke lose and she conveniently
forget to mention this explosive bit of evidence against Hanson until today."

Stefan grinned. "She’s a brave one to go up against you with blackmail. I would have loved to have witnessed this."

"She was pretty fabulous," Jax admitted. "She did waver in her conviction once or twice and in my opinion totally caved in at the end when she just handed the tape over to me. But there was this one thing she said - - -" he murmured thoughtfully as he and Stefan put their foils down and took off their chest plates and face masks. "I told her she had made a judgment error in giving me the tape without first obtaining what she wanted for herself.
And her response to me was that she knew something that I didn’t know she knew. I don’t know WHAT she was referring to and it’s driving me crazy trying to figure it out."

Jax followed Stefan into the study where the servants had lunch awaiting them.

"Perhaps she was trying to bluff you," Stefan offered, stirring his iced tea.

Jax shook his head. "One thing that Brenda can’t do to me, is lie to me. Her eyes reveal every emotion she’s feeling," he said. He ran one hand through his hair. "When we were in Maui she asked me if I had ever been in love," he mentioned.

"And your response was?" Stefan asked opening a jar of Grey Poupon.

"My response was no. It’s the truth, after all. I have been in like, I have been in lust, I have been infatuated. But I have never been in love. Then she mentioned something about love being a mystery and I disagreed with her. I then proceeded to actually tell her what I thought the process of falling in love entailed," he recalled with a shake of his head.

Stefan chuckled. "And on what did you base this knowledge if you have never been in love?" he queried.

Jax laughed too. "I think I must have had a moment of temporary insanity because I based the entire premise of love on Brenda and myself. Can you believe that? I basically took how we started, where we now are, and where we could possibly be in the future, and that was what I gave her as my recipe for love."

"Interesting," Stefan grinned.

"Not all that interesting," Jax refuted.

"No, no, VERY interesting," Stefan insisted. "Ponder this, Jasper. Hypothetically, if you used yourself and Brenda as your personal example of what falling in love feels like, would it not stand to reason that you are, in fact, in love with her?"

Jax gazed at his best friend. "Yes."

"Is that a hypothetical yes or an honest to goodness yes?"

"Both."

Stefan marveled at Jax’s unchallenged acceptance of the obvious. "So you concede that you are in love with her? Just like that? No long winded, unconvincing protestations?"

"Yes I concede it."

"Well, well, well," Stefan said with a raise of dark blonde eyebrows.

"This stays between you and I," Jax told him.

"Always," Stefan agreed immediately. "But Jax, what exactly is the purpose of conceding it to yourself and not to the woman who inspires the very feelings you are conceding to? Surely you are aware that she is in love with you as well."

Jax nodded. "Yes I am very aware of that."

"She told you?"

"Twice in her sleep, and three times in a moment of unbelievable passion."

"So not quite consciously," Stefan teased. "Well no wonder you’re loath to admit your feelings to her, you’re not altogether sure that hers are real outside of her subconscious!"

"No, I’m sure they are real," Jax said. "It’s MY feelings that I’m not so sure about. Brenda is everything I have ever wanted. Everything. And yet I still don’t know what to do about that."

"So you’re not exactly happy then, to find that your heart has blindsided you?"

"Well I’m not exactly UNhappy," he said, drumming his fingers against the top of the table.

"No, I can see that. Quite honestly I have never seen you happier. Don’t you trust your own feelings?"

"Yes. And no. It seems to have all happened very quickly."

Stefan took a sip of his consommé. "Sometimes that’s the way it is, Jax."

"Maybe so, but then how do you know if it’s real when it happens that fast? How do you know it’s not fleeting and skittish?"

"Does it feel fleeting and skittish?"

"No," Jax admitted. "It feels like the most perfect thing in my life. But how do I know that’s not just a FEELING and not a reality? How do I know that I’m not just projecting feelings that don’t really exist?"

"I don’t understand," Stefan said.

"Well you’ve seen, Brenda. She’s so beautiful and spirited. She’s funny and sexy and smart and she has the sweetest heart of anyone I have ever met. I have never desired a woman more than I desire her. And she loves me," Jax said softly, almost wondrously. "I know no one will ever love me the way she does. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. And I love knowing that." He got up and gazed out of the window, his hands in his pockets. "And
having said all of that, how do I know that I’m not just caught up in the fast pace and the intensity of all of this? How do I know it isn’t just some thrilling roller coaster ride that is going to stop eventually and alter the way I feel now?"

Stefan got up and joined him by the window. "Jax, if you’re going to try to logically, point by point dissect what you’re feeling, you’re going to drive yourself mad and you’ll end up missing the true reality. A reality that is simple and not complicated," Stefan advised.

"Which is?"

"Brenda challenges you. She captivates you. She pleases you, she delights the hell out of you. She excites you, she fulfills you – need I go on? She makes you happy, Jax. Do you know how hard happiness is to come by, my friend? TRUE happiness? You’re in love with her, Jax, stop analyzing it to death. This doesn’t need to be broken down into neat little compartments that make sense. Love is not neat, it’s not predictable, it’s not logical,
it’s not ‘safe’, it’s just - - - - - love. It’s a risk, but the best kind there is, and well worth the risk to reap the rewards. You’re the biggest risk taker I know, Jax, and I think you should take this one. I think you can trust this."

"Maybe," Jax agreed. " Or maybe not," he added. " I do intend to find out, however."

"How?"

"Watch my press conference tomorrow," Jax said quietly, blue-green eyes gazing contemplatively out at the Port Charles river.

CJ