by Lissie
Hi Angels...
Sorry for the wait, been short on time lately. Chapter 4 is a repost, but it got eaten by gremlins the first time. Chapter 5, um, I was in a crazy mood...which means I tend to comment on the story as I write...I usually edit them out...but I'm being lazy and they're still there. Sorry 'bout that. Anyways tell me what you think.
Lissie :o)
Chapter 4
~*~*~Thanksgiving 1998~*~*~
Standing on the rather large stoop, Jax stood for a minute just to gaze up at the elaborate front door of the Quartermaine mansion before he rang the doorbell, or rather yet figure out why he was there at all. Not wanting to confront the friendly faces inside just yet, he pulled his winter jacket tighter around him and rubbed his gloved hands together. He could be in Alaska with his family, or with the Scorpios, even V had offered him a place at her family's table back home, but no he had decided to take the Quartermaine's invitation. Well it wasn't exactly a Quartermaine invitation; rather it was an Ashton's.
He and Ned had grown close both personally and professionally over the last few months since Brenda had died. Ned had helped him a lot in the first couple of weeks that he was in pure agony, and in a way he had hoped he had helped Ned a little in his grief as well. He knew that Brenda had meant as much to Ned as she had to him. They had taken to having dinner together a couple nights a week to talk business and life. They had worked together on quite a few business dealings lately. Jerry had joked with him that Ned was becoming another brother. Well maybe not that close, but he had been the closest thing to a brother that Brenda had had and that was something neither one of them could forget. When Ned had offered to have him over for Thanksgiving, he didn't even think twice, he just accepted. Besides what could be more entertaining than a Quartermaine Thanksgiving? Maybe he would even find something to smile about.
Deciding he had hesitated long enough, Jax rubbed his hands together one more time and rang the doorbell. He listened tom the Ding-Dong echo throughout the mansion before Reginald opened the door. "Good day Mr. Jacks. They're all in the den."
"Thank you Reginald." Jax answered back as he walked into the house, taking off his gloves and handing his jacket to a waiting Reginald.
As soon as Reginald shut the door, a little pitter pat of small feet scrambling
towards him could be heard coming from the den accompanied by the sound of,
"Uncky Jacth! Uncky Jacth!" Three year old Brooke Lynn appeared from the
door of the den. Brown hair full of untamed curls, blue eyes sparkling, and
dimples dancing on her little round cheeks.
"Hey there Little One." Jax said as he stooped down to her level and opened
his arms and she went running into them. He scooped her up into his arms
and stood up as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"You know I'm a big girl now. Daddy thaid tho," Brooke said, her eyes full of pride from her daddy's words.
Jax refrained from laughing at her slight mispronunciations of words. He did however smile brightly as he leaned in close to her and replied, "Why Brooke, your Daddy's right you have grown a whole centimeter since I saw you last."
"Wow. A whole…whole…"
"Centimeter"
"thendimeder. Since yethterday?" Her eyes were dancing with excitement from this news. Her body was squiggling; she had to get down to tell someone, anyone that she had grown a whole "thendimeder."
"I'd say you have, maybe even two…"
Brooke couldn't take it anymore, her excitement was so apparent she couldn't keep still, so Jax set her down on the ground. After a quick hug she was off running towards the den, running smack dab into her Daddy, who was in the doorway watching the whole thing. He couldn't help but see that Jax would have been a great father. He handled kids with such ease. Sadly, he reminded himself that it didn't do any good to dwell on what might have beens.
Once Brooke regained her balance, with help of Ned steadying her she blurted out, "Uncky Jacth said I grew two thendimeders." As she said this she stuck up two fingers to emphasize what she was saying.
"He did? Wow."
"I know. I have to go tell Ma, Grandma Lila, Grandfather, Emily, Annabelle…"
Laughing slightly, Ned answered, "You go on and do that."
Off Brooke went calling for her Ma, and announcing that "Uncky Jacth" had said she grown a whole "Thendimeder." Stifled laughter and congratulations were heard in the background.
Once the two men were alone in the foyer, Jax asked; raising an eyebrow, "How'd you manage to get Brooke another day and Lois to stay along with her?" He knew full well that part of Ned liked having Lois around, no matter how much she had hurt him.
"Don't get any ideas, she's staying at the PC hotel. Lois is here more for Brooke's sake than mine…she claimed that Brooke wanted to see more of her Daddy so they decided to stay a little longer. Lois also wants to talk to you about some things."
"What things?"
Just then Lois entered the room, as if the foyer couldn't get anymore crowded…
"I'll let her explain." Ned whispered as Lois started a million words a minute.
"Hi Jax. How are you doing? I'm so glad you're here, I have so much to talk to you about. Let's see, I don't know where to begin, I'm just so excited, but I don't know how you'll feel about this."
Jax laughed inside of himself…He could see why her and Brenda had been such good friends they were full of the same nervous excited energy, especially when they were about to embark on something new. "Slow down, breathe, and tell me what's on your mind."
"Well I was wondering if you would like to help Ned and I get L&B up and running again?"
***
Chapter 5
~*~*~June 1st, 1999 PC~*~*~
To an outsider he was on top of the world, being one of the most powerful businessmen, and seeming having almost an entire town supporting him through his hard times. Over the past months since his fiance's tragic death, he had thrown himself into his work. J&J Jacks was more powerful than it had ever been; recently merged with ELQ and had been slowly upsurping Cassadine business holdings. Rumor had it that Jax was tight with CEO of ELQ, Ned Ashton (aka known to some as the Rock and Rollin' Eddie Maine), and the merger had proved lucrative to all parties.
The two of them, plus the older Jacks brother, Jerry had been watching the Cassadine holdings decline since Stefan Cassadine was put on trial, when things for the Cassadines slipped so out of control that there was no way of stopping it. Instead of succumbing to the misfortune of losing their entire business to J&J Jacks/ELQ Enterprises (neither parties could come up with a new name and neither were willing to drop their name and take on the other), the Cassadines were putting up a fight…and losing terribly. The world's most known control freaks were now being controlled themselves, and they hated it. This caused for cold glances and icy words anytime a Cassadine would meet a Jacks or a Quartermaine. This caused a bit of sadness in the hearts of Ned and Alexis, but they had both come to terms that their family loyalties would always come between the two of them, and there was nothing they could do about it. As for the Jacks, neither one of them cared. Jerry took it all in stride…just another business deal with bad blood, nothing he hadn't handled before.
Jax, well, for him it was a mixture of what Jerry felt and that he didn't really care how or what he felt anymore. There wasn't any point in feelings, they could hurt you, so he'd just stop trying. Of course he felt feelings for the people he was close to in his life, but he stopped naming the feelings, somehow if the feeling didn't have a name, it wouldn't hurt so much if it went away. If only his heart could believe that, his heart still ached for Brenda, but then again that feeling had a name. It was love, and love wasn't ever going to hurt him again. He'd put up walls so it wouldn't, and these walls weren't unnoticed by his friends. These were the people that knew things on the inside weren't fine, even if things on the outside appeared fine.
Oh, he was much better than in the first few weeks when he had locked himself up in his penthouse. He still stayed pretty much to himself, and hardly went out with friends. Rumor had it, he only went out when the record company he helped finance, L&B Records, was looking for new talent…and only that because the Talent Manager, Lois Cerullo dragged him unwillingly, yet willingly along. The company was once ran by Ms. Cerullo and her best friend, Jax's fiance, Brenda Barrett. According to the three people who now run it, Ms. Cerullo, Jax, and Mr. Ashton, the company now stands for unrealized dreams making it…a living testament to the one person who bound them together. Since starting the company back up was a tribute to Ms. Barrett, a percentage of the profits are donated to various worthy causes that she took to heart.
In fact L&B records was the very reason why Lois, Ned, Jax, and little Brooke Lynn were now having dinner at the PC Grille.
~*~*~June 1st, 1999 Oak Harbor, WA~*~*~
Christina Mason, or Chrissy. The devil and an angel all in one. No one knew where she had come from or who she had been before she arrived in the small military town of Oak Harbor on the north end of Whidbey Island. Islanders boasted, besides being God's Country, that it was the longest island in the United States. Nestled right in the Puget Sound with a view of the Olympic Mountains slightly Northwest and a view of the Cascades just East. From different spots on the Island Mt Baker or Mt Rainier could be spotted. Besides making the view spectacular, being in between both of Washington's Mountain ranges had it's advantages, for one rain clouds got broken up in the Olympics before they reached the island, so while it did get it's share of rain, It wasn't nearly as much as Seattle, the "rainiest" city. This cloud break up also caused one to see the clear blue sky a little more often than Seattle. It must be God's country when on one day you could watch the sunset sitting on the sandy, or more likely rocky shore (Hmm, wonder if that's why the Navy nicknamed it The Rock? LOL! Nope, I actually know the real reason…)as the waves of Puget Sound gently lap onto the shore, or the next day sitting so you can view either mountain range. The pale blue sky turning pinkish orange as the sun goes down to meet the sparkling blue waters was beautiful anytime of year, as was the orangey yellow fire ball sun going down and meeting the purplish blue shadows of the majestic mountains. That's just a taste of the island…there's lots of other little things that make the island beautiful. But then not everything is as perfect as it seems…especially Chrissy Mason.
She just stuck out as soon as she hit the town. She wasn't a native or a military brat as most people were…so how did she end up here? You could ask her, but she'd never tell you. Some say she didn't know. Didn't know? How could that be possible? But then haven't we learned that in this time and age that everything is possible…cloning for example. So maybe if someone doesn't know where they came from, they could have been cloned…but then that would be stretching it a bit too far, huh? (me thinks I need to get to bed before my brain totally flakes out…) Chrissy Mason, an angel and a devil, and has no clue from where she came from…or so she alludes to…
An angel and a devil? The Food for Families Association called her that. They had been a godsend for her and she in return for them. They had helped her pick herself up onto her feet, get a job, provided her with assistance when she wasn't making ends meet. She'd been a success right away; she had quite the determination to succeed in life. In return she spent spare time volunteering to help others at FFFA. She had quite the silver tipped tongue when it came for promoting their cause. That's where her nickname came from…everyone bet that if the devil himself walked through their doors she would be able to talk him into donating time and money to help the less fortunate. That and the fact that her tongue could get into trouble sometimes…she could be impulsive and say things before she could think them through. And with that mischievous smile she would sport on occasion, you just knew that she had caused some trouble in her day.
She'd been in town for less than a year and already had a reputation…but then this town was used to people earning fast reputations, it was a military town after all. And not that you couldn't forget with the "sound of freedom" ready to buzz your ears anytime day or night (in other words high speed jets flying over your house). She was the woman without a past. The woman with a generous heart. The woman with her own cross bare and scars to wear, inside and out. The woman with a determined fire burning inside. The woman who masked sadness with happiness. The woman who was everyone's friend, but still felt alone. The woman who looked content, but knew she was missing something.