Chapter Eleven- Watching and Waiting

The black sand felt like fairy dust beneath Brenda’s bare feet, as she watched the sun begin to melt into the azure water. This was their third day on Kronos, and she still couldn’t believe that the island, and that Jax, were real. He had assured her that they were safe on Kronos, and after Bobbie, Gail, and Jerry left about a half hour ago, they were also alone.

After Brenda and Jax had explained to Bobbie, Gail, and Jerry about her memory loss, the doctors had examined her, and sent her straight to bed, where she tossed and turned until Jax came in and held her. Brenda awoke the next day to find that Jax had surprised her with all sorts of new clothes, and even though she spent most of the day talking to Gail, all five of them had dinner together, before going their separate ways for the evening.

Brenda had been immediately drawn to the water, just as she had at Malibu. Jax and Gail had a long talk that evening about the ocean, its involvement in the accident, and Jax’s fear of losing Brenda to the sea again.

The following day, Bobbie and Jerry had taken in the sights of the island, while Jax, Brenda, and Gail had discussed at length Brenda’s memory loss. Gail had agreed that Brenda needed to remember things at her own pace. Gail had suggested that Jax and Brenda spend a day, almost like a first date, to get to know each other, which had been today, Brenda recalled.

After watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the night before, for the fifth or sixth time since the plane, Brenda had decided how she wanted them to spend their day together. Her voice was like velvet in the darkened room, and Jax still hardly believed that she was there. "Jax?" His eyes opened slowly, and lit up the room with their mysterious and beautiful blues and greens. "Remember the scene in the movie, you know, the day that Holly and Paul spend, doing things they’ve never done before?" And so it had been decided to spend their day doing things they had never done before, and although Jax assured her that there wasn’t much he hadn’t done, but Brenda outsmarted him by doing some reconnaissance work with Jerry, before going to sleep.

The day had begun with Jax waking Brenda in plenty of time to see the sun rise over the Adriatic, after which they had a nutritious breakfast of candy bars and soda. It was Brenda’s turn again, and she warned Jax to go easy on her. "I haven’t done anything, that I remember, so...." "Don’t worry," Jax cut her off with a smile, "*I’ll* be nice. It’s actually very simple: let’s take a book down to the beach, have a picnic lunch, and read together." Brenda breathed a sigh of relief, until she saw the twinkle in Jax’s eye. "What? I know there’s got to be more, so...tell." He took her by her now unbandaged hand, and led her into the kitchen. "*You* have to make lunch!" Jerry was in the kitchen helping himself to an apple, when he heard the tail end of the discussion, and couldn’t help but laugh.

"He’s certainly getting you back for the cake, Brenda!" Her dark eyes clouded over, and her expression gave away her confusion. "How come? What do I usually cook?" With both of the Jacks’ brothers wiping tears out of the corners of their eyes from laughing so hard, Brenda made up her mind that she’d show Jax the best lunch he’d ever eaten. He had definitely been surprised when her sandwiches were edible and when the fruit wasn’t rotten, but she knew she struck a chord when he found the graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows.

"S’mores." The word caught in his throat, and he could only ask, "How did you know?" Much to his disappointment, Brenda didn’t remember s’mores, so they accomplished two-in-one: Brenda had her first s’more, and Jax took his first stab at being a s’more chef. They had spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach: reading, talking, and walking in the surf.

Brenda had wanted to talk to Jax about her time on the island, with "Michael" and "Isabella," but both Gail and Jerry had told her to wait until she was sure the time was right. She had wanted to tell him that afternoon, but as the sun cast an orange glow over the water, she could feel Jax slipping away, like the sun slipped beyond the horizon.

From his place on the master suite balcony, Jax watched Brenda wading in the surf at sunset, and felt his heart beating away the minutes until tomorrow. He had been dreading November 5^th, wondering how he would ever survive the day without Brenda, but now, with her here, could he survive it with her?