She walked into the Port Charles Hotel lobby, more radiant than ever. She waltzed over to the reception desk.

"Hi! I'm looking for Mr. Jax. Is he in?"

The clerk looked admiringly at the young lady. "Well, Ms. Barrett, it's so nice to see you again. You've been away for quite some time. How are you this afternoon?"

Brenda beamed at him. "I'm doing great...just a little tired, though. Just flew in from Paris." She looked around. "Um, do you know if Mr. Jax is in his apartment?"

The front desk clerk looked a little uncomfortable. "Why, yes, Ms. Barrett, I believe Mr. Jacks is in his room. Would you like me to ring him for you?"

Brenda bounced up and down. "No, no that's okay...I think I'm gonna surprise him, if that's okay!"

The front desk clerk shook his head. "I really think you should allow me to call first, Ms. Barrett."

Brenda stopped bouncing and stared at him. "Why? I've always gone upstairs to surprise Jax. What's wrong with today?" Just then Brenda heard Jax' voice coming from behind her. She turned around and was shocked speechless at what she saw.

There was Jax, coming off the elevator, dressed in his tennis shorts and complete with racket. Standing next to him was some...woman. Brenda tried to cover her shock before Jax noticed her. It was too late.

"Brenda!" Jax said, shocked. "When did you get back?" He rushed over to her and hugged her.

"I just got back a few minutes ago." She hugged him back. She looked over his shoulder at the woman he had come off the elevator with. 'And who is she?' Brenda thought to herself. 'Oh well, whatever...' She pulled away from Jax. "So, what ya doin'? Can you come have lunch with me so we can catch up?" She noticed that Jax looked a little uncomfortable as he looked back at the woman.

Jax turned to Lorraine and grabbed her hand. He could feel her resistance to come actually meet Brenda. He pulled her along anyway and made polite. "Brenda, I want you to meet Lorraine. Lorraine Miller, this is Brenda Barrett."

Lorraine extended her hand. "Nice to meet you finally, Ms. Barrett."

Brenda stared at her hand for awhile. She looked back at Jax. "Who is she?" Brenda, realizing she was being rude, quickly took Lorraine's hand and shook it meaninglessly.

Jax tried to ignore the growing tension he sensed. "I just told you, Lorraine Miller...she's my friend."

Brenda smiled. "Oh, she's just a 'friend'? Oh, that's fine." She turns to Lorraine. "It's wonderful to meet you." She turns back to Jax. "So, can we go grab something to eat?"

Jax was a little aggravated at Brenda's pushiness. "Brenda, I was just on my way out to play some tennis. Would you like to come along?" He knew she wouldn't, but he thought he'd ought to be polite and ask.

"No, thanks anyway. Well, I guess we'll meet up later then, huh?" She looked at Lorraine once again. Knowing this would spite this woman, Brenda leans up to Jax and plants a long, slow kiss on his lips. Lorraine notices that Jax doesn't exactly pull away. She was feeling worse and worse the longer they stood there.

Brenda pulled away. "See ya later, Jax." She gave Lorraine one last look, then walked out of the hotel.

Lorraine looked at Jax, who was trying to wipe the lipstick from his mouth. "She's baaaaack!" She said as she walked out of the hotel, ahead of Jax.

Jax shook his head. "This could be messy." He said aloud to himself as he followed Lorraine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monica comes into the sitting room and sees Emily engrossed in reading. She comes over to sit next to her.

"Hi, Mom."

Monica smiles at her daughter. "Hi, yourself. You know, I've been meaning to talk to you...about Lucky." Emily immediately gets a defensive look. Monica smiles at her. "No, Emily...nothing negative."

Emily smiles. "That would be a switch."

Monica continued. "Emily, I just wanted to say thank you for getting Lucky to help bring Carly and Michael here."

Emily shook her head. "Mom, I really can't take credit for this one. Lucky convinced Carly to bring Michael to us."

Monica looked shocked. "You mean, you didn't have anything to do with Lucky bringing Carly here? You didn't suggest it or anything?" Emily shook her head no. "Well...then why did he do it?"

Emily looked Monica in the eyes. "Because, that's the kind of person Lucky is. He's really trying to get his family together." Emily picked her next words carefully. "I wish you would all try to understand him a little more, instead of always pre-judging him."

"You're right, Emily." Monica said. "We are very judgmental people, and we're the main people who should be judged. " She smiled at Emily. "Emily, do you know whenever you talk about Lucky, good or bad, you get this strange look in your eyes?"

Emily felt herself blushing slightly. "Really? What kind of look?"

Monica reached out and stroked Emily's hair. "Well...I'm not sure, but I could swear it was love..."

"Mom!"

Monica leaned over and kissed Emily on the forehead. Emily closed her eyes, realizing that Monica kissed her on the same spot that Lucky always kissed her. Except it was a totally different feeling when he did it.

"Emily, it's okay for you to fall in love...even though I think you're waaaay too young." Monica noticed Emily's disagreeing look. "But, who am I to interfere with love? Love has a mind of its own, which can be a good thing."

"Why's that, Mom?"

"Because sometimes when we put our minds to it, we end up screwing something up!" Monica laughed as Emily agreed. Monica rose to leave Emily, feeling she didn't want to overstay her welcome...teenagers and their privacy. "I'll see you later, okay Em?"

"Okay, Mom." Emily said as she watched Monica leave the room. She called after Monica. "Mom?" Monica turned to face Emily. "What am I supposed to do with this 'love'? I don't think I know how to deal with it."

"What do you mean, Em?" Monica asked, walking back into the room.

Emily didn't want to give too much away. "Sometimes, it just feels like it's too much for me to feel. It overwhelms me sometimes. In a good way, of course."

"Well Em, I think you..." Monica is cut short by her pager going off. "Excuse me Em, I've got to get this. Can we finish this later. I promise."

"Sure Mom." Emily was grateful for the interruption. She didn't even know why she raised the subject. She knew she was in love with Lucky, but she just didn't know what to do about it. Was she doing enough? Was he happy with her? She remembered the other day she caught Lana, that frisky cheerleader, talking to Lucky in the cafeteria. There was nothing going on, yet there was a pang of jealousy as she saw Lucky smiling and talking to her. Lana was...well, she had to face it - absolutely gorgeous! Blonde, with a body to kill. She was the most popular girl in school...and Emily knew WHY she was the most popular. She also knew that whatever Lana wanted, she usually got. She wondered if she wanted Lucky?

Suddenly, Emily felt a twinge of fear that wasn't there a few minutes ago. 'Lucky loves me, he said so' she told herself, all awhile the growing intensity of fear was about to choke her.

'Don't be silly...' she picked up her book and tried to continue reading. She got no further than the first paragraph. She stopped trying and just stared into space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carly is at the penthouse, bringing down the last of her clothes from her bedroom. She yells upstairs .

"Lucky, I'm going down to the garage again, I'll be right back.' She walks out of the room.

Lucky comes downstairs, carrying a heavy box. He lets it down with a thud at the bottom of the staircase. Just then, Jason walks in, seeing the house in disarray. He looks at Lucky.

"Hey."

Lucky feels a little uncomfortable. He doesn't know exactly how much Carly has explained to Jason about her moving in to the Quartermaine mansion. "Hey, Jase." He fishes for something to talk about. "How are you?"

"Lucky, you don't have to be polite...I understand what's going on." Jason smirks and comes in, closing the door behind him. "I understand why Carly's moving in to the mansion, I know that AJ is the father - well, I knew that from the beginning, I know that Michael is going to be raised by both his parents - which is what I wanted from the beginning."

Lucky let out a long breath he had been holding. "Well, that's good to know. I didn't know how you would react to all this."

Jason shrugged. "Hey, it's what should have happened from the beginning - the AJ and Carly part, I mean...not necessarily the living in the mansion."

"Yeah, I hear ya."

Jason sits on the desk. "So...how's my sister?" He says this with a grin.

Lucky looks at him suspiciously. "Emily's fine...you just saw her yesterday..."

"I mean, 'how's Emily'? You know, 'you' AND Emily..."

Lucky caught on. "Oh...well, we're fine, I guess."

Jason stares at him. "Are you in love with Emily?" He could tell Lucky was caught off guard by this question. He raised his hand in protest. "Now, I'm not trying to pry, if it's none of my business, just say so."

Lucky shifted uncomfortably. He felt like he was having a conversation with Emily's father rather than her brother. It reminded him of the traditional 'before a date' interrogation. "No, I don't mind...it's just I wasn't expecting that question. Why did you ask?"

"Just wanted to know..." Jason said, nonchalant. "I can tell how she feels about you..."

"Really? How?" Lucky asked, interest peaked.

Jason shook his head. "No, no...that's not privileged information. Well, it's not really information, it's just my observation."

"So what is your observation?" Lucky asked, walking over to Jason.

Jason smiled at him. "You tell me first...are you in love with her?"

Lucky scratched his chin. "You baited me, didn't you?" He laughed as Jason didn't deny it. "Okay, okay...yes, I'm in love with your sister...I love Emily. She is the greatest thing that I have in this entire world. She's my everything."

Jason smiled. "That's good...I'm glad, Lucky."

Lucky motioned for him to continue. "Now...tell me what you know. Come on, spill it!"

Jason just continued to smile at him. "She's crazy about you, Lucky...I mean, really."

Lucky smiled so broadly, his face began to hurt. "Really? How do you know..."

"I just know." Jason said, matter-of-factly. "I can see it in her eyes. She would move the world for you if she could."

Lucky looked down at his shoes, realizing how Jason's comments made him feel like he was the luckiest guy on earth. "And I would for her, man. I really would."

Jason puts his hand on Lucky's shoulder. "Just treat her good, that's all I ask...and respect her, okay?" He gets up from the desk about to go to the kitchen when the door opens and Carly enters. She stops short when she sees Jason.

"Oh, hi Jason...I didn't expect to see you before I left."

Jason stops in his tracks. "Hey, Carly." Even though he agreed with the decisions Carly made...well, most of them, he still felt a little...he didn't know what it was he felt.

Lucky sort of read into this discomfort. He picked up the box he had carried from upstairs and made his way to the front door. "This is the last of it, Carly. I'll just take this down, okay?" She nodded at him as he went to the front door. "Bye, Jason, see you around." He said as he walked out.

Carly turned to Jason. "Well, I guess this is it. The bedroom upstairs is empty and all of Michael's things are in the car..."

"I'll miss you, Carly." Jason said.

Carly was caught off guard. "Oh Jase..." she walked over to him and threw her arms around him. "I don't know what I would have done without you these past months. I'll never, ever forget what you've done for me."

Jason put his arms around her uncomfortably. "Sure , Carly...I know. I enjoyed you being here. I'll miss Michael, too."

"You know, you can see him whenever you want." Carly told Jason. She laughed when Jason gave her a disgusted look. "I don't mean you have to come to the mansion...I'll bring him here, whenever you want."

Jason nodded. "Okay...I can live with that. " He looked in her eyes. "You take care of him, okay?"

"Okay." Carly felt herself getting mushy. "Oh, gosh...I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to do this."

Jason smiled at her. "You women are just a weepy bunch, aren't you? Oh, and do me another favor, since you're there...keep an eye on Emily and Lucky for me, can you do that?"

Carly frowned. "Sure, I can do that. But why would I have to?"

"They're teenagers."

"Oh...point taken." Carly said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small teddy bear. She handed it to Jason. "This was Michael's first teddy bear...I want you to have it, okay?" Jason takes the bear from Carly. He looks at it, a smile coming across his face. "He'll always remember you, Jase. No matter where he goes, he'll always remember everything you've done for him."

Jason looks up. "Thanks, Carly."

Carly leans over and kisses Jason on the cheek. "Bye, Jase." She turns and walks out, closing the front door behind her.

Jason sits, holding the teddy bear in his arms. "Goodbye, Michael."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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