In the Catacombs...
As they rounded the rocky outcrop, Jax put Brenda down and, helped her forward. Christine, one of the two PIC guides, still moving quickly, turned and said, "Please keep moving. Talk later. We must get under cover."
Jax nodded, whispered "Don't worry" to Brenda, a reassuring arm around her shoulders. Suddenly, they all slipped through a slit in the rockface. Inside, Jessica handed Jax a torch; then both PICs leaned on the edge of a vertical rock slab. It slid easily over the opening, shutting out the daylight entirely. Darkness closed in behind, as the torch lit the narrow path before them. "Let's move," said Jessica. "They'll be worried."
"Who'll be worried? I'm worried! Jax! What...?"
"Just another minute or so sweetheart. And DON'T worry!"
They rounded a corner, stepped out of the darkness, into the brightly lit, luxurious living area, and stopped in their tracks. Jax, who hadn't given much thought to what they might find, certainly hadn't expected such luxury in the Port Charles Catacombs. It was unbelievable! "All this in the bowels of Port Charles! How did you DO this?" he asked. "Where are they?"
"Where are WHO, Jax? Please, tell me what's going on?"
Before he could answer, Robert Scorpio and Anna de Vane appeared. Robert and Jax moved toward one another, hugged and then stepped back, arms still clasped.
"Well, old son! You look pretty good! I think you've grown larger, filled out, since I last saw you! How long has it been? seven, eight years? More?"
"At least! I don't need to ask how you are, or Anna!" Then to Robert: "You look pretty good for a dead man!"
Brenda, in a state of shock realizes these are Robin's parents who were reported killed years ago. They look exactly the same as the photograph in Robin's room, not a day older.
"Jax, who's this? Isn't it a bit risky, to bring a stranger in here, into this?" Robert asks.
"This is no stranger. I present to you my wife, Brenda Barrett Jacks. It would have been a much bigger risk to leave her behind, aside from the possible danger, if anyone were ever to suspect... "Robert, Anna, Brenda needs and deserves an explanation." Looking down at her with a wide grin, Jax continued, "As far as she's concerned, she believes she's been kidnaped, and in a way she has! All she's heard for the past hour is to be patient, to wait... And, with a wide grin and a hug for Brenda, "my wife is really not good at delayed gratification!"
"Married! Well! Where did I get the notion that you were a career bachelor with the world at your feet?" Robert wanted to know, and turning to Brenda,
"Miss Barrett, Mrs. Jacks, congratulations are in order, I see! You've married a good man there, and I wish you both a long and happy life together - as happy at least as Anna and I have been. I hope, though, that you never have to take the drastic kind of action we've had to take just to keep alive, to keep our loved ones safe."
"Let me look at you," Anna said then, hugging Brenda. "You are Robin's little friend. My heavens, you are old enough to be married.! How time flies!"
Brenda is pretty well speechless by now. She starts to ask "Why... How...?"
"Why did we leave Robin, our only child, the daughter we love more than life itself, leave her to her uncle, let her believe we were dead?" Anna filled in for her. "Let's sit, Brenda. Jax, Robert, why don't you two go and consult on how things must be organized while I talk with Brenda, find out about our daughter. I'm sure Jax will let you have her to yourself for a bit later on and you can ask her anything you want to know too!" Anna, who didn't let go of Brenda's hand, led her to the sofa where they sat close together.
Anna then explained to Brenda how, five years ago while battling with the noted international criminal, Faison, not only their lives but the lives of Robin, Mac, Sean Donely, Tiffany, Frisco Jones, Felicia and several others were at stake. Their "death" took the pressure off everyone with the bonus that Faison was eliminated for good. The WSB had arranged their "death". They had gone into deep cover, still WSB agents, and had worked in several areas of the world for the past five years. Only Jax, Sean Donnell, Frisco and one other person at the WSB knew they were alive and now Brenda knew their secret also. Could they trust her to tell no one, not even Robin? Especially not Robin!
As Brenda said "Of course you can trust me!", Jax sat beside her.
"You can trust my wife! I trust her implicitly." As he looked at her with love, his hand was behind her head as she leaned back, her eyes on his, "We will do what we can to help, the two of us together. Right, Brenda?"
Their eyes never left one another as Brenda, looking very serious, paused for a moment, said "Anything we can, both of us." Then Jax leaned toward her and, still absorbed in one another, they exchanged a soft lingering kiss. As Robert and Anna looked on with indulgent smiles, they realized they were witnessing something very special between these two people.
While Anna and Brenda were talking, Robert gave Jax the latest details on the quest that had brought them to Port Charles and the reason why they had asked Jax to join them. Since the continent-wide crackdown on drug traffic, with countless arrests and property seizures, the underworld elite were becoming more and more sophisticated and aggressive. Various criminal activities which appeared legitimate, were being used to launder drug money. These were things like horse races and boxing matches that could be fixed, numbers, gambling and several others.
He explained that only last week, six people who were running the gambling casino at the Native American Reserve of Kahnawaghe, which straddles the American-Canadian border in Northern New York State, had been arrested. Not one of them was a Native American and all of them had criminal records with connections to Chicago, Detroit and Port Charles. Robert and Anna were on the trail of the laundered money, piecing together the links in the chain from the streets of America and Canada to bank accounts around the world and people in very high places.
They would be leaving the Catacombs in a day or so, in disguise of course, on a mission they could not discuss. First, Robert wanted to introduce Jax to the electronic equipment, the short wave radio and other delicate surveillance apparatus that had been installed in a secret chamber within their living quarters. There, Jax would be their staging link with the WSB and several police forces, his anonymity guaranteed. All of Jax's computer links were set up so that he could continue his business without interruption. However, a by-pass via satellite was established that would make it appear as if he were located in Alaska.
There was no reason for anyone to suspect Jax's connection with the WSB and the precautions were intended to keep it that way for a long time to come. Robert told him that he would be very busy in the coming days.
"I'm actually glad you have your wife with you," Robert told Jax. "I'm sure she will be able to think of ways to keep you from getting bored during the times when nothing is happening!" he grinned.
"I'm counting on it!" Jax told him.
The PICs, who had been out of sight all this time, suddenly wheeled in two trolleys laden with food and set the long dining table with a sumptuous meal for everyone. When they were finished, everyone helped to clear up and soon the four collaborators were alone.
"Who are these PIC people?" Jax asked.
"A very clever and efficient organization," Anna told him.
"About fifteen years ago, a forensic psychiatrist who is still recognized by the WSB and other agencies as tops in her field, came to Port Charles University to teach Mystery Writing in the Creative Writing Department. It was a natural cover. Creative Writing had been her minor at Yale. It was also her hobby later on and she had published several mystery novels at the time. At PCU, she had the idea of forming a club for her mystery class students. They called themselves "Partners in Crime". The tradition continued and there has been a PIC Club at PCU for the past fifteen years. They are part of tradition now and nobody takes them very seriously. They are seen as just a bunch of kids out and about, looking for mystery story ideas, chatting up the police about clues, the sort of thing that students can be expected to do."
"Of course, many of them are just what they seem. But there are others who are much, much more."
"The amazing thing is that, every year, from ten to as many as twenty or more of these kids have become serious and valuable hand picked members of an information network that stretches across the country and beyond." Anna now had Jax's and Brenda's attention.
"This professor, Catherine, is still at PCU, still in touch with her very first PIC recruit who is currently working in China. When the kind of assistance you saw in operation here is needed by those who know about this incredible group, one phone call can set the whole operation in motion. I could tell you a lot more about them, but you get the idea. It is sufficient to know that they are just about everywhere, always watchful, carefully trained observers. Believe me, we are in very good hands!"
"Now let me show you the rest of this place," Anna told them. "You are in for a surprise," and she led them through an archway into an incredibly luxurious sleeping chamber with a huge bed and a blazing fireplace.
"It gets cold down here in the Catacombs" she told them.
"How did you get the logs in here," Brenda asked
"What about the smoke?" Jax wanted to know.
"No problem," Robert told them. "Those logs are actually porcelain. They have a heat resistance factor of about 1500 degrees. There is a radiant heating panel behind the fireplace and a clever system of fans which moves the heat throughout the entire area. The actual heat comes from natural gas. You have atmosphere and function all in one, and no mess."
"I'm exhausted!" Anna said, and threw herself back on the huge bed with its pile of gorgeous, soft cushions. "Good heavens! Robert! Come and try this incredible bed! We've not slept on anything this *comfy* since maybe Berlin about 6 months ago."
Jax, with his arms around Brenda who was leaning back against him, was grinning at her. "I hope there's another one of those around somewhere. My wife is extremely partial to *comfy* beds!"
"Oh, yes," Anna told him. Pointing to an arch, "Go through there and along the little hallway. "You will find another place similar to this, but much more elaborate. I am confident you will find the bed is everything you are hoping for!"
Jax and Brenda said "Good night" to Anna and Robert and walked slowly toward their own chamber. Brenda's arm was around Jax's waist and he held her close, looking down at her. There was love in his eyes and his smile was beautiful.
Soon settled into their *comfy* bed together, they fell silent. Jax was propped on a large pillow, his fingers caressing his wife's hair. Circled in his arms, he gazes upon her with deep affection, his love for her, his longing, etched clearly on his face.
Brenda, with a far-away look, was casually, absentmindedly, caressing his chest with her fingers and dropping soft, lazy little kisses wherever she could reach without moving too much.
He leant forward to kiss her. With a little shudder, she moved really close, and reaching up, twined her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer still.
Looking very grave "Jax, there is something I want to tell you."
Gently pushing her hair back from her face, looking intently at her, Jax lightly, lovingly, caressed both her eyes. "You don't have to tell me anything, Brenda. It is all right. Everything will always be all right. The past is behind us." He leant to kiss her again.
With a finger on his lips, she stopped him. "No, I want to tell you this, now. It is nothing to do with the past. It is now, here and now."
Really worried now, and holding her close for dear life, Jax held his breath, his gaze fixed on his wife's large, sad eyes. In the soft light, her face with its soulful, heart-wrenching, serious expression, had his heart aching.
"Tell me", he says very gently.
"Well", she said, kissing him very softly on the lips, "Well..."
and again there is that little shudder as she tried to move even closer into her husband's tight embrace. Jax is really anxious now about what she may tell him. Again, he searches for something to say, but Brenda places her fingers against his lips.
"You are the only one I can tell this to... because... it has to do with you and me... with us."
"All right. I can see it's important. But tell me... please. What is bothering you?" He is even more worried.
"Nothing is bothering me, really, just something happens... is happening and I want to tell you.
"You know, when you kiss me," and again she kissed him very lightly on the lips. She leant back in his embrace, stroking his face with her fingertips.
"I must tell you now, because, soon I won't be able to..."
"When you kiss me, this sort of electric shock goes through my body from head to toe, and I want to just hold you and have you hold me, and get as close as I possibly can, which is never really close enough. And then, when you kiss me again, in that way you do, that's when it happens..."
"Sweetheart, I know exactly what you mean. You have described exactly what happens to me when I look at you across a room, when I hold you, when I kiss you, when I think about you. That electricity, well - it's happening at this very moment!
"But what is worrying you? What is wrong? Am I hurting you?" and, again, he reached to kiss her.
"Not yet. Don't kiss me just yet. I want to be able to tell you...
"The next kiss, or the one after that... it happens every time. I will begin to lose my body. All feeling. I can feel you now, and I can feel me, and it is so, so - intense - and wonderful, so much that I can hardly bear it, but I want it too, all the time.
"But, as we kiss, as we strive to get closer and closer together, it is as if both our bodies melt right away.
"Then there is only this pure energy left, from both of us, and it blends together. It swirls and moves, until it becomes one mass and I can feel the color. It's a sort of intense, flaming orange I think, and I get completely lost in it. Jax, I just have no control over this."
Her eyes are intent upon him. He gazes at her with wonderment, deeply moved.
"At one moment, we are like a coiled. compressed energy ball, reaching and striving to meld, to become one, and then it explodes outward like a shooting star. That is when I feel we are merged together, one bright beam of energy, and we change into a beautiful, brilliant golden color as we shoot across the sky, right up to the Milky Way.
"That's what I wanted to tell you. I thought it only fair that you should know, when you make love to me, when we make love to one another, I lose all physical feeling of myself or of you, and I go and sort of shoot the moon.
"I'm sorry. I just thought you should know... I don't want you to think..."
With a groan, Jax attempted to pull. her closer still. He looked at her in complete awe, and without words, he buried his face in her hair... "I am so glad you told me!"
"Brenda! My darling, my delightful, beautiful Brenda, my wife! Now I know that you feel what I feel. Just the very thought of you can send me shooting through the universe at any given moment.
"Every time we've made love, Brenda, from the very first moment, I have experienced everything you have just described. This is between us, this special thing, this we share! I know exactly what you mean, what you feel. Very few people are so lucky. We are so very lucky! (KISSES Extra ordinaire!!:)
"My darling heart, This is nothing here to be sorry about. This is something to glory in. What you have just told me is a gift! You have made me SO happy...
"All this time, I thought I was what you call "shooting the moon" by myself, and wishing and praying I could bring you along with me. And here, all the time, we've been cruising the stars together and we didn't know it! [Major KISS] Oh, Brenda, my love, my life! Now we can do it together, consciously, together. [KISSES] What a life, what a wonderful life we will have! [KISS] TOGETHER! FOREVER!"
"My sweet wife, my heart, my treasure," Kissing her deeply and long, "My lady, I invite you to join me in a high flying ride among the stars! When would you like to leave?"
Held closely against his heart, Brenda gazed intently into her husband's eyes, into his soul, silent for a moment. Then, with a brilliant smile: "I can be with you at a moment's notice. Right now if you wish, my Prince".
And so we get a glimpse into a precious moment in the Private Lives of Jax and Brenda, as we see the beginning of a totally amazing future for two people who love one another from the "deep heart's core"**.
** "Deep heart's core" - William Butler Yeats: from The Lake Isle of Innisfree.
Return to CCR Main Page