Everything I Do-Chapter 5
Carly walked through the door as soon as Jax and Keesha exited her bedroom. "In the middle of the day," she reprimanded, "the two of you should be ashamed of yourselves."
"Oh, please, Carly," Keesha said as she went to take Michael from Carly. "Don’t you think that your mother is becoming somewhat of a prude?" she asked Michael.
"And don’t you think that Aunt Keesha is becoming loose," she retorted. "And, all thanks to you, Uncle Jax," she said reaching to place a kiss on his cheek. "You know, she was never like this before."
"I would hope not," he joked. "It’s nice to see that I’ve had some influence on her. I hear that you’re cooking dinner tonight for Jason. Should I tell him to bring a stomach pump just in case?"
Carly playfully punched his arm as she went into the kitchen. "I’ll have you know that I have cooked on occasion, which is probably more than I can say for you."
Jax shrugged. "’Why cook when you can order out?’, is my motto."
Keesha rolled her eyes as she joined them in the kitchen. "We’re just going to have to change that motto, won’t we. I really like a man that can cook," she stated as she gave him a kiss.
"Hey, hey," Carly said going to take Michael from Keesha. "Not in front of my son, okay. You two are like teenagers. Am I going to have to keep my eye on you?" she joked.
Keesha wrapped her arms around Jax’s neck. "We’ll try to be good; I promise."
"Okay," Carly said. "I’m going to take Michael and put him down for his nap. Now, I don’t want to see the tablecloth and everything on the table pushed to the floor, nor the counter," she joked.
"Okay, we promise," Keesha said never taking her eyes away from Jax’s. "Who would have thought the day would come when Carly would be instructing me on proper behavior?"
"No one. Don’t start taking her advice, though," he said.
"Don’t worry," she said softly as she reached up to kiss him. "I don’t plan to," she mumbled against his lips.
"Well, at least you haven’t made it to the table yet," Carly said coming back into the kitchen. "Is he going to be a big distraction to you, Keesha? Because if he is, I’m sure that he will be content to look after Michael while we prepare dinner."
"No," she answered finally pulling away. "I’m sure that he won’t be too big of a distraction."
"I will just sit here," Jax said pulling out a chair, "and not distract Keesha in any way."
Carly gave him a look that said ‘Yeah right’. "Easier said than done. You know, guys, I’m really happy for both of you, that you finally decided to be together. But, tonight, I’m trying to work on my own love life."
"Okay," Keesha said placing her arm around Carly’s shoulders. "We will work on your love life tonight. How much time do we have?"
"Jason is coming over at six. I figured that would give us a long night," Carly said taking various items out of the refrigerator as Keesha washed her hands in the small sink in the back of the kitchen.
"Okay, let’s get started," Keesha said smiling while Carly gave her a sour look. "Cooking is not so bad as it seems, Carly. Everything is going to work out just fine."
*****
"You look great, Carly," Keesha commented as Carly emerged from her bedroom wearing a short red dress with her hair swept up into a French roll.
"You really do," Jax agreed. "Morgan isn’t going to know what hit him when he sees you."
"I can only hope so," she said smiling as she took Michael from Jax. "Well, Little Man," she cooed, "you’re going to stay with Uncle Jax and Aunt Keesha tonight. I’ll see you in the morning. Wish Mommy good luck," she said giving him a kiss on his cheek and returning him back to Jax. "Take care of baby, will you?"
"We will do our best," Keesha said grabbing Michael’s bag from the couch. "Don’t worry about him; I assure you that he is in very good hands. Concentrate on tonight and have a good time. I know that everything will work out great. Bye, see you tomorrow."
"Thanks for everything. I’ll see you tomorrow. If it isn’t too late, I might call to check on him."
"Call anytime you want. Have fun," Keesha said giving Carly a quick hug and following Jax and Michael out of the apartment.
Carly turned around and made some last minute adjustments to the table. Tonight was going to be wonderful; it had to be.
*****
Jason was computing the last of the figures when someone Johnny entered to tell him he had a visitor. "Who is it?" he asked quickly looking at the clock. He was supposed to meet Carly at six, and it was already five.
"Robin Scorpio," Johnny answered. "She says that she wants to speak with you."
Jason sighed. He knew that Brenda was back in town, and it was only a matter of time before Robin returned as well. "Send her in." Jason returned to his work and waited for her to enter.
"Jason," she said as soon as she saw him. "I’m a little surprised that you agreed to see me. You haven’t returned any of my phone calls."
"Could we make this brief," he said. "I have someplace to be."
She nodded as she looked down and played with her purse straps. "I’ve really wanted to talk to you. I’m really sorry about what happened. I’ve wanted to tell you that for a long time, but you won’t talk to me."
Jason stood up and went over to take his coat from the closet. "Robin, I really don’t have time to rehash the past. Is that all you came here to say?"
She looked up at him. "Does it matter that I’m very sorry for what I did and how I reacted? Jason, what will it take for you to forgive me and for us to put this behind us?"
"I’ve already put that behind me. I’ve moved on. I don’t dwell on the past, Robin, you know that."
She did know that. Jason was always very clear about the way things stood, and knew that he was not angry with her. He had no feelings toward her at all, which hurt worse than him being upset with her. That would be easy to fix, but she had no idea how she was going to fix this problem. "Could I ask where you’re going?"
"Yes, you could. I’m having dinner with Carly tonight," he answered simply.
She nodded. "Really," she said giving him a small fake smile. "I’ll leave you alone then. Jason," she said placing her hand on his arm. "If you ever want to talk to me, I’m staying at the Port Charles Hotel. I think there are some things we really need to talk about."
He merely nodded, and she gave him another smile before she left. She had to make sure that Jason understood that she still loved him and wanted him back in her life. She was determined that she would have him. Carly would just have to let him go whether she liked or not.
*****
Brenda stood on the docks and gazed out into the water. She remembered the times that she spent out here. The day that she begged Sonny to keep her in his life stuck out the most. The day she offered to become his mistress just to keep herself in his life. The day that he left her standing out in the rain, and Jax had come to her rescue once again.
She shook her head and tried to get rid of the memories. This was not good to be thinking of those things now. All was not lost for her and Jax. They had been through too much together for her to just give up on him and their relationship. He had never let her down; he was always there for her, and would continue to be. She heard a familiar voice and turned around to greet him.
Sonny was descending the steps onto the docks and giving Renaldo instructions. He stopped and stood on the stair when he saw her near the dock’s edge. He knew that she was alive, and thought he was prepared for whenever he saw her. But now, he knew that he had not been prepared enough. It was true, Hannah looked just like her. When Brenda gave him a small smile and turned to face the water again, he continued down the stairs.
"I was wondering when I would run into you," she said as he approached her.
"I was wondering the same thing. I noticed I wasn’t first on your list of visitors," he noted.
Leave it to Sonny to make jokes, she thought. She shook her head as she pulled her leather coat tighter around her. "No, you were not. I had someone else I really wanted to see. I suppose you figured that out, though."
"Yes, I guessed you went to see Golden Boy, first. I also take it you were surprised when you went there. I suppose that you didn’t expect to find him engaged to Keesha Ward, did you?"
She shook her head emphatically. "That I did not expect. How do you know all of this? I didn’t think that you were good friends with either of them."
He shrugged, "Carly and Keesha are very good friends, and Jason and Carly are together. Not to mention that Jax is Carly’s uncle."
"What? Jax is Carly’s uncle. When did that happen?" she asked a little confused.
Sonny smiled at her. "She just found out last year that she was in fact Jerry Jacks’ daughter."
"Really," she said softly. What else had she missed out on. "What about you, Sonny? Anything new in your life?"
"Not really, or half as exciting as Jax’s. He and I actually mended fences. We realized that our only crime was being too much in love with you."
"That’s interesting. So, at least he didn’t totally forget about me when he thought I had died."
"Neither of us did, Brenda," he informed her. He really wanted to know what happened that kept her away for a whole year. He thought that she owed them all some sort of an explanation. "Do you realize what you put everyone through?"
Tears were forming in her eyes. "Do you realize what you put me through when you stood me up at the altar?" she asked turning everything around on him. She was a master at shifting the blame.
He shook his head. "I really don’t want to get into that with you again. I thought we had that all settled."
She shrugged, "I don’t know. I guess being back here on the docks brought back some old memories for me. Do you remember all the times you left me and threw me out of your life, and Jax was there to make me feel better? It seems like a pattern. You hurt me, and he heals me."
He was really tired of this old song and dance. He was through with Brenda playing with his heart and his mind. Never again would he be sucked back into her world. If Jax let her do it to him again, then he was a fool, but he would never let her do it to him. He glanced at his watch. "I would really love to go through this with you again, but I have an appointment that I’d rather not be late for. I’ll see you around," he said before walking away.
Brenda stared at his retreating figure until she could no longer make him out. She turned back toward the water and let the tears flow freely. What was going on? Who could she turn to now? This wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to return to home to the loving arms of Jax, and if that didn’t work the waiting arms of Sonny. Nothing was working out the way she planned. What had gone wrong, and what could she do to fix it?


