Hey everyone!!!

Thanks again for the amazing feedback!!! I'll be getting back to those of you who have emailed me!! Hope you enjoy the next part and believe me, I KNOW I'm
risking my life here ending it this way!!! ;) Please let me know what you think!!! :)

hugs,
Sydney L.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ chapter 3 ~

Glancing first in Chloe's direction then locking eyes with Brenda, Jax gambled all of their lives on a hunch. "Given the circumstances, there's only one choice to
make…"

Jax's eyes flicked back to Helena. "They're innocent. They've done you no harm and don't deserve your punishment. I do. So take me instead. My life in exchange
for theirs."

The cat-like smile started slow then spread like wildfire across Helena's lips erupting in a burst of laughter that lasted only a moment. Maybe because the idea
suddenly didn't seem all that funny. As that laughter turned quickly to desire, Helena licked her lips like she was contemplating a meal. "Take…you…instead." Her
leering eyes raked over Jax from head to foot as she slowly began to circle him allowing her hand to run lightly over his chest, shoulders, back... "Mmmmm.
Interesting proposition."

"Your life for theirs…" Standing in front of Jax once more, Helena's gaze drifted to his face, tense with barely controlled anger and revulsion. Clicking her tongue
against the roof of her mouth with a disapproving shake of her head, Helena pursed her lips. "Dear boy, what a scowl for such a hero. Such…hatred and anger.
Didn't your mother tell you that frowning would cause wrinkles?"

She ran her withering hand along Jax's cheek. "And you have too handsome of a face to mar with those pesky little things." Helena flashed Jax a smile. "You know,
if you're interested, I could give you some wonderful pills that would in effect stop the aging process..."

"I don't give a damn about your pills." Jax snapped then literally bit his tongue in an effort to control his reactions. He knew Helena was doing her best to get to him.
To toy with him. He wouldn't let her. He needed to remain calm. In control. Precious lives depended on it. He released a calming breath and lowered his voice
steadily. "What I need is an answer to my proposition."

Helena put a finger to her lips as her brows furrowed in concentration. "Yeees. You're…proposition." Folding her hands in front of her, Helena's eyes flicked back
to meet his steady gaze. "As tempting as it sounds, I just don't think I can take you up on your offer. You see, I have a very, very long memory. And I seem to
remember offering yourself to me once before. Different terms, of course." Her smile faded at the memory as her voice hardened. "I ended up bound and gagged."

Jax shoved his hands in his pockets casually and grinned suggestively down at her. Leaning slightly forward he whispered as his eyes once again moved beyond
Helena's shoulder and sought those of Brenda's in the distance trying to pull from her every ounce of strength he could to make it through the next few moments.
"What can I say? I've heard some people enjoy that type of thing. Given the terms, is it my fault you led me to believe you'd be one of those people…"

Jax's head snapped to the side as Helena's open hand made contact with his face. "That was for denying me the pleasure of your company in my bed." A slender
eyebrow raised and a coy smile danced on her lips at the surprised expression on Jax's face. "What? You didn't think I'd really let you get away with backing out of
our deal did you?"

"So what do you want? A repeat performance?" Jax threw out his arms and bent forward in a slight bow and a playful showman's grin. "Because I'd be more than
happy to oblige."

Helena's eyes danced with maliciousness and Jax felt a sudden chill go down his spin. "Ohhh. I have something much better in mind. You see, Jax, there are so many
ways in which I derive pleasure. Our initial deal would have been equally satisfying to both parties. Unfortunately, you didn't see the merits of such an arrangement.
You betrayed me. And now, I must act."

"Hence this little drama we have going, right?" Jax spoke as his eyes widely cast around the room taking in their situation.

Tilting her head to the side, Helena's lips twitched with amusement. "I can see how your…dilemma could be construed as dramatic. One man torn between the
woman he lost and the woman he found. Two lives hanging in the balance. Only one will be spared. Guilt will forever fall on the shoulders of the man who has to
choose. Tick. Toc. Tick. Toc. The seconds chip away precious moments of time spent together with one of them. Which will it be?"

"Having a hard time are we?" A secret thrill ran through Helena as she watched Jax's expression for a moment. He was truly torn. His eyes flitted from one window
to the next. Shifting from one face to the other. Mind whirling with possibilities and consequences. Seeking an answer. Finding none. "See, you may call this a drama
if you wish, Jax. I prefer to call it…torture." Her chuckle filled the room. "Actually, now that I think about it, you really should thank me."

"Thank you." Jax repeated in disbelief.

"Yes. For saving you from another humiliating 'bride-back-from-the-dead' scenerio. I've cut out all of the tears and the pleading. The desperate cries for love. This
way, you can make your choice and there won't be any hurt feelings over it. The woman you cast to her death will never know her last breath was dependent on
you…"

Jax sized Helena up in a matter of seconds. She was out for blood and wouldn't take anything less. Not an exchange for him, which is what he had hoped. She
would laugh at the idea of a payoff. Torture was the only payment she required. And from the look in her eyes, she was only beginning to collect. Her next words
confirmed his theory.

"Now that I think about it, I may have made this a bit too easy for you." Helena turned for Jax and pulled from a drawer two items. A photo and a piece of paper.
Walking back to Jax, Helena pursed her lips in contemplation. "Such beauty. Very much the image of her mother. Although I must say her eyes…are stunningly like
her father's."

Flipping the photo, she held it up to Jax's shocked eyes. "Now which will it be, Jax? The mother of your beautiful little girl?" Holding the piece of paper that looked
very much like the results of a hospital test equal to the photo in front of him, Helena added he second choice. "Or the mother of your unborn child?"

Tbc…
 

Posted by Sydney L. on July 14, 2000 at 09:02:11:

Hey guys!!

Thanks sooo much for your amazing feedback!!! I know several of you have mentioned my other stories and I appreciate your continued interest more than I can
say. I think I'm going to concentrate on getting this story done then look at the others on my plate. Thanks again for your awesome support!! Hope you enjoy and
please let me know what you think!!!

Hugs,
Syd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ chapter 4 ~

Flipping the photo, she held it up to Jax's shocked eyes. "Now which will it be, Jax? The mother of your beautiful little girl?" Holding the piece of paper that looked
very much like the results of a hospital test equal to the photo in front of him, Helena added he second choice. "Or the mother of your unborn child?"

Once more, Jax headed straight into the middle of an emotional tailspin…

His mind screamed out to him. It couldn't be true. It was a cruel joke conjured up to torture him. An illusion. The manifestation of a dream that had been out of his
reach for way too long. Helena was vicious enough to do it. Cruel enough to dangle his every wish in front of him then yank it back just as he reached for it…

The gentle whisper of his heart broke the cry of disbelief as his eyes fell on the image of her face. If he hadn't seen anything else but her eyes, he would have known.
His heart would have recognized a part of him. A part of him living on in another human being. His legacy to the world.

A daughter. And not just any daughter. Brenda's daughter. With Brenda's silky dark hair. Her button nose. The tiny dimple she often sported in her cheek. In truth,
the only things on this beauty that belonged to him were his eyes and his smile. And there *was* that incredibly mischievous twinkle in her eyes that could be traced
back to each and every member of the Jacks clan. Then again, she could have just as easily gotten that precocious glint from her mother.

Jax couldn't stop the swell of joy and pride that rose in his heart as he gazed at her photo. He wouldn't have wanted to if he could. She was a dream come true. A
dream that took hard work and faith, excruciating pain and tears, infallible trust and unconditional love to make a reality. A dream he thought had died when he
watched Brenda go over that cliff…

He smiled and his eyes softened. How could they not when gazing on that devilishly angelic vision?

His daughter. The handful. He could tell she was. How could she not be considering the genes she was born with? Genes. Oh, God. Did his baby girl carry the
genes Veronica had? Did Brenda? Did Brenda even know about the disease? Did she remember? Or had something happened to her? Something beyond her
control that kept her from him all of this time.

Helena. Had she been Helena's prisoner during their long separation? Tortured for Helena's pleasure. Driven to the point of insanity or treated like a queen for this
precise moment. The questions were killing him as a sense of complete fulfillment and overwhelming love turned to a gut-wrenching fear and heartbreaking dread.

And they continued…

Where was their daughter? Was she tucked safely away somewhere or did Helena not only know of her existence but of her whereabouts as well? And where had
they been living all this time? What was their daughter's name? Her birthday? How had Brenda escaped the wreck? Why had she not come to him of her own will?

Emotions flooded Jax's mind that he didn't even know existed. Maybe because they weren't one single emotion at a time. There were hundreds. Mixed together.
Clamoring to be felt. All drowning in each other. Making Jax numb to anything but the feeling of three pairs of eyes on him. Helena's. Brenda's. Chloe's.

Chloe. All of a sudden, Jax remembered her. The paper in Helena's hands. What had Helena said? 'The mother of your unborn child.' His eyes shifted from the
photo of his own flesh and blood to a two-dimensional proof of parenthood. A pregnancy test. Positive. No. This can't be. They had always been so careful. With
Chloe's treatments, how could she…? And she never said anything…

Helena's voice broke through Jax's inner conversation with himself. "Can't believe your eyes, can you?" She glanced at the picture of his daughter and smiled. "This
one is a…how do you say it? Full court?"

Jax swallowed hard. "Slam dunk."

"Ah, yes. That's it." Helena chuckled at her own mistake. "I never did understand football…" Then she turned her focus to the pregnancy results. "But this one…"
Her eyes flicked back to Jax. "You're surprised about this one, aren't you?"

Blue-green eyes closed in half disbelief and half disgust at her taunting tone and the choice she was forcing him to make. His voice increased in volume and intensity
with each word he spoke. "Surprise? You think all I'm feeling right now is surprise?!" His eyes opened and bored into Helena intently. "My fiancee' has returned
from the dead with our daughter, the woman I live with is pregnant. You want me to choose between the four of them and you think I'm only surprised?!"

Another chuckle escaped him as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair in utter confusion and frustration. "My God. I never thought of torture as a
talent, but you..." His gaze turned on Helena with hatred. "...you invented the concept."

Helena's lips curved into a triumphant smile. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Take it as a warning." Jax's head snapped up as determination flashed hotly in his eyes. A finger pointed dangerously close to Helena's nose. "No one does this to
my family and gets away with it."

"Ahh, but Jax. That's just the point, isn't it?" Helena pressed with a enjoying twinkle in her eyes. "Which family am I doing this to?"

Jax blinked quickly to stop the well of tears he felt steadily building behind his eyes as his hand dropped in defeat to his side. He drew in a shaky breath and released
it slowly. Now more than ever he needed to think. He needed to plan. He needed to...

A sly smile wavered on his lips. His eyes brightened suddenly. Not with tears of hopelessness, but with the glimmer of an idea. If this was going to work he'd need to
sound as unconvinced as possible.

Clasping his hands in front of him, Jax's eyebrow raised as his eyes turned steely blue. He began his plan. "I have to hand it to you, you know. You almost had me.
Chloe pregnant. Without telling me..."

"I'm not so sure that's a surprise, Jax. Neither Chloe or you seem to share every little detail of your lives with each other. After all, she didn't know about our original
deal did she? And you don't know all the details about her dreams, do you?"

Jax's jaw tightened as he felt Helena's jab. He'd not told Chloe...to protect her. And what might Helena know about Chloe's dreams that he didn't? Or was she just
baiting him? "We have no secrets. We're open books to each other." Even as the words left his mouth, Jax's eyes flicked to another's face, half-hidden by a curtain
of silky dark hair.

"Lying to yourself is never a good idea, Jax. And trust is a very important part of any relationship." Helena continued to goad him where he was most vulnerable.
"Especially in a situation like this. If you do choose Chloe, you might consider cultivating it a little more than you have in the past..."

Ignoring her taunt, Jax interrupted to continue his plan of attack. Although, if he were honest with himself he was the one that felt he needed to be on the defensive.
Not so with his next move. He wouldn't let her know her words had affected him. "Even with the possibile truth of Chloe's pregnancy, you made an even greater
mistake."

At Helena's upraised eyebrow of question, Jax explained. "A child with Brenda. My dream come true. Except it isn't true, is it?"

Helena's eyes flickered with doubt at Jax's suddenly confident tone. "Of course it's true. She was pregnant when she went over that cliff that fateful night."

"She couldn't have been." Jax stated assuridly. "We'd taken a test only a short time before."

"The test was wrong, Jax." Helena eyes were clear and sincere.

"Prove it."

Her head tilted to the side and her lips pursed in contemplation for a moment before she nodded her consent. "Alright. I will. And I think I have the perfect way to
do it."

"Really?" His tone was interested. Expectant. "How?"

Helena's cruel smile returned with full force. "Why...I plan on letting you see both of your choices up close and personal. Find out for yourself the truths you want to
know. Maybe I was hasty in thinking you wouldn't want to hear those confession of love in their final moments. Maybe the kind of torture you need is waiting for
you...just inside those cells."

Swallowing the shout of victory that sprang to his lips, Jax shrugged nonchalantly. "Just so I'm clear. What are you suggesting?"

"You will get five minutes with each of your lovers."

Seeing the scheming glint shining in her eyes, Jax's own eyes narrowed as a sudden sense of dread swept over him. "What's the catch?"

"You, my dear boy, won't be able to speak a word..."
 

Posted by Sydney L. on July 16, 2000 at 11:02:06:

Hey guys!!!

I know it's short, but that's the only way I'm able to get these chapters out so quickly! Hope you enjoy! Please let me know what you think! :)

hugs,
Syd
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ chapter 5 ~

"You will get five minutes with each of your lovers."

Seeing the scheming glint shining in her eyes, Jax's own eyes narrowed as a sudden sense of dread swept over him. "What's the catch?"

"You, my dear boy, won't be able to speak a word..."

Jax stared at Helena in disbelief. "Excuse me? Did I just hear you right? You're going to let me see both Brenda and Chloe, but I'm not allowed to say anything to
them?"

Helena shook her head in disagreement as her eyes flashed with amusement. "No, my darling Jax. You've misunderstood. It's not that you won't be allowed to say
anything…you won't be able to."

Understanding dawned in Jax's eyes. "What do you plan on doing to me to stop me? Gag me? Put a gun to my head?" Fear gripped Jax's heart when he saw the
devious twinkle lighting Helena's eyes. "Or…my God. You wouldn't, would you?" He swallowed hard. "Or would you?"

A smile curved her lips that belied the innocence of her tone. "Would I what?"

Jax gulped. "Would you…would you actually stoop so low as to hold the little girl hostage just to make sure I don't talk?"

"My, my, my. What an imagination. To threaten a child?" She wagged a manicured finger before his face and clucked her disapproval. "Your perceptions of me are
rather cruel, aren't they, Jax?" Helena cackled knowingly as she turned from Jax slowly and walked from him to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room.

Jax's gaze shifted from where she was headed to his surroundings searching frantically for a way out. Except for the two doors shutting Brenda and Chloe from him,
there was only one door. To the left. Right next to a slim, iron ladder leading up to what looked like a catwalk that went to only God knew where. Wherever they
were it wasn't a home. It looked more like a factory…or a laboratory.

His eyes shifted first to Chloe and held a moment reassuringly before moving to meet Brenda's eyes. As their gazes locked his thoughts once more took the form of
questions. Had she been here long? If so, for what purpose? If this was a laboratory of sorts, had she been experimented on perhaps? For the disease? Searching
for a cure…or a curse?

A movement to the side of him brought his attention back to the woman who had staged it all. The one that held his future and the future of those he loved in the
palm of her hand. Literally. Helena held her hand out to Jax to show him a vile of clear liquid. "This…is what will keep you from speaking, Jax."

Jax reached out and took it gingerly from her hands, his steely blue eyes narrowing as if he could decipher its contents by sheer willpower. "What is it?"

"Oh, just a little concoction I had made up by some of the finest scientists known to man." Helena announced nonchalantly with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It
renders the user speechless for a period of time. And since I can't risk you making secret getaway plans with either or both of your lady loves, I thought this the most
effective method of stilling your tongue. I'm told the effects are minimal and temporary so you should regain your power of speech after a while."

A wry smile touched Jax's lips as his eyes flicked back to Helena's. "And I'm supposed to believe you…"

Helena clasped her hands in front of her. "It's either this or you don't see them at all." She shrugged as she tilted her head to the side in thought. "Then again, the child
hostage idea was a pretty good one…"

"No." Jax interrupted hastily then swallowed hard. "I'll do it."

"You're sure now? Because we could just forget the whole thing and you could choose between them right this minute…"

"I said…" Jax fought to keep his anger in check. "…I said I'd do it."

Helena clapped her hands together as an almost giddy laugh escaped her. "Oh, good! I was so hoping you would choose this method. See, we've not actually tested
the product on humans before." A triumphant smile spread thickly over Helena's lips. "You'll be the first. My guinea pig. You know, you should actually feel pretty
proud of yourself, Jax. Your cooperation here will be a benefit to others in the future…"

"Whatever. I just have one question." Jax stopped Helena's rambling with a raised hand. He continued when he had Helena's full attention. "How am I supposed to
ask them what I need to know if I can't speak to them?"

Smiling coyly, Helena reached up and ran her hand along Jax's cheek. "Why, Jax…you are one of the most resourceful men I've ever met. I'm sure you'll find a
way…" She winked at him trailing a finger lightly down the cleft in his chin to the front of his chest before she gently turned him around by the shoulders. "And to
help you with that I'm willing to provide you with the tools you might need…"

"The tools?" Jax's eyebrow raised in question. He had to hand it to her…Helena may be cruel and heartless but she was certainly never dull. He watched as she
moved from his side to the wooden cabinet she'd turned him to face. Jax's eyes widened when Helena unclasped the hook and opened the doors with a flourish.

"What the…" Jax question echoed through the room as he stared ahead of him at a cabinet full of memories. "How the hell did you pull that off?"
end chapter 5