NEW!!! Chapter 1 of The Best Thing {JB}

by Victoria L. on January 06, 19100 at 17:24:20:

Hello, everyone! Wow, there was a great response to the excerpts I posted, so I thought that today would be a good day to go ahead and post. Please leave a reply or email me. I'm really anxious to know what you all think. Thanks so very much.
Victoria L.

Chapter 1

Brenda Buchanan awoke to the sound of a blaring television and the smell of brewing coffee. She barely had one eye open before she was greeted with a warm welcome from her dog, Maxie. Brenda pushed the brown cockerspaniel away with one hand and then rolled over onto her back. She half expected to find the softness of her mattress, but when she found a very well defined, muscular chest underneath her, her eyes flew open and she remembered what had happened.

"Oh," she groaned, putting her hands on her forehead. She closed her eyes again and tried to drown out the sound of the television and go back to sleep somehow, but sleep wouldn't come to her with the sound of Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer chatting away about how to baste a turkey successfully for the holidays. She reached a hand out to fumble around for the remote, but she couldn't find it. What she did find, however, was a half open mouth that was snoring loudly. "Ew," she said, pulling her hand back and opening one eye to stare at her best friend, Jasper Jacks. She smiled to herself and struggled to sit up. His arm was draped across her tummy however, and that, coupled with one hell of hangover, made it seriously difficult for Brenda to get up off of the floor.

Finally, she fell back down in defeat, and not wanting to hear the sound of her own voice, whispered his name. "Jax," she said, wincing at the small sound, "Jax, honey, get off," she said, pushing in vain against his arm. He stirred breifly and then rolled over onto his side. She had a split second to get out from underneath him, but he was too fast for her. He proceeded to drape a leg across hers, and then circle his arm around her waist protectively. He was back to snoring again in no time. "Perfect," she whispered to herself. She was, however able to manuever herself to the remote control. She searched for the mute button, but finally just turned the television off altogether, and threw the remote at the television, causing a banging noise which she immediately regretted. It did, however, earn her a few more minutes of blissful sleep.

This time, it was Jasper "Jax" Jacks that awoke first, the feel of Brenda's breath on his neck. He smiled to himself, and then gently nudged her awake.

"Brenda, get up, love." She shook her head vehemently, and rolled over, his leg feeling heavier on her, but not having the strength to move it. He chuckled to himself, and then got off of her, and stood up, woozy. He plopped down on the couch and let out a whoop. "H#ll, Brenda, what on earth was in those shots last night?"

"Burbon?" Brenda murmured, her arms covering her face. "Tequila? Vodka? I don't remember."

"I think it was all of it," Jax said, getting up and stumbling into her kitchen, which was so familiar to him, since he spent more time in it than she did. He proceeded to throw a few pieces of this, and a little bit of that into the blender, making his sure-fire cure for a hangover. He knew Brenda hated the taste of them, but she'd thank him in a few hours when her son came home. He drank his own with ease and left hers in the refrigerator for her, when she finally did get up off of the living room floor. Maxie, the cockerspaniel he had gotten her son for his birthday last month, wagged her tail and sat at Jax's feet in anticipation.

Jax glanced at the clock, and seeing the lateness of the hour, he cursed to himself and quickly drained the contents of his second shake and then poured some food for the dog and quickly scrambled over her, and then proceeded to kick Brenda gently, nudging her to wake up. She looked up at him, severely annoyed, but he tossed her a clock that was on the fireplace mantel. Her eyes grew wide as he continued up the steps to her bedroom.

"D@mn, Jax, why didn't you wake me sooner?!" She was on her feet, on her way to the refrigerator.

"I tried, dearest, but you were practically in a coma! I just got up myself," he shouted, before slamming her door. He showered quickly and got into a change of clothes that was always over at her house in the event of an emergency. By the time she came upstairs and entered into her bedroom without knocking, she was greeted with a much better version of the man that had spent the night on her livingroom floor.

She had her shake in her hand, a few swallows remaining. He walked over to her expectantly, gesturing to his chest. She sighed, shaking her head.

"When are you ever going to learn to tie your own tie, Jax?"

"That's what I have you for," he mumbled, coming through his hair. She finished, and then plopped down onto the bed, which had not been slept in. "Aren't you going to get dressed?" he asked, tapping his watch. Brenda looked at him with a dazed expression on her face, and then he grabbed her glass and drank the remaining contents, much to her protest. "I'll make you another," he said, walking out of the bedroom door.

"Give it up, Jax," she said, coming down the stairs and stepping over pizza boxes and empty wine bottles. "We are truly pathetic, and there's no way that you're going to make your dad's meeting.He'll understand, just call Jane and tell her."

"I've got to at least try," Jax said, making her another shake and carefully avoiding the dog. Brenda came into the kitchen and stared at her best friend.

"I'm sorry," she said, "that was my fault. I didn't mean to keep you all night." Brenda looked down, playing with her hands.

"It's all right," he assured her. "I forgot about today, anyway, and besides, last night was tradition," he added, smiling gleefully.

"Yeah, one night from responsible parenthood. We just chose not to celebrate it in the most constructive manner," she said, smiling up at him.

"Hence the responsible," taking a bite of toast as it popped from the toaster and feeding her the rest of it. Brenda grabbed a trash bag and then proceeded to clean up the livingroom, placing a few of the cushions back on the couches.

"Next time we're doing this at your house," she groaned.

"Deal," he chuckled. "At least I'd have something better to chose from than this suit."

"You look great in that," she insisted, coming past him to put the trash in cans out back. When she came back into the room, he was scribbling a note on some stationery by the phone. He folded it with a $100 dollar bill and handed it to Brenda.

"When you pick up Victoria and Jasmine, give this to the sitter and say a thousand thankyous for me, will you?"

"Yeah, I will," Brenda said, looking at the clock on the microwave. "I have to get them at noon, right?"

"You have to get them right now," Jax said. "Betty doesn't have them on Mondays and it's already 9:00 now. I'm sure she's got classes, and she's being such a doll for watching them for me as much as she does. That's a little bonus," he said, gesturing towards the money.

"Your girls are angels," she said. "I'll watch them for you next time," she promised.

"Can't do that if you're getting bombed with me, Brenda," Jax said, laughing and then crinkling his forehead a little in remembrance of last night. Jax and Brenda had little celebrations once a season when they got together, and got as drunk as possible, playing these silly, stupid games to see which one of them could hold their liquor better. The score was 3-1 in Jax's favor. Brenda insisted that it was because he was so much bigger than her, though. They had been best friends for the past year, and were so involved in each other's lives, people often mistook them for a married couple, but they were far from romantic. In fact, they'd never come close to dating. Dire circumstances brought them together, but their strength to overcome them is what had managed to maintain a lasting friendship, an unshakable bond.

Brenda sat down on the couch, grimacing as she pulled up a beer can and tossed it over her shoulder, laughing to herself. Her mind went back to when she and Jax had first met. It was at a grief counseling meeting at General Hospital. Brenda dragged into the hallway, feeling at her lowest, but doing her best to put on a brave front. Her husband, Daniel, had just been killed in a car accident three weeks ago, leaving her to raise her then two-year old son Jody, alone. She thought she would lose her mind if she didn't do something to help herself, and fast. Her best friend, and co-worker, Denise, had demanded that she go to this meeting, in which widows and widowers helped each other through the grief the way that no other person could, because of their deep and profound understanding of losing your life partner, the mother or father of your children. Brenda had been wary at first, but sitting at home, surrounding herself with pictures of Daniel, had not been productive in the least, so she got up, pulled her hair into a ponytail,dropped Jody off with Denise and made her way to GH.

Standing there in the hallway, she'd heard what she thought was laughter coming from a room of supposedly grieving people. She looked at the bulletin board to make sure she had the right room, and then upon hearing laughter again, she turned away in disgust and began to go back down the hall when she ran smack dab into 6 feet, 3 inches of blonde haired, blue eyed perfection. At the time though, she didn't notice anything spectacular about him, except for the way he towered over her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, the tears evident on her voice. He put up a hand to steady her.

"It's perfectly all right," he said gently, his voice somehow reaching through and warming her bones a little. He motioned towards the room. "Were you planning on going in?"

"That was the plan," she said, her voice growing weak, "but I just don't know if I can." There was a finality to her statement that scared Jax beyond belief for some reason. He knew immediately that he couldn't let her walk out of here with perhaps no one to go to. Especially not her husband, and that was the man she needed most in the world, he guessed. But he knew he couldn't pressure her.

"It can be a little intimidating," he said softly. "The first time, and all. I understand."

"Who are you, anyway?" Brenda asked, half intrigued, half annoyed that his voice was interrupting her thoughts of Daniel. He rose an eyebrow suggestively at her, and then she remembered herself. "I'm sorry," she said, waving a hand dismissively at her own comment.

"That's all right," he said. "My name is Jasper Jacks. I'm a volunteer here at the hospital, and sometimes I lead this group--"

"Oh," Brenda said, realization hitting her. He was just some flunky volunteer with nothing better to do than sit around with some poor, pitiful people feeling sorry for themselves, yet he himself had no idea what they were going through--what she was going through. How she thought she'd just end it all right then and there. "I think I understand," she said, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

"Won't you come in?" he asked. "Stay a few moments, get a feel for the group, and then perhaps you'll come again sometime. You never know."

"Apparently you'll never know, because you have no idea what you're talking about," Brenda spat. Jax was tempted to argue with her right then, but he decided against it.

"I have a feeling this meeting will be enlightening for you," he said, putting a hand at the small of her back and gently leading her towards the room. "But of course, if you don't think you're up to it, you can leave anytime." He was challenging her, was he?