Jax woke in the mid-morning the next day to an extremely sharp pain coming from his foot. Sitting up straight immediately, he disregarded the fact that Brenda was lying across his chest and reached for his ankle. After he moved, he remembered her and figured out what had caused his pain. In their sleep the night before, their legs had entwined together and she must have accidentally kicked him when one of them moved.

"Jax? What's wrong?" Brenda was sitting up next to him now. When Jax had jerked awake, he had woken her, as well. She had moved quickly to allow him the space he'd needed.

He was still doubled over in pain, holding his foot. With his face contorted in pain and his jaw clenched, he mumbled, "Nothing."

Brenda put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He looked back at her briefly and she saw exactly how much pain he was in. By now, she had realized what had most likely happened. "Jax, I'm so sorry," she began.

"It's not your fault," he said unconvincingly between breaths. The pain was almost as intense as any other time. To make matters worse, he had realized too late that they hadn't put the splint back on the night before.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked gently.

He took a deep breath and tried to relax. It wasn't working. He had no choice, though he knew what they had done before and might do to him now, but it was a chance he was willing to take right then. Still bent at the waist, he motioned to her to get the bottle of painkillers from the table next to him. She ran for a glass of water and gave two of the pills to him when she returned. He sat up momentarily to swallow them. Then he bent over again, lowering his head to his knees and reaching for his foot. He tried again to relax by trying to breathe evenly and slowly.

Brenda stood motionless until he began to relax and breathe easier. Finally, he took a last deep breath and lay back down on the pillows, closing his eyes. Every few seconds, he would wince as the waves of pain persisted. Now he was just waiting to fall asleep and to wake to whatever the pills had to give him this time.

Brenda sat carefully on the edge of the bed and put her hand on his. He took it and held it tightly.

Again, she said, "I'm so sorry, Jax." She was concerned that he was still in so much pain and it was a full four days after the accident.

Opening his eyes, he saw the worry in her eyes. "It's all right. It wasn't your fault, Brenda," he said gently.

"It was-"

"No, it was not your fault," he repeated emphatically. He knew it really wasn't. Everybody moves in their sleep. Either one of them could have caused it to happen and there was no way to tell who it was and nothing they could do about it. The only thing that would have helped would have been the splint, but they had never gotten it back on his foot. Jax was silent for a minute. He was thinking about the work he wasn't going to be able to do that day. "Brenda, do me a favor please?"

"Anything."

"Call Ned, tell him what happened, and that I'm going to take most of the day off today. He can call tonight and we'll talk about everything then. The same goes for my secretary." He yawned and closed his eyes, running a hand over his face. "There is one thing I can say for those pills."

"What's that?"

"At least my foot won't hurt when I get that headache." {Or worse.} He smiled warily at the thought.

Brenda laughed softly and leaned over to kiss his lips before he drifted off to sleep. She watched him for a few minutes to make sure he was asleep, then she carefully extricated her hand from his and covered him with the blanket.

She went to call Ned from Jax's office before she called her own office. She was going to run in and pick up some files to work on, especially now that Jax wouldn't be up. When she was done, she went to shower and dress. She put on a pair of casual khaki pants, a navy-blue scoop-necked shirt, and one of Jax's shirts rolled up to the elbows. Checking on him quickly, she left to go to her office with every intention of returning to the apartment an hour later.

True to the promise to herself, Brenda did walk back in the front hall just over an hour later with her hands laden with files. Jax was still asleep so she set up her things in his office. She left both doors open, just in case.

Stopping only briefly for a short lunch, she worked the next three hours straight through. Amazingly enough, Jax had not stirred once the entire time. Her files finished, she realized she was still hungry. She went into the kitchen again, but found nothing that she wanted to eat. Also, there was nothing simple for her to be able to fix for Jax in case he was hungry when he woke up or later that night. On her way to the front door, she stopped in Jax's room. She kneeled by the bed and watched him sleep for a few minutes. She stood and kissed him gently, figuring he probably wouldn't move for the next half-hour while she went to the store just down the street. She knew she was bordering on the time he normally woke up after taking the painkillers, but a short prayer told him not to wake up just yet.

Jax was almost awake when he heard the shrill ringing sound, but he didn't know what it was right away. All he did know was that it was making his already painful headache about a hundred times worse. He heard it again and by the time it came a third time, he realized it was the phone ringing on his bedside table. Without thinking, he reached for it, just to stop its noise.

"Hello?" he said softly and in a weary voice.

"Jax?" the other voice questioned, "Jax? Is that you?"

Oh, God, why now? I don't want to do this now. Can I just hang up? No. He sighed greatly. "Yes, Miranda, it's me. What do you want?" He put a hand to his head as he felt the blinding pain arrive. He hadn't opened his eyes yet.

"Were you asleep or something? What are you doing in bed at one o'clock in the afternoon?" she asked incredulously. Her voice almost sounded concerned, but not quite.

"Is that what time it is? Thank you for letting me know," he said sarcastically. "Now, why did you call? Surely it wasn't to discuss my sleeping habits."

"No, but now that we're on the subject...Jax, there is only one reason I can think of that someone would be asleep at this time of day," she paused dramatically as if she had something important to shock out of him. "And I thought you said you weren't staying in New York to be with Brenda," she said maliciously.

Jax nearly hung up the phone right then, but he wouldn't let her have her way. He mustered as much anger as he could and said, "Miranda, that would be what you would think of. My God, do you EVER think before you speak? I am not you. I do not have, nor have I ever had, extra-marital affairs while I am still legally married." Even if it never meant anything to either one of us. The words had left his mouth before he had a chance to stop them. He knew he'd just told her exactly what he hadn't wanted to. But the truth was, he didn't really care if she knew what he knew or if it was really only a technicality that he was denying.

There was a stunned silence on the other side of the line while she tried to recover. "Then what were you doing? If you have nothing to hide, you'll tell me. If for no other reason than to prove that to me." She refused to believe he wasn't in bed with Brenda.

Jax squeezed his eyes shut tightly and massaged his temple with one hand. The pain was becoming unbearable, but he couldn't just hang up. He sighed. "If you must know, Miranda, I'll tell you. Four days ago, I almost broke my foot on that damn table you insisted on buying and putting in the front hall. You know, the one I hated the moment you bought it. Since then, I've been treated for the pain with painkillers and that is why I was asleep. Does that satisfy you now?" He was met with silence when he paused. "Now, if you don't mind, either tell me why you called or I'm hanging up. The headache I already have is only being made worse the longer I talk to you." When he finished, he heard the front door open. He hadn't known Brenda wasn't there, but he heard her enter the room and felt her sit next to him.

"Jax, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I-I didn't know you were hurt," Miranda haltingly apologized.

"Miranda, for the last time, why did you call me?" Jax said coldly. He felt Brenda reach for the phone to hang it up, but he shook his head to stop her.

"I wanted to tell you, Jax, that I have decided to file for a divorce," Miranda finally admitted.

"Fine, you've told me. Do it, sign the papers, send them to me. Now, goodbye." With that, he reached to hang up the phone. Brenda took it from him and put it down before he dropped it when his arm collapsed weakly.

Brenda put her hand on Jax's leg and waited patiently for him to say something. He tried to calm down and ease the pain in his head at the same time. His head was pounding furiously and he was beginning to wonder again why he was reacting this way to the painkillers. He felt for Brenda's hand on his leg and took it in his own. His other hand was rubbing his eyes.

"This is not a good trade-off, you know. And if I'd thought about it before, I wouldn't have taken those things this morning. A little pain in my foot is not worth all this," he sighed.

"Is it that bad?" she asked softly. He nodded slowly in response. "What do you want me to do for you?"

"Never let me take those things again. I will suffer the next time." He wasn't even close to joking.

"Well, that call couldn't have helped matters at all. What was that all about anyway?"

"You don't want to know," he muttered. "She almost woke me up when she called, but I think I may have already been awake and dealing with this thing. The first thing she did was pester me about being asleep now. She made a few rude comments about us and practically dared me to tell her the reason behind it."

"Did you tell her?"

"Yes, but now she knows that I know about her affair."

"Does that matter?"

"Not anymore. When she finally told me what she wanted, it doesn't matter at all. She's going to file for a divorce."

"So that's what you were telling her to sign and get to you? But this is good, isn't it? She's finally getting the divorce started."

"Yes, it's good, but Miranda never does anything without thinking through all the steps and consequences. For her to just spring this on me means there is a very good reason she needs to get this done."

"What are you saying, Jax?" Brenda nearly exclaimed.

Jax winced at her volume. "I'm sure you can guess what I'm saying, Brenda," he said through clenched teeth. "She probably got herself pregnant by Dolway because Lord knows I haven't touched her anytime in the last three years to do that. It's the only reason I know of that she makes huge decisions in her life." Jax sighed. He definitely needed to stop thinking about Miranda, and before he gave away too much without thinking. Her problems were no longer his. He tried to relax again and forget about her.

Brenda recognized that he wanted to drop the subject. "Jax?" she said quietly.

"Brenda?" his tone matched hers and they both smiled slightly.

"Seriously, how do you feel?" She was concerned.

He cracked his eyelids for the first time just enough to see her, but couldn't open them any further. The light was making it difficult for him to keep them open. He could barely make out her face, but he could tell her eyebrows were furrowed with worry and she was frowning. "Not wonderful, but at least my foot doesn't hurt. Just like I said," he tried to smile again, but knew she didn't believe he was that light-hearted. "Seriously, Brenda," he started again, "I don't know what is happening, but I really hate it. It's worse this time than the others, too."

"Worse? How much worse?" She hadn't known that. Now, she was really worried. "Should we call the doctor?"

"No, I'll be fine," he said and then paused. "I might be sick, but I'll be fine," he said suddenly, knowing full well she would call the doctor now, but he thought it just might be true, as a wave of dizziness passed over him even while he was laying down. He opened his eyes fully this time, grateful she had closed the blinds already. Slowly, Jax raised himself up on his arms. Eventually, he sat up, trying to resist the overwhelming urge to lay back down again. His head was spinning. Brenda steadied him with both hands on his shoulders. He put his legs over the side of the bed, but Brenda stopped him from standing up.

"Jax, shouldn't you stay where you are?"

"Brenda, I don't have the choice," he said between quick breaths and nearly doubled over his stomach. She got the meaning of his comment and let him stand. He came dangerously close to falling when he was up. Brenda caught him around his waist as he swayed and held him. He remained standing by some miracle. She was by his side for every step he had to take with his crutches because she knew she wasn't strong enough to help him without them. He took slow steps and even slower breaths to counteract the nausea he was feeling when he stood up. Finally, Jax stood in the doorway to the bathroom, but refused to allow her to go any further. She reluctantly agreed, but only because he let her stand directly outside the door.

Minutes passed by and Brenda began to worry. She couldn't hear a sound coming from inside, not even running water. She knocked on the door and got no response. Calling his name loudly, not caring if it was too loud for him to bear, she opened the door.

The light was still on as she looked around and at first she didn't see him. He was sitting on the bench against a wall in the corner. He had his elbows on his knees and his head held tightly between his hands. His eyes were closed and he was trying to take deep breath.

Brenda went to kneel in front of him and put her hands on his knees. He didn't look up at her. "Jax, are you okay?" she whispered.

"No," he said in a voice she could barely hear.

"Tell me what is wrong."

"I don't know," he moaned softly. "Brenda, this is different from before. It's so much worse. I've never been nauseous before and there is this blinding pain in my head. I can barely see through it. Something is wrong." The strain of speaking was making it even worse as he continued.

"I don't care what you say, I am calling the doctor right now." Jax only nodded imperceptibly in response.

As she left to get the phone, Brenda turned off the lights in the part of the bathroom where Jax sat. She had the doctor paged at the hospital and the call was answered immediately. After explaining the problem, the doctor told her to get Jax back into bed as soon as she could. Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do for him. They had to wait it out until the pain lessened. It was most likely a reaction to an agent in the painkillers. It was common, but not normally so severe, though it did happen. Brenda hung up the phone after thanking the doctor and silently cursing her under her breath. She had an idea and quickly dialed Ned's office number. As soon as he picked up, Brenda explained what was happening. He promised to leave right away to help her out. Their offices were less than fifteen minutes away and traffic wasn't heavy yet.

Brenda returned to the darkened bathroom and kneeled in front of Jax again. He had stayed in the same position while she was gone, afraid to move and upset the tenuous balance he had in his head right now. She told him what the doctor had said and in response, Jax let out a soft moan of frustration. She also told him Ned was on his way and he tried to protest that he didn't need Ned's help. Brenda refused to listen, knowing she did need his help. Brenda tried to comfort Jax while they waited, but there wasn't much she could do to ease his pain.

Just as he'd said, fifteen minutes later, Ned was at the front door. He didn't want to ring the doorbell or knock, so he tried the handle first. Brenda must have left it unlocked the last time she came in. Flipping the lock as he closed it, Ned looked around the front hall, listening for sounds of where they were. He knew they were most likely in the bedroom so he started his search there. He saw the dim light in the bathroom with the door open slightly and deduced where they were.

"Brenda?" he called softly, but so that she could hear him. He saw them at the same time. As soft as he'd thought his voice had been, he still saw Jax cringe from it, curling tighter towards his knees.

"Ned, thank God. We need your help," Brenda began.

"No, we don't," came Jax's voice, as strong as he could make it. "You can go now."

Brenda turned to look at him and put her hands on his, leaning close. "Yes, you do need his help. You cannot walk even without this headache. With it, you can't get back to the bed. And I know I am not strong enough to get you there. Now, Ned is and he can help us. You might feel better when you're back in bed, so let him help you. Please?" The whole time, Jax still had not moved. He still had his head in his hands.

Now, he raised his head slowly to look first at Brenda and then at Ned, whose face portrayed extreme concern for his best friend. Ned noticed how pained he looked and the way he shielded his eyes from the little amount of light in the room. Reluctantly, Jax finally nodded and Ned moved to his side. Jax moved over on the bench so that Ned could sit next to him and give him the leverage he would need to stand up. Brenda stood at the other side, waiting to help. She took hold of one of Jax's hands and squeezed it tightly.

When Jax was ready, Ned stood slowly with his arm around Jax's waist. Ned leaned to his right slightly to get Jax to take the weight off of his foot and tried to balance him at the same time. Jax's head swam violently when he stood up. He swayed precariously as Ned tried to steady him. Nevertheless, it made the nausea he already felt rise to his stomach. Forcing Ned to let go of him, he knelt on the floor as quickly as he could. Brenda and Ned left him alone, closing the door behind them.

They gave him a few minutes and then Brenda opened the door slowly. Jax was braced over the toilet and coughing, his shoulders shaking with each breath. Ned stayed behind as Brenda went to kneel next to Jax. As she got close to him, she saw he was breathing hard and sweating. He had his head buried in his arms which were propped on the seat that he was kneeling in front of. He was oblivious to the fact that she was there until she put her arms around him. As soon as he felt her next to him, he virtually collapsed into her arms.

Brenda turned to look at Ned, tears welling in her eyes. She had never seen Jax like this. She motioned to Ned and he came to kneel alongside Jax, as well. Together, and with whatever help Jax was almost unconsciously giving them, they got him to his feet and into the bed. Realizing where he was, Jax immediately closed his eyes tightly, curled over onto his side, and tried to go to sleep. He knew it was a much better place to be than where he was now. Ned and Brenda breathed a sigh of relief when they finally saw his chest rising and falling in an even rhythm.

They left the room quietly, closing the door again. Ned looked at Brenda and said, "Brenda, what happened just now? Is that normal?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I don't think so," she answered, "but I'm going to call the doctor again and find out." She went into Jax's office and to his desk to make the call. After arguing with the doctor for the next fifteen minutes, Brenda hung up more frustrated than ever. She had explained what was happening, but the doctor continued to say that there was nothing they could do. Except wait, and Brenda knew that if she had to watch Jax go through that again, she wouldn't know what to do.

"What'd she say?" Ned asked, breaking into her thoughts.

Brenda sighed, "Not much. Just that it's a side effect, they're not usually this severe, but it happens and that we have to wait it out. There's nothing they can do for him or give him. But he's sworn he won't take those pills again." She paused. "I just don't understand it, Ned. For someone who never, and I do mean never, gets sick, this is strange."

"Maybe that's why, though. He's never taken anything like this before, so he's reacting differently," Ned guessed. "Hopefully, it'll all be over soon."

They sat down on the couch and were silent for a few minutes. Brenda was thinking about something else. She had come up with an idea of how to handle their problem and wanted to run it by Ned. "Ned, in three or four days, or as soon as Jax is up to it, we're going back to Port Charles," she began.

"Yeah? Does that mean you want me to go back, too?"

"Well, yes, but here's what I was thinking. When we get there, I, at least, have to go home to Sonny-"

"You? Why not Jax to Miranda, too?" Ned interrupted.

"I'm getting to that. I have to go home to Sonny who is in on this whole thing with Miranda and her partner. He probably knows by now that Jax knows about their partnership, but he may not know that I know about it. And nobody knows that Jax and I are here and together now, except you and Lois."

"What are you getting at?"

"This might be the way to bring them down. Jax has no hold on Miranda anymore since she told him this afternoon that's she's filing for a divorce." Ned looked surprised, but let her go on without saying anything. "So the only real player we might still be able to get information from is Sonny. And we can only do that if I stay with him until this is over."

"Jax won't like that idea," Ned said, vaguely thinking about what she'd said.

"But it's our only option, right?"

"It might be," he said, finally clearing and coming back to the conversation. He'd been stuck on what Brenda had said about Miranda filing for divorce. "We'll have to run it by Jax, but you may just be our only key now." He thought some more. "Brenda, go back to Miranda filing for divorce."

"She is. She called this afternoon and talked to Jax. In fact, it was only a little while before you got here. I think it might have made him worse after talking to her. She kind of harassed him for a few minutes until he finally got her to admit why she called. He wasn't surprised, but I don't think he's really thought about their conversation yet. He was a little hazy during it. In fact, he may not even remember it when he wakes up." She glanced towards the bedroom and was tempted to go check on him.

Ned stopped her with a glance. "He's fine for now. He'll let us know if he needs anything. Brenda, why now? Miranda doesn't do anything suddenly. There has to be a reason behind it all."

"That's exactly what Jax said. He seems to think he knows what that reason is, though."

The way she said it told Ned everything he needed to know. "I know that's why she's done things in the past," he said, but he was basically thinking out loud.

"What do you mean, Ned?" Brenda had heard him and was having a hard time believing what he could mean by it. "Ned, what are you saying?"

Ned looked up at her confusion. "You mean Jax never told you?" he asked incredulously.

"Told me what?" now she was really confused, and even starting to get worried.

"Brenda, he was supposed to have told you this a long time ago. I can't believe he never told you."

"Told me what?" she repeated, practically yelling it.

"Maybe I shouldn't be the one to tell you." Ned backed down a little. It wasn't really his place to tell her.

Brenda got up off her seat and came close to Ned. "You cannot leave it at that. Tell me, Ned. What didn't Jax ever tell me?"

He knew she wouldn't give up before he told her. "Brenda, Jax was supposed to have told you this a long time ago. He even told me he was going to once."

"Ned! Just tell me!"

"Jax and Miranda only got married because she got pregnant," he finally said.