Brenda awoke first the next morning, as she knew she probably would. Jax had done quite a number on his emotions the night before and she figured he would sleep later because of it. She was still in his embrace as he held her tightly. As gently as she could, she turned to face him while he slept. His grip loosened when she turned. For several minutes, Brenda lay there watching him sleep. She softly ran her fingertips along his jaw line and lips. A slight smile was his only reaction to her touch. Carefully, she unwrapped his arms from around her waist, trying not to wake him. As she slid out of his embrace, he turned slightly into the bed and his hand moved into her spot. She watched for a moment to make sure he hadn't woken up. She grabbed the silk robe that matched her pale dark purple pajamas and went to the kitchen.

As the coffee began to brew, she watched out the sliding glass doors to the balcony as the city began to come to life. Even on an early Saturday morning, New York City was bustling with energy. She picked up the newspaper from the front door on her way into the den. As she sipped the hot coffee, she read the newspaper, looking for anything they might be able to use against Miranda and Sonny. She knew as well as Jax and Ned that it was time to start a plan of action into motion. It was just a question what that plan would be.

When she finished reading the paper, she went over to Jax's desk and turned on her laptop that had been there since the day before. She'd moved it one night when her work kept her up later than she thought it might and she didn't want to wake Jax. She checked her e-mail and, finding fourteen messages, began the task of reading and replying to them. She was on her second cup of coffee before she realized how late it was getting and she still hadn't heard a sound from Jax.

Jax slowly became aware of a bright light on his face. Before he opened his eyes, he moved his hand and reached for Brenda. Finding nothing but an empty bed, he sighed and rolled onto his back. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the clock on the bedside table. He squinted against the bright sun reflecting off the white walls. He stretched his arms above his head and sat up. He hadn't realized it was quite this late. He didn't think he could sleep that long. Foregoing the crutches for the time being, Jax limped to the bathroom. He found it was getting easier to put weight onto his foot. It had been six days, so he was almost to the point when the doctor said it would be okay to walk without the crutches at all. He showered quickly and dressed in khaki pants and a white cable knit sweater. When he was done, he grabbed the crutches from beside the bed and went into the den.

Brenda looked up as soon as she felt him watching her. She smiled as he made his way over to the desk to her. "Hi, sweetie, you're finally up, huh?"

Jax placed his crutches against the wall and went to sit with her. He straddled the chair behind her and sat with her in between his legs. He grinned. "Why didn't you wake me up?" He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to gently massage them.

"Because I thought you needed the sleep. And because you looked so darn cute." She smiled as she turned to face him. She kissed him good morning then and got up. "Do you want some coffee?"

Jax's eyes had clouded for a brief moment, but in a flash, he was smiling again. He looked up at her and nodded. "That would be great. Thanks." He reached over and turned on his computer with the flick of a switch.

Brenda went after his cup of coffee and returned to see him checking his own e-mail. She settled back in between his legs and handed him the mug. Jax turned the chair slightly to face his computer screen. Brenda leaned back into his chest and angled her head up towards him. She began to kiss him softly along his neck, slowly moving towards his mouth. She felt the beginnings of his laugh before it escaped his lips.

"I won't be able to finish reading if you continue doing that, Brenda." He moved his head slightly away from hers, but not far enough to deny her access to him.

"That's the idea," she whispered as she kissed him again.

Jax bent his head and met her lips with his. His hands moved down to her waist and he began to tickle her gently. She squealed and squirmed away from him. She grabbed a hold of both of his hands to stop him. After a few more minutes of passion, Jax broke away.

"Well, apparently, no work will get done right now." He grinned at Brenda. "What plans do you have in mind for the afternoon? Since it's almost noon now."

"I didn't realize it was that late! Jax, I'm not even dressed yet!" She jumped up from his lap.

Jax grabbed for her hand. "Brenda, don't worry about it. It's not like we're going anywhere-" he was interrupted by the phone ringing just then. "Go get dressed, I'll answer it." Brenda ran out of the room to shower and change. Jax picked up the phone on its third ring.

"Jax, it's me, what are you doing today?"

"Ned, hello, nice to hear from you, I'm fine, thanks for asking." He shook his head, smiling. "We're not doing anything today. Why? And by the way, shouldn't I be mad at you for something?"

"Oh, get over it, Jax. You know I didn't mean to tell her."

"That's not the point, Ned!" Jax exclaimed, but he was also laughing.

"Well, apparently, you're not too mad or you wouldn't be laughing right now."

"What do you want?" Jax said in exasperation.

"Since you're not doing anything today, Lois and I will be there in an hour."

"Nice of you to tell me. For what?"

"To sell you Girl Scout cookies, Jax! Why do you think? Because we need to see you two! I think we need to start working on this thing."

"What thing?"

"What thing? What thing? What thing do you think I mean? This thing with Sonny and Miranda!" Ned was practically yelling in his frustration.

Jax was laughing when he told Ned to calm down. He hung up a minute later after telling Ned he would see him in an hour. The water was still running in the shower, so he went back to checking and catching up on his e-mail. He hadn't realized how much his messages could back up in the span of two days. He'd barely made a dent in his inbox when he heard Brenda behind him.

"So who was on the phone?" She sat down in the chair across from his desk. She was wearing loose black jeans and a pale purple sweater with black ankle boots on her feet.

Jax shut down his e-mail figuring there was no way he'd get caught up now, so it could probably wait until later. They'd already waited two days, one day more, especially a Saturday, wouldn't make too much difference. "That was Ned. He and Lois will be here in about," he checked his watch, "thirty-five minutes."

"Why?"

"That's what I asked," Jax smiled. "Ned wants to come up with some kind of plan today to make a move against Sonny and Miranda."

"Oh, I see. I was wondering that same thing this morning. That's what I was going to ask you about when I came back in anyway. Ned just moves faster."

Jax got up from behind the desk and started to limp slowly over to the couch.

"Jax," Brenda began to warn him.

He held up a hand. "Brenda, don’t," he smiled as if he were joking, but his eyes portrayed his determination. He continued in the same manner and sat down on the couch. He put his feet up on the coffee table, trying hard not to wince in reaction to the strain. Picking up the newspaper, he glanced quickly at the headlines.

Brenda followed behind him and sat down next to him on the couch. When he put down the paper, he put his arms around her and pulled her close. She put her head on his shoulder and one hand moved slowly up and down his forearm.

"Jax," Brenda started. "About last night-"

"What about it?" His eyes began to cloud again as the memories of the previous night came back into his mind.

"I'm sorry."

Jax pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes. "For what? You didn't do anything wrong."

"No, I just made you share a part of your life you haven't shared with anyone else."

"Brenda, you didn't make me do anything. I had to tell you. We needed to talk about what happened between us and I had to tell you what happened. If we are ever going to be together, you need to know everything that has happened, good or bad."

"But it was so painful-"

"Yes, it was, it still is. But you have no idea what it does for me to be able to tell someone what happened finally. There just isn't anyone else I could have told." Jax hugged her tightly and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

Brenda turned to face him and lay with her head in his lap. "I'm glad you could trust me enough to tell me." She sat up just enough so that she was closer to him. "Jax, I am sorry, though, for everything you went through. Everything you went through without me."

"You're here now, that's all that counts." He leaned down to kiss her lips softly. As the kiss grew deeper, Jax pulled Brenda even closer to him. His hands tangled in her hair as her hands went around his neck, pulling him closer still. She kneeled and pushed him back against the cushions of the couch. Straddling his legs, she engaged more fully in their activity. His hands began to trail down her spine, leaving lingering tingles wherever his fingers touched and finally stopping at her waist. Then, he slipped his fingers lightly under her sweater and began to trail back up the length of her back. Brenda shivered involuntarily in reaction to his touch. Her own hands left the back of his neck and traveled south to explore the expansive chest that was presently hidden by his thick sweater. As he pulled her against him, she could easily feel what she was doing to him. She pried her lips from his and began to place feather kisses down his neck. When she reached the base of his neck, she slid her hands under his sweater and began to lift it to pull it off. He pulled her mouth back to his while his hands never stopped their methodical stroking on her back, occasionally moving to and from the front.

Just as Brenda began to remove his sweater completely, there was a knock on the door, followed shortly by the doorbell.

Jax disengaged his hands from Brenda's sweater and groaned. "Perfect timing, as always, Ned," he said under his breath.

Brenda laughed as she straightened up, gave him one last kiss, and helped him smooth his sweater back into place. She combed through her hair with her fingers before getting up to answer the door. Jax ran his hands through his own hair and then rubbed at his lips to erase the traces of Brenda's lipstick from them.

Ned and Lois followed Brenda back into the den, both grinning like Cheshire cats. "Are we interrupting anything, Jax?" Lois asked. Ned shot a pointed look in Jax's direction, saying everything he needed with one glance.

Jax smiled, "Of course not, Lois, why would you think that?"

"Well, it's just that it took Brenda here so long to answer the door…" her voice trailed off when Brenda gave her a murderous glare. She and Ned went to sit on the other side of the couch when Brenda resumed her seat next to Jax.

Ned pulled out a yellow legal pad from his briefcase and searched quickly for a pen. "Shall we get started?" he asked.

"This isn't a business meeting, is it, Ned?" Jax asked. "We don't need to be quite so formal about it."

"Jax is right, but I do think it's time we came up with a way to stop Miranda and Sonny from doing this," Brenda commented.

"I'm more than willing to help in any way I can, but will you guys please explain to me exactly what it is we're trying to stop them from doing?" Lois asked, confused. "I haven't been in on everything, remember?"

Ned began, "Basically, Jax found out that Miranda is working with one of our ex-employees to try and steal companies out from under us. They are working with Sonny to accomplish this. They tried to remain anonymous, but we eventually found them out. Now, Jax thinks Miranda knows we're onto her, but we doubt they think we know about Sonny and his involvement. We're planning on using that against them."

"But why would Miranda go through all this trouble?"

"Because I won't give her a divorce yet," Jax answered. "I've been waiting for her to do something that would entitle her to nothing of mine when we divorce. I think she figured that out and is trying to make sure I have nothing left when we do divorce. By taking my potential businesses from me, she's also taking money from me. I'm sure there is some kind of plan to try and infiltrate or steal my current holdings, as well."

"Ned told me Miranda asked you for a divorce yesterday, though. Why would she still do this?"

"She's only asked me for a divorce, I'm assuming, because she is pregnant. She has been having an affair for the last six months with this ex-employee of ours. She didn't know I knew about it until yesterday, I think. I'm not quite sure if she picked up on that or if I just thought she did. Not too many things are too clear about yesterday. Anyway, she doesn't act without a cause on anything, meaning there has to be a very good reason behind her wanting this divorce all of a sudden. I have no proof she is pregnant, but it is the most logical presumption."

"So what do you think we should do?" Lois looked at each of the other three for any indication of an idea.

"I actually had an idea yesterday, but Ned didn't think it was a very good one," Brenda started.

"Only because of the risk of your safety," Ned interjected.

"It's not dangerous! Sonny would never hurt me."

"You don't think," Jax said as he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"He wouldn't, Jax. Sonny and I may not love each other, but I don't think he hates me."

"No, he hates me. And because of that he might hurt you to hurt me."

"You haven't even heard my idea! I don't think it involves any safety risks at all. So, please, just hear me out on this one," Brenda protested.

"What is your plan?" Lois asked, trying to rationalize and redirect the conversation.

"I think we should use the fact that they don’t know that we know about Sonny's involvement against them. I can be a plant or a spy and try to get information from Sonny and his files to use against them. His office is in my own house, so I could have reason to be near it and sometimes even in it."

"You don't think he'd get suspicious of your sudden interest in his business?" Ned asked.

"No, I wouldn't be interested in his business, at least not to him. See, there is a filing cabinet in his office that contains all of our household documents. It has things like our mortgage and insurance document copies in it. So, I can have a legitimate reason to be in there."

"That might actually work, you know," Jax said.

"Jax! What if she gets caught? Or worse?" Ned exclaimed. "There is no telling what Sonny would do!"

"You don't have very much faith in my abilities, Ned," Brenda stated.

"And it's perfect, Ned, if we can get some information. We can set them up to try and buy a phony business out from under us again," Jax said, starting to think out loud.

"How would that help?" Lois asked.

"We need to make up a business that is so good that they can't pass up the opportunity to go for it. If Brenda makes Sonny think that we want it, too, then they will definitely go after it. If we can get them to raise the prices high enough, they'll have to dump their other assets to get this one."

"They'd never do that," Ned protested.

"Why not? Don't underestimate the power of Miranda's jealousy, Ned. If she thinks we're going to make a lot of money off this one company, she'll go for it. Especially if the 'profits' she could get from this one make the other companies she'll have to sell to get it look worthless."

Ned thought about it for a second before his face brightened to the idea. "And when they sell the other companies, we outbid everyone else and get them, right?"

"At a bargain price. Miranda has no idea how to negotiate with anyone. It'll be easy to make her think the companies are worth less than they actually are."

"She won't go for that, Jax, she'll want to turn a profit on them," Brenda argued.

"Not if we make it look like she is making a profit on them in the long run. If we can package one or more of the companies together, she'll lose track of what she's doing. Trust me, I know her on this one."

"But what about Dolway?" Ned asked.

"What about him? He's slower than Miranda on the uptake. It'll all happen before he gets a chance to even think about it."

"And Sonny?" Brenda said.

"The way I figure it, Sonny's not too invested in this venture. He's in it to get back at me. I don't think he'll be paying enough attention to what Miranda is doing as long as she can get the money to get the fake company."

After another hour of talking the idea out, Ned looked at his notepad. "Are you sure this is going to work, Jax?" he asked doubtfully.

"For the last four years, Miranda has been nothing if not predictable, yes, it's going to work, Ned."

"So when do we put this plan into action?" Brenda asked.

"I think we should start as soon as possible. We're going back to Port Charles Monday morning, so why don't we start then?" Jax suggested. He was met with slow nods from everyone.

Brenda leaned over and whispered into Jax's ear, "And that gives us one more day, right?" Jax cocked his head in her direction as she took a small nibble of his earlobe at the same time.

Ned and Lois rolled their eyes at Jax's telltale grin. "Maybe we should leave them alone," Ned grinned.

Jax redirected his attention, "No, let's do something, the four of us."

"Like what?" Lois asked.

"I don't know, anything, as long as we leave this apartment to do it."

"Jax, are you sure?" Brenda said quietly so that only he could hear.

He shot her a glance that answered her question. "Where should we go?"

"There's another art exhibit in the park," Lois suggested. The other three held back their groans. "What? I like them!"

"Lois, I just don't think it'd be a very good idea," Ned consoled her. He directed her attention to Jax's foot, still in its splint.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, Jax."

Brenda had picked up the arts section of the newspaper by then to look for ideas of something to do. "Hey, here's something. There is a concert in the park, too. I know it's a little cold out, but it could be fun."

Ned shook his head. "Brenda, you have no idea how cold it is out there," he protested.

"It can't be that bad, Ned."

"Polar bears would go inside from it."

Brenda rolled her eyes and mumbled something about a wimp as she turned back to her newspaper. "Then, how about a movie?" Jax shook his head. "A play?" Lois shook her head. "A mall?" Jax and Ned shook their heads. "Lunch?"

"Actually, we don't have to decide right now. Why don't we go to lunch and we can continue the suggestions there?" Jax compromised. He just wanted to get out of the apartment. Because of everything that had happened, he'd been trapped for three whole days without once leaving the penthouse.

They all finally agreed on a restaurant, and Jax began to get up to go get his shoes and get ready. Brenda quickly got up and, giving him a warning glance, she went into the bedroom after his shoes and coat. Jax sat back on the edge of the couch and waited for her to come back. When they were ready to go, he tried to leave without his crutches, but Brenda would have none of it. Instead, ignoring her protests, he began to walk with the weight on his foot and not so much on the crutches. Brenda gave up and gave in finally.

After lunch, they ended up at an indoor concert in a small theater off Broadway Street. By dinnertime, Lois begged off from any more plans and Ned went with her. Jax and Brenda were back in the apartment and settled on the couch by the time the sun set.

"So, now what are we going to do?" Brenda turned to Jax and asked.

A slow, broad grin began to spread across Jax's face.