Ned Ashton was sitting at their table waiting for them when Jax and Brenda arrived. Brenda sat next to Ned while Jax sat across from him. There was a bottle of champagne chilling next to the table, but they would wait for Lois before opening it. Ned could tell something was a little off in the way Jax had barely said hello when they sat down. He was continuing his conversation with Brenda, but that wasn't it. Ned knew better, and yet Jax didn't look mad about anything, only slightly upset.

"So, Ned, where's Lois? She's late," Brenda said, looking at the gold watch on her wrist. "We were a little late, but she never is."

"She's not late, actually. She told me she wouldn't be able to make it until almost seven-thirty. She had a record deal to negotiate first and then she was going to leave." Ned eyed Jax carefully. He certainly wasn't giving anything away. "Brenda, you'll have to excuse this next part of the evening."

She looked puzzled, "Why?"

"Because I'm about to drag Jax into a corner and figure out what the hell is wrong with him tonight." He stood up and motioned Jax to follow him.

Jax got up slowly and still portrayed no indication of what was wrong on his face. He followed Ned into a corner of the noisy bar on the other side of the room. "What, Ned?"

"Jax, something is bugging you and from the way you're acting, I know it's work-related. What happened today that I don't know about?"

Ned had always read him well. "You're right, it is work. You know those three companies we've lost to the same corporation recently?" Ned nodded. "We almost lost another one today."

"What?? How do they keep doing this to us?"

"I don't know. That's what I've been trying to figure out all night. I was trying to keep it away from the evening for Brenda, but Ned, we need to investigate this people. It's becoming too much of a coincidence now. Something's not right here."

"What's the name of the company? I'll start checking into it tomorrow."

"It's Moore and Reid and they're based out of Boston." He thought for a second and his jaw clenched tightly. "This better not be Brian Dolway. I swear if he has his name anywhere in that company-"

"Jax, calm down. I'm sure it's not him. He doesn't have enough brains in his head to crawl out of a paper bag. Don't worry, we'll find out who it is."

They returned to the table to find Brenda with her head propped on her folded hands. She seemed to be in deep thought about something.

Jax waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello? Anyone home?"

Brenda sat up quickly and smiled. "Very funny."

"You looked so serious. What were you thinking about? Me, I hope." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"No, not about you," she laughed.

"Darn." He snapped his fingers and looked at Ned disappointingly. "So what were you thinking about?"

"Us, the four of us. What an unusual group we make together."

"Not so unusual, we all get along," Ned said.

"Right, but think about it. Look at us. You two are international business moguls who buy and sell companies for the fun of it."

"It is fun!" Jax interrupted laughing. For the most part.

"To you, of course it is. Then there's me, the modeling agent."

"The very successful modeling agent who represents over thirty famous models."

"Right, well, whatever. And Lois-"

"What about her?" the Brooklyn-accented voice broke in. "No wonder my ears were burning. You're all talking about me!" Lois Cerullo sat down in the last seat at the table after hugging the three other friends. "I'm just in time to hear the best part, no doubt. Please continue, Bren." She laughed and motioned to go on.

"I was just saying how different we all are. Jax and Ned, and you and me, the four of us together certainly make an odd group. I mean, you're a successful owner of a hugely popular record label. How does that fit with Jax and Ned's business ventures or my modeling representation?"

They all thought about it for a few seconds. Lois was the first to respond. "It doesn't have to fit. We're all different and that's a good thing. But we're all friends, and that's what's important, right?" Her comments were met with ready nods. "Now, since we've got that determined, let's make a toast."

Ned reached for the bottle of champagne to open it. He poured them each of a bubbling glass of the golden liquid. They raised their glasses to each other.

"To the four of us. May we always remain an unusual group of friends. No matter what," Jax toasted.

"No matter what," they each echoed and clinking their glasses together, they took a sip.

They ordered their dinners and while they waited, it was a non-stop clamber for the right to speak. Brenda and Lois talked a mile a minute and four different conversations threaded together. The whole night was spent like that. The only breaks came when they took bites of their meals.

Finally, three hours and a round of desserts and coffee later, they left after agreeing to meet at Jax's apartment the next morning to spend the day together.

Jax and Brenda left together while Ned and Lois each left separately. When they were settled in the limo again, Jax turned to Brenda. "So now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, either it's still early and we can still go somewhere or we can just go home and call it a night." He looked at her expectantly.

"I would have to say that I should probably call it a night."

"OK, then in that case, where would you like me to drop you?"

She looked surprised for a moment. "We're close enough to my place for me to stay there tonight. I'll just come up with Lois and Ned tomorrow morning."

"All right." They sat back to ride the next three blocks in a comfortable silence.

The limo pulled up outside of her building and she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek before she got out. "Thank you for coming home early." She smiled and got out of the car, closing the door behind her.

"You're welcome, my love," he said softly as he watched her walk into the building.

Jax went back to his penthouse and went into his office. He poured himself a stiff drink and sat on the couch where Brenda had been before. He leaned his head back against the cushions and sighed tiredly, taking a sip of his drink. As much as he loved his friends, it had been a very long day. He'd gotten in from London and gone immediately to see Brenda. That, combined with the close call in his business deal, and he was exhausted. More so than usual, he noticed. It was probably the time difference, as he was used to a time zone that was five hours ahead of New York. Finishing his drink, he got up and went to the bedroom.

As he walked in the door, he'd never been so glad to see a bed in his life. Except with Brenda. He smiled slightly at those memories. He untied his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. Stripping to his silk boxers, he lifted the corner of the bedspread and climbed in the bed. He barely had time to bring the covers around him before he was asleep.

The next morning was filled with a bright blue November sky and the sun was shining brilliantly. Jax could swear he was hearing things as he awoke slowly. He opened one eye sleepily and looked around. The room was lit with the sunlight. Before he could look at the clock, he heard the sounds again. It was almost like a pounding, like someone was hammering something somewhere, but he knew that couldn't be since he was the only one in the apartment. The sound persisted after a short break. Deciding it was time to see where it was coming from, Jax threw back the covers on the bed and got up. He headed for the source of the sound. He ran a tired hand through his rumpled hair. He was too tired to figure out what the noise was, only that it was really obnoxious. It just continued on. He got to the front hallway and figured out where it was coming from. Someone was pounding on the front door and had been for awhile now.

"Jax! Open up! Are you in there?" Ned's voice came through the door to him. He walked over to it and right as he was reaching for the doorknob, he slammed his left foot against the table in the hall.

"Ouch!" Jax yelped. It also told Ned he was standing there and he could stop knocking on the door now.

Muttering a few sharp expletives, Jax opened the door to find Ned, Lois, and Brenda in his hall. He held his foot with his hand as he leaned against the door. "Happy, Ashton? I almost killed myself opening this door for you." He looked down at the spot he'd hit and saw a bruise already beginning to form.

"Took you long enough to answer, Jax. What were you doing in here?" Brenda asked with an amused look on her face.

"Long enough? How long have you been out here?"

"Too long," Lois threw in. "It's been nearly twenty minutes, Jax!"

Brenda glanced at his attire and saw he was still dressed in a pair of dark blue silk boxers with no shirt on. His hair hadn't even been combed yet. "Were you still in bed?"

Jax led them into his office, limping slightly. "I must have overslept. I didn't even hear you knocking until a little while ago."

"Well, go get dressed, Jax. As mush as I'm sure the ladies appreciate it, I can do without the image of you in your boxers." Ned laughed and gave him a pointed look downward.

"I guess I could do that," Jax said sheepishly. "You guys can help yourselves to anything that's in the kitchen, though I'm not promising there's much."

"Doesn't matter, Ned'll find something," Lois laughed. She pulled Ned behind her as they went in search of the food.

Jax turned to go back into the bedroom to shower and change. Brenda followed behind him and watched as he limped into the room. "Jax, are you sure you only bruised it?" She saw the area was more pronounced than it had been. There was a large bump beginning to appear under the coloring.

Jax looked down at his foot and winced. He sat down on the bed, pulling his leg up to him. Gingerly feeling the bump, he looked up into Brenda's concerned face. "It's fine, but it will hurt for awhile."

Brenda sat down his bed after closing the door to the bedroom. Jax got up and went into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly open to talk to her. He turned on the shower and stepped into it. Brenda listened to the running water for a minute.

"Did you three decide what we're doing today?" Jax called to her over the rush of the water.

"We thought we'd go down to Central Park for a little while."

"Why? What's down there?"

"It's a park, Jax. What do you think is there?"

"Brenda..." he laughed.

"Actually, it's because there is an independent art show going on that Lois and I want to see."

Jax turned off the water and reached for the large white bath towel hanging on the wall. Wrapping it around his waist, he went back into the bedroom. "So we have to go look at art just to please you two?" he teased. "That's nice of you." He noticed her clothes as he walked into his closet and used them as a guide when he pulled out his own. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a green t-shirt with a white long-sleeved shirt over top. He remembered she'd been wearing her brown leather coat when she came in. Pulling out a pair of loose-fitting jeans, he looked for a sweater to wear. After he buttoned his jeans, he opened the door and went back to the bed.

"Yes, you have to go look at art. Don't sound so enthusiastic." Brenda smiled. "We'll let you boys decide the afternoon plans. It was the only way we could get Ned to agree to come along."

Jax pulled on the light gray sweater in his hand and sat on the bed to put on his shoes. He laced the casual black loafers and tied them loosely around his injured foot. He stood up and motioned to Brenda that he was ready to go. He grabbed his wallet and keys from the pants he'd been wearing the night before.

Ned and Lois were still in the kitchen when they went to find them. "Took you long enough, Jax," Lois said around a bite of bagel in her mouth.

"Oh, like you don't take three times as long," he joked in response.

"At least she was awake this morning." Ned took a sip of coffee and smiled innocently at Jax.

"Yeah, well, I don't recall that either of you flew in from London yesterday." Jax put their few dishes in the dishwasher and turned around. "Are we ready to go?"

They all nodded and headed for the door. Jax retrieved his own black leather jacket and closed the door to his apartment.

Twenty minutes later, they were wandering among the painting and sculptures of the artists. Lois and Brenda walked together, occasionally stopping to look at a piece of work.

Jax and Ned hung back to talk quietly about business. Ned was telling him that their private investigator was going to begin looking into the Moore and Reid Company.

"It's only a question of what they'll find now," Jax said. "It better not be Dolway."

"You know it won't be."

"I know, he's too busy trying to take my wife that he doesn't have time to worry about my business."

"Miranda? And Dolway? They're having an affair?"

"Have been ever since I fired him." Jax stopped and sat on the park bench. Lois and Brenda were looking at a landscape painting a few feet away. He crossed his left foot over his right knee and began to lightly massage the bump he could feel through his shoe.

Ned sat next to him and watched him for a second. "Jax, are you sure your foot's okay? You may have actually cracked a bone in it." He looked concerned.

Jax grimaced as he put his foot back on the ground. "Who knows? It'll be fine."

"So tell me about Miranda."

"What about her?"

"How long have you known she was having an affair?"

"Since it started, pretty much."

"Does she know you know?"

"Nope. And she won't until I want her to." He gave Ned a pointed look.

"Don't look at me. I certainly won't tell her." He shook his head in amazement. "I don't even like the woman. I still can't figure out why you've stayed married to her."

"You know why, Ned."

"No, Jax, I know why you married her in the first place. I don't know why you're still married to her four years later. What happened happened and it's over. There is nothing left of that."

"I know, it's my only regret."

"Let me ask you something. Did you ever truly love Miranda?"

"Love her? I don't know. Probably not like I should have."

"But you think you loved her? Like you did Brenda?" He saw the look that came over Jax's face when he mentioned her name. It dawned on him then. Something that should have always been so obvious. Jax was still in love with her. Now, it all made more sense.

There was no use in pretending. "The truth? I will never love anyone like I love Brenda. But there's only one problem with that."

"Which is?"

"Brenda doesn't still love me. We could never be again what we once were. No matter how much I may want to." He smiled wistfully and thought back to four years ago again.

"Of course you'll never be what you once were. You can be even better than that now.

"Ned, she doesn't love me like that anymore."

"How do you know that? Do you think she thinks you do?"

"Do what?" a voice broke in. Ned and Jax jumped up from the bench. "What do you do, Jax?"

"Brenda! How much of that did you just hear?" Jax had a panicked expression on his face. He couldn't let her know how he felt about her.

"Not enough. Why? What were you saying? Talking about me?" Brenda teased. She could tell it had been something he didn't want her to know.

Ned thought fast and smiled. "No, we were talking about what to do this afternoon, but we wanted to surprise you two." He looked around. "Speaking of you two, where's your counterpart? Please tell me she's not buying one of those God-awful things they're calling art."

"I heard that," Lois said as she walked up behind him. "And no, I wasn't. I was getting a cup of coffee. It's cold out here." She had her hands wrapped around the cup in her hands to keep them warm. "Have we made any decisions yet?"

"About what?" Jax said innocently.

"You two were supposed to plan the afternoon, remember?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, we did. Ned and I thought we'd go see the new movie with Sylvester Stallone in it. What do you think?" Ned had to turn away to keep them from seeing him laugh. Jax was trying very hard not to join Ned.

"What? You're not serious!" Brenda exclaimed. She absolutely hated those kinds of movies and Jax knew it.

"Of course we are. You know how Ned and I love those movies," Jax managed to choke out.

"Well, if that's you're plan, I'm not going." Brenda seemed completely serious.

Jax was willing to let one more go. "OK, then do you want to meet us for dinner somewhere?" He began to smile. He was only joking, of course. Brenda was almost as much fun with this as Ned.

"Jasper Jacks, I am not going anywhere with you now! I can't believe you'd actually think we would want to see a movie like that." She turned to Lois who was laughing. "Come on, Lois, let's go. We can go shopping on our own instead."

"No, that's okay, Bren. You go ahead. I'll stick with the guys." Now she was just playing along.

"Fine, bye." Brenda turned on her heel and began to walk away.

Ned finally turned around and looked at Jax. He was surprised that Brenda had actually believed them. "Jax, you can't let her leave!"

"Oh, sure, blame me!" He laughed and hurried to catch up to Brenda. "Brenda! Brenda, come on, stop! Brenda!" he called as he tried to close the distance between them, as quickly as his foot would let him.

She turned around and stopped. Crossing her arms, she watched Jax coming towards her. A brief look of concern came over her face when she saw how much he was forced to limp. He winced every time he put his left foot on the ground to step forward. He came to a stop in front of her. "What, Jax?" She was trying to keep the concern out of her voice.

"We were only joking you know. We had no intention of seeing that movie this afternoon. We thought you'd know that."

She looked skeptical. "Really?"

"Yes, really. You should know Ned and I really have no interest in watching bad acting and non-stop action sequences all afternoon!"

"How was I supposed to know that?" She put her hands on her hips and waited for the expected apology before she agreed to go back.

"Brenda, we're sorry. Now, can we please go back and get them?" He gestured to where Ned and Lois were still standing and watching them.

Brenda sighed and relented. "As long as we don't have to see that movie!"

"We won't, I promise." Jax smiled and took her hand to lead her back.

They went back to where Ned and Lois were standing and began to discuss what to do for the afternoon. They decided on lunch and then to see another movie they all agreed on.

Brenda walked with Ned behind Jax and Lois who were arguing over the finer points of the movie previews. Brenda could tell now that Jax had definitely more than just bruised his foot. He was trying to hide just how much he was really hurting.

"He can be so childish sometimes," she muttered to herself.

"What do you mean?" Ned ad heard her and was thinking the same thing as he watched Jax walking.

"I mean, look at him. He is obviously in pain." She kept her voice quiet so Jax wouldn't hear her. "We should be going to the hospital, not lunch."

"Yes, but you know him. He won't go until he feels he needs to. Remember it took him three days to go that one time e accidentally cut his hand while he was making dinner. And even three days later, it took twelve stitches. Unless we tie him up and force him, he won't go."

"Then that's what we'll have to do." She had an idea now.

Ned could see she was up to something, he just didn't know what. But he did know Jax was not going to like it all that much.