"Baby. . ." Brenda moaned.
"Baby!"
"Baby. . ." Brenda leaned up to
kiss him, but stopped when she saw
Sonny's gaze directed behind her.
She turned, just as John Jacks' thick
Australian- accented voice said,
"Brenda?"
She gasped. "John!" The woman next
to him looked familiar, but Brenda
couldn't put her finger on who
the woman- "Miranda!" Brenda gushed out.
Finally, her gaze fell to the tiny
brown-haired girl standing nervously
in front of them. She felt faint,
and reached for Sonny's hand. "Oh my
God-" A hand flew to her mouth.
"Brenda, we know this looks strange,
but we need to explain," Miranda
whispered.
Brenda's eyes went to Miranda's face. "I'd like that."
"This is Alexandra Elizabeth Barrett-Jacks," John explained. "This is-"
"Alex?" Brenda asked, dropping to her knees to face the little girl.
The girl named Alex nodded her head. "Mommy?"
Brenda let out a sob of joy and
threw her arms around the girl, pulling
her into her arms. Sonny remained
silent, but was grinning from ear to
ear. "I love you!" Was the first
thing that came out of Brenda's mouth.
"I love you, I love you, sweetheart,
I promise you I'm never leaving you
ever again." The girl said
nothing, but sighed and buried her face into
the crook of Brenda's neck. Brenda
looked up at John and Miranda.
"You're supposed to be dead. What
happened? Did you kidnap Alex?"
"She was never kidnapped, so to speak," Miranda said quietly.
Brenda arched an eyebrow. "What?"
"Jerry was planning on kidnapping
Alex," John sighed. "He told me about
it, said that he would take her
and bring her to our private island in
Australia where she could see her
father. I tried to stop him, but Jerry
did it for Jax. Or tried to. I
called Miranda and we teamed up, agreeing
to take Alex ourselves and bring
her into hiding. No one knows that
we're alive. After we took her,
we had to make it seem as if she had
been kidnapped and murdered. .
."
"Why!?" Brenda exclaimed. "Why did
you do all of this! Why did you fake
your deaths?"
"It. . .it has nothing to do with
any of this," Miranda insisted,
watching as Brenda hugged Alex
tighter. "But we couldn't pretend any
longer, Alexandra wanted to be
with her mother, she wanted to go home.
If it means anything, and I doubt
that it will, I'm sorry for all of the
pain that I caused you. I truly
am."
John nodded. "But I love my granddaughter,
and I'll protect her against
any and everyone. Even my own son,
if it comes down to that."
"What about Jerry, does he know?"
Sonny asked, speaking up for the first
time.
"I'll take care of my eldest son,
Corinthos," John snapped, eyeing Sonny
distastefully. "I didn't do this
for you. I did this for Alex and
Brenda, as well as Jax. I've always
liked you Brenda, even if we ended
on bad terms. I want Alexandra
to grow to know her father, her real
father."
"Did Jax know about any of this?"
John shook his head. "Jax only knows
what you do. He thinks his daughter
is dead."
Brenda brought herself up to her
full height and pulled Alex against her
tighter. "What am I supposed to
tell him?"
John shook his head. "I don't know.
. . I just came to do this one deed,
Brenda, I'm not planning a reunion
with my family. I don't want anything
from this, except Alexandra's happiness."
Brenda smiled. "Thank you, John."
She turned in Miranda's direction and
cleared her throat, nodding, "Miranda."
"Bye, Alexandra," John whispered, smiling at the little girl.
"Bye, Grandpa, I love you!"
"I love you too, more than anything."
With a nod, John and Miranda
slowly walked away.
Brenda watched them go, before finally
looking down at Alex. "Alex?"
Brenda whispered.
"Yes, Mommy?" She looked exactly
like Brenda, but had Jax's piercing
blue eyes.
"I'm so sorry," Brenda gushed, as
tears spilled over. "For leaving you.
I love you so much, I do. Do you-do
you believe me?"
Alex nodded seriously. "I always
believed you. I kept every single card
and present that I got from you.
Aunt Julia gave me a locket with your
picture and Daddy's in it."
Brenda swallowed hard, over the
lump in her throat, and sighed, "That's
good. I'm glad, because I love
you. . .I've always loved you." She
looked at Sonny, who was watching
her with a grin on his face. "Alex? I
want you to meet Sonny. . .this
is my husband. I love him very much
too."
"Aunt Julia told me about him,"
Alexandra went on. "She said that he was
my brother and sisters' father."
Brenda nodded. "Yup. And you know
what? We were just on vacation and
Morgan and Scorpio are on their
way down in two days, and you'll get to
meet them and everything! But you
know what you need right now?"
"What?"
"Clothes!" Brenda gushed. "And we'll
get you some pretty jewelry, maybe
a haircut. . ." Brenda grinned.
"Is that okay with you?"
Alex nodded. "Yup. I've been wearing
the same two dresses over and over
again."
Brenda rolled her eyes, "Oh, I know,
I hate that! Don't worry, Sonny and
I will buy you as many clothes
as you'd like!" Brenda leaned down and
scooped the tiny girl into her
arms, and then took Sonny's hand.
They started to walk back toward
their hotel. As they waited to cross
the street, Sonny put his hand
on the small of her back and whispered
into her hair, "I love you."
Brenda turned to look at him. She
grinned, but said nothing. The light
for them to walk turned green and
they proceeded across the street and
into their hotel.
Perhaps their life together was
just beginning.
"Mommy?'
"Yeah?" Brenda asked as she sat down on Alex's bed next to her.
"Would you talk to me till I fall asleep?"
"Sure sweetie. First though
under the covers." Brenda said as she got
up and pulled the covers back and
Alex slid under them. Then Brenda sat
down next to her and Alex laid
her head down on Brenda's lap. "So what
should I talk about?"
"Tell me about your house in Port Charles. Will I like it?"
"I think so. It's a little
cottage with a big yard. When you walk in
there's a little set of stairs
that go down into the living room to the
right and straight ahead and to
the left are the stairs that go upstairs
to the bedrooms. You're gonna
have to share a room with your sister
Morgan for a little bit till we
find a new house."
"Why do we need a new house?"
"Because we're gonna be a bigger family soon."
"Is what Sonny said right? Are you gonna have a baby?"
"Yes I am. In January."
"That's cool. I always wanted
a little brother or sister." Alex yawned.
"Tell me more about Port Charles."
"Okay. Well there's a lot
of people who will love you to pieces and a
park where you can play....."
Sonny stood by the door watching
Brenda and Alex with a smile on his
face. Thankful for the gift
that his wife had been given.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sonny?"
"Hmm?"
"I've been thinking about something."
"What?"
Brenda turned over to face him.
"I thnk I should call Jax."
Sonny swallowed and nodded. "Okay.
. . If-if that's what you really
want."
She looked at him. "I mean, only because Alex is his daughter-"
"He raped you, Brenda," Sonny reminded her softly.
"He was drunk," Brenda replied.
"And I'm not making excuses, but Jax had
never hurt me before that incident
and he hasn't since then. He
wouldn't. He made a mistake, Sonny.
But I won't keep him from his
daughter, if he wants the relationship.
How could you ask me to do that?
How could you ask me to keep a
man from his child-"
"You kept me from mine, why can't you keep Jax from his?"
Brenda was taken aback. Tucking
her hair behind her ear, she slid out
from under the covers and walked
over to the window. Looking out at the
bright lights of the bustling city,
she whispered, "That hurts me more
than you can possibly know."
Sonny sighed and walked over to
her. He stood a few feet behind her, and
didn't raise his arms to touch
her body. "I wish that I could apologize,
but I can't. It hurts me too, baby.
You just jump at the chance to let
your rapist see your child-"
"HIS child!" Brenda interjected.
"-while you keep my two children
from me. I had to practically FORCE it
out of you to tell me that Morgan
and Scorpio were mine!"
"Because, Sonny!" She turned to
face him, tears streaming down her face.
"You left me at the alter, pregnant,
okay!? You claimed to love me with
all of your heart and you left
me, humiliated, in front of half the
town! How was I supposed to know
there wasn't anything keeping you from
turning tail and running again?
I mean, at the time, I was thinking,
'Mike left Sonny, who knows, maybe
it's hereditary, maybe Sonny'll leave
his children, too!'"
He frowned. "Come on, baby, that's not fair!"
"What's not fair is that YOU are putting me in an impossible situation!"
"I didn't FORBID you from calling
Jax!!" Sonny burst, and then softened
as Brenda's tears started to fall
harder.
"But that's what you mean." She
searched his face. "My daughter is
alive, Sonny," She whispered.
He nodded. "I know."
"And I want her to grow up KNOWING
both of her parents loved her!
Because I know what it's like to
think that they don't! To think that NO
ONE does, to have it tear you up
inside!!! I had almost forgotten what
that feeling was like, until Jason
told me that you never loved me. .
.and that you didn't want to marry
me! Then, I was smack dab right back
in all of those nightmares again
and there was just NO WAY OUT! There
was NO WAY to wake up!!!" Her chest
started heaving and Sonny felt a
tear slip out.
"Jesus, imagining you there. . .in
all of that pain, sweetheart. . .it
kills me all over again. I hate
myself everyday for that, I wish I could
take it back, hold you in my arms
and tell you it was all a lie. A
stupid, stupid lie. Because I've
never had any feelings but love for
you," He licked his lips as his
voice cracked. "I look at you right now,
and you're so beautiful to me.
So brave and so strong. You're everything
I wish I could be. I don't know
what I did to deserve you, Brenda. But
I'm in too deep now, I'm too much
in love with you, sweetheart, I can't
walk away. I love you so much.
I'd die for you. I'd kill for you. I'd do
anything just to see that beautiful
smile on your face," He brushed a
tear away from her cheek and sniffled
his own back. He looked at her. A
sight of beauty, in a long, sheer,
periwinkle blue nightgown with a
V-neck that plunged practically
to her feet. Her hair, oddly longer now,
cascaded around her neck and face.
The tip of her nose and ears were red
and her beautiful brown eyes were
set on him, telling him how much she
loved him. The love there was written
so clearly, and he could see it
through the ocean of tears. "I
need you tonight," Sonny whispered. "I
need you everynight. I'm so afraid
of being alone. I'm so afraid of
living without you." Brenda let
out a tiny sob. He was here, before her,
pouring his heart out. "Baby, tell
me that you forgive me. For
everything," Sonny pleaded, looking
into her eyes.
She shook her head, her gaze not
tearing from his. "You're wrong," she
whispered hoarsely. "What did I
do to deserve you?"
Sonny smiled, and it seemed to be
contagious because she did too.
"Honey, you know I forgave you
for that a long time ago." She wrapped
her arms around his neck and leaned
up to kiss him.
~*"I can never find another lover
Sweeter than you
Sweeter than you
I will never find another lover
More precious than you
More precious than you
Brenda smiled at Sonny as they slowly
danced their way backwards, toward
the bed. She took his face in her
hands and proceeded to kiss him
hungrilly. If he was still insecure
about her love through her words,
she'd show him. She'd show him.
Girl you are
Close to me just like my mother
Close to me just like my father
Close to me just like my sister
Close to me just like my brother
You are the only one, my everything
And for you this song I sing
Sonny pushed his wife down onto
the bed, taking her face in his hands
and kissing her in the way that
only he could. He pulled back for a
moment and looked down at her.
She grinned and mouthed to him, "I love
you." His grin was even wider than
hers. Sonny kissed her shoulder, her
neck, and slowly began to slide
the strap of her negligee down.
All my life
I pray for someone like you
And I thank God, that I
That I finally found you
All my life
I pray for someone like you
And I hope that you
Feel the same way too
I promise to never fall in love
With a stranger
You're all I'm thinking of
I praise the Lord above
For sending me your love
I cherish every hug
I really love you so much
Brenda's teary eyes overflowed as
Sonny made love to her that night. The
day had been one of the best of
her life. She had her daughter back,
sleeping peacefully in the other
room, and she had an amazing man who
loved her and was devoted to her
first and foremost in his life.
Finally, she felt happy. Finally
she felt free.
You're everything I ever know
When you smile my face
Always seems to glow
You turn my life around
You pick me up
When I was down
And I hope that you
Feel the same way too
Yes I pray that you
Do love me too
All my life
I pray for someone like you
And I thank God, that I
That I finally found you
All my life
I pray for someone like you
And I thank God, that I
That I finally found you"