When Chloe stepped off the elevator, she was surprised to see Zoey outside her door waiting for her. She wore a panicked expression. Her face was ghost white, which was in complete contrast with her bright red hair.

"Zoey!" Molly said excitedly.

"Oh my God! Where have you been? I kept trying to call you back! What the heck happened? Is Molly okay? Molly, are you okay? Chloe, I heard you screaming!"

"Whoa, Zoey, one question at a time! We're just fine," Chloe said as she unlocked her door. Zoey followed Chloe and Molly as they walked into the apartment.

Zoey had been one of Chloe's closest friends for over a year now. They met when Zoey moved in with her boyfriend, Richard Wilkins, across the hall. Zoey had a great rapport with Molly, so Chloe had offered her the job of babysitting her while she was working. And then, that job turned into a public relations position, so Zoey was pretty much Chloe's personal assistant slash babysitter slash friend.

Chloe put her keys and purse down on the table. "Zoey, I'm so sorry that I worried you."

"That's okay, I'm just glad that you two are alright. So what on earth happened?"

"Mommy, can I have a grille cheese sandwich?"

"Sure, baby. Why don't you go play with your toys in your room and Mommy will make you a grille cheese sandwich in a little bit."

"'Kay!" Molly said and scampered upstairs to her room.

Chloe sat down on the couch and sighed.

Zoey sat down beside her. "So?" Zoey was not one for being very patient.

"Okay, so I was walking down Prince Street talking to you on my cell."

"Yeah."

"Well Molly kept begging me to look at this stray cat that was on the sidewalk. Well, that's when the battery in my cell phone died."

"No wonder I couldn't reach you! Every time I called your number, it said it wasn't in service."

"Yeah. Well anyway, I called you back on a pay phone; I wasn't calling you back on my cell. And the whole time, Molly is still intrigued with this cat. And, Zoey, the next thing I remembered…the next thing I remembered was hearing this loud screeching sound. It was a car. And I turned around, and I saw…I saw this man pushing Molly out of the way of a moving car."

"Oh my God!"

"She was trying to get to that cat, Zoey! I turned around for two seconds and she went into the road after a cat! Zoey, those were two seconds that could have changed my life irrevocably if that man had not pushed her out of the way!"

Zoey was still in shock over the story. "So, how's the guy? The guy who pushed her out of the way? Did he get hit? Is he okay?"

"He's fine, thank God. Nobody was hurt. We were all just a bit shaken up though."

Zoey put her hand on Chloe's when she noticed her friend was starting to tear up. "Aww, Chloe. I can't even begin to imagine how terrifying that must have been."

Chloe grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, it was pretty horrifying." Chloe got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to make Molly's grille cheese sandwich. Zoey followed her.

"All I know, Zoey, is that I am forever indebted to Jasper Jacks." A little smile crept up on Chloe's face.

Zoey grinned. "Is that his name?"

"Yeah. Well actually, he just goes by Jax."

"Is he cute?" Zoey knew the answer to that question before she even asked it.

"What makes you think that I think he's cute?"

"Because it's all over your face!" Zoey laughed.

"Okay. Yes, he's cute."

"Just cute?"

"Okay, he's good-looking."

"Is he sexy?" Zoey teased.

"Zoey!"

"What, I'm just asking! So is he?" Zoey grinned widely.

Chloe gave in. "Yes, Zoey. Yes. He is incredibly sexy. Oh, and he's also Australian."

Zoey's face lit up. "You are kidding!"

"No I'm not."

"Get out! No way! See, what did I tell you, Chloe? I told you that Australian men are hotties!"

"Because you're dating one!" Chloe laughed.

Zoey shrugged her shoulders and popped a cookie from the cookie jar into her mouth. "I know, I'm biased."

"Well anyway, I told him that I had to do something to thank him, so I offered to take him out to dinner tomorrow night."

"You're going on a date?!"

"It's not really a date. Just a 'thank you dinner'."

"Oh please! Don't give me that! This is a date, honey!"

"But, Zoey, I don't know anything about him! He's probably got a girlfriend and is just doing this to be nice."

"Nu-uh. If he had a girlfriend, there is no way he would go out to dinner with another woman. And I don't care if it is just a 'thank you dinner'."

Chloe smiled. "I suppose. So, can you baby-sit Molly tomorrow night?"

"Sure. No problem."

Zoey sat down at the table and grinned.

"What?"

"I can't believe you're going out on a date!"

"It hasn't been that long!"

"Oh yes, it's been that long. So, what are you going to wear?"

Suddenly, Chloe was feeling more and more excited about this dinner. What was she going to wear anyway? Chloe thought.

Jax walked into his penthouse, soaking wet. On the way home, the rain had gotten worse and unfortunately for Jax, he had failed to bring an umbrella.

"You look like hell," a voice from behind him said.

Jax turned around to face his brother. "Jerry, what are you doing here?"

"I came to visit my baby brother of course."

Jax gave him a "yeah right" look.

"Actually, I just came over so that we could go over these contracts. If we want to start up J and J Jacks again, then we have to get to work."

"Can we go over all that tomorrow, Jerry? I'm beat."

"You're beat? Jax, it's 4:30 in the afternoon!"

"Yeah, well I've had quite an afternoon. I'm going to go change into some drier clothes."

When Jax came out of the bedroom after changing, his brother was still there. "You met a woman, didn't you?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Are we not speaking the same language? Jax, you met someone, didn't you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"The look in your eyes. I was wondering why you were gone for so long. You were out meeting someone, weren't you?"

Jax walked to his kitchen and started to make himself a sandwich. "Alright, Jerry, if you must know, yes, I met a woman."

Jerry's mouth dropped. "You what? Jax, I was just joking! You mean you're actually serious? You really met someone?"

"It's not what you think, Jerry."

"What? What do I think? You met a pretty lady and you asked her out. Good for you! I'm proud of you little bro. This is good for you. You're finally moving on."

"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Jer. It's not like that."

"Okay, you've lost me," Jerry said.

Jax went to the living room with his food and sat down. "It's a long story."

Jerry wasn't going anywhere. "Alright, little bro. You've got me curious. What happened this afternoon?"

"Well," Jax began, "I had just got back from that meeting with John Macintyre. Afterwards, I was sitting outside, not for any particular reason, just sitting there with a paper. And then I look across the street, and I see this beautiful woman walking out of the Dean and Deluca."

Jerry grinned. This was the first time he had heard Jax call another woman "beautiful" since Brenda.

"So this lady is walking down the street with a cell phone in one hand and holding this adorable little girl's hand with the other. Anyway, I go back to my paper. Then a little while later, I look up and I see this little girl again. She was standing by the sidewalk between these parked cars and was trying to reach some stray cat that was under one of them. And the next thing I saw, Jerry, was this little girl walking into the road, right in front of this car that was headed straight for her."

Jerry didn't say anything, but he was immensely involved in his brother's story.

"I ran so fast that I don't even remember actually running. All I remember is picking that little girl up and pushing her out of the way."

"You saved her."

"Yeah. Then Chloe, that was her mother, she came running over. She was hysterical, with good reason, of course. She kept thanking me for saving her little girl Molly. I know how terrified she must have been. Losing a child is probably the worst thing that could happen to someone."

Jerry looked at his brother. He knew that talking about this must be hard. It was bringing a lot of sad memories back to Jax. And then, something amazing happened. Jax started to smile.

"After all the commotion, Chloe and I got to talking. She practically insisted on thanking me with dinner, so we're going out to some restaurant in Little Italy tomorrow."

"You've got a date?" Jerry grinned.

Jax rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jerry, it would appear that I have a date. Although I have to say, this is going to be the strangest date I have ever gone on."

"Why's that?"

"Well, she insists on paying for everything, and I honestly don't think that that has ever happened to me before."

Jerry just laughed.

After Chloe put Molly to bed, she went downstairs and gazed out the window. It was still raining, and the streets were still alive with activity. A tear falling down Chloe's cheek surprised her. She didn't even realize that she was crying. She kept blaming herself for letting go of Molly's hand. She should have been watching her. She'd never make that mistake again.

Chloe decided that moping around the house would do her no good. Over on the table, she saw the cordless phone. Chloe always forgot to put it back on the charger. Then, she had an idea. She picked up the phone and called her mother. It didn't matter how bad Chloe felt, or sad, or confused, or just miserable. Her mother could always make her feel better.

Later that evening, Jax took a shower and then decided to call it a night. As he lay in his bed, he thought about Brenda. He thought about how happy they had been. Had it really been two years ago? It seemed longer.

He thought about one of the last conversations that they had shared.

"Hey, Jax, what do you think of this one?" Brenda sat on the floor with several bridal magazines scattered around her. She had been ripping pages out of them for hours.

Jax turned away from his computer and looked at the picture of the wedding dress that Brenda held. "It looks very beautiful."

"Yes, it does. It's a Chloe Morgan, and it's definitely going in my 'dresses I'm considering' pile." Brenda smiled and went back to her magazines. "Ooo! And this one is pretty too. Look, Jax."

"Brenda, are you sure it's a good idea for you to be showing me these dresses?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, the groom is not supposed to see the bride in her wedding gown before the wedding. It's bad luck."

"Oh, Jax! Don't tell me you believe that! That's just some silly old superstition! There is nothing in this world that could come between us. I mean, think about it, we have everything going for us. We're getting married, we have a baby on the way…what bad luck could we possibly have?"

Jax turned to sleep on his side, and as he did, a salty tear fell on his pillow.

Across town, Chloe was lying awake in bed, her mind still racing of the events of the day. She got out of bed and threw her robe on over her nightgown. Then she walked quietly down the hall to Molly's room. She peeked in, opening the door to a crack. By the light of Molly's nightlight, she could see her daughter sleeping peacefully.

Chloe walked over to Molly. Somehow in the night, Molly had managed to kick her covers down, so Chloe picked them up and covered the child again. She leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

Then Chloe sat down on the edge of the bed, stroking Molly's soft hair. She thought about how lucky she was. She thought about how Molly would probably not be sleeping in her own bed if it hadn't been for Jax. She'd probably be in some cold hospital room with florescent lighting, hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines that beeped. She'd probably have all sorts of bandages on her body and scratches on her face. And of course, there was always that possibility that Molly would not even be in a bed at all.

Chloe watched her precious angel sleep, oblivious to her mother sitting beside her, and she began to weep softly.

To be continued…