"Well, the turkey will be ready in a couple of hours, so I guess we'll be waiting for a while." Jane said.

"I say we go check out the game." John announced. With that, he left for the den with Jerry and a few other of John's friends following him, leaving the women and Jax out in the living room. Jax was never much of a fan of football. He was more into surfing of course.

"So, Valerie," Jane asked, "where's Herbert? He could have come along as well."

"Oh, he had to go on another business trip. He'll be back next week though."

"Oh, well that's a shame. No one should have to work on the holidays."

"Well he loves his work, and I'm sure right now he's not even working. He's probably having a grand time in Europe. Jane, are you making some kind of pie because whatever it is that you are baking in that kitchen sure smells delicious."

"Well come here, I'll show you. It's a recipe that I got out of a magazine…"

And then, Jax and Chloe were alone.

"Do people not want to be around us or something, because suddenly everyone left?"

Chloe laughed. "I think I'm going to go for a walk around the old neighborhood. Do you want to come?"

"Sure."

Jax and Chloe put on their coats and headed outside. It was a rather cloudy day, but it wasn't dreary. It was Thanksgiving and somehow, everything seemed to be warm and inviting.

They walked side by side down the street, the very street that they played on years ago. Chloe stopped walking when they came to her old house. "Wow, why does my old house always look so much smaller? I don't remember it being that small."

"Well maybe you just got bigger." Jax said with a smile. "You know, Chloe, I missed you like crazy when you and your mother moved."

"I know, I missed you too, but Mom had to sell the house. But I purposely think that Mom tried to hold off selling the house as long as she could just so you and I could still play everyday after school."

"Yeah, those were the good old days."

"And then by the time we moved, you already had a car and you could come pick me up and see me!"

Jax laughed. "You were the only person I was willing to play chauffeur for."

"Do you remember the day we first met?"

A smile came to Jax's face. "Yes, right over there." Jax pointed a little further down the street.

~Summer,1979~

Chloe slowly approached the blonde-haired boy who was kicking the soccer ball against the curb of the sidewalk. She rode her bike closer to him, clutching the white handles with the decorative purple and pink tassels hanging from it.

"Hi." Chloe said.

At first, Jax wasn't sure if the girl was talking to him or not, but he then realized that there was no one else around. "Hey."

"You just moved here, right?"

"Yeah, just yesterday."

"That's neat. You see that brick house over there?" Chloe pointed down the street. "That's where I live. I'm Chloe by the way."

"I'm Jax."

Chloe pondered what kind of name that was. "Is that your first or your last name?"

Jax laughed. "It's both."

Chloe looked more confused than ever. "Huh?"

"Jax is my nickname. That is spelled J-a-x. Jacks is my last name. That is spelled J-a-c-k-s."

"Oh, so, you are Jax Jacks?"

"I just prefer Jax. J-a-x." Jax laughed. He went though this conversation every time he told someone his name.

"So then, what's your first name?"

"That's a secret. So how old are you?" Jax asked, quickly changing the subject so that he would not be forced to reveal his first name.

"Nine."

"Hey me too."

"Neat. Maybe we'll be in the same class when school starts. Where are you from, anyway? You have a pretty accent."

This was certainly a new one, Jax thought. No one had ever told him he had a "pretty accent."

"Are you from another country?"

"I'm from Australia."

"Oh wow! I have a pen pal from there!"

"That's cool."

Jax suddenly heard a "mewing" sound and he looked around for the source. He looked down at the basket attached to the front of Chloe's bike with flowers plastered all over it. A furry little black head popped out.

"This is my baby. Her name is Misty." Chloe picked up the kitten and kissed her on the forehead.

Jax smiled. He liked this girl.

"Do you wanna play?" she asked.

"Sure. What do you want to do?"

"Hmm, you got a bike?"

"Yeah, I got one."

"Wanna ride bikes?"

"Okay! Be right back!" Jax then scurried off to get his bike from the back yard.

"I remember sitting on my bike wondering if I should come over and talk to you or not."

"Well I'm glad you did." Jax said and put her arm around her.

"You don't know how happy I was to see a kid my age that day, Jax. All of the girls that had lived in the neighborhood had just moved and I had no one to play with, until you came of course."

Jax smiled. "Hey, do you want to go check out the old tree house?"

"You bet!"

Jax and Chloe made their way through the wooded area at the end of the street and followed the path to the old tree house. Neither Jax nor Chloe knew who had built it, but it was abandoned and so they claimed it as their own when they were children.

"Oh what happened to it?!" Chloe said when she saw the ruins of the house.

"I'm sure it's just had many years of wear and tear on it." Jax said. Indeed, the tree house did not look the same. Some of the boards were missing and it had appeared to become home to a variety of little critters.

"Wow, it is so small! I can't believe we used to be able to fit in that!"

"I know. Well you probably still could." Jax teased.

Chloe playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Ha ha very funny. At least the swing is still here!" Chloe exclaimed and sat down on it. "Push me, Jax!"

Jax laughed and began to push Chloe. He then thought about how funny it was that he could act like a kid around Chloe and not feel silly at all, but he could never do that around Brenda.

"Here's the turkey." Jane announced as she laid the turkey down on the table.

Everyone complimented Jane on how tasty it looked and what a good job she had done.

"Well thank you, everyone." Jane said. "Now, before we all eat, as you all know, it is a Jacks family tradition on Thanksgiving for everyone to share something that they are thankful for. Jax, why don't we start with you?"

"Well, I'm thankful for a lot of things. I'm thankful for my health, I'm thankful for having a great job, but the thing I am thankful for the most are my friends and my family. And especially this girl right here." Jax put his hand over Chloe's and her face turned red right on cue. "If you all don't know this, than I am telling you now. Chloe is the most amazing person you will ever meet." Chloe blushed some more. "She is my best friend in the world and, I just don't know what I would do without her. She has always been there for me, and I feel very fortunate to have such an angel in my life."

"Oh wow, I don't know how to top that." Chloe said, wiping a tear from her eye. "I am thankful for all of the loved ones in my life, and I am very thankful to have Jax in my life. He is probably one of the few people that understand me, and well, I just couldn't ask for a better friend."

Chloe walked into the kitchen to find Lady Jane cleaning off the counter. "Oh here, Lady Jane, let me help you with that."

"Now, Chloe, what kind of host would I be if I made my guests do the cleaning?"

"Well you have to let me repay you somehow for that wonderful meal!" Chloe gave Jane a look that said she was not going to take no for an answer.

"Alright, if you insist. Thank you, dear." Chloe then finished wiping off the counter and sink. "Chloe, I'm glad that we have some time alone. There's something that I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure." Chloe then sat down at the table after Jane. "What's this about?"

"Well, tell me, how is Jax? I mean, really, how is he? I know that he says he is just fine, but he is so good at hiding his emotions."

"He's doing much better. I mean, I think it still hurts him a little bit, but he's getting over this faster than I thought he would."

"Well that's good. Jax hasn't had too many relationships and the ones he has had were all pretty serious. So when something like this happens, it hurts him a lot. You know, I never really did trust Brenda. I just knew she would break his heart."

"Oh, I feel the same way. I never trusted her either. I had a feeling that she was just seeing Jax to make Sonny jealous or she was on the rebound or something. But Jax, he just loved her so much and, well I wasn't about to say anything. I wanted him to be happy, and if loving Brenda made him happy, then I was happy for him."

Lady Jane smiled and put her hands over Chloe's. "Chloe, I am so thankful that Jax has you. Thank you for being there for him and helping him through this."

"Well he has always been there for me. We're always looking out for each other. But don't you worry about Jax. He will be just fine. I told him that he needed to find a woman who would love him with her whole heart, not just a part of it."

Jane smiled again. "Well, I'm sure Jax will find that woman." She then rose from her seat and started to walk out, but she turned back around before she left the room. "You know, it's funny the way life works sometimes. You could spend years searching for that one true love, and then to your amazement, you realize that they were right in front of you the whole time."

Jane winked and then left the room, leaving Chloe speechless. How could she possibly know? Chloe thought to herself. Chloe then hopped out of her seat and caught Jane in the living room. "Lady Jane?"

"Yes, dear?"

"What did you-what did you mean by that in there?"

Jane took Chloe's hands and leaned forward to whisper to her. "Oh, Chloe, nobody can keep a secret from Lady Jane. I know. Don't worry, Jax will come around-eventually." Jane then walked out of the room and left Chloe, once again, completely speechless.

Chloe sat down on the couch and thought to herself. Okay, so I love Jax. I've always loved him. But I don't just love him, I'm *in* love with him. There, I admitted it. But Jax doesn't feel the same way, he couldn't. He just sees me as a friend. His best friend. If he knew how I felt, things would be awkward between us. No, he can't know how I feel. And besides, it is too early for him to be in another relationship anyway.

"Chloe?"

"AHH!" Chloe jumped out of her seat.

Jax laughed. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, that's okay." Chloe said, laughing at herself.

"Wow, what were you thinking about? You looked like you were a million miles away."

"Um, nothing. Just that this Thanksgiving has been wonderful."

"Yeah, my mom can whip up a pretty mean turkey, can't she?"

"Yep." Chloe laughed.

"Well are you ready to go back to the hotel?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Jax took Chloe's coat from the coat rack and helped her put it on.

"Mom, Dad, we're leaving."

"Bye, kids. Drive safely." John yelled from the den.

Lady Jane walked into the room. "Bye, Jax. Chloe, I'm so glad you could come."

"Well thank you for inviting me. It was a wonderful meal."

"Bye, Mom." Jax kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Bye, Lady Jane."

"Bye-bye you two."

Jax and Chloe walked to the car while Lady Jane watched them from the front door. "Yes, those two will make a lovely couple, once they finally realize their feelings that is." Jane smiled and closed the door.

"Chloe, hey, what brings you here?" Ned asked when he saw Chloe walk into the living room.

"Hey, Ned. I just came over to talk to Lila."

"How was your Thanksgiving?"

"It was great! Probably one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I have ever had. How about you? How was Thanksgiving at the Quartermaines and I don't even need to ask that question do I? Pizza?"

Ned simply shook his head yes.

"Oh no! What happened this year?!"

"Well, Grandfather got the bright idea to give Cook the night off."

"What?"

"Oh, it gets better. Then, he hired the chef from the PC Grille to prepare dinner."

"Edward went behind Cook's back?!"

"Well you can bet that Cook found out, right before dinner of course. To make a long story short, the kitchen was completely trashed, there was no turkey, and AJ then showed up with pizza."

"That is unbelievable. Is Cook still angry?"

"She refused to serve breakfast this morning, does that answer your question?"

"Do you want me to talk to her? Perhaps I can try to smooth things over."

"Please. You're the only one in the family who she listens to."

"Well I'll try my best. You know, if you all would just listen to her, she wouldn't get like this all of the time."

"Chloe dear." Lila said, wheeling into the room.

"Hello, Lila. It's so good to see you." Chloe gave Lila a kiss on the cheek.

"Well I'll see you two later. I have some ELQ business to attend to."

"Bye, Ned." Chloe said.

"So, Chloe, how was Thanksgiving with the Jacks?"

"It was great. Ned was just telling me about the fiasco over here though, I'm so sorry."

Lila shook her head in agreement. "Oh yes. I told Edward not to go through with it, but he didn't listen. But you know how Edward gets. He is very stubborn at times."

"Yes he is."

"So is there something that you wanted to talk about?" Lila gently asked.

"Just visiting." Chloe said. Lila gave her a look, but she wasn't about to force her to talk about something she didn't want to. But Chloe had to give in; Lila was so good to talk to and she was great at giving advice. "Okay, I do need to talk to you. Lila, I just, I just don't know what to do. Lila, have you ever wanted something, I mean really wanted something, but you know that there is a slim chance of you ever getting it? But you want it so badly and it is all you can think about. It is the one thing that would make you completely happy. I know that just didn't make any sense."

Lila smiled. "Oh, but it does to me, dear. How can you be so sure that he doesn't feel the same way about you?"

"I didn't say I was talking about a guy."

"You didn't have to, dear."

Chloe knew Lila would understand her. "But you see, Lila, I don't think he does. He (Chloe leaned forward and whispered) just got out of a serious relationship."

"Oh, I see. Well the important thing to remember, Chloe, is that for a relationship to work, you must be honest with each other. Maybe you should tell him how you feel."

Chloe shook her head. "I can't, Lila. It's too risky. I don't want to risk ruining our friendship."

"Chloe, let me share with you a story of a friend of mine. Her name was Mary-Jane and she and I were friends since we were children. Well, one day, she met a man named Daniel, and they became good friends. But then, the war came and Daniel had to go to Europe, so they were eventually separated. They each got married and had children. And then, years and years later, they ran into each other again. Their children were all grown and they were both widowed. They ended up getting married and they stayed married until they both passed away a few years ago."

"Lila, I'm not quite sure what that story has to do with me."

"The point is, dear, that if only Mary-Jane and Daniel hadn't have been so afraid of admitting their feelings to each other, they probably would have been together for more than those last few years of their lives. Well, Chloe, I'm sorry but I must go get ready for a meeting with my book club. Remember what I said."

"Thanks, Lila, I will."

Chloe strolled outside and headed for the gazebo. She always found the gazebo to be a comforting place, a quiet place where she could clear her mind. Of course, in the past, she had always escaped to the gazebo to get away from her crazy family, but this time, it was different. Chloe simply wanted to get away from the thoughts that were driving her crazy. Chloe couldn't think, at least, not about anything other than Jax. She knew that Lila was right. She should tell Jax how she felt, but yet, how could she? It was too soon after Brenda. Jax needed time. And what if he really didn't feel the same way? Chloe would just die of embarrassment if Jax knew how she felt and he didn't feel the same way.

Chloe walked up the three small steps into the gazebo. Once inside, she walked around, running her fingers along the railing. Chloe had come here to clear her head, but she soon discovered that perhaps the gazebo was not the best place to do that. The gazebo was yet another reminder of Jax…

~Summer, 1985, A Quartermaine Party~

It was dark outside, but the gazebo was decorated with little lights. Chloe ran up the steps into the comfort of the gazebo. Finally, she could get some peace. She hadn't been there too long when she heard someone approach her.

"There you are." Jax said.

"Hey, Jax."

Jax looked over at Chloe. Her beauty simply sparkled. She was wearing a scarlet colored dress and her hair was pinned up and sprinkled with glitter. "I forgot to tell you earlier, I think you look really pretty tonight."

Chloe blushed. "Thanks." Ever since last summer, more and more people, especially boys, had been giving her compliments on her appearance, and she was still not used to it. "Hey, I'm really sorry you got dragged to this party. I didn't know that Uncle Herbert would invite your parents."

"Oh, that's okay. The party isn't too bad, except for all of the yelling that is going on."

"Yeah, that really bugs me too."

"What is this party for anyway?"

"No reason. Edward just wants everyone to know that he has money."

"Ahh, I see."

Chloe looked over the rail and sighed.

"So…" Jax said.

"So…" Chloe repeated.

For the next few moments, the two stood in silence, except for the music that was drifting over to them from the house.

"Do you want to dance?" Jax asked.

Chloe smiled. "Okay." She took Jax's hand and they gently swayed to the music.

At the end of the song, Jax spun Chloe around and she laughed.

"There's my sunshine!" Uncle Herbert said, suddenly appearing in the gazebo.

"Hey, Uncle Herbert." Chloe said.

"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt you two lovebirds."

"Uncle Herbert…" Chloe said.

Herbert just laughed. "What are you kids doing out here?"

"Trying to get away from the chaos that is the Quartermaines." Jax explained.

"Herbert laughed again. "Well dinner is about to be served, so we have one of two options. We either go in and eat or we run for our lives right now!"

Jax and Chloe laughed. "Well, I think I'll go back in and rough it." Hebert announced. "I was just wondering what you two were up too." He winked and left them alone.

"We should probably go in." Chloe said.

"Yeah."

"Jax, thanks for the dance. That was fun. We should do that again."

"Yeah. This was the best Quartermaine party I have ever been too." Jax said with a smile.

To be continued...

*Song Credit "As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld