Midnight Sun 27

Midnight Sun

"This is disastrous! Positively disastrous!" Pierre rambled as he came to. He found himself lying in the bed in his suite and they were all there surrounding him. Jax, with Brenda directly in front of him, Marco, the pretty, blue-eyed woman and that Mulder fellow. So it hadn’t just been some awful nightmare as Pierre had hoped.

He sat up in the bed as everyone looked at him.

"Pierre, are you all right?’ Brenda asked a bit anxiously.

He forced a smile for his future princess. "Oh yes, of course. I’m certain that everyone in this room has had occasion to pass out upon hearing distressing news," he said hastily, trying to act as if his embarrassing fainting spell was actually something quite normal.

"I’ve never passed out in my life," Jax said without batting a blonde eyelash.

"Me neither," said Mulder.

"Well if we’re takin’ a poll here, you can add me to the non-fainters list," Lois chimed in.

Pierre squirmed with embarrassment. "Well I’m afraid my fortitude is perhaps not up to par with you young people. You see, finding out that Brenda has gotten married is extremely shocking to me." He turned to Brenda. "I don’t know *how* I shall ever explain this to your father," he said, and he looked distressed enough to cry.

"I don’t understand what has to be explained," Brenda said, sitting at the foot of the bed. "I had to leave Monaco because Giselle found me out, I met Jax, I fell in love with Jax, I married Jax. Why is that cause to pass out and get so agitated?"

"Because you cannot be married to *Jax*, Brenda. You are . . .well quite frankly my dear you are a princess. You are royalty. Things are expected of you, young lady, and furthermore, you are very much spoken for!"

"Definitely spoken for," Marco added, thinking Pierre meant him. "And what do you mean you *fell in love!*" Marco demanded, incredulous that she’d actually used those words and Jasper Jack’s name in the same sentence. "Brenda, have you lost your mind? You’ve only known this man a few months!"

Brenda turned to Marco and glared at him. "I am not speaking to you," she informed him, "until you have the common decency to apologize to Jax for your behavior downstairs."

Marco looked appalled. "Apologize? Never!" Marco erupted. "Because I am *not* sorry!"

"Fine. Then you will kindly *stop* addressing me, as I have absolutely nothing more to say to you," she told him with a cool finality that impressed the heck out of Jax. Then Brenda turned back to Pierre Deschannel. "Did my father send you both here to get me to come back home? To marry that man my sister was engaged to since she was five? Because, I’m sorry to say that if that is the case you’ve wasted a trip. I’m not going."

"You are *not* staying here!" Marco seethed.

"Calm down, for the love of God!" Pierre snapped, thinking Marco was only making a bad situation worse with his flying off the handle theatrics.

"Yeah, pipe down, junior. None of us are deaf, you know," Mulder said. Every word out of Marco’s mouth was at several decibels too loud.

Pierre stood up.

"Mr. Jacks, might I have a word with you in private, please?" he requested.

"I’m only going to echo what Brenda has already said," Jax told him. "You wasted a trip. She’s not going."

"Yes, yes, I can see that. However, I still would like to discuss some matter with you alone, if you don’t mind."

Jax glanced over at Mulder. "Don’t let him anywhere near her," he said gazing briefly at Marco.

"Well what if she *wants* to be near me?" Marco goaded.

"I don’t!" Brenda assured him.

Jax looked at her, gave her a hint of a smile and then brushed his fingers against her chin. "Ill be right back," he promised.

"Okay," she said giving him a look that said ‘hurry up.’

Jax and Pierre disappeared into another room in the suite and Pierre closed the door.

"Mr. Jacks, what have you done?" Pierre demanded, actually wringing his hands. "You married the *princess* and that was expressly prohibited in the rider to the contract of sale on the casino. A contract sighed by you!"

Jax just shrugged.

Pierre let out a frustrated sigh. "Have you any idea of what a *mess* you have made of things by this impulsive act on your part? You knew full well that the prince had every intention of replacing Giselle with Brenda and that meant that Brenda would inherit her sister’s arranged marriage."

"You speak about that as if it’s an honor or something. There was no way I would have let Brenda marry that Earl of Canterbury or whatever he is."

"The Earl of Edinborough and I can assure you, Mr. Jacks, that her failure to marry him will have grievous repercussions for the throne on Monaco. It will be a serious breach of contract and a monumental embarrassment. We will be the scourge of the royal set!"

Jax pretended to look stricken. "Oh, the horror," he muttered.

"Mr. Jacks this is not a joke!" Pierre said in such a desperate tone that his voice was oddly high pitched and Jax thought the man might faint again. "Good god above, you can have *any* woman you desire! Why did you have to pick Brenda?"

"*She* was the only one I desired," Jax responded.

Pierre’s temples began to throb. " That is neither here nor there, young man! Now you know full well that you have breached your contract with the prince by marrying the princess. I can promise you that the prince will see to it that you not only lose the casino, but Brenda as well. However, as his intermediary I’m prepared to bargain with you. If you divorce Brenda post haste, I will make sure that news of the marriage will never reach his

majesty and you will, as a result, be able to hold onto the casino."

Jax shrugged. "He can have the casino. But Brenda is not up for negotiation. She’s mine."

"Yours? Like your collection of Piccasos? Or that vineyard you own in Tuscany?" Pierre muttered. "Then wouldn’t she be as replaceable as those things as well?"

"Brenda is not a possession to me," Jax said quietly, giving the minister of state a cool gaze. "I’m in love with her, but then I suspect you already believe that."

Pierre groaned. "It doesn’t matter what I believe! Love has nothing to do with anything!" he said, still in that odd, strained tone. "My country needs her, Mr. Jacks. She’s got to come back home. No ifs, ands or buts!"

"You’re beginning to sound like a broken record, Mr. Deschannel. She’s not going back with you. She doesn’t want to and you can’t make her. And you’re insane if you think you can ever convince *me* to try and change her mind."

Pierre clasped his hands together. Perspiration was forming above his top lip.

"Mr. Jacks, I hope you do believe me when I say that I do not want you as an enemy. I’m terribly sorry that you and Brenda complicated matters by falling in love with one another, but *you* knew the situation and you should have prevented this from ever happening. Now, I am here as an emissary to the prince and it is my *duty* to bring the princess back to Monaco. She is next in line for the throne whether you like it or not and she *must*

return."

"Is that all she is to you people?" Jax asked with disgust. "A pawn to be used to keep the royal bloodline flowing at all costs?"

"Well of course not, but . . ."

"You care about only one thing," Jax said, "obeying your prince at all costs. He in turn only cares about one thing. Preserving his bloodline at all costs. Do you want to know what I care about? I care about Brenda and making her happy at all costs. Her happiness is not with you people, nor is it with forced matrimony to some stranger twice her age. Her happiness is with me."

The minister of state let out a huge sigh at Jax’s resolve. This young man was not about to budge so much as an inch. Oh this was a nightmare!

Back in the other room Brenda was lighting into Marco for his behavior, while Lois and Mulder watched. Marco responded to Brenda’s accusations and rants by hotly reminding her that he felt that his actions were perfectly fine considering he was of the opinion that she was in love with *him* and can’t believe she married this Jacks guy and is now claiming that *he* is the one she loves.

Brenda was livid. "Claiming?! I am not claming anything. I love Jax!"

"Oh sure. You love him today. Who shall you love tomorrow? You always were a bit fickle," he recalled.

"You always were a bit dense!" she snapped.

"You cannot love him," Marco insisted. "So if you think you do then you are obviously delusional because of this cold weather."

Brenda gave him a look that could have frozen over the Sahara. "I am not even going to dignify that lunacy with a response," she said coolly.

"If I were you I’d dignify it with another kick to Mr. Hot Head’s crown jewels," Lois murmured.

Marco glared at the woman with the huge blue eyes. "And who exactly are you anyway?" he demanded, and then in the next second he dismissed her, not even waiting for a response. He turned back to Brenda. "Brenda, I know you may be infatuated with him. he’s very good looking and rich and powerful. Women like that. Plus he’s been acting as your protector here, that holds a certain appeal. You’re grateful to him, perhaps even somewhat attracted to

him . ."

"Somewhat?" Lois had to laugh.

Marco did his best to ignore her, but she was irritating him to no end.

"But whatever it is you feel for him, Brenda, love is not it," Marco finished.

Brenda sighed and walked over to Marco. She took his head in her hands and a thrill zipped through him as he thought she was going to pull him into a kiss, much as he had seen her do to Jax earlier.

Their eyes locked and Brenda said. "I don’t just love Jax," she said with deliberate slowness. "I am *in love* with him. I adore him. I respect him. I admire him. I treasure him. I am wildly, *wildly* attracted to him. I could not even contemplate one second of being without him."

Marco was shaken by her calmly, yet passionately spoken words. And the look in her eye bothered him as well. It was clear that she was obviously telling the truth. Neither he nor Brenda noticed that Jax and Pierre were back in the room.

"You feel all of this for *him*? I thought you loved *me*" he said. "When we were together in Monaco you said . ."

"No, I never said," Brenda cut him off, releasing his face. "I never said that to you, Marco."

"But it was implied. In the way you kissed me. I believed you loved me. I all but told your father that, for god’s sake! But you’re saying now, you never did love me?"

"I thought I did," she confessed. "Until I met Jax, and then I knew I didn’t."

Marco gave her a dark glance. "But you’re so sure that you love *him*?"

"I’m more than sure," Brenda said.

"And you’re so ready to deny that whatever we had between us could *possibly* have been love?"

"It wasn’t."

"Oh I see," Marco said sarcastically. "Did your *husband* convince you of this? Is his hold on you so tenuous that he needs to erase the significance of your former loves?"

"We were *not* former loves, Marco. We were friends," Brenda reminded him. "Fist and foremost you and I were always friends. I was seventeen, I was very attracted to you and we had a lot of fun together sneaking out of the palace and hitting the clubs, making out in dark corners of the hallways and trying not to get caught by my father or Giselle or Vivian or any of the staff. It was fun and it was exciting, but it wasn’t love. I never promised

you anything. You never gave me a ring, We never made love or made any kind of commitment. I never said that I loved you."

"But I told you that I loved you!" Marco reminded her.

Brenda bit her lip. "I know but . . . you know, a lot of the guards told me that all the time so . . . I never took anyone of you seriously."

"You can say what you will but you knew that I loved you," Marco insisted. "And the way you kissed me, I *know* my feelings were reciprocated by you."

"Desire was reciprocated, that’s all. Those weren’t the kisses of a person in love, Marco. I know that because I’ve been kissed by lips that love me. And I’ve kissed those lips back with love. I *know* what love feels like and I know that as attracted as I was to you, I didn’t feel that way with you."

"You’re just trying to rewrite history to accommodate your feelings for Jax now," Marco said, refusing to believe that, for Brenda, their relationship had only been a lusty teen flirtation with no significant feelings. "You’re just trying to *convince* yourself," Marco insisted.

Brenda was growing tired of his refusal to believe her and the way this conversation was going around and around in circles. "No, you’re trying to convince *yourself* that there was more to us than there really ever was," she countered. "This isn’t an argument, Marco. You’re not going to be able to somehow *convince* me that the truth is a lie. I love Jax. I *love* him. And I’ve never loved anyone else."

Marco was silent for a moment. "Well then I’ll just have to win you back, won’t I?" he murmured very quietly.

"What?" Brenda asked.

"So you are saying that I was mistaken about the nature of our relationship and we are just friends," he said.

"Yes."

"So do you want me to go then? Do you want me to leave? I’ll go this very night, if that is your wish," he said, thinking the grand gesture would touch her.

Brenda hesitated as she thought of something. "No," she decided. "I would like you to stay."

Jax exchanged an incredulous look with Mulder, as Marco fought not to let loose a triumphant smile.

+ + +

Marco and Pierre were alone in the suite, their company having departed several minutes ago.

"She wants me to stay Pierre," Marco gloated. "She said so right in front of her so-called husband who she professes to love so much. Did you see his face? I’ll bet they argued the entire way home. This is perfect! Do you realize what this means?"

Pierre’s brows were furrowed in concern. "I am not sure," he said.

"It means that Brenda is not as certain as she’d like us all to believe about whom she loves," Marco said with a smile.

"For my part I am quite convinced about who she loves," Pierre said. "And it isn’t you."

"Then why would she want me to stay?" Marco countered. "I offered to go, to get out of her life, and she said she *wanted* me to stay. You heard her. Why would she do that?"

Pierre stroked his mustache. "I don’t know. But I don’t like it. She had that look in her eye. That same look she had when she was 15 and she connived her father, who detests all things feline, into buying her that wretched, evil Persian cat that shed all over the palace and scratched everything in sight causing us nothing but misery for years. I don’t think you should be gloating over this Marco, I think you should be worrying."

Marco laughed that absurd notion off. "She wants me to *stay* Pierre. She is curious to see if there is anything left unfinished between us and I intend to show her there is plenty left. You are just overanalyzing everything as usual."

"Are you going to tell the prince that we have found her? And that she has gone and gotten herself married?" Marco asked.

"Good heavens no! Not yet! I’m going to get those two to agree to get divorced if it kills me! And then I’m going to take the princess home and hopefully the prince will never have to learn of this marriage."

Pierre knew that , however, was pretty much a fantasy. It would be impossible to keep this form the prince for very long.

+ + +

On the ride back to the penthouse, Jax was rather quiet and moody in the limo and Brenda kept gazing at him, biting on her lip not sure what to say, wishing he’d say something first so she could explain herself.

But Jax didn’t say a word.

When they got inside the penthouse Brenda figured he would say something to her then, but he just checked their messages and then went to take a shower.

Brenda sighed. He was really angry. He always started off by giving her the silent treatment when he was angry. But she also knew how much he *hated* being angry with her, so he was probably trying to make it just pass. She changed for bed and then went into the kitchen on a mission.

Jax came out of the shower and into the bedroom and saw that Brenda was not there. He heard her searching for something in the kitchen so he knew she was still in the penthouse and that she was okay. He walked over to the dresser and picked up the phone and dialed Justus Ward.

"Is it a done deal?" Jax asked.

"As of ten minutes ago," Justus said with a chuckle. "It’s a good thing you’re hiring me, Jax, because when they find out how I *allowed* the casino to get bought out from under ELQ after they’d only had it for less than an hour in their possession, my butt is going to be out on the street for incompetence."

"I got you covered," Jax said. "And *they* are a bunch of fools because they have no idea what they are losing in you. By the way is Eliot Quartermaine back from overseas by any chance?"

"No, he’s still looking for diamonds in Bora Bora. I’m not sure he’ll ever come back. This family treated him worse than they treat me," Justus said sarcastically. "Eliot and AJ are both at the bottom of the family tree. Although I’m sure I’ll eclipse them *both* come tomorrow when the news of the botched casino takeover hits the fan. Anyway, Mr. ‘Storm Magellan.’ Congrats on your acquiring the finest casino on earth. I’ll be talking to you

real soon."

"See you, Justus."

"Later, Jax."

Jax hung up the phone and was surprised by how unenthusiastic he was. He’d just orchestrated a magnificent maneuver that would surely put him in the corporate raider hall of fame and yet . . suddenly all of this was overshadowed by the events of this night. That Marco guy showing up, acting like Jax had stolen Brenda from him or something, and then there was Brenda . . . actually asking that guys to stay in town. Why would she do that? The

implications of it were disturbing if Jax thought about them too hard. This was man she had professed to love, after all. Sure she had decided that was not the case but . . what if she was reconsidering?

Jax walked out into the dark living room and sat down on the couch opposite the wall of windows that gave him such a breathtaking view of the New York skyline. He did his best thinking out here, gazing out at this view. The buildings, the bridge, the ocean . . .

He was still wet from the shower, a towel draped around his neck, wearing nothing but midnight blue boxer shorts and pensive eyes.

Not finding Jax in the bedroom, Brenda went out to the living room where she saw him sitting the semi-darkness, gazing out at their spectacular view of the city. She found the view of *him*, however, to be far more spectacular. His golden hair was damp and therefore darker than usual. His eyes, moody and thoughtful were a sight to behold in the dimly lit room. His body, tanned and wet, the towel draped around his neck, his hands playing with the

towel while his eyes gazed down at his wedding band and he began to spin it around and around on his finger.

Jax heard the soft sounds of her entering the room and he gazed up at her. She looked nothing short of ambrosial in short blue satin PJ’s, her hair loose and swaying hypnotically as she approached him. Jax was actually irked to feel his moodiness lifting at the sight of her. Bewitching little thing that she was . . .

<You see, no woman should have this kind of power over a man> he thought.

"Look what I have," Brenda said waving a container of Hagen Daz Macadamia

Nut Brittle ice cream in front of him enticingly. "Your favorite."

Jax continued to gaze at her. "What’s the occasion?" he asked. He was trying to recapture his mood of irritability, but found it was virtually impossible to do with her mere inches away from him.

"The occasion is that I love you, *and*," she said sitting on his lap, "it’s also a peace offering."

She kissed him and was so glad when he immediately responded. A brief but sensuous kiss. A precursor of what the rest of the night might have in store for them.

"I wasn’t aware you felt the need to offer me peace," Jax mentioned, sliding his arms around her to pull her even closer. The touch of her lips against his had wreaked blissful havoc in his bloodstream, even for that brief moment.

"Well . . . .I know you’re angry with me, Jax . . ."

"That isn’t true," he told her.

"Upset with me then?"

Jax glanced away from her for a moment and then his eyes returned to her. "Puzzled," he decided. "Why did you ask him to stay, Brenda?"

"Well for two reasons. One is to buy us time."

"Time for what?"

"To find Eliot, of course. You see if my father sent Marco here to get me, then as long as Marco is here *trying* to convince me to return to Monaco my father won’t suspect that you and I are on a mission to find Eliot and get him into a position where he can take my place. Trust me Jax, if my father *ever* found out what we were up to he would find Eliot first and pay him to disappear off the face of the earth."

"And the other reason?" Jax asked.

"The other reason is you, of course," Brenda said .

"*Me* of course?" Jax asked, incredulous as to her logic on this one.

"Yes. I want Marco where I can see him," she explained as she dipped the spoon into the ice cream and fed Jax some of it.

"Why? And what does this have to do with me?"

"How can you even ask that? You saw the way he hit you with no provocation. You heard how he thinks he and I had this great love, and that you brainwashed me into loving you or something ridiculous like that. I think he’s convinced himself that you are his enemy Jax. I think he really has made up his mind to hate you, and he could be a loose canon around you."

"Brenda . . .first of all I could handle that twerp with my eyes closed. And if you’re so convinced that he’s out to get me, wouldn’t you think this is all the more reason for you to encourage him to *leave* not to stay?" Jax rationalized.

"Are you not the one who told me that it is the wise man who keeps his friends close and his enemies *closer*? I want to know what he’s up to Jax. If you’re his enemy then that makes him mine."

Jax gazed at her curiously. "And when you find out what he’s up to -- then what?" He grinned suddenly. "Are you going to beat him to death with one of your rock-hard soufflés?" he asked with a playful gasp.

"I am getting *much* better with my soufflés, thank you very much," she said hitting his thigh.

"Mmm hmm. So then maybe you’ll try one of your rusty kick Tae Kwon Do moves on him if he should dare and try to hurt me, huh?"

"Hey, I happen to think my move tonight was *very* effective, don’t you?"

Jax laughed softly at the memory of Marco going down on his knees, and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he’ll be feeling that one for a while." His fingers toyed with the silky, wispy bangs of her hair. "So, why do you think he’s *really* here? I mean, given his apparent obsession with you and his memories of some imaginary love affair he had with you, I find it very difficult to believe he would come here voluntarily to help your father bring you

home only to watch you marry some other man. It’s almost as if he thinks he’s got a chance of having a future with you as long as he can get you away from me. Why do you think he would assume that? I mean, when I was alone with that Deschannel guy he hammered it down my throat how vital it was for you to marry this Earl person. . . like it was a matter of national security or something . . ."

But Brenda was tuning out most of what Jax was saying, so distracted was she by how incredibly sexy he looked. She put the ice-cream down and shifted around in his lap on the couch until she was straddling him. "I don’t really want to talk about any of this right this very second if that’s okay with you," she said in her most seductive tone of voice and then Jax watched in fascination as she peeled off the blue satin tank top of her pajama set

and tossed it behind him onto the floor.

Then she took the towel from around his neck and tossed that too. She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders still wet from his recent shower. She kissed his chin. She kissed his lips. She kissed his chest. Then she leaned back and looked at him.

His gaze burned a path along her body.

"It should be illegal for you to look at me that way," she said softly.

"It should be illegal for you to *look* that way," Jax told her, catching her roaming hands in his and pulling her to him. Her body touched his, and the feel of her against him drove him wild. Yet he controlled his wild passion and placed soft kisses on her forehead, even softer kisses on her eyelids and her cheeks, and then his mouth brushed gently against hers, teasing, provoking.

"I have a surprise for you," Brenda whispered to Jax.

Jax was intrigued. "Well, I’m all yours," he said, spreading his arms to the sides and leaning back against the back of the couch.

Brenda smiled sexily at him. "No, not now," she said.

Jax was amused by her mysteriousness. "When?" he asked, his eyes never leaving her, his hand on both sides of her waist.

"Valentine’s Day," she told him.

"Your birthday? I’m the one who’s supposed to be giving *you* surprises that day, remember?"

"But it’s not just my birthday. It’s Valentine’s Day too and you know me well enough to know I would have something for you. And it is something pretty fabulous if I do say so myself," she said, loving how intrigued by it all he seemed. And their playful banter was heightening their arousal all the while. "You’ll have to meet me in the recreation room to get it though," she added, running her fingertips down the center of his chest.

Jax’s eyes were definitely curious. "The recreation room?

"Yes," she whispered, kissing his chest.

He cupped her face in his hands. "Exactly what kind of a surprise is this, Mrs. Jacks?"

Her smile made something inside of him go weak. "You tell me what *my* surprise is and I’ll tell you what yours is," she bargained with him.

Jax gave her a wicked little grin. "Not a chance," he whispered, pulling her closer to him once more and silencing her laughter with a kiss of delicious passion.

Brenda moaned a little, and her fingers explored the soft texture of his hair. The bantering was over and passion was taking center stage.

The longer they kissed, the more titillating the feelings between them became.

"I love you," he said. It was a bare whisper made against her soft, warm lips.

In the background the fireplace crackled and the orange flames leapt hypnotically. The kissed between Jax and Brenda deepened and became hotter. A sweet, scorching pleasure.

Brenda was so involved in the ocean of sensations he was filling her with that she wasn’t even aware of how they ended up horizontal on the couch with her effectively trapped in between those muscular arms of his. He kissed with a burning insistence until she was senseless with desire, kindling even *more* embers of desire with each erotic kiss, each whispered word of love, each and every touch and caress.

"I love you, Jax. I love you," Brenda said urgently as she received from Jax an intensely passionate kiss that held nothing back and had her grasping at him to pull him down closer as the intoxicating pleasure of their love making built to it’s fever pitch and infused them. She felt as if she were flying – her heart that is. Her body was in a state of pure and deep sensual bliss as it united with his. In the midst of their fantastic love making,

she opened her eyes because she wanted to see Jax, and she saw his eyes, half-closed looking as sensually dazed and recklessly excited as she was feeling.

He smiled at her when he noticed her looking at him, a sinfully seductive smile that made her heart jump with a secret thrill and served to fourth fuel the passion they were enjoying so immensely and, in fact, cause it all to start up again anew.

"Jax, promise me that we’ll always be like this," she whispered in between deepening kisses as she prepared for the second surrender and arched her body against his.

"I would promise you the world, if you asked me for it," he told her, his heart hammering away inside of him, not so much from his all consuming passion for her as from his all consuming love for her.

Brenda felt every solitary ounce of Jax’s love. It was how much he loved her, as well as how madly he desired her, that made their love making beyond anything she had ever known. Indescribable. Beyond anything . . .

And after their second bout of fevered passion Brenda fell asleep in her own private heaven. Jax’s arms.

+ + +

Marco was determined to win Brenda back. He *had* to. The prince had said that Marco could only marry Brenda if Brenda loved him as well. And right now she was convinced she did not. He would have to change her mind about that. He would try this being just friends thing until he could regain her trust and then he would surprise her with a kiss and remind her of how easily they could ignite one another’s passions once upon a time. He would

promise her that this time would be even better than it had been then.

Brenda was promised to him as his wife. The only fly in the ointment was that she had to love him in order for the prince to seal the marriage arrangement. And then of course there was the little problem of her marriage to this Jax guy. But if she were to leave Jax, to become a free woman again and to tell her father that she loved Marco, then she would *belong* to Marco, free and clear and forever. And that was his goal.

Pierre thought him an utter fool and still contended that Brenda was up to something, but Marco could hardly see past his passion for her. He was too close to having her to listen to Pierre’s nonsense and walk away. No. Brenda had asked him to stay. She *wanted* him to stay. And Marco was convinced that this meant that deep down, she wanted him, period. He could make her love him. He could have her if he wanted it badly enough. And he did.

He made plans to spend her birthday with her, ordering a fancy catered lunch to be delivered to a private dining room in the Plaza Hotel’s finest restaurant. But it turned out to be for nothing when he phoned Brenda at the museum on Friday the 13th, only to have her tell him that her birthday plans for tomorrow were exclusively with Jax.

"Really Marco, didn’t you think I’d be spending my birthday, not to mention *Valentine’s* Day with my husband?" she asked him, wondering what on earth he really expected from her.

"I thought you could spare a few hours for an old friend."

"Sorry, not tomorrow," she told him. "Bye."

"Wait, Brenda., Hold on a moment," he said quickly. "Do you think you and I could at least get together for lunch one day? Maybe next week? We can just talk about old times. I can catch you up with everything that’s going on in Monaco and Monte Carlo."

"Ummm . . I’ll call you, okay?" she said evasively and then she hung up.

He hung up as well. She would call him? Why hadn’t she just said yes or no? Good god *she* was the one who had asked him to stay and yet she was making no effort to hang out with him at all. Maybe Pierre was right? Maybe her motives were not even close to what Marco had envisioned. But if her desire to have him stay had nothing to do with a desire to rekindle anything with him. Then why? What was she up to?

+ + +

She awoke to the scent of roses filling the air and familiar fingers gently caressing her hair.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," The most perfect lips touched hers and she felt the soft petals of a rose as it ran along her face.

Brenda sat up in bed and saw their bedroom filled with red roses and he handed her a single rose and gave her another kiss. "And happy Valentine’s day too. Jax added.

Brenda threw her arms around him. "Happy Valentine’s Day!" she echoed, kissing him several times and then hugging him again, feeling his arms encircle her "Mmmm," she said, loving the feel of being inside his embrace. "Tell me that *this* is my birthday present," she said, her fingers sliding into the back of his hair as her body got even closer to his.

"This, what?" Jax asked in confusion.

"*You* silly!" she said laughing.

"Well, I am the present you get every day, sweetheart. But *today*, I’ve got something else in mind."

Brenda laughed in delight and pulled away from him slightly so that they could look at one another. "Can I guess?" she asked excitedly.

"No, but you can get dressed," he said, glancing at his watch.

"Aha! So this surprise requires us to leave the penthouse?" she deduced.

"Yes," he admitted.

"To leave the building?" she asked as she climbed out of the bed and went to her huge closet, seeking out what she would wear.

"Yes," Jax replied.

On a roll Brenda turned to him. "To leave. . the city?" she asked.

He smiled enigmatically at her. "Maybe," he said softly with a slow wink that gave her the most delicious goosebumps. "Get dressed, will you?"

Brenda laughed and finished getting dressed. She just knew that today was going to be a day she would never forget!

Troi

IRFC

"We must put the titans back together" - B. Guza