As soon as he landed at the Leonardo da Vinci airport, he knew he had made the right decision. All the TV stations were playing footage of the attempted kidnapping that took place a couple of hours ago. While Jason was sitting on a plane flying over the Atlantic, Brenda had been grabbed by two guys on her way out of the offices of Bella Enterprises. Thankfully the paparazzi were staking out the building and gave Brenda the perfect opportunity to get the upper hand on her captors and escape. They never should have been able to get that close. Now that he was here though, he would make sure that those thugs never came near her again.

He sighed as he got ready to knock on her door. This was not going to be pretty.

As predicted she answered the door without even asking who was there.

"Oh my God!" she said in disbelief as she immediately tried to close the door when she saw him.

She was no match for him though as he easily entered the apartment despite her protests.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she screamed at him once he was inside.

"Why the hell didn't you call me last night?" he screamed right back.

"Why would I do that? It's no big deal. I'm fine. I happen to have my own security detail you know."

"Yeah some security, you've been attacked twice in less than twenty-four hours."

"Oh please. And people say I'm a drama queen," she said waiving off his obvious concern.

"You are. You're also stubborn and completely unreasonable especially when it comes to your safety. You do realize that these attacks are not random right?"

"We don't know that for sure," she said, refusing to admit that she agreed with him. She had just spent the last hour working herself into a complete frenzy over the possibility that the Balkan was behind all this.

She was scared. He could see it in her eyes, and the last thing he wanted to do was to scare her even more but he needed her to take this threat seriously if had any chance of protecting her.

"Brenda, we both knew this was a possibility," he reminded her. He had hoped that it would never come to this, that they could leave the past buried where it belonged. But if this year had taught him anything, it was that secrets always had a way of coming out and hurting those they were designed to protect.

She sighed and dropped down onto the couch, resting her head in her hands for a few seconds as the stress of the past twenty-four hours finally took its toll.

"I don't understand how he would even... I mean why now?" she asked softly looking up at him her eyes begging him for any kind of reassurance.

"I don't know. I have people looking into it. But the most important thing right now is keeping you safe," he said as he took a seat next to her.

She sighed again as she moved to look out the window, the close proximity to him making her uncomfortable.

"I won't let him anywhere near you. You know that, right?"

"I know."

She knew Jason would keep her safe, she trusted him more than anyone. He'd promised her three years ago that he would protect her from the Balkan and she knew he would stop at nothing to make sure he kept his promise. Even if it cost him his life, and that thought scared her more than any threat the Balkan could throw at her.

April 2007

"Jason?" she couldn't believe her eyes. While it wasn't unusual for Jason to be in New York she was still stunned to see him there.

"Brenda."

"What are you doing here?"

"I uh was out on a ride and ended up here. What about you? I thought you were still in Europe."

"I was. I mean I still am. I'm just here for a job."

"That's good."

"Yeah, Jason listen I don't know if you got my messages or not but I'm really sorry about Alan. I, um, really wanted to come but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea."

He just nodded, not sure what to say. It was no secret that his relationship with his father had been tense at best. He hadn't realized how much his actions had hurt his father and now it was too late for him to fix it.

They both stood there for a few seconds neither knowing exactly what to do or say next. It was then that Jason noticed the police officer standing a few feet behind her.

"He with you?" he asked nodding in the officer's direction.

"What? Oh, yeah," for a second she had forgotten about her police escort. God she hoped he wouldn't make a big deal about this. Who was she kidding, this was Jason; of course he was going to make a big deal about this. She could already see his jaw twitching.

"Are you okay? You're not in trouble are you?" he asked his concern obvious.

"No. It's nothing really, it's just..."she stopped suddenly as a wave of dizziness overtook her.

He saw her gently sway and was quick to steady her.

"What's wrong?"

"Are you okay Miss Barrett?"

Jason and the officer asked simultaneously.

"Maybe you should sit down." Jason suggested as he started to lead her over to a park bench.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she reassured them both. "I just got a little bit dizzy you know. I had photo shoots all day and I haven't really had anything to eat yet. I'm fine really."

"Okay. Then let's go get you something to eat."

"Sure, that's sounds good," Brenda agreed and then turned to the officer who was nervously eyeing Jason. "Why don't you go back to the hotel? I'll be fine. Jason will make sure I get back safely."

"I mean no disrespect Miss Barrett, but I've been assigned to guard you. It wouldn't be right for me to just leave you alone."

"But I'm not alone. Jason is with me. I'm perfectly safe."

"Okay, I guess if you're sure."

"I am."

"Alright then," he said as he started walking back towards the hotel.

"So now are you going to tell me why you have a police escort?" They were sitting at this small Italian restaurant that she swore had the best pizza.

"I'll tell you but you have to promise not to get all Jason-like about it. Okay. Please."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just tell me what kind of trouble you've gotten yourself into so that I can fix it."

"Of course you just assume that it's my fault. Besides, it's not your job to fix anything for me, we're not married anymore, and you don't owe me anything. You don't even like me."

"Brenda, just tell me what's going on."

"Nothing's going on. Apparently I seem to attract psychos like moths to a flame," she admitted sadly. "I was sort of seeing this guy in Europe and then I found out that he was a criminal and liar about it to boot. So I broke things off and he's just having a hard time letting go."

"So he's stalking you."

"Yeah, I guess. He started showing up wherever I went, insisting that we belonged together and stuff. So, I went to the police and they provided me with protection."

"Do you really think that's going to stop him?"

"I don't know I guess. I mean that's part of the reason I took this job. I figured if I distanced myself from Europe from a while he'd get the hint you know."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Look can we just talk about something else right now? What's new in Port Charles, I mean aside from the obvious," she asked desperate to get Jason off the topic of her psycho ex.

"Elizabeth's pregnant," he just blurted out. He hadn't meant to say anything but it's not like Brenda would ever tell anyone if he asked her not to and, she wasn't even staying in Port Charles anymore. The truth was he really needed to talk about this, and Brenda was for all intents and purposes an impartial third party. Ever since he had found out, he hadn't been able to think of anything else. That's why he had gone for a ride; he had hoped to clear his head and figure out what he was supposed to do. Maybe there was a reason he ended up here with Brenda.

"Um, ok. That's nice," she said, wondering exactly why Jason would tell her about Elizabeth's impending motherhood, unless...

"Oh my God, are you?" she didn't wait for him to answer; the look on his face said it all. "Wow, so I guess congratulations are in order."

"Not exactly, Elizabeth she uh...we decided it would be best if everyone continues to believe that Lucky is the father."

"Oh Jason, I'm so sorry," she knew this must be killing him. She saw firsthand how happy Jason had been when he had been raising Michael and how hard he tried to hide his disappointment when the little boy called Sonny daddy.

"Yeah well it's for the best. My world isn't safe for children. Lucky and Elizabeth will give the baby a good life."

"It can't be easy though. Seeing Elizabeth, knowing she's carrying your child and not being able to do anything about it."

"It's hell, but it worth it" he admitted. "Are you okay?" he asked as she pushed her plate away. He couldn't help but notice that she looked a little pale as if she was about to be relieved of her dinner.

"Oh, yeah it's fine," she said as she took several small sips of her water. "I probably just ate too much. Are you ready to go?" she asked eager to escape the smell of garlic that was suddenly making her feel sick.

"Yeah sure thing," he said as he motioned to the waitress for the bill.

"It's a beautiful night. Isn't it?" she said as he walked her back to her hotel.

"Yeah, it's nice," he nodded and was happy to see that the fresh air seemed to have done her some good as she looked decidedly better than she had earlier.

They had just entered the small alley when Alexander cornered them.

"Hello Brenda."

"Alexander, I told you I don't want to see you anymore."

"Stay away the hell from her," Jason ordered as he protectively pulled Brenda behind him.

"She's mine," he growled as he charged, catching Jason off guard as he moved to pull out his gun.

Brenda stood there in a state of disbelief as she watched the two men fighting. Alexander had somehow managed to get the upper hand as he pinned Jason against the wall, using his forearm to cut off his air supply.

She couldn't let him die, so she did the only thing she could think of, she picked up Jason's gun and aimed it at Alexander's back. She took a breath to steady her hand and pulled the trigger. He immediately pulled away from Jason as the bullet reached its intended target. Unfortunately, Alexander was not easily deterred as he turned around to face Brenda.

"You bitch," he snarled as he moved towards her.

Acting on instinct, Brenda pulled the trigger two more times, finally succeeding in subduing their attacker.

Jason raced over to her after quickly checking to make sure Alexander was dead.

"Oh my God, oh my God, this can't be happening, this is not happening," she cried hysterically.

"Brenda it's okay, everything's going to be okay," he reassured her as her moved to take his gun from her hand.

"You don't understand; it'll never be okay. He'll kill us if he ever finds out...oh God, this can't be happening."

"Brenda what are you talking about? Who's going to kill us?"

"Alexander's father, he's a major gangster. That's why Interpol got me protection, oh God what have I done?"

"Brenda, I need you to calm down okay. Please." They had to act quickly and now wasn't the time for her to completely lose it.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she said as she took a few breaths.

"Brenda, listen to me. I'm going to take care of this, okay. It's going to be fine. I promise. You just have to trust me. Okay?"

"Okay," she nodded as she silently thanking her lucky stars that she had run in to Jason tonight.

"So what's the plan?" she asked him, turning away from the window.

"Well, for starters we're going to have to revamp your security because it sucks."

"I'm sorry did you just say my security 'sucks'," she couldn't help but laugh in spite of the seriousness of the conversation. "Sucks, really? Is that your professional assessment?"

"Hey, I just call it as I see it," he said with an almost imperceptible smile. "They suck."

"Okay, so what are you suggesting exactly?"

"Honestly, I think you should come back to Port Charles with me. I can't fight him from here. I'll have the advantage in Port Charles."

"Okay."

"Okay? Just like that," he asked sceptically.

"What? Were you expecting a fight?"

"Of course, I mean you fight me on pretty much everything."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint but it's late and I'm really in no mood to fight right now. Besides, I was planning on heading to Port Charles anyway."

"You were," he asked still suspicious about her sudden agreeability.

"Yup. You happen to be looking at the new owner of Crimson," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.