Song: I Love You
Artist: Sarah McLachlan

Plot and Week #1: Quest door, kill, lovely
Couple: Brenda Barrett and Jason Morgan

Rated: R

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

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A Neverending Story

i have a smile
stretched from ear to ear
to see you walking down the road

we meet at the lights
i stare for a while
the world around us disappears

As Spring stretched out her fertile fingers across the city of Port Charles, life gradually awakened from it's deep Winter slumber. Warmth crept into the breeze and where once brittle trees stretched into the sky, now leaves gradually unfurled. Grass, brown and matted under layers of snow, inched green sprouts forward bravely battling until triumphant lawns and cheerful flowers conquered a valiant foe.

No where was this majesty more prominent than in the Quartermaine rose garden, lovingly tended to by the effervescent and timeless Lila Morgan Quartermaine. What began as mere hobby evolved into a showcase masterpiece. Classic reds and whites bloomed, dancing eagerly with Sterling Silvers, Sexy Rexys and Angel Faces, giving way to hybrids like Day Breaker and Honey Perfumes carefully crafted by skillful hands until reaching the centerpiece of them all, the rarest and most beautiful of them all soft creamy pinks of Dream Come True and Mardi Gras.

Brenda Barrett cared not one bit about any of the stupid things.

As a matter of fact, if her almost six year old legs could have carried her any faster, she would have been free of the stupid maze of flowers and well on her way to calling her sister to come pick her up so that she could leave this dreadful place once and for all.

It wasn't fair. Just because it was Samantha Davis Ashton's birthday party, did not mean she should be the princess. Afterall, Sam was a princess every day. The Cassadine's were royalty. Even a six year old knew that. Sam even got to live over on an island in a huge castle and everything. It wasn't fair the little cheat stole the idea she was going to use for her birthday party next month.

She certainly was not playing enchanted castle on the jungle gym with her at school on Monday even if Sam was her best friend.

When Julia walked her into Grandma Lila's garden, it took every ounce of bravery in her soul not to cry at the beautiful sight before her. There were balloons and streamers in silver and white with lots of pink just like she had imagined. A pink banner stretched proudly over a table pronounced a Happy Birthay to Princess Samantha just like she had wanted, only with her name instead.

Everyone was dressed in costume, and Julia had to drag her into the offered bedroom so she could put on the little pink dress with it's fluffy layers and the crown of tiny white flowers to go over the two braids Julia had placed in her hair that morning. It wasn't so bad. Not really. It just wasn't the beautiful white dress Samantha got to wear. Nor the sparkly tiara and the little wand with it's pink ribbons.

Sam even had rides on a beautiful white stallion just like she always dreamed.

Maybe it was okay that her best friend took her idea for her birthday party. Julia always said that she was supposed to share and Sam was her best friend after all. So she tried to have fun and smile like her big sister had whispered at her to do before leaving. They played games and won prizes. She even took her turn on the horse and didn't argue.

It was when she saw the white cake decorated with pink roses and sprinkles with the enchanted castle on top that really just pissed her off.

Brenda ignored the urgent call for her to come back and stalked off into the maze of the Quartermaine garden. That was her birthday cake! With her castle! She would even bet it had strawberry filling on the inside too! And Sam didn't even like strawberries.

"She's a cheater," the five and three quarters year old pouted. A small hand quickly wiped away the tear making it's way across her cheek. Plopping down in the grass, she sniffed again, wiping stubbornly at another stupid tear, angry because she was lost and because her feelings were hurt. "I'll just have an even better birthday. Maybe I won't even invite her, then we'll see how she likes that!"

"Could you make sure you don't invite me too."

She turned at the boy's voice, wiping a quick hand under her nose. It was Sam's cousin Jason Quartermaine. He lived here at the Quartermaine house and he went to her school but was in first grade. His lip curled into a scowl as he crossed to her and folded his arms. "You stupid girls and your stupid costumes. I hate this!" Right before her eyes, he took his hands and scrubbed them through his golden brown hair ruining the neat style someone had combed it into. Now it stood up in spikes all around his head.

"It's bad enough Mother made me come to my cousin's party but this stuff stinks. If you wanted to have a real party, there should have been cars and stuff like in racing. Or we could have been kung fu masters like Bruce Lee and stuff."

She thought he looked kinda like a very handsome prince in his white shorts and dark blue shirt with it's gold trim. That is until he opened his stupid boy mouth. "No, that would have been dumb," she rolled her eyes. "Every body knows that's no fun."

"Is too!" He insisted. "What kind of fun is it to ride a horse in a circle," he rolled his own eyes, then proceeded to demonstrate by galloping rather slowly like a gimp horse instead of the quite healthy one the children had rode earlier. "We could have had fights and stuff." He broke out in what he thought were pretty cool kung fu kicks making the accompanying noises as well.

After a particularly violent leap into the air, he crashed to the ground and rolled over, ignoring the large smear of dirt and grass stains he pressed into his clothing. At her gasp, he crawled in front of her, tucking his legs beneath him. "What?"

"You're dirty," she pointed to a clump of dirt on his now filthy shirt. "You're gonna get in trouble."

"Who cares," he shrugged, though from the slightly panicked look in his eyes, it was obvious he cared. "Boys are supposed to get dirty." Taking advantage of his position, he squinted at her. It made a funny feeling squirm in her belly because he was so close she could see right into his eyes. They were a pretty blue like the sky today. "Why are you crying anyways? Is that all girls do? My sister always cries but she's only one so I thought it was a baby thing but you're a girl too and you're crying so maybe it's a girl thing."

"Boys cry too!" She argued and he just shook his head and grinned.

"Uh un. Last week when I cut my leg when AJ pushed me down, I didn't cry. And it was gushing blood and everything."

"Who's AJ?"

"My big brother. He's a big old turd because he won't let me play baseball with him and his friends cause he's eight and I'm only six." Then his eyes widened as if remembering, "How old are you anyways, I can't be playing with no babies."

"I'm not a baby," she shoved in the arm, making him fall over. "I'm six years old too."

"No you're not," he laughed, "Just about everyone at the party is in my cousin Sam's class at school so that means you're still in Kindergarden. So that means you're just a baby."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Brenda stood, planting her hands on her hips, "You take that back!"

"Nope," Jason rose slowly as well, snickering because she was getting angrier and angrier and her face was turning red. "In fact you're just a girl baby. And everybody knows girl babies are no fun at all!"

"I am fun." Her face screwed up in concentration, trying to think of a way to prove that she was more fun than any stupid boy. Then she remembered how he was pretending to do karate and doing those funny looking kicks and stuff. "I'll show you."

After a few minutes of watching her scream and jump, and more impressed than he would ever admit, Jason gave in. A little. "Fine, fine. Okay, you were pretty good," then he paused and smirked, "For a girl."

Furious, she balled up her fist and punched him in the stomach. "You! You, you big doody head!"

Even as he clutched his stomach that didn't stop the burst of giggles that erupted. In fact, he was laughing so hard he tilted over and fell, rolling over the ground as he shook with amusement and ignoring the angry look on her face. "What's so funny!" She demanded between pants trying to catch her breath. That ninja stuff was a lot harder than it had looked when he was doing it.

"You said doody."

OOxxOO

its just you and me
on my island of hope
a breath between us could be miles

let me surround you
my sea to your shore
let me be the calm you seek

He hated his family.

Well, maybe not everyone in his family. He loved his Grandmother Lila and his little sister Emily. And maybe his cousin Ned cause he was like a rock star and rock stars were the coolest so of course he liked Ned.

They weren't trying to send him off to some dumb boarding school with his older brother AJ. He didn't want to go across the world to Switzerland just because his mother and father were to busy screwing around with other people to be bothered with their kids. He wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what all the yelling and screaming was about. It was kinda hard not to, especially when they were constantly trying to kill each other.

Who was going to take care of Emily if he left? It was his responsiblity to be the big brother now that AJ was gone. Besides, he'd promised and AJ told him it was important to never go back on a promise.

If Alexis and Ned could be rock stars and run ELQ and keep all their bratty little kids with them, he couldn't understand why his parents couldn't just leave him alone. It wasn't like he was a bother. He got himself up for school every morning and got dressed. After breakfast, Reginald gave him a ride to school before spending the day with Grandmother. At school he was at the top of his class, the last B he got in a class was back in third grade because he caught the chicken pox and his dumb old teacher wouldn't let him take a make up test for the one he missed.

After school, he came home and did his homework. He put himself to bed every night at nine-thirty just like Grandfather demanded. So what was the big deal? It wasn't like he was in the way anyways.

And who was going to play short stop on his little league team this summer if he was gone? The guys depended on him because he was one of the best hitters on the team. They would never make it to the championships one man short. It was bad enough they had been forced to allow girls to play. All they cared about was standing around whispering and giggling. Not one of them could hit or catch and they all threw like, well, like girls.

"I hate them! It isn't fair!"

"What's not fair? Is this pity party for one or is anyone invited?"

Jason growled and rolled his eyes at the amused voice of his nemesis Brenda Barrett. At five, she was a pain in the ass. Kung Fu kicks aside, that is. He still would never admit she was pretty cool to have played pretend with him that day. When both of them had been punished for ruining their clean costumes they had grinned at each other knowing it had been worth it.

From that day forward, Brenda seemed to have made it her life's mission to get on his last nerves.

At twelve she was even worse.

She was different than the other girls his age, for that he was grateful. He could barely stand her as it was, the last thing he needed was her going all girly on him with the batting eyelashes and simpering smiles. And those annoying giggles. A grimace of disgust creased his face as he shivered shaking himself like a wet dog at the very thought. He would take a punch in the gut from Brenda any day.

"What's wrong, did Sam ditch you again to go play cootie kissing with Lucky Spencer?"

"Shut up," she snarled, shoving him in the shoulder. He resisted the urge to cover the spot for she would never let him live it down if she acutally realized how much those punches hurt. "You're just mad because no one would touch your lips with a ten foot pole."

"Thank God for that," he muttered, then chuckled softly so she wouldn't hear.

"Besides, the only reason I'm here is because Julia has a meeting with Alexis and I didn't want to sit in the penthouse alone waiting for her." But she didn't deny the fact that her best friend had probably ditched her just like he teased.

"So you sit out here in Grandmother's rose garden alone instead?"

"You're here," she shrugged, sitting down in the grass, ignoring the fact that she wore a pair of white jeans and a pink blouse with ruffles all over the place under a pink jacket. What was it with her and pink anyway? "So I'm not exactly alone."

"Yeah, well in two weeks you will be." He flopped down beside her, picking at the baseball cap he had yanked off his head on the way out of the house.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, if my stupid parents have their way, I'll be spending high school over in Switzerland at the same school AJ goes to."

Brown eyes widened in disbelief, "But AJ got kicked out of school and that's why he was sent away. You're on the honor roll!"

"Lot of good that did me, hun?"

"I'm sorry. About what I said before, I mean." She frowned, laying her head against his shoulder, "You're right it's not fair. They do whatever they want and don't even care about our feelings."

He had overheard Ned and Alexis talking about Brenda's parents and how they had practically abandoned her with Julia so they could go off traveling around the world. Every so often they would snatch Brenda out of school and she would spend a couple of weeks away then show up in school on a Monday morning as if nothing had happened.

The June she turned ten he had found her out here crying because they had missed her birthday but wanted her to spend the summer with them when she had already planned to go to camp with all of her friends.

"So, two weeks hun?"

"Yeah," he grunted, anger getting the best of him as he tossed the hat aside. "I was all excited about turning fourteen, but now, I guess I should have seen this coming. They probably were going to send me away regardless."

"You're going to miss baseball this summer too, aren't you. It's your last year."

"And I can't make fun of you either," he smiled, remembering how she always screamed when a ball came at her in the outfield. But she always caught it, he remembered.

"You're such a jerk," she sneered, standing up. "Here I was being perfectly nice to you and you have to mess it up."

"Hey, I was just kidding," he stood up as well, taking a few steps back because she wasn't above kicking with those pink and white sneakers she wore. He had the sore shins to prove it.

"You're such a-"

"Doody head," he interrupted, bursting into laughter. After a few seconds of trying to hold back, her tight expression relaxed, the carefree smile turning into a soft chuckle.

And he knew he was probably going to miss her most of all.

OOxxOO

oh and every time i'm close to you
there's too much i can't say
and you just walk away

"I can't believe that jerk left me to go chasing after his ex girlfriend." Brenda ripped the pink and white corsage off her wrist and threw it on the ground. "Karen," she drawled, as a leather bejeweled stiletto kicked it across the grass. "Darned thing wasn't even roses, I told him I liked roses and he brings me carnations. Jerk."

She should have known that when Jagger Cates asked her to the senior prom mere days after breaking up with his girlfriend of two years that something like this would probably happen. This was her luck after all. It didn't matter that she liked the guy and probably stared after him like a star struck little kid all year long. He probably only asked her out to make Karen jealous. The harpy hated her after all.

Too bad it worked like a charm.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She turned the poignant question to the twinkling stars in the night sky.

"Probably boiled some little kid's bunny like that psycho chick in that movie."

She had never been more grateful for a dark night than she was right this moment as embarrassment flushed her skin. Here she was in her beautiful pink georgette gown that she had designed herself, from it's shirred v-neck and split flutter sleeves to the fishtail hem and her date had stood her up for prom. Her thick dark hair had been perfectly styled to hang in long graceful curves over her shoulders. Even her father who was practically none existent in her life had contributed to the occasion with a diamond necklace with a delicate butterfly design pendant in pink diamonds and matching earrings.

The last thing she wanted to admit to her sister was being abandoned on prom night, so she climbed into her black Jag, another guilt gift from her father, and headed over to the Quartermaines. No matter what went wrong in her life, from her dead beat father to her screwed up love life, standing in Lila Quartermaine's rose garden always put things into perspective.

"Well, if it isn't the doody head," she sneered, finally regaining a bit of her composure, her guilty little secret having been discovered. "What are you doing here? The last I heard you were off in some third world country trying to save the world."

She would never admit how terrified she had been when she heard that Jason had joined the Navy instead of going to college and then on to medical school like his parents had always intended for him. Too bad they hadn't counted on their son growing a spine of steel when they sent him away from his family, friends and everything he held dear.

He wore a pair of jeans that had definitely seen better days and a dark tee shirt that made him look tough lean and ripped. The last time she had seen him alone like this, he was telling her about his parents sending him away. That boy was years gone and the sexy man before her was almost a stranger. Until he smiled. Then those sky blue eyes gleamed with amusement and his lips curved into a smile that was the same from the first moment they stood here in his Grandmother's garden. Exactly the same.

"My family does live here." His voice was huskier, low and mellow but edged with control. "So what's your excuse?"

"I don't need one," she lifted a shoulder matter-of-factly. "I'm always welcome here. That's more than I could say for you."

Those cool blue eyes hardened briefly and she wondered if she had crossed the line there considering how his parents had practically evicted him from the Quartermaine mansion the day he turned fourteen. "True," he finally answered mockingly, "Then again, Quartermaines have never been known for their taste in people they associated with."

"Touche," she wrinkled her nose at him. "So what brings you back to Port Charles?"

"Visting Grandmother before I head out again. What about you? Unless they're starting to hold parties out here, you look a little overdressed for the rose garden."

"Prom date ditched me." Might as well get it out there so he could make fun of her and get it over with.

"Idiot's loss then."

She turned toward him, blinking at what had sounded suspiciously close to a compliement. "Yes it is. I don't know what I saw in him in the first place." If she wasn't thinking about the dark hair and the smoldering eyes. Or those cute dimples when he smiled. Boy did she have a thing for dimples. And his body, whew, Jagger Cates made the teenaged boys that attended her school look like mealy mouthed whimps when standing next to those broad shoulders and tight ass.

But then, Jason could give him a run for his money, she chuckled inwardly.

"So that's it then, you're just not going to your senior prom because some idiot stood you up? Isn't that like admitting failure?"

It grated on the nerves too. "What do you want me to do Jason? I refuse to show up alone, after telling everyone I was going with Jagger. If that isn't embarassing, it will be even worse watching him dance with Karen Wexler all night, making goo-goo eyes at her. While I'm standing on the side lines like a wall flower," she pffted loudly, "Forget about it."

"I'll take you."

She knew her eyes widened like saucers, but she couldn't help it. First the underhanded compliment and now this? "You?"

"Yeah, why not. I can't visit with Grandmother until she wakes up in the morning. Emily is out with friends. AJ is probably drunk in a bar somewhere. It's better than sitting around here waiting for my mother and father to start apologizing for messing up my life again."

"Oh, thank you for your generousity. It's either help me or being tortured."

"Helping you will probably be torture," his infectious grin belying his words. "But, I'm willing. Besides, think how it will look. I'll go upstairs and put on my dress uniform. We'll have Reginald bring around the Bentley."

"Eat your heart out Karen and Jagger. I'll be the only one there with a date that's not in high school. And Jagger definitely couldn't afford a Bentley," Brenda smiled having caught his meaning. "What are you waiting on, go get dressed. Prom started forty minutes ago."

"Yes, sir," he saluted before turning to leave.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?" At the door, he glanced back over his shoulder, and her gaze lowered to the ground.

This was a big deal, regardless of how he put it. "Thanks."

XXooXX

and i forgot
to tell you
i love you
and the night's
too long
and cold here
without you
i grieve in my condition
for i cannot find the words to say i need you so

It took him three days but he finally made it.

Jason Morgan had been deep undercover in Miami, working as a heroin trafficker, when the invitation showed up in his package of mail. Maybe it was fate that had him checking in on Jason Quartermaine's old life that Monday afternoon. But as he spilled the pile of mail onto the bed of his oceanview condo, the pink envelope had seemed to jump out at him.

He knew it was Brenda the second he saw that funky handwriting. For several seconds he could only stare at it, not wanting the man he had turned himself into for the job to touch someone as lovely and gentle as Brenda. There were things he had done in the name of law and order that he wasn't exactly proud of but working DEA meant he would occasionally get his hands bloodied if it meant stopping drugs from getting into innocent hands. His family had no idea that he'd left the service after his initial enlistment was over. Sometimes he felt it best that he kept his distance.

As he slipped the envelope open, he felt his heart skip a beat when he pulled out the wedding invitation.

And it wasn't because Brenda was marrying known mobster Michael Sonny Corinthos either.

Jesus, he had been in love with Brenda so long, that somehow he'd never expect her to fall for someone else. To actually marry another man. Thinking back it probably started all those times in his Grandmother's rose garden. Maybe it was the night he took her to senior prom and how beautiful and delicate she looked when he had slid the blooming pink rose that he nipped from his Grandmother's prize winning bush into her hair behind her ear.

He hadn't thought about that night in years. Mostly beacause if he did, he would have to remember what it felt like to hold her in his arms while they were dancing. He would have to face how his body had reacted to the nearness of hers. The alluring scent of roses that mixed with a fragrance he could only identify as Brenda. Or he would remember how soft her lips felt when he kissed her good night and dropped her off at her sisters.

It was good that he had very little leave because he would have felt bad about running off without saying good bye.

And now she was getting married. The very least he could do was show up and wish her well even if part of him wanted to arrest the bastard who had won her heart.

Invitation clutched in his fist, he quietly slipped open the church doors, shaking the rain from his hair and feeling a little self conscious about the wet dripping from his leather jacket. Walking through the vestibule, he was surprised when he found the seats empty. A glance at his watched told him he was only twenty minutes late and given Brenda and her sense of the dramatic there was no way her wedding was going to start on time.

And that's when he saw her.

A vision in white kneeling at the alter.

Alone.

As he made his way down the aisle, he could see she was shaking and could hear what he had missed.

Her sobs.

Never had he heard her cry this way before.

"Brenda?" But she was blind to his voice and too caught up in her pain to hear his voice. So he kneeled beside her, touching a careful hand to her shoulder. She flinched, turning her broken gaze to meet his and he felt his own heart begin to ache for her. A hand lightly cupped her face, brushing loose tendrils of hair away. "What happened?"

Clutched to her chest was a piece of paper that she held out to him with shaky hands. "He left me."

Bastard.

Careful of her reaction, he slipped it free from her grip, setting it on the floor, then pulled her into his arms. That seemed all she was able to stand as her tears began again, her thin body convulsing under the weight of her despair.

OOxxOO

oh and every time i'm close to you
there's too much i can't say
and you just walk away

Brenda raced through the hospital, blind to the commotion around her, knowing only one thing.

She had to get to him.

When had he become so important? When had he slipped so irrevocably into her heart?

And now he lay shot and possibly bleeding to death alone and there was nothing she could do but pray.

"Miss, you can't go in there?" A red headed nurse grabbed her arm before she could storm pass the closed curtain of the ER. The voice sounded familiar, even as the grip tightened and began pulling her away.

"No, he needs me." She pleaded, unaware of the tears that spilled from her eyes. "I have to be with him."

"Brenda, you can't go in there right now. Dr. Drake and Dr. Scorpio are doing everything they can for Jason. Right now, I need you to wait in the lounge with the rest of his family okay?"

Dark eyes blinked with confusion, "Bobbie?"

She couldn't stand the sympathetic pity shining in her eyes, "Yes, sweetie. You know Robin will do everything she can for Jason right?"

Robin. Right. Her best friend. She was one of the best surgeons in the hospital. If she was operating on Jason, then he would be fine. Besides, she told herself, Jason was strong. He would get through this.

The next several hours were a blur. Having stopped the major bleeding, Jason had been rushed up to surgery to try to remove the bullet that was lodged near his liver. A scant millimeter more and there would have been nothing anyone could do for him, Robin had told the family after surgery. The best of General Hosptial had worked on him and Jason had held his own.

How had this happened? The morning began so simply, and just like their usual routine. She met Jason at Kelly's diner near the waterfront, where they shared breakfast before she went to work at Deception Cosmetics and he went in to the PCPD, where he was working through the Department of Justice to clean up the mob activity in Port Charles.

She knew he took that job for her. Came back to Port Charles for her. Knew he worked so hard to pay Sonny back for hurting her so badly. Despite how dangerous his job could be, she never thought anyone would kill him for doing it.

It was strange now that she looked back on her relationship with Sonny and how terribly it had broken her. Now she couldn't understand how Sonny was capable of doing so much damage, not only to her heart but to her mind as well. She went through months of depression, feeling as though she couldn't live without Sonny until Jason demanded she see someone.

The last thing she wanted was to talk to a shrink but it probably was the best thing she had ever done. Those sessions helped her face things not only about Sonny but about herself. There she faced her abandonment issues and realized part of the reasons she had dated Sonny in the first place. He was an older man, powerful, an emotionally unavaliable at times. It had been a thumb in the face of everything her father had symbolized.

Now that she was over Sonny, the last thing she wanted was Jason to pay for her mistakes.

"You've been sitting here all night, Brenda. You should go home and get some rest."

The hand at her shoulder brought her from her worries and she looked into Robin's eyes, noting not only the concern for Jason but for her as well. "Tell me the truth. Is he going to pull through this?"

The petite brunette bit her lip, then sat down on the couch next to her. They were alone now, all of the Quartermaines had gone home hours ago, having heard Jason was stable in ICU. "Yes." And at her definite tone, Brenda could feel the fear in her stomach begin to release. "It was touch and go for a while. When I saw the location of the bullet entry, I was so scared," she confided not as a doctor but as one friend to another. "But he was lucky and we were able to remove it without any lasting damage. He'll be weak for a while but you know Jason, he will be up and on his feet in no time."

"Can I see him" She knew it was late and visiting hours were over. Not to mention she couldn't even claim the right of family. It was asking a lot of their friendship but if she was going to go home, she needed to at least see him first. "I'll only stay for a minute and I'll go home right after. Please Robin, I just need to look in on him."

"Fine," she conceeded, glancing around to see who was at the nursing station. The quick walk to ICU went in silence and unchallenged with Robin with her. "Just a few minutes. I'll be back before someone comes to check on him."

It was hard walking through the door. Even more so once she saw him laying in the bed connected to all the machines that were monitoring his vitals, giving medication and helping him to breathe. This man was so different than one of mere hours before. The Jason who held out her chair for her, teased her about her still calling him that silly nickname after all of these years.

Jason who was normally so vibrant and alive.

This pale drawn man was not her Jason.

"You know," she began, licking her lips to cover the crack of emotion in her voice. "I don't know if I ever told you how much it meant to me that you showed up to my wedding. I sent you that invitation mostly because no one had heard from you in months. But I knew."

She gulped hard, swallowing back tears that wanted to slip free. "I knew if you got it you'd come back. How did I know? I've noticed something about us, you know. Whenever one of us has ever really needed the other we always managed to make back to each other. To Lila's garden. You were there when I needed you most of all and I'll never forget that Jason. You've always been there when I needed you most."

The machine keeping track of his heart rate was her only response. Undetered she thread her fingers through his. "Jason please wake up. Please," she begged, squeezing his hand. "You better not leave me here all by myself, you big doody head, or I'll never forgive you."

When Brenda felt the slight squeeze against her fingers in return, she found the courage to whisper, "I love you."

and i forgot
to tell you
i love you
and the night's
too long
and cold here
without you
i grieve in my condition
for i cannot find the words to say i need you so

Fin