Chapter 1: A Phone Call

Brenda noiselessly stood outside in the torrential rain.

How long had she been out here? An hour? The entire night? Only a few minutes? Brenda's shivering, numb body moved down the dirt brown path until she found a cold, cement bench to sit on.   

She rubbed her frozen hands together to create some warmth. She expected Jason to come find her and demand for an explanation a while back, but he hadn't- still hadn't. She knew Jason was alone inside now; the other man had left. What was he doing? Screaming at himself, freaking out even more?

A shaky breath escaped Brenda's moist, cracked lips.

"God…" she mumbled, wiping off the rain drops that had fallen onto her face off. " Oh, God."

She stayed like this for a while: all alone, except for the thoughts that ran over and over through her head.

Someone behind her cleared their throat, making Brenda jump.

"We'll be going back to Port Charles late tonight," Jason mumbled to her, his hands jammed into the pockets of his jacket. One of the hands came out, and he began to rub his chin. Brenda twisted her engagement ring to Jax nervously.

"Okay," she murmured back.

For a moment, they each stayed where they were quietly, but Jason turned back around to go inside. Brenda watched him leave, but after a few paces he stopped. She turned away from him instantly, not wanting to meet a gaze from him.

"What the hell happened in there?" Jason said, anger flushing through him. "You know, I'm trying not to get mad and attack you right now, but, Brenda, why couldn't you have just signed the damn papers?"

Brenda lifted her head up, meeting an infuriated Jason. She opened her mouth to reply, but she realized that she had no clue what she was going to say. So, instead, Jason continued,

"For the entire time we were married, all you could think of was Jax and being with him. So, I thought that it would be a good idea to get the annulment now instead of later, but we get in there, and you won't just sign the papers to end the thing that you hate with so much passion, our marriage." He paused.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Brenda looked up at Jason, who was waiting to hear some sort of explanation on her behalf. Words rushed to her head, but none of them seemed right for the situation.

"Don't you think I want to?" Brenda finally came up with, her voice higher than usual and cracking the entire time she spoke. "Don't you think I would have killed just to sign those papers?"

"Then why didn't you?"

Brenda let out a small cry of defeat, "I don't know!" she cried. "I just do not know!"

****

Courtney walked into her apartment and pulled off her cold, snow flaked coat. Once her coat was hung up, she went to check her messages. There, she found a piece of folded paper with her name on the front. She stared it for a while, twisting a strand of her blonde hair and wondering who it was. She unfolded the paper after a minute or two and read:

Courtney,

Went to get annulment. Be back sometime soon.

Jason

Courtney ran her hand over Jason's writing. After a moment, she picked up her phone and dialed Jason's cell phone number.

Ring.

Ring.

"Yeah?" the voice spoke.

"Hey, Jason."

****

"Okay," Jason reviewed, "You don't know why you couldn't sign the papers? Don't you love Jax?"

His hands found their way back into his jacket pocket.

"Of course I love him," Brenda answered quickly. " And I want to marry him."

"Then why couldn't you just sign the papers?"

Before Brenda could answer, there was a loud ring. Jason retrieved his cell phone from his pocket and spoke,

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Jason," Courtney's voice said from the other line.

"Courtney? Why are you calling?" Jason asked, wondering what Courtney could be wanting.

"No real reason. I just wanted to talk to you, that's all. Is that a crime?" Courtney replied, giving a short, soft laugh.

For a moment, neither Courtney nor Jason said a word. They just listened to the other line, an awkward silence in which neither knew what to say. Courtney was the one who decided to break the ice,

"So, have you gotten the annulment yet?"

A/N Yeah, I know I messed up on Jax name. Thanks for all the reviews of the last chapter, and I hope this chapter was to everyone's satisfaction. This is my first fic, so feel free to critic. They might have been out of character, but oh well. I know it was short too. I will try to make the next one longer. Please review.