'That's one company that Skye isn't going to get her hands on,' I thought as I worked on securing my accounts. The stunts she pulls can absolutely amaze me. Of all the people in the world, she is the last one I would have suspected to take some of my companies off of my hands. Although I don't know why that surprises me. She's smart. God knows she's devious enough to accomplish it. She took over ELQ practically on her own wits. She had no problems working her way under my skin and I was determined never to let anyone in again. Why would it surprise me that she would walk off with some of my companies? Did I really think that because she was my wife that I wouldn't need to watch my back around her? After the way that I left her, I should have seen it coming.

But this thing with the book, if it's a hoax, it's just too cruel. While I wouldn't put it past Skye to try to hit out at me on some emotional level, I don't think that she would go this far. That is more Alcazar's line of manipulation. Someone else could have sent that book and had Skye's name written in it in order to blame her for the stunt.

Let's face it I don't want to believe that Brenda is ill. That would make me wrong. I hate to be wrong. The fact that she wasn't and that Skye was keeping that information to herself was the platform I used to justify leaving her. I'm ready to admit that I was wrong to jump into a relationship with Brenda. I was in such a shock when she came back alive. I didn't take the time to make sure that I really knew that person that she had become. Actually, the more that I think about what I overheard her saying to Sonny, I'm not sure that I ever really knew her. But if Brenda really is ill, then I'm really confused. Why would she let me walk out that door thinking that Brenda was healthy that Skye was lying to me? Would I have listened to the truth? No, not at that point. Skye could have denied everything and I wouldn't have believed her. Come on. It's time to admit the truth to myself, even if I won't say it to anyone else. I was looking for a reason.

And what is the truth? Is that book nothing more than some sick practical joke sent to screw with our minds or is it a warning. Who has been lying to me? Skye or Brenda? I'm not sure that I trust either one to tell me the truth at this point. Skye, well, she's Skye. If a small lie here or there will turn a situation in her favor, I wouldn't put it past her. It's just a part of what makes her, her. I've always known that. It's one of those little habits that I had eventually hoped to break her of. It's why I began to suspect something when I found that ticket to Switzerland. But Skye really doesn't have anything to gain here. And Brenda? Well, after that little conversation I overheard between her and Sonny, I know that she hasn't told me anything resembling the truth about where she has been or even why she disappeared. If Sonny was bankrolling her four years ago then she obviously wasn't sitting on some boat of Alcazar's recovering from amnesia.

So, who is telling the truth? There again, I keeping thinking about how nervous Brenda was after she found out what was in the package. Obviously it was the same one that was in my apartment. Why would she deny picking it up after giving it to me? Look how quick her stories changed when she handed it to me. First it was how she must have picked it up at the same store to how it must have been a sick twisted joke that Skye was playing. I'm not sure that it even clicked in Brenda's mind how bad her lies really were.

So if I have to choose someone to believe. Well actually I don't. Jason's right. The truth is just a few computer clicks away. So I took a deep breath and clicked the doctor's name into the search engine and waited. The seconds that ticked by felt like minutes. Finally, after several seconds, the search engine brought up five different links. The first link was to the clinic in Switzerland. Nothing much there. They had lots of information on their location and specialties, but nothing about the actual doctors. The second site was links to his research. The thirds site, while pictureless, sent me into shock. If there was ever a time that I felt like a complete and utter fool, this was it. After all this time, there in black and white was all the evidence I needed to prove how badly Brenda had played me. It was an advertisement for an actor to play the good doctor. And below the ad, was Brenda's e-mail account.

Had I been that easy to read? Was I really that easily manipulated? Now I was just plain mad. It was bad enough when I thought that I made the mistake of falling in with Brenda because Skye was lying to me. To know that Brenda manipulated the entire situation from the start. My God, what I put my wife through. And I bought Brenda's act, hook, line and sinker. Hell, I even defended her when Skye tried to point out what Brenda really was like. It probably wasn't all that hard to set it up either. Hell, I even told Brenda what I perceived to be Skye's weaknesses. Brenda asked me for them. How much of an idiot was I? I accused Skye of betraying me? I have betrayed her in a hell of a lot worse ways since Brenda came to town in both actions and thoughts.

I felt sick to my stomach. Oh God, have I screwed up.

---

I jumped when the phone rang. Temporarily startled, I had forgotten where I left my cell phone. I followed the sound of the ringing to my coat on the other side of the room. I scooped down, picked it up, hit the button, and said, "Jax here."

"Jax, thank god. You're Okay." I heard Ned's voice practically sigh in relief.

"What's going on?" I said in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"There was a shooting tonight in front of Club 101. They're not releasing the names of the people who were hurt. I knew that you had gone so I was worried."

"What? No I left early. I had a problem with Brenda so Jason and I took her home."

"Turn on the television to channel 7. They are showing some footage at the scene. Oh God! You better turn it on quick."

"What?" I said as I flipped to the channel. "Oh God, it's Skye!" The cameraman was focusing in on a paramedic who seemed to be leading her toward an ambulance. "She's hurt." I mumbled as I noticed the blood that seemed to cover her favorite jacket. "Ned, I have to go."

"I'm at the hospital now. I will track down Alan and see what I can find out. I can probably get more information from Alan than you can. He hasn't been all that happy with you since you left her."

"Thanks, Ned." I said before I broke the connection and ran out the door. I was moving so fast that I nearly knocked down one of my neighbours on the way to the elevator. I didn't stop. I just yelled sorry as the elevator's doors closed behind me.

As I ran into the hospital, the sight in front of me stopped my mad dash. As I was coming in, a ranting Brenda was being escorted out in handcuffs. When she looked up and saw me, she tried to pull away from the officer to talk to me.

"Jax! I knew that you would come. You have to help me."

"Call Jason. He's your husband now." I told her and tried to walk past her.

"But these idiots are actually trying to arrest me for the shooting tonight. They won't listen to me. You have to make them listen to me. She just kept getting in the way. She wouldn't go away like all the others did after I won. I had to get rid of her. She would have just kept on interfering in our lives."

"You did this." I said in a cold tone.

Brenda hadn't even noticed how stiff I had become. "It had to be done. Don't you see that? I can't continue to live with the fear that she will interfere with what I want. After Alcazar died, everything got so much better. Then she came along and started snooping around. I couldn't live like that again. I refused to be afraid like that again. I had to get rid of her. You have to talk to them. You have to make them understand."

"No, Brenda. I don't have to do a damn thing."

Brenda stood there for a moment in stunned silence as she absorbed the fact that he was telling her no. "But you have to help me. You always help me. It doesn't matter what I do. You always forgive me then you help me."

"Not this time. Not for this."

"It's that Bitch!" Brenda screamed as they practically dragged her away. "She got to you somehow. This won't be the end of it. You're mine. Do you hear me? You belong to me. You will see. When she is dead, you will come crawling back to me."

"Yeah, Yeah! Feel free to keep talking. You do remember the part where I told you your right, don't you?" Taggert said from behind her.

Brenda glared at him.

"Oh good, I can see by that glare that you do. So while, I'm sure that you have given us enough to convict you for life, feel free to keep going. Every extra little bit helps." Taggert nodded to me as he escorted her out the door.

Before the door even closed, I turned my attention to the nurse's station. "Miss, I am looking for a patient that was brought in tonight. Skye Chandler Quartermaine Jacks. I'm her husband.

The nurse clicked on the computer for a little bit and looked up at him. "I'm sorry sir. But no one with that name was admitted here tonight."

"Would she have been taken to a different hospital? General Hospital was the closest. She was injured in the shooting tonight at Club 101."

"Jax, she's okay." I heard Bobby's voice right behind me.

"Are you sure? I saw her on the TV. They were showing coverage from earlier tonight. She was practically covered in blood." I began to take in Bobby's shaky appearance. "Bobby, what's wrong? What happened?"

Bobby shook her head. "I saw her. The blood wasn't hers. It was Frisco and Felicia that were shot tonight."

"Frisco and Felicia? Wait, Felicia Scorpio? Who's Frisco?"

Bobby nodded. "Frisco is Felicia's ex-husband. He just came back to town. That was his blood that was on her jacket. Apparently Skye and he are friends."

"And Skye was right there when he was shot." I concluded. "She must be shaken up. I need to find her."

"I sent her up to the waiting rooms on the fourth floor. That's where Frisco and Felicia are in surgery."

"Bobby, thanks."

---

"Hey Jax!" I turned around when I heard Ned call out my name. I waited for Ned to catch up.

"Hey Ned. Skye wasn't the one who was hit. I ran into Bobby on the first floor."

"Yes, I know. I saw her in Alan's office a little while ago. You won't believe who else was there and what happened."

"Brenda, and she gave a full confession to arranging the shooting tonight at the club."

Ned looked at me in surprise. "How did you know? It just happened."

"I ran into Brenda as she was escorted out. But that's not important. I need to find Skye. Bobby said that Skye went to the waiting room on this floor." I said as I started again down the hallway.

Ned grabbed my arm and shook his head. "She's not there. I already looked. Mac's there waiting for news on Felicia. He said that the last time he saw her she was headed towards Alan's office to get some scrubs so that she could change out of her bloodied clothes. I wouldn't go in there by the way. He knows that Brenda is behind this and I have a feeling that you, Jason, and Sonny aren't going to be all that popular for having gotten her out of jail in the first place. As it is, he was so upset with my part in this mess that I probably wouldn't have found out that if Sam hadn't been there."

I grimaced slightly when I heard his name.

"Have you met Sam yet?" Ned continued. "He seems like a pretty good, straightforward guy. I'm surprised to see him mixed up with my cousin."

"Ned will you lay off of Skye."

"Sorry, insulting her has almost become second nature."

"You said that you had been looking for her?"

"We all have. Sam, some model named Tori, Alan, even Jason has joined in this search. Apparently when Brenda walked into Alan's office, she thought Skye was a ghost. She started bragging about what she did. She wasn't exactly quiet about it either. I was in the hall talking to Alan when she started. We heard the entire thing. Something is definitely wrong with Brenda's mind. Jason thinks that she really is ill."

"I know that she is. She hired an actor to play that doctor that I supposedly talked to. This entire time, I've been reacting to this perfect little script of Brenda's that placed Skye in the worst light possible. So Skye knows everything?"

"That Frisco and Felicia were shot in Brenda's attempt to kill her. Oh yes. And to make it worse, Alan asked Jason why he didn't stop Brenda before she gave her confession in front of Skye."

"Alan did what?"

"I don't think that he meant it in quite the way it came out. But the way that it came out didn't sound all that good. That's when she took off. We have been looking for her ever since. We have all taken different areas of the hospital."

"Are you sure that she is still here?"

"Well, Sam seems to know her pretty well. He believes that she wouldn't leave before knowing that Frisco and Felicia are out of danger. Just in case, Jason is covering the door to the taxis. We planted Alan in his office just in case she remembers to come back for her shoes. Apparently she had started to change in his office before Brenda and Jason walked in. She left them there when she stormed out. That's another reason why we are fairly sure that she is still in the hospital. Tori is checking all the lady's rooms. Sam is checking the floors below us and working his way up. So, if you want to start on the top floor and work your way down, it would help."

I nodded. "Thanks Ned. I know that Skye isn't your favorite person."

Ned shrugged his shoulders. "I figure that at the very least, I owe her an apology. Hell, the whole family does. We supported everything Brenda was doing since we found out that she was alive. We let her move into the mansion. We supported her when she married Jason because it gave us a link to try to pull him back in. Hell, Grandfather practically threw himself a party the day Brenda broke up your marriage to Skye. Okay, so I supported the break-up too. How was I to know that the woman that we all used to love and know had become such a crazed monster?"

"There were signs. But with all the crazy things that have been happening lately, we really didn't pay any attention. If one of us finds Skye, how will the rest of us know?"

Ned pulled out his cell phone. "Everyone has my number and I have theirs. If you find her, call me and I will call everyone else."

"Okay, thanks Ned." I took off towards the elevator.

---

I never really thought about how many places there were to hide in a hospital until I actually had to look for Skye. After going through the top two floors, I was tempted to pressure Alan into using Security to find her. The only thing that stopped me was that she would probably be angry at me for sending security after her. I figure that she has enough reason to be upset. I don't need to add anything more to it.

I was working my way down to the sixth floor when my cell phone rang. Thank God, someone found her. "Where is she?" I said before Ned could say anything.

"Where's who, Jax?" I heard Chris ask.

Damn, it's not Ned. "Sorry, I was expecting someone else."

"Obviously."

"I don't take this the wrong way, but I need you to be quick. I need to keep this line open."

"Expecting an important call?"

"Yes."

"Anyone I know?"

"Chris, I don't mean to be rude, but, if you don't spit out the reason you called right now, I'm going to hang up."

"There has been another fire."

"Shit! Which company?"

"Chasam, our New York Branch."

"They are hitting closer to home. How bad was it?"

"The entire building's gone, but no one was killed. It was definitely arson. From the reports coming in, it was done in the same style as all the others. I can't get there to see it myself for at least two more days. It will take me at least that long to finish cleaning up the mess from the last fire."

I nodded. "I'll go in the morning."

"Wait, don't you want the specifics?"

"Later, I need this line open. Fax them to me."

"Okay. And Jax, be careful. Whoever is burning down your companies might just go after you next."

"I will. I'll talk you latter."

The second I hung up, the phone rang again.

"Where were you?" I heard Ned's voice practically shout.

"Sorry, Chris called. I got him off as soon as I could."

"Tori found Skye. She's in the bathroom one floor above me. Sam's headed up there now and Jason is leaving. I told Sam that I would stay here and wait for news on Frisco and Felicia until everyone could get down here."

"Thanks Ned."

"Anytime."

I didn't waste any time getting down to the fifth floor bathroom. Getting past Sam, however, turned out to be a little more difficult. He was leaning against the ladies room door, glaring at me. Before I could get through the door, He slammed his arm across the entryway.

"Jax, In case you didn't notice, this is the Lady's room. I happen to know from past experience that they never appreciate it when you barge into that room. It doesn't matter how good your intentions are. Sit down and wait. When she is ready, she will come out."

"She shouldn't be alone in there."

"She's not. She's got Tori and two nurses."

"Tori, I assume, is the girl who was sitting at the table with you tonight. Two nurses?"

Sam shrugged. "They ran in when Tori asked for help. Apparently, Skye fainted."

"What?" I pushed passed Sam's arm. There was no way I was going to stay out here if she was ill in there.

"Okay, but you're taking your own life into your hands. Don't say that I didn't warn you." I heard Sam call out from behind me.

In front of me, I heard two nurses asking someone if they were done being sick.

"I think so." I heard Skye reply as I walked to the stalls. I saw Skye, extremely pale, dressed in scrubs and sitting on the floor of the handicap stall with two women in nurses and Tori hovering over her.

"Skye, I think." I started to say. But then Skye looked at me. She turned a little green, crawled back over to the toilet and started dry heaving. The three other women in the room turned to look at me and said simultaneously, "Get out." When I didn't move right away, Tori grabbed my arm, twisted it around to my back and pushed me back out the way that I came. "And stay out." She called from behind me.

Okay, maybe going in there wasn't such a good idea.

"Told you so." I turned around and saw Sam laughing at me.

--

After watching Jasper Jacks pace in front of the bathroom door for 15 minutes, even I began to feel sorry for him. I mean, it was obvious that the guy still had feelings for Skye. He looked kind of like I did that time Tori got shot and the doctors made me wait outside and wouldn't tell me anything because we weren't married. That was an oversight that I quickly fixed not long after she got out. Man, am I glad that I'm not sitting in his doghouse. He looked like he was going to go slightly nuts. When he looked like he was going to try going back in again, I took pity on the guy and decided to distract him. "I wouldn't. I don't know about Skye, but Tori considers the ladies room to be a no man zone. She holds firm to that idea. She will just kick you out again."

Jax looked at me, clearly annoyed, "Words of wisdom from a man who claims personnel experience with this subject. So tell me Sam, have you walked into any lately?"

Sam smiled distantly like he was remembering something. "The first time that I saw Tori, I followed her right into one. I wasn't really paying attention to were I was going."

Jax looked at me in disbelief. "You were so mesmerized by her that you didn't notice she was going into the woman's bathroom?"

"Uh, Something like that." I said thinking about the documents that she was carrying that day that I was supposed to take off of her. "The worst part of it is, I was trying to be discrete about it. I never planned on her catching me watching her."

Jax actually managed to laugh at that. "I bet it was a dead giveaway when you followed her into the ladies room."

"The guys that I was with that day still haven't let me live that one down. I thought Tori was going to kill me."

"It couldn't have been that bad. When I think about it. It's almost of compliment."

"Tori didn't think so. She pulled a gun on me."

"What?"

"Look at it from her point of view. Some stranger she spots following her follows her into the ladies room. She was freaked out. For all she knew, I could have been dangerous." Especially in the line of business that we are in, I thought.

Our conversation was promptly interrupted when we heard footsteps coming toward the door and the nurses stepped out. "Is she okay?" I asked. When she didn't look like she was going to say anything, I added, "He's her husbands." Well technically they are still married. I'm betting that he's not above using that fact to his advantage.

"She's refusing to let us admit her into the hospital or call a doctor. She claims that the nausea is due to stress. While I don't doubt that she is under a lot of stress at the moment from what the other you lady was telling us, has she ever reacted this way to stress before?"

Jax and I both said no.

"Well, I would advise convincing her to see a doctor, just in case this is something more serious."

I thanked the nurse and noticed that Jax was at the ladies room door again. He didn't go in. He just had it opened a crack so that he could hear what was going on in there. If it weren't for the fact that those two might say something that they shouldn't about our new business dealings, I would have let him. But on top of everything else, the last thing that we needed was news that the WSB as moving into town to leak out from his direction. I walked over to shut the door and groaned when I heard what they were saying.

"Skye, I think that nurse was right. If this was just a one-time thing I might not being making anything of it. But you did throw up at the Club and that was before all the shooting started. You just had a miscarriage not that long ago. There might be something wrong."

I watched Jax freeze at those words. I pulled Jax back and closed the door. The poor guy looked like he was going to pass out.

"She miscarried?"

I nodded.

"My child?"

"As far as I know."

"Why wasn't I called?"

"Would it have mattered if we had? Alan called you the night Alcazar was killed. Where were you? Because I know for a fact that you weren't at the hospital with her."

"I didn't get that phone call."

"I talked to Alan. He says that you hung up the second he mentioned that Skye was at the hospital."

"Oh God. Brenda answered my cell phone that night while I was in the bathroom."

"Do us all a favor and don't ever mention that little fact to Skye. Knowing that you were with that witch would probably hurt her worse than think that you didn't care enough to come in. For the record, she didn't know that she had been pregnant, much less miscarried until after it was long over. It was actually the doctors in Switzerland that caught it."

"Switzerland?"

"Yeah, you remember. Her little trip to Switzerland that she took while you were in the hospital turned out to be very informative."

"I thought that she had gone there to snoop into Brenda's past."

I shrugged. "Skye has her reasons for everything she does. They never seem to fall in any clear cut black and white, right or wrong category."

"Should our ears be ringing?" Tori said as she and Skye came out. It looked like Skye had regained some color.

Skye nodded in our direction. "Sam, Jax, have you heard anything?"

"Frisco is out of surgery. He's going to be fine."

"Felicia?"

"She is still in surgery."

"Oh God." Skye looked like she was going to sink to the floor again.

"No Skye, that's actually good news." I said

Tori nodded. "If she is in surgery, then she isn't dead. As long as she isn't dead, she has a chance."

"This is all my fault."

"Excuse me, but I don't see how?"

"I knew that she was still sick. I didn't say anything right away. Frisco and Felicia were shot because she was trying to kill me."

"If you are guilt because you knew that she was ill then Frisco, Tori and I are just as guilty."

"And who's to say that anything would have happened differently if we had known." Jax added. "Brenda was walking around free even when we did think that she was ill. I don't think that knowing would have changed all that much. We really didn't understand how violent she could get in her current mental state."

Skye focused completely on Jax now. "How could you not know how violent she is? She burnt down Alcazar's boat while she was still on it for god's sake. By the way, how did she get out of that one? People died and she was never charged."

"I think that Alcazar paid some people off to look the other way." I answered.

"She has already proven that she can get away with murder. Why wouldn't she think that she could get away with a few more dead bodies lying around?" Skye looked at Jax. "By the way, why are you here instead of bailing out your precious Brenda?"

"Skye, I haven't been with Brenda since that night. It was a mistake I wish that I could take back."

"Why? Because it turns out that she really is ill? You're suddenly willing to settle for second best because you know that you can't spend your life with your perfect love of your life. When exactly did you have this realization Jax? Because I didn't see you running back to me after you crawled through her sheets."

"When did I have this realization? I had it when I finally came to my senses and realized that my memory of that woman was a hell of a lot better than reality. I had it every time I came face to face with her and had to remind myself that this was the woman I had once thought that I wanted to spend my life with in order to keep from ringing her neck. I had it every time that I saw you across the room and wanted to cross over to you and pull you back into my arms. I had it every time that I listened to one of her lies and found myself missing your half-truths because at least what you did made sense. I had it when I realized that I could never spend forever with her because I was still in love with you."

Skye was standing there, practically crying. "You missed my lies?"

"Now, don't get me wrong. I prefer it when you tell me the truth. But you have logical reasons behind the things you do. You can be argued with. I miss that quick mind of yours. I miss your wit. I miss fighting and making up. I want another chance." Jax moved in closer and put his hands to both sides of her face. "Will you give me that chance?"

"You really hurt me."

"I think that we really hurt each other."

"I'm never going to be perfect."

"Perfect is boring."

"I tell lies."

"I know."

"That's not going to change anytime soon."

"We will work on that."

"I'm still mad at you."

"I can live with that."

Just as he moved in for a kiss, our phones rang. Skye gave a light laugh. Jax swore.

"It's a text message. Felicia is out of surgery and in intensive care. Ned wants us to get down there."

Jax looked at Skye. "Shall we?" Skye nodded. Jax put his arm around her and they walked down the hall.

I looked at Tori and smiled. "I think that they are going to be okay."

Tori smiled at me and nodded. "I think so too."

"Frisco isn't going to like it though."

"Why is that?"

"Among other things, what are the chances that we are going to be able to talk her into finishing raiding her husband's companies now that they're not fighting?"

"Give it time. You never know, Skye might surprise us all yet."

----

Three miles outside Port Charles Harbor

"I just got word back from our contact in New York. The fire went according to plan. He wants to know his next target."

She sat at the desk, flipping through the various files lying there. So many people were to blame. So many loose ends to take care of. She pulled out a file and handed it to the man.

"Brenda Morgan?"

"She broke her promise to me. She said that she would make him happy. He seemed to love her. I would have never stepped aside if I had known how miserable she would make him. My contact says that she was taken to jail tonight."

"What do you want done?"

"These fools want to place her in a nut house. Call in some favors. Have her put into one controlled by us.

"Will that be all?"

"Send someone to make it as painless as possible. I wouldn't want to be accused of torturing the insane."

"Yes Madame."