Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with anything related to General Hospital.

A/N: First off, I would like to apologize again for such a late update. I know some of you don't like it much when updates are slow (I don't like it either.). The fact that the site wasn't uploading my chapters successfully also didn't help.

Second, thank you so much for all of your reviews. It was nice to see so many people supporting Brazen! : )

Third, thanks for some of the ideas. I'll try to incorporate a couple of them in some way; the gears are already turning in my brain.

And for those that are interested, the identity of JC will be revealed in the ninth or tenth chapter.

So here's the long awaited chapter 7, Hope you guys like it. : )

Chapter 7: Hurt

"You're lying! You're lying!" Robin screamed back at her kidnapper. "He's not gone! Jason's still out there!" Robin escaped from the small office, but she stumbled on a guard's foot and dropped to the ground. She saw her tears soak the cement floor. She tried to hold them back, but she couldn't control her emotions anymore.

"Robin, Robin, calm down and take your medication," Her caretaker lifted her back to her feet and tried to hand her the medication. Her anger and sadness had been building up and once they were let out, she could not place them back in their box. She shoved him away and went after her kidnapper.

"You did this! You bastard!" Robin yelled, her body being held back from tackling her enemy. "Let me go! Let me go!"

A few moments later.

"We're here. You can let go of me now." Robin forced her kidnapper's grip off her arm and leaned next to the barred window. She had calm down somewhat after taking her medication, but she still felt as if she was pulled in thirty seven different directions. JC remained still at the doorway, watching Robin.

"Jason's really gone?" she asked. She was now on the ground, the wall as her back support, looking intently upon his face.

"There was a fire, no survivors." JC explained tritely.

"What was the cause of the fire?" her voice quivered.

"Does it matter?" JC retorted. She glared at him, desperation, hurt, and anger in her eyes. "The police say there was a bomb involved."

"So he did do it." She thought. She wiped a tear from her cheek and brushed dirt from her pants. She jumped onto the small cot and started to cry in the small pillow.

JC sighed and locked her door. "Watch her," he ordered the guard.

"Boss, why are we still keeping her if the guy's dead?" The guard whispered.

"Because he's not," JC answered and with that he left a confused guard and a devastated Robin in the dark hallway cell.

* * * * *

Brenda checked her pale face in the mirror, if only she had brought more make-up. Once she had the chance, she was going to go out and buy some much needed girly girl stuff. She applied the only tool in her pocket, a burgundy tinted lip stain, while toilets were flushing in the background. Her cough had not gone away, yet, and she had a noticeable cut on her forehead. Her curls had turned into limp waves while the stench of smoke remained in her clothes. They needed to stop somewhere soon to get them cleaned up.

Brenda returned to Jason's parked car to find Jason asleep in the driver seat.

She wondered if she should wake him up violently or tenderly, either way would amuse her. She watched him sleep for a couple minutes; enjoying the view of a gentle and relaxed Jason. She quickly snapped out of her staring, why was she just staring at him sleep?

"Ok, I'm done, let's go," she told Jason loudly as she slammed the car door extra hard. He did not respond; he remained motionless. "Jason? Ok I get it, is this supposed to show that I'm so vain and take too long in the restroom?" Brenda shook him violently with her right hand since her left shoulder hurt so badly. "Jason…this isn't funny. Hey, come on!" Then she noticed his bruised side, it looked worse than before. "Oh my god." Brenda frantically phoned an ambulance; within a few minutes, paramedics started storming out of a white hospital van with stretchers and medical bags.

"Wait, where are you taking him? He's going to be ok, right?" Brenda asked with a trembled voice. Her eyes began to form small tears, she could feel the cut in her forehead sting with pain.

"What's his name?" an EMT asked while he strapped Jason onto the stretcher.

"His name? It's Jas-" Brenda stopped, she couldn't give out their real names, could she? For all she knew, people may still be after her or both of them.

"What?" the medic screamed. A crowd had started to gather, murmuring at the site. Police started yelling for people to get out of the way.

"Jacob. His name is Jacob Maine" Brenda replied. He could pass for a Jacob, she thought. "Wait, can I ride with him, please, I'm --"

"Are you his wife?" the EMT interrupted in a routine manner type of voice.

"His wife? What are you ins-" Then it clicked. Maybe it wasn't so insane to be his spouse. "If I am, does that mean I can ride with him?"

"Ye--"

"Then, yes, I am. Brandy Maine, nice to meet you, now can I get in the ambulance?" Why did you just say that Brenda? Being a sister or cousin could have worked fine, she thought as she boarded the ambulance. But her thoughts about why she claimed she was Jason's wife quickly disappeared as she watched the medics work on Jason on their way to the hospital.

* * * * *

A melancholy Sonny sat in the hotel room and stared into nothing; a glass of rum in one hand, the other stroking his sleeping wife's hair. Her eyes were puffy, a dried tear on her cheek. Her face was free of any make up, her black attire now crumpled from an uneasy night's sleep. His thoughts tried to focus on who the hell put a bomb in the penthouse, but images of moments with Jason continued to roll through his head. First his sister, now his best friend; Sonny looked back at Carly. She and the children was all he had left.

* * * * *

"Shhh. It's ok. She's strong, she can fight this disease." The young man pulled a sobbing Brenda into his strong arms. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying all morning. She tried not to let anyone see, but he found her and she allowed herself to break down in front of him.

"She doesn't deserve this, Jase" she cried into his chest. He stroked her back but she began to pull away. She couldn't lean on him so much. "I'm sorry, it's just that, she's my little sister and"

"You're worried Brenda, I know. We're all worried." He replied, feeling a little hurt and upset that she slipped out of his arms.

Jason awoke with a start. "What the heck was that about?" he wondered and shook his head. Sleep with dreams hardly occurred, but lately it seemed as if his mind wanted him to dream. The room was still and dim, sunrise had just begun, a few tiny rays of light streamed through the window blinds. He groaned when he saw the various bandages and tubes attached to his body, reminding him of his helplessness.

His mind flashed back to three days ago: the fire, Marco, the balcony, and then him and Brenda driving off. Suddenly two days had passed by when he awoke just long enough to hear his prognosis; he had broken a rib, again, bled internally, and passed out in exhaustion.

Jason searched around the room and laid his eyes on her serene body, lying quietly in a chair to the right of his bed. Six small stitches sat above her perfectly arched right eyebrow and a sling on her left arm protected her shoulder from moving. Her blue hospital gown was loosely draped on her body and except for the bronze nail polish, her feet were bare. He smiled slightly at the peaceful figure. He watched her body as it moved slowly to the rhythmic pace of her breathing. Watching her sleep felt almost soothing to him.

Brenda opened her eyes slowly and saw a conscious Jason staring at her. She smiled and whispered a hello.

"Hey." Jason greeted quietly, "What are you doing here?"

Brenda pulled up her chair closer to Jason's bed, squishing her nose at the surprising high pitched scratching noise the chair made across the floor. "I knew you hated hospitals, so I wanted to be here when you woke up." She explained with a smile.

"Thanks, but I'm ok, you can leave now," Jason requested. He wondered if the reason was sincere or just an excuse for herself not to be alone in a cold hospital room. He wished he could read her expressions as easily as he could read Carly's or Courtney's. Her actions never made sense to him. He knew he would be able to read her more easily if he wasn't afraid of becoming close to her.

She disliked it whenever he pushed her away whenever she attempted to do a good deed or something nice for him. She could read his eyes; he really didn't want her to leave. His eyes were always harder to read than Sonny's or Jax's. There were more content and emotions, but even though he hid them well, she could always read him. "You are not ok, stop saying that. You know you hate hospitals, why push me out?" Brenda protested in a loud whisper.

"Because I said so," Jason ordered in a slightly louder tone. "Look, I said this was nice, but I'm fine here. Go-go back to your room. Where is it? Next door?"

"You just be quiet; I'm going to stay right here, and you can't do anything about it because you are hooked up to that tube thing." Brenda sat back in her chair and crossed her arms as if showing she was boss.

"Brenda." Jason threw off the bed covers and attempted to get out of the bed, but the tubes and everything else restricted him from doing so. "Damn"

"See? Why won't you listen and stop being so stubborn and commandeering?"

"I'm not the only one that's stubborn here," Jason's eyes locked with Brenda's, it was another battle of who could put up with who longer.

Jason sighed. "Brenda, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"Jason. Shush. No, I will not-"

"Go back next door," the arguing couple said simultaneously.

"I see both of you are awake," the nurse noticed and began flipping through their files. Behind the nurse's back, Jason silently tried motioning Brenda to leave while Brenda just sat there mocking Jason. "Ok, Mr. and Mrs. Maine just fill out these papers and you can leave this afternoon after we have another look at you." She looked back at the couple and noticed Jason's confused face and Brenda trying to hold in laughter. "What?" she asked.

"Could you let me have a couple more minutes with my…husband, please?" Brenda asked. The nurse sighed and gave Brenda and Jason five minutes by themselves.

"Mr. and Mrs. Maine?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, about that." Brenda began, but couldn't go on; laughter began to take a hold of her. "I'm so sorry. Ahem. I knew we couldn't give our real 411, you know because of the whole JC thing, so I just said the first name that popped in my head when they asked me your name. And I said…" Brenda began to giggle again.

"No," Jason couldn't help but smile, "Eddie Maine? That's what you told them?"

"You're Jacob Maine, cousin of Eddie Maine, and I'm your wife, Brandy." Brenda laughed harder and Jason just shook his head, making a face, obviously trying to hold in the laughter.

A/N: Like it? Kind of longer than the other chapters. Notice how this is the second time in my story that Brenda makes herself Jason's wife. Hmmm…..