Brenda looked up at Mac Scorpio and wondered if there were possibly anyone else that needed to be questioned. She'd spoken to D.A. Lansing. She'd spoken to the arresting officers, and to Detective Taggert. She told them all the same thing, and honestly, she was just tired of repeating the same story over and over again. No, she didn't see anything. Yes, she heard footsteps behind her. They were crunching the snow. Yes, she heard gunshots. Yes, some of them came from behind her.
"I just need you to be clear on everything that happened, Brenda," he said. "I need to be perfectly clear that you're not covering up for anybody."
Her eyes flicked to Luis. He sat with his face straight, lips a thin line, handcuffed to a desk parallel to her. There was nothing to read in his eyes, no hint whether he was upset or pleased with himself. She wished he would let something show, something to tell her that he was still the man she had known, that he was still the one that had run off in the night, leaving her to lay alone in the bed.
The District Attorney was different, as was the Chief of Police, but that didn't change the fact that they all had a jones for getting Luis Alcazar in jail. They wanted to regain the victory that had been lost by their predecessors. There was nothing any of them could do about past offenses, but now… There was gunpowder residue on his hands. Two men were dead and neither of them were Lucky Spencer or Luis Alcazar. Murder was afoot in Port Charles, and they were ready to place the blame.
"I didn't see anything," she said with a sigh. "I told you, already… We were standing outside of the Grille, talking." She stopped. "You know, I've said this same thing over and over again, to who knows how many people. Why do I have to say it again?"
"This is the last time," Mac told her. "Just once more."
Brenda sighed. She turned towards the entranceway and waited for Jax to come inside. She had called him after the second telling of the story… or was it the third? He said he was on his way, but he'd yet to show up. Maybe if he walked through the door, she'd have the strength to tell the police to go to hell. Of course, knowing Jax, he would probably tell her to cooperate. He was no more thrilled about Luis being in town than the police.
She couldn't blame him, really. She had kept Luis's presence a secret as long as she could, but when he decided to show up at their cottage, there was nothing she could do. She had to stand there and watch while Luis tossed smirks Jax's way, letting him know without words that he was going to have Brenda back one way or another. So, no, Jax wouldn't help her escape the police. He would only insist that she do all that she could to have him put away.
"We were talking, alright? We were talking and… I don't know. It was more like one of those, stop talking to me, ex-relationship sorta things, ya know? And then, he pushed me down and there were shots. I…" She stopped and looked at Luis, again. He just sat there, watching her, staring at her. It was as though he'd never turned away from her, though she had done that to him. Still looking at him, she said, "All I know is that someone was shooting at us. I think… I know… I mean, I think… I think it was just self-defense."
Mac stood up, visibly angry. She could tell that he wanted her to say something damning, but she couldn't. As much as she hated Luis for the way he left, for never calling her, she couldn't send him to jail. Even if it hadn't been self-defense, she didn't know if she would have been able to say anything else. She'd spent years protecting him and couldn't stop that easily.
Mac walked away and Brenda was left to stare at Luis. Then to stare at his brother's back as Lorenzo walked in and blocked her view. Alexis walked past them and barged into the interrogation room, where they were holding Lucky. Within minutes, they would all be leaving, but she knew it wouldn't be the last she saw of Luis, and by association, Lucky. Luis hadn't given up yet, and part of her knew that he would take her defense of his actions as something more, as a chance that the two of them still had a future. He wouldn't take it for what it was; her telling as much of the truth as she could remember.
Lorenzo walked away and when she saw Luis's face again, he was smirking. Lorenzo's back was straight as he walked away, which meant that Luis probably got one over on him. He stopped outside of the interrogation room and took a call on his cell. He spoke softly for a few minutes, then hung up. Now, he was angry. She couldn't see his face as he turned towards his brother, but his body was rigid and held a slight tremor. He barged into the interrogation room, and the door slammed behind him.
With a sigh, Brenda stood up. She walked slowly, on shaky legs, towards Luis. The bottom of her black slacks were wet with melted snow. She clutched her coat tightly against her, covering the wetness that covered the front of her body. She'd been pressed so hard against the ground, underneath Luis's body, that that she was soaked through. At one time she had been cold, but now, she was just numb.
"I showed you too much," she whispered, drawing closer to Luis. Brenda didn't know exactly why she was telling him any of this. She had just felt a need to do so. Since yelling at him that first day, she knew it had been the wrong course of action. Showing him that she held so much anger just showed that she still cared. It showed that she'd never really let him go, and that only served to push him on in his endeavors to reclaim her for his own.
"You didn't need to see that, and I didn't need to feel it." She looked down at him and sighed. His eyes betrayed nothing. If he felt anything at her words, her presence, he didn't let her know. She hadn't seen anything in his eyes after he rose from on top of her outside of the Port Charles Grille. Then, there had been concern, so similar to when the loft had been shot up with her inside, or the dozens of times they'd almost been shot in South America . There had also been a hint of excitement over the rush of what had just happened. Now, there was nothing. "Luis…"
"You needed to feel it, Brenda. You know you did, because you still love me." He sighed. "You have your engagement and your Aussie playboy, but you know he's not what you want. He's not me."
"That's right, Luis, he's not you." Brenda took in a deep breath and her body shook with its release. "He's not going to leave me in the middle of the night. If he goes away, he'll let me know that he's alright. He won't leave me here for years to wonder if he's doing okay, if he still loves me, if he's moved on…"
"Do you really think I could move on?"
"This isn't about what you could do, Luis. It's not even about what you did. I know Lorenzo. I know he didn't tell you that I was miserable, that I went to him and begged him to tell you to come back and get me. I knew all of that, so I moved on. But now… Today proves exactly why I can't be with you anymore."
"Today only proves that I can still protect you. That I'll take the danger."
"The only way you can protect me is to let me go. To let me move on because being with you… There's too much pain in being with you, Luis. I've grown these years, and I've matured, but you…" Her eyes closed as she shook her head, pushing away the flashes of times with Luis, the danger and intrigue, but also the love and the exhileration of sex. "…you turn me into that selfish little girl I was that tried to break up Karen and Jason. You turn me into this woman that's been gone so long I can't even recognize her."
"I turn you into what you really are. You're my butterfly, my vibrant color free and wild. I didn't bring you out of your coccoon just for you to go back into it. This isn't you, Brenda. We both know that. Jasper Jacks…" Luis said the name with distaste, as though just uttering it left a foul taste in his mouth and if he spit enough, it might eventually go away. "…he can't make you happy."
She wanted to tell him that neither could he, but the words wouldn't push out of her throat. She was prepared to tell him that she was happy with Jax, that he loved her and she loved him, but again, the words wouldn't come out. She heard someone call her name and she turned. Jax was a few feet away, standing with his hands at his side. Brenda didn't know what he thought of what he saw, or how much he had seen. Had he heard anything that either of them said or was he too far away?
She shook her head. It didn't matter. She gave a last look to Luis and crossed the floor. The heels of her boots thumped heavily on the tile floor. She reached out and wrapped her arms around Jax. She held him as he pressed her face against his chest. His chin rested on top of her head. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
Brenda looked up at him, then turned to look at Luis. His eyes were cold as they passed her head and stared at Jax. Her fiancee's body stiffened and she knew that neither man was going to give up. She felt that in the end, she would be forced to choose and despite everything she'd just told Luis, it was not an easy decision to make.
"I need to get back to L&B," she said, ignoring the question of her condition. She wasn't alright, at all, but staring at Luis she could neither tell the truth of her answer nor lie about it. She wanted him to go away, leave her in peace as he'd left her in turmoil, because the longer he was in town, the harder it became to deny that she still loved him.
At last, Jax turned with Brenda in his arms, leading her out of the police station. However, they only reached a few steps before she stopped, hearing the call come over the nearby radio as they passed the desk. "There's a fire raging at The Cellar. We need all units at The Cellar. It's believed that Zander Smith and Carly Alcazar are still inside the building…"
