This is an installment in the series following General Hospital Redux. All of the cast changes from the previous story have transferred here. This story will follow Luis's actions to get Brenda back, and whether or not she will let herself fall into his arms again. There will be others in the series, but I am posting this one first, as this arc's outcome was the most requested of the open-ended relationships from the original story. Also, these installments will be undoubtedly shorter than the massive story that GHR originally became. Thanks to everyone who left feedback for the prior story and I hope that you enjoy this one as well.

She thought when the danger was over, he would leave. Once it was clear that his family would be fine, or as fine as that particular group could be, that he would go away and leave her to live her life in peace. Of course, that was wishful thinking and Brenda Barrett couldn't think of one time when her wishful thinking had brought her anything more than disappointment. Why should this time be any different?

It was still too cold to be standing outside without a coat on, but she needed to get away. He was in there, staring at her from across the room, making life a lot more complicated than it had to be. But, then again, nothing with him had ever been simple. There were always so many twists and turns, so many sharp edges to manuever around. Life with Luis Alcazar had never been anything but complicated so to expect anything different now was a fool's game on her part.

But, still, she wanted him to let this be the one time that he let things just lie. For a moment, even after realizing that he was staying in Port Charles, she had thought that maybe he would leave her alone. Her time of solitude proved only to be a slight reprieve, however. A reprieve that lasted until he was healed and able to walk around town without the ache of bullet wounds unhealed.

Then, he was there. He was always there. He showed up at L&B uninvited. He found her hiding out with Ned Ashton at the Quartermaine mansion. He found excuses to have her called to Harborview Towers so he could accidentally-on-purpose run into her in the lobby. If the renovation of The Cellar were complete, he would have surely followed here there, too. And tonight… Tonight, he was in Luke's for no good reason, and when the air was warm enough, he would be on the Haunted Star, too. There was no place she could go to escape him.

Brenda looked down to her left hand and sighed. As her wedding to Jax drew closer, Luis's visits became more frequent and more bold. The announcement in the Port Charles Herald, and various other papers around the country, seemed to spur him on. He hoped to have her back, and he had to do it before she walked down the aisle. So, instead of just smiling at her, he spoke to her. Instead of sarcastic comments about Jasper Jacks, he gave her memories of their better times together.

Thank God for Lois Cerullo. If it weren't for Lois, she would have broken by now. Lois may have been long-time friends of the Alcazars, but she was faithful to her friendship with Brenda. She knew that her best friend was weak and she would crumble under Luis's pressure. She was firm in her motivation. "Jax is a safe life, Brenda. Jax is all the money of Luis, without the running. Without the unnecessary excitement." It was all true, and should have been very good advice.

But then, sometimes, Brenda wondered if it were just good reverse psychology. As much as Lois knew that Brenda needed the security, she also knew that the quickest way to get Brenda to do something was to tell her not to do it. She pressed way too hard at times for her to stay away from Luis. She wondered if Luis had gotten to her already and really, Lois was working against her.

"It's cold out here." Brenda sighed and kept her back turned from him. She stared out across the lot, staring at the cars parked across the way. It figured that he would be the one to come outside.

"What did you do to Jax?"

"Would I do anything to him?"

Brenda could hear the smirk in his voice, and this time, she did turn around. When she looked at him, though, she wished he hadn't. Luis stared at her with light eyes so heated that she swore they should have been darker. The pressure and fire coming from his light blue eyes were something that should have come from brown eyes, or maybe even coal black. It made her uncomfortable, but at the same time, was so familiar that she started to warm the same as she had done in the past. Just one glance from him, at one time, had been enough to heat her blood, and this moment seemed no different.

Brenda shook her head. "If you're out here and Jax is still inside, then you had to have done something." Luis didn't speak, just took off his jacket. "What are you doing?"

"Your shirt's thin, Brenda." He offered her the jacket. "Put this on."

She turned away from him and stared back across the lot. "Go away, Luis," she said with a heavy sigh. "I came out here to get away from you so just… stop looking at me. Stop talking to me. Go back to wherever you were hiding out."

The jacket landed on her shoulders and Brenda sighed. Luis's hands pressed against her arms, just above her elbows, and she groaned. "I didn't do anything to your playboy," he told her. Brenda groaned again. He always called Jax that. He never referred to him as anything that could be construed as acknowledging her impending wedding. He was just the playboy. "Lois told him to give you some time, and I had Sam sneak me out the back."

"I knew you had Lois on your side." Her eyes narrowed. Brenda pressed her palms against the wooden banister. Her fingers wrapped around it and she squeezed. "That's low as hell, Luis. Using my best friend against me. But, of course, you've always played dirty. I should have expected as much. I just expected more from Lois."

"Lois isn't in on anything with me. When she tells you to stay away from me, she means it. She thinks I'll break your heart, again."

"Won't you?" Brenda turned towards him and stared at him with as hard a gaze as she could manage. "The next time you get in trouble, won't you leave again? Won't you run off and save your ass and…" She stopped and shook her head. "Wouldn't you do it, again, Luis?"

"This isn't all my fault, Brenda. I asked you to go with me. Yeah, you had your reasons for staying and they were good ones. But you can't say that I left you, because I tried to get you to come with me."

"So, now it's my fault." She snorted. "That's just like you, Luis. To hand away half the blame and not even answer the real question. Wouldn't you do it, again?"

"If I had to?" His shoulders drooped. "Yes, I would, but I'd do it exactly the same way. You're acting like I ran off without trying. Like I didn't show you how much I wanted to run with you, not away from you. If I had to run again, I'd ask you to come with me, just like I did last time. The question is, would you leave with me this time? Because, in the end, you broke your own heart when you decided to stay in Port Charles."

She opened her mouth to yell at him, but he was right. That was worse than if he'd actually admitted to breaking her heart. No one liked their own misdeeds thrown in their face. Not that she would stop throwing Luis's back at him. As far as Brenda knew, that was the only way to get him to back off, at least a little bit. But, to hear her own…

She had broken her own heart. Luis could have easily gotten this stuff together and been gone by the time she got back to their apartment, but he wasn't. He did his best to convince her to go with him, and when he realized that it wasn't going to happen, he made love to her one last time. She had a broken heart because she wasn't able to give up her ties to Port Charles. If Luis had a broken heart, it was because of the same thing.

"I know you wanted me to come back for you, Brenda." Luis lifted his hand and gently caressed her cheek. His fingertips moved lightly over the bone, then fell to the corner of her mouth. He tapped her lips lightly, then floated his fingertips across her lips. He didn't touch them, but he was close enough that it felt as though he had. "He told me when I got back, and I swear, if I'd have known you weren't well…"

"I was fine," she lied.

"If I'd have known, I'd have sent for you when it was safe. If I knew you'd have come…" He sighed and shook his head. In an instant, he went from heartfelt to conniving. "You know the playboy can't make you happy, Brenda. He'll bore the hell out of you by the end of your wedding night."

She could have been glad that he finally acknowledged that a wedding was going to take place, but she was annoyed that he could say something so crude. "What was that, a whole ten minutes of you talking about your feelings? That's a record."

"I try to do something new every day." He winked at her then sighed. "You were happy with me, Brenda. You can't deny that."

"I was in danger with you, Luis. I've been shot at, nearly kidnapped, and God knows what else while I was with you, Luis. With Jax… I get nothing but an easy, loving life. No gunshots. No mobsters, or drug lords, or anything else."

"You loved it and you know it. Just like you know that you aren't in love with him. You could pretend while I was away, but now that I'm back, how long can you really pull this off, huh? Just let it go, Brenda. Better to get out now and come back where you belong than to go through with this farce of a marriage and end up a divorceé."

Brenda looked up at him, but couldn't find any words to stay to him. Her lips pursed. Her eyes closed for a second. She shook her head slowly, then finally reopened her eyes. "Sometimes, Luis, I think you might be right, and then others… I just figure it's better than being a widow."

Brenda shrugged her shoulders and let his jacket fall to the ground. She stepped to the side and walked around Luis, her back as straight as possible. From behind, he couldn't see the tears that she fought to hold inside. From behind, he couldn't see just how much the idea of being Luis Alcazar's widow really hurt her… And it was a lot more than the vision of being Jasper Jacks's ex-wife.