"Jake O'Brien is my Father."

Sonny heard the words, and as his eyes traveled to the picture and studied the smiling eyes staring up at him, he recognized them as the man he'd come to know and respect over the years, Sonny also came the realization that he'd just unlocked the door to Brenda's family, more than likely a secret that had been meant to be buried forever.

"Where'd you get this?"

Zander's shoulders slumped, " You don't believe? Fine just give it back to me, I'll find out what I need to know on my own."

Sonny held the picture away from him," always jumping the gun… haven't you learned anything kid?" he walked toward the nearest table and sat down, glancing at the picture and then back to Zander, he said, " it's not a matter of believing you Zander."

"Then what… do you need my blood, what is it going to take to get the answers that I want?" Zander shouted defensively, and then added quietly, "look… all I know is I've spent my life trying to get away from the family I did have… and now the man that possibly abandoned me is here in Port Charles."

Sonny struggled with the idea that Jake O'Brien would abandon his family… let alone his child. After everything they'd been through as friend's, he remembered Jake as a man who stood by those he loved and cared about, there had to me more to the story, " I knew Jake around the time this picture was take… I recognize that damn coat… he was always stubborn."

"Like me?"

It was a loaded question to answer, the resemblance was there, it was clear to Sonny that Zander was telling the truth, but he wasn't ready to reveal that to the young man just yet, there was to much at stake.

"Why'd you say he was stubborn just then?"

Sonny looked up from the picture and smiled lightly," That coat he wore, it was falling apart and he still wouldn't get rid of it… the boss even gave him money for a new one and he refused, said that it had sentimental value."

"Is my Father repaying a debt he owes you Sonny… are you two friends?" Zander asked sitting across from Sonny," is my father like you?"

"Jake is one in his own."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant Zander, I'm just not sure your ready for the answer."

Zander shook his head, " My life meant squat before I came to Port Charles, I'd spent years living with people who thought of me as a curse rather than a son… punished for not being their blood, hated for being different than them… I never understood why, until I found that picture…I knew that man, when I saw him…I saw myself."

"Your parents know you have this picture?"

"I have no parents, as far as I'm concerned I was nothing more than a glorified border in their home."

"They adopted you, they must've cared."

"Care? Have they tried to contact me once since I got to Port Charles, did they stand behind me when Sorrel was trying to kill me? They left Sorrell to finish the job they failed to do."

"What's that?"

"Killing me."

Lobby of Harbor View Towers

Alexis and Johnny stood in uncomfortable silence, as Jax looked at each of them for an answer to his question, " do you know where Brenda is?"

Johnny heard his two way radio go off, grabbing it off his belt, he turned to Alexis," Sorry, I'll be right back."

Alexis rolled her eyes, "Coward." She muttered under her breath, as the bodyguard fled from the scene.

"What was that?" Jax asked.

Turning toward her friend she smiled brightly," nothing, nothing… hey, how would you like to take a grand tour of Sonny's new nightclub?"

"It's not enough the man rivals me with women, now he's mixing it up in business too?"

"I thought you decided to sell the club to Skye?"

"Actually, I've sold it to Jake O'Brien, now he and Sonny can butt heads over territories, they certainly have that in common."

"I haven't had the pleasure of meeting the infamous Mr. O'Brien yet."

"I don't know how much pleasure you'll get out of it, but since you seem to go for the doom and gloom type, you'll probably get along just splendidly."

"And I love you too."

Jax shook his head, and embraced his friend," A nightclub, huh?"

"Come on take a peek at it, what's it going to hurt?"

"I get the feeling this is a stall tactic, you know where Brenda is don't you?' Jax asked looking pointedly at his friend.

Alexis silently nodded and then added," but I'm sure it was a mix up, she'll probably be back any minute now."

"She's with Morgan isn't she?"

"It depends, if I said yes would you be mad?"

Jax's face clouded over," Where'd they go?"

"He took her to the Quartermaine's."

"I'll take a rain check on the grand tour Alexis, I've got to run." Jax kissed Alexis on the cheek abruptly and headed out the door.

Johnny came out of hiding once Jax was out of sight, " where's he off too?"

"The Quartermaine's… and by the way thanks for hanging me out to dry." Alexis said, batting the bodyguard on the arm.

"Hey, he's your friend… you know him better than I do, " Johnny shot back, "what do you suppose he's going to do now?"

Alexis glanced over at Johnny and then back to the doors, " I don't know… but whatever it is, it's not going to be pretty."

Quartermaine Study

A thousand insults could've been thrown her way and Carly would've battled each one of them, but having the truth tossed back in her face, stung like a million stings to her soul, her eyes dampened at the corners, she knew Jason could seewhat he'd inflicted on her, yet he stood rigidly, hands on his hips, his blue eyes piercing her heart.

"You forgave us Jason, you told me you wanted us to be happy." Carly began to weep.

Jason stood like a statue, his heart being ripped apart, she'd been his friend, and he'd always taken her side over everyone else's, even the people he'd loved with all his heart, he chosen to sacrifice his happiness for her own… because he'd loved her, because no matter what had transpired between them, he'd know that no matter how much she screwed up, she was a good person…

"Wait, wait now, Promise me one thing."


"No! No more plans. No, I've given them up, really."


"I'm not talking about plans. You don't have to wreck this. You don't have to take it away from yourself. When you start to, and you will. When you're getting ready to do something crazy, you count to and you remind yourself you already have the life that you want."


"I will. I promise."

" Good."

"Carly there's a difference between forgiving and forgetting… do you think I've forgotten what happened, what you did to spite me, to pay me back?

"Oh I see… I'm held accountable but the mighty Sonny Corinthos is cleared of all wrong doing!" Carly shouted, stomping her foot, " you know there were two us in that bed, Jase!"

Jason shook his head, bowing it momentarily, "yeah, but only one of you went to that room with an agenda."


"But that doesn't matter anymore. If you woulda- if you woulda fallen in love with Sonny... I woulda hated it. But I guess I could live with it. Cuz love just... You can't help. It is. But you did this to hurt me. You thought of the thing you could do that would be hardest for me - and you did it."


"No! I didn't think of it. It wasn't like that. I wasn't thinking about it, Jason!"


"You knew exactly what you were doing, Carly."


"I didn't-! I'm sorry! What can I say, you know?"


"Yeah, I know. I know you are. And you think-"


"I'm really sorry!"

"And you think you're never gonna do something like this again. But guess what - you will."


"I won't!"


"Because that's how you work."

"How can you stand there and say that…how can you think that little of me?" Carly cried, waving her hands through the air, "everything I did was for us, ya know Jase… I loved you so much, I wanted us to be together… and when Sonny happened, I didn't expect to fall for him, but it happened and you helped give me that… if you hadn't forgiven us, you never would've brought us together… I know that about you Jase, you help those you love."

"What else was I going to do Carly? Jason asked, his voice rising.

"You could've fought for me, that's what you could've done!" Carly wailed, " I wanted you to, do you even get that… I wanted you to tell me you loved me and you forgave me and that we could work it out."

"Carly, it's over… it was a long time ago… we were friends, I chose our friendship over everything else, isn't that enough?"

"You chose Sonny over me."

"When was that Carly?"

"If you really cared, you would've been there for me when my world was collapsing around me… where were you when Sonny threw me out, or when that tarantula in dress pumps started hanging around!"

"So that's what this is all about, this grand performance or yours is because Sonny's moved on with his life?" Jason shouted, " this isn't about what we were to each other, this is about paying someone back for hurting you…but instead of me this time, it was Sonny."

"Damn you, I trusted you with my heart, with my son… you gave us up, you threw us away and for what… for a life on the run, from flying bullets, and one night stands that give you nothing more than a warm body to sleep next to at night… we had that and more Jason… and you gave me up more times than I'm willing to count… So I found somebody who wanted me, who needed me, and he treated me to fancy means and designer clothes… he took me to exotic islands, and most of all he took care of me and my son, he didn't abandon us… he… he…"

"He loved you," Jason said finishing her sentence, "and you paid him back by turning him into the feds."

"It wasn't like that!" Carly shouted, " I was trying to protect our family, I wanted us to start over, to have a new beginning where nobody knew us, where Sonny could be free of danger, where Michael had a yard he could play in without worrying about dodging bullets."

"YOU, knew that you couldn't have that with Sonny!" Jason roared, "what the hell did you expect from him, he told you who he was… you saw for yourself the type of lives we led, and you still chose to be apart of it, even when we demanded you get out of it!"

"Cause I loved you…Cause I wanted to help!"

"No! It was because Carly only does What Carly wants to do!"

"Well, there's never been a truer statement."

Carly and Jason turned abruptly toward the terrace doors, as Brenda Barrett stood grinning like the cat that ate the canary.