DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters.

Chapter Fourteen

Brenda giggled softly as Jagger whispered something in her ear. She had taken a chance and took him to the Metro Court for dinner and drinks after spending hours in the park talking. It almost felt like old times again.

"I totally forgot about that," Brenda said. "We did some pretty crazy things didn't we?" She smiled.

"I'm glad you're smiling again," he said. It faded for a moment but slowly came back. "Lois said you didn't want me to come."

"Lois doesn't listen to me half the time," she reminded him.

"Well, it wasn't all Lois this time."

"Just thought you would drop in and see how I was?' she asked.

"There are some people here who care a lot about you. Want to make sure you're safe."

"I'm safe right now, so they don't need to worry." Brenda took another sip of her martini and caught the glare of Carly as she walked through the lobby. "Spotted by the wicked witch of PC," Brenda mumbled.

"Not a fan?" he asked glancing over his shoulder.

"She fears me she just hates to admit it."

"Why?"

"That would be Carly Corinthos-Jacks. Been married to both men in my life. She has Sonny's kids, so that's the difference."

"Who cares about her?" he asked. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"We've been over everything. I'm fine. Stressed out, but doing fine."

"When are you actually going to tell Sonny and Jason?" he asked taking a drink of his beer.

"When I feel like what I have to say actually matters. When I won't get yelled at for being the person that I am. I already get that enough from him."

"Don't you think maybe you're making it harder by not saying anything?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Brenda said, finishing her drink and motioning for another.

"Then what do you want to talk about?" he asked with a smile.

"That's a very interesting question," she said smiling back at him.

---

Jason paced the penthouse for hours waiting for her to arrive back. Max said that last they heard she had been in the Metro Court eating and hadn't left. Which led Jason to believe they never actually did. The next morning when she still hadn't arrived back at the penthouse he took matters into his own hands.

The hotel was busy for so early in the morning but he managed to get through to the elevators without being seen by Carly. The ride up to her suite was miserable because as much as he hated to think it, he was pretty sure he knew what she was doing last night, aside from pissing him off.

He pounded on the door to her room. He could hear footsteps and then the door opened. He had hoped he wouldn't be faced with this. Jason stared at Jagger, who was fully clothed, but in Brenda's suite nonetheless. It was Brenda, sitting in an arm chair in the living area, wrapped only in a sheet from the bed and cup of coffee in hand that confirmed what he thought.

"Jason," Jagger said as he closed the door and walked past Jason who was standing motionless just inside the room. Jagger disappeared into the bedroom and within moments came back out with his shoes on, pulling on his jacket. "I have to go," he said to Brenda, leaning done and kissing her temple. "You know where to find me."

She nodded as he turned away from her and left the room with just Jason and Brenda alone. She looked away from him and brushed a couple tears from her cheeks.

"When I was in high school, my dad died. This was way before we found out my mom was actually still alive. But still my dad hated me. Julia said it was because I looked so much like her that he could stand to look at me everyday. That's why he kept sending me away," Brenda told him.

He didn't move. Afraid it might make her stop talking.

"Julia's been missing for a few weeks now. Somewhere between California and New York she disappeared. No body. No car. No suitcase. Nothing. It's like she meant to disappear and not be found. But that's not like her."

Jason took a chance and walked towards her, sitting down on the coffee able in front. She refused to look at him.

"About a year ago, I got this card in the mail congratulating me. It was signed H.B., which I thought nothing of. Figured it was from a fan or something so I tossed it and forgot it came. Then these cards started coming regularly. Every month or so. All with different messages. I called in a couple favors and found out the cards were coming for New York, so I thought of excuses to come back and maybe get some answers." She took a deep breath, staring into her cup of coffee. And about four months ago, Johnny approached me at a coffee shop and told me that I had a secret admirer who wanted to meet me."

Brenda took a drink of her coffee and finally looked at him.

"I can't tell you everything, you know this right?" Brenda asked.

"Tell me what you want to tell me," he said.

"My father's not really dead, which doesn't mean a whole lot to you," Brenda told him.

"And this is a bad thing?"

"He's always thought of me as one big mistake after another. My mom dying was my fault the first time, and the second. Dropping out of school. Getting kicked out of school. But the biggest mistake in my life was Sonny. To him, Sonny took this 18 year old girl and put her into a life that was worse than anything he could have imagined; no matter how much he hated me."

"So he's going after Sonny as revenge for treating you bad?" Jason asked.

"No. He's going after Sonny to teach me a lesson. He doesn't think I've hurt enough because the love of my life isn't dead like his is."

Jason couldn't say anything to that. Brenda admitting that Sonny was still the one she loved didn't require a response from him.

"Nothing you two do will stop him."

"Your father is Anthony Zacchara?"

Brenda didn't respond.

"Get dressed and I'll take you back to the penthouse," he said standing up.

Brenda set down her coffee cup and stood up, heading for the bedroom with the sheet trailing behind her.

"Why was he congratulating you?" Jason asked. She paused at the door with her back to him and thought about answering.

"I was pregnant," she finally answered before closing the door to the bedroom.