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Show Me Your Love

CHAPTER 3

"So, princess. What have you been doing today?" Sonny asked his seven-year-old daughter as they entered his penthouse. She still had her arm safely wrapped around her father's next and was snuggling close to him.

"I baked with mommy, and then I played with Uncle Jason and Joey. Uncle Jason let me hold Joey and give him his bottle. He said I was a natural," Savannah said proudly and gave her dad one of her brilliant, toothy smiles.

"You seem to be a natural with everything sweetie. So your mommy was cooking for tonight and you were helping her." Sonny continued in an inquiring tone. He Brenda had divorced three years prior, but he still felt responsible to make sure she had everything she ever needed or wanted. Jason might have married her, but Brenda was going to forever be tied to him through their daughter.

"Mommy was very cheery, she was singing. Only when the phone rang, then she was mad. She called auntie Carly a harpo or something like that. Daddy, what does harpo mean?" Savannah asked with a curious raise gaze in her dark brown eyes.

"I think your mommy meant a harpy, sweetheart. That means a not very nice person." Sonny said with a laugh and could not agree more with Brenda's assessment of one Caroline 'Carly' Benson. If he had liked Ned more, he might have wished the marriage didn't happen, but alas, he didn't and thought it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

"Uncle Ned is in love with her isn't he? Does he think auntie Carly is not a nice person?" Savannah asked confused. Grown ups were so complicated in her mind, when her mommy and daddy had divorced they had told her they would always love each other, but couldn't be together anymore. But mommy had always said if you have love, anything was possible, so that had left her utterly confused.

"Your uncle Ned is a very confused man. He loved greatly, but both of his great loves were taken away from him and Carly helped him through a hard time. Love is a complicated thing sweetheart, one day you will learn that yourself. But princess, I have a very important question to ask you - what do you think about digging into one of those tasty cookies you made for me?" Sonny asked tickling Savannah, making the little girl howl with laughter.

--

"Jax, would you like to stay for dinner?" Jason asked through gritted teeth as he and Brenda returned to the living room. He had his arm wrapped safely around his wife and tried his best to portray a gracious host.

"I would love to. Thank you for the invite," Jax responded and remembered his promise to Brenda to behave.

"Help yourself to more drinks; me and Jason have to change. The rest of the guests should be arriving in the hour. Jax, would you like to call Alexis and have her join us as well?" Brenda asked when it suddenly dawned to her that it would be incredibly rude to not invite Jax's wife as well.

"Alexis is busy this evening, but thank you Brenda. I'm sure she regrets not being able to attend. She and Ned are close after all," Jax said smoothly and directed his ice-cold eyes to Jason who was currently busy imitating his wife's easy smile and to Jax, failing miserably.

"Shame. There are very few Quartermaine gatherings where someone doesn't end up needing an attorney," Brenda quipped and couldn't help but to feel glad that Alexis would not be attending; not that she didn't like her, she really did, but the witty, smart lawyer was not exactly someone who her husband wanted to spend an evening with.

--

"Courtney, honey, I already said I was sorry. The call took longer than I thought. Please let me in," AJ Quartermaine said, knocking on the door of the bedroom he shared with his wife Courtney. It seemed like his wife had locked him out of their room yet again and he had more groveling to do before he was back in her good graces. "I would like to say sorry to your face instead of this door. Come on, honey. Let me in!"

"I'm sick and tired of ELQ controlling our lives. All you do is work, work, work and some more work. I want us to go away together, spend some time together without interruptions. Ned is taking Carly to the Virgin Islands for their honeymoon for three whole weeks; when we got married, I got two lousy days in New York." Courtney fumed as she opened the door and before AJ could reply, she slammed it shut yet again.

"Is this what this is about? Ned and his white knight antics? ELQ was fighting a take-over attempt by Marone industries when we married; there was no way I could disappear to the Bahamas for three weeks then as Nedley is doing now. When I close this Tokyo deal, I'll take you somewhere nice." AJ said knocking yet again and sighing.

"You promise?" Courtney said unsurely, opening the door and letting AJ enter.

"I promise. You look stunning and I'm truly sorry. I'm now fully chastised," AJ, said giving Courtney a brief kiss on the lips and then disappearing in the closet to find his suit.

--

"We are going to be so late." Carly giggled as she collapsed on top of Ned after a round of some incredible lovemaking. She didn't have energy to even move, let alone get dressed and join the 'We Heart Brenda' convention that was gathering at the Morgan penthouse.

"Tell me about it. Could we ring Brenda and say that we're coming a bit later? And later as in not at all," Ned chucked kissing her neck and running his hand through her golden blonde hair.

"You have no idea how tempted I am…" Carly moaned as he attached his lips to her pulse point. He certainly knew how to use that mouth of his. "But we did promise to go and it would be kinda wrong of us to no-show since it's held in our honor."

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?" Ned asked mischievously, rolling then over so that he was now on top of her. He then continued his assault on her neck, alternating between nibbling and sucking it.

"You're not playing fair. But then again, I never do," She laughed wrapping her slender legs around his waist and capturing his lips in a searing kiss. As Ned was lost in their passionate embrace, Carly turned the tables on him, rolling them over once again. Now, as she had the upped hand, she slipped away from him and disappeared into the adjacent bathroom. "I'll go get ready and after we get back, prepare to wear the leather pants again for my private enjoyment."

--

Jax had been standing in the Morgan living room for the past 30 minutes circling around the room and observing everything. He saw nothing that resembled the minimalist décor Jason had before he married Brenda; instead there were photos placed everywhere, a portrait of Brenda hanging in one of the walls and the room boasted more candles than any room he had ever been in.

The photos told a very different story of the mob hit man, one in particular captured Jax's gaze. It showed a eight-month pregnant Brenda laying in the sand in some far way beach with Jason's head pressed against her stomach and Savannah laying on her side smiling. It was beautiful yet so poignant and it brought Jax memories of his own girls Kristina and Molly. Especially Kristina, whose birth had been difficult, and he and Alexis had feared their little girl would not survive, yet she had fought her way back to them.

While he had been deep in thought, Jason had entered the room dressed in a white dress shirt and black trousers, a concession to his wife. Instead of trading barbs with Jax, he headed to his son's nursery to make sure the infant was indeed asleep. Brenda had refused to hire a nanny, stating that she never needed one with Savannah and didn't want her baby bonding with a stranger, but now Jason wished he had overruled her decision. Joey's sleep patterns were off, the boy slept like an angel during daytime but when the night came, there was no amount of singing that could put him to sleep. Jason likened his stubbornness to have come from his mother and wished someone else were here tonight watching over him during this dinner thing. The last thing he wanted was Brenda or him having to continually excuse themselves from the table to soothe their willful infant son.

--

"Do I have to be here? I do not want my son marrying that horrible, class-free dumpster woman." Tracy Quartermaine Spencer said with a noticeable eye roll to her husband Luke Spencer. The twosome were standing outside of the Morgan penthouse, him carrying a bottle of Cassillero del Diablo red wine for the hosts and her fiddling with his colorful, Christmas inspired tie.

"Now my peppermint popsicle, behave. Play nicely with your son's fiancée," Luke scolded playfully and taking her hand into his and kissing it theatrically.

"Just knock on the door and get this over with." Tracy muttered frowning at Luke. He did and then they waited in silence.

Brenda opened the door and even Tracy, who wasn't a card-carrying member of the Brenda fan club like the rest of her family, had to admit she did look stunning. The petite brunette was clad in a blood red knee-length strapless dress that accentuated her womanly curves. Her dark curls was left untouched and she was wearing a magnificent ruby necklace what Sonny had given her after the birth of Savannah with the idea that only a ruby could compete with the sparkle in Brenda's eyes.

"Tracy. Luke. Do come in. Thank you for coming," Brenda said sending a courteous smile in Tracy's direction that failed to have the usual warmth she projected, but when her eyes traveled to Luke, the smile broadened considerably.

"This is for you Brenda. One of the best red wines I have ever drank and only the best for you will do," Luke said handing the bottle to the brunette with his voice so saccharine that it made Tracy wish to heave on cue.

"So are my son and my future hooker-in-law here yet?" Tracy asked looking the room over and not spotting her first born anywhere.

"No Auntie Tracy, Ned and Carly aren't here yet. Too bad, you're here thought," Jason said sauntering to the room.

"Cute. May I have a drink or a couple?" Tracy said looking Jason over with contempt and heading to the bar where she helped herself to tall glass of brandy.

The tension in the room was broken by a knock on the door. This time Jason opened it and the way his arm muscles tightened, Brenda instantly knew who it was. Edward Quartermaine marched into the room with an air of superiority. Alan and Monica trailed after him, with Monica hugging Brenda tightly and Alan exchanging smiles with Jason.

"What are you doing here, you pirate?" Edward complained as soon as he noticed Jax standing near the bar with a drink in his hand.

"Nice to see you too Edward. I'm here as an invited guest, what's your excuse?" Jax fired back without missing a beat.

"You insolent piranha, Ned is my grandson and I happen to care about him. He might have completely lost his mind, but love is blind and such. If my Lila was here to see this, she would be appalled by this," Edward ranted and pointed his finger at Jax accusingly.

"Do shut up father. For once in your life, just be quiet, and mind your own damn business." Alan warned as he was helping Monica out of her coat.

As Edward was on the verge of yet another rant, they heard knocking and Jason opened the door to reveal AJ and Courtney and he acknowledged his brother with a slight nod.

"My, my, Courtney. The bulimia has certainly paid off," Tracy stated sarcastically as the young blonde took her coat off to reveal a sparkling pink mini dress.

--

Alexis was contemplating fleeting the scene as soon as she had finished knocking on the door. She, however, wasn't fast enough as the door opened just as her feet were starting to move.

"Alexis…..?" Chloe Morgan Ashton uttered in shock. It had been five years since she and the lawyer had last met. When she had left Ned and Port Charles behind, Chloe never expected to see Alexis again, certainly not now when she was only briefly passing through her former hometown.

"I have so many questions. Can I come in?" Alexis said with a smile and contemplated hugging the blonde. She chose against it, at least now since Chloe didn't look too thrilled to meet see her again.

"Mommy, the DVD's finished. I wanna watch the Power Ranger one next," said a boy appropriately 4 in age who was sitting in the middle of the room in front of the television set. He caught Alexis' attention immediately, even from the door she could tell who the boy looked like. With chestnut brown hair, sparking brown eyes and visible dimples in his cheeks he was a living, breathing image of Ned Ashton. You would have had to be blind not to notice the striking similarities between the two. The apple had certainly not fallen far from the tree.

Chloe panicked at the thought of someone finding out about the most precious thing in her life and wanted to scoop up her son and leave. She could hardly lie about her son's paternity no since even Chloe had admitted to herself a long time ago that he looked like a mini-me of Ned. She resisted her urge to run, but

instead ushered Alexis inside the room in silence.

"Alexis, I know I'm not in a position to demand anything, but can you please listen to me before you say anything?" Chloe pleaded, seeing the cold stare in the other woman's eyes. Alexis nodded and sat down on one of the chairs while her mind was racing a mile a minute.

"I know what this looks like. That I have been keeping Ned away from his son deliberately. I loved Ned, I still do, but with everything that happened during that winter, I couldn't say and subject Nate to the Quartermaine craziness. Tracy pulled out all the stops to separate us and there is no way my son will spend any time in the toxic presence of that woman. "Chloe said looking over at her son who now was playing with the DVD case since his mother hadn't changed the DVD.

"Why are you back in town if you didn't want anyone to know? You know secrets have a nasty way of resurfacing in this town," Alexis commented, still finding it hard to believe that the Chloe that she knew would just skip town and keep a father away from his son.

"I was visiting Lila's grave. I was in Manhattan for business and I felt the need to go there. Me and Nate are leaving first thing tomorrow morning. Can you tell me how Ned is? Is he okay?"

To Be Continued..

Next Chapter: Ned/Carly arrive to the dinner party; how will Alexis handle the Chloe/Nate situation???

A 3 part reader poll that I hope you participate in. This will help shape the story from now on:

1).Who should Ned be with? Carly or Chloe? Should he not marry Carly if he finds out about his son before the wedding???

2). Should Sonny remain single or have a girlfriend at some point? If so, who should the girlfriend be?

3). What pairings you wish to see more of? Ram, SkyLo, Nem or Courtney/AJ?