Brenda Returns – Chapter 14
"Earth to Jax," Carly says, waving her hand in front of her husband's face.
"What? I'm sorry. My mind was someplace else," he says, diverting his attention back to her.
"So I noticed. You okay? You seem a bit preoccupied," she says, sliding her arm around his shoulder.
He holds her arm and rests his cheek against the top of her head. He waited until they had a nice, quiet dinner, just the two of them, before he decided to tell her the news about the bone marrow transplant.
"I talked to Robin today," he says.
"About what?" she asks, cautiously.
"I'm a match. I can be a donor," he says, softly, just waiting for her reaction.
She swallows. She's proud that her husband is willing to do this for someone else, but scared for him at the same time.
"You are?"
He nods.
"So, what does that mean?" she asks, lifting her head to look at his profile.
He looks at her and shifts on the couch a little so that he's facing her.
"I'm going to donate some of my bone marrow to help save a small child."
She moistens her lips. "When?"
"I don't have a specific date, yet but most likely next week."
She bites her lower lip and nods. "And you're sure about this?"
He takes her hands in his. "Yes. I think I know who the little girl is and if you saw her, you'd want to help her, too. She's the most adorable thing."
"I'm sure she is, Jax." Her mouth is getting dry.
"You're upset with me?" he asks.
She shakes her head and looks around. "No, not upset. I'm a little nervous about this…."
"It will be fine," he says, stroking her cheek.
She angrily wipes away a tear.
"I'm sure there are risks…."
He takes her hands in his and nods. "Yes, there are, but I will be fine."
"Have you met her family, yet?" Carly asks, trying to be strong.
He shakes his head. "No. It's odd, I've never seen her parent's with her. She told me today she's from Italy…."
"Italy?" Carly asks, pulling her hand away from his and sitting back a bit.
"Yeah. Weird, huh?"
"I mean, she's Italian? Why come to Port Charles…."
"No, she's not Italian, at least I don't think so. She doesn't speak with an accent. She has dark hair, but beautiful blue eyes," he smiles.
Carly slowly nods and her mind starts churning. "And how long ago did you see her for the first time at the hospital?"
"I'm not sure….a few weeks ago."
"Maybe she has family that lives here," she says, looking off into the distance.
"That could be."
~*~
"Spinelli, I need a huge favor from you," Carly asks Spinelli when she sees him over at Jason's old Penthouse apartment.
"Of course. The Jackal wishes to assist the Valkyrie in any way that he can," Spinelli says as Carly walks past him.
"I want you to hack into GH's files and find out as much as you can about a little girl who is going to get a bone marrow transplant….probably next week sometime."
Spinelli looks confused. "Uh, you care to give the Jackal a little more information to go off of?" he asks, walking over to his laptop. He logs on.
"Okay, she's about 4 or 5 years old. Her name is Hope, but that's all I know."
Spinelli types away and nods as Carly gives him the information.
"Bingo," he says sitting back from his laptop a bit. "Looks like there's a 4 year old child getting a bone marrow transplant next week. The identity is anonymous, though. The surgery date is to be determined."
"Is that all it says?" Carly asks, peering over his shoulder.
"Oh here's her medical history," he says, clicking on a link. "Oh," he says, solemnly. "Looks like the small ailing one has gone through a lot in her short life."
"What does this mean?" Carly asks, pointing to something on the screen.
"Well, it looks like the child has gone through many different types of treatments and these originated in Italy…."
"Can you look this hospital up and then look up Brenda Barrett's information? I need to see if this hospital is anywhere close to where Brenda lives in Italy," she says nervously. She stands up straight and starts to chew on her nail.
Spinelli gives her a shocked look. "As the Valkyrie wishes," he says softly.
~*~
When Carly gets home later that day, Jax looks up from the stack of papers he is reading.
"Hey, where did you go? Marty said you left the Metro Court a couple of hours ago?" he asks, holding out his arm for her to come sit next to him.
"Have you heard from the hospital?" she asks, slowly sitting down next to him.
He shakes his head and has a confused look on his face. "No, not yet. Are you okay?"
Carly nods and looks at her hands, which are lying in her lap. "Yes. Are the boys upstairs?" she asks, looking up at the stairs.
"No, they went out with Mercedes."
She nods again. This time a tear slips down her cheek.
"Carly," Jax says, leaning in closer. "What's wrong?"
"Jax," she says, looking up at him with her red eyes. "This little girl….Hope…"
"Yes," he says, rubbing her back, gently.
"She's about 4 ½, right?"
He nods.
"And she lives in Italy and has dark hair and blue eyes," she says, trying to hold back her tears.
He swallows. "Yes."
"And you're a match for her bone marrow," she whispers, breathlessly.
He looks to the side and closes his eyes. "What are you getting at?"
He has a good idea but he doesn't want to believe that Brenda would keep something like this from him.
"She's your daughter….isn't she?"
He stands up and takes a few steps away. "Carly," he starts but she shakes her head and cuts him off.
"No, Jax. It all makes sense. The final nail in the coffin for me is the fact that you're a match. You know how slim the chances are that you could be a match, Jax? Unless you're related to her?"
She stands up and stares at his back. She can tell he's processing this but didn't seem too surprised.
"You've already thought about this…" she states.
He turns and wipes a hand across his face. "The thought has crossed my mind, yes. But why would Brenda keep this from me? There is no reason…"
"Oh come on, Jax. We don't have enough time for me to list all the reasons…"
"Don't start, Carly…"
"Look," she says, taking a step closer to him, "I know this is a lot to take in right now, but it all makes sense. The timing of the first time you saw Hope was right around when we know Brenda came to town…and if that little girl is Brenda's, Jax? There's no denying she's your daughter. She's 4 ½, which means she was conceived…"
"I know," he says, sullenly. He puts his hands on his waist and looks down at the ground. Suddenly he feels very tired, so he rubs his forehead.
Carly moves to him and rubs her hands up and down his arms. "What are you going to do?" she whispers.
"I need to go talk to Brenda. I need to find out where she's staying…Robin will know," he says, starting to turn around, but Carly stops him.
"I got the address of the house she's renting. You want me to go with you?" she asks, touching his cheek.
He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. "No, I need to do this alone."
~*~
Elizabeth sits on Brenda's couch, holding a sleeping Jake.
"I found Cameron and Hope asleep on the floor, watching "Finding Nemo"," Jason says, coming down the stairs, holding a very groggy Cameron. "I put her in her bed," he mentions to Brenda.
"Oh thanks. Awww, look at him. Must have been all that running around the three of you did earlier," Brenda says, rubbing Cameron's back. She smiles up at Jason.
"I guess that's our sign to leave," Elizabeth says, carefully standing up with Jake, so that she doesn't wake him. "Two sleeping boys."
"You stay here and I'll come back after I put Cameron in his car seat," Jason starts.
"Seriously, Jason," Elizabeth says, rolling her eyes.
"Not because you're pregnant….because he's getting heavier…"
"You're not a good liar," she teases.
"Thanks for coming over for dinner, guys. I know Hope loves spending time with the boys. It's really good for her to try to do normal things right now…"
Jason takes Cameron out to the car.
"Have you gotten a date for the surgery, yet?" Elizabeth asks.
"No, they said they'd call Monday so we can set it up," Brenda says, taking a deep breath. "You're going to be there, right?"
Elizabeth reaches out to Brenda and touches her arm. "Of course. I can request to be on the surgical team if that makes you feel better?"
Brenda smiles through watery eyes. "That would mean a lot to me…."
Elizabeth gives her a reassuring smile.
"You ready?" Jason asks, standing in the doorway.
"Yeah. Thanks for dinner," Elizabeth says, hugging Brenda.
"You're welcome. I love having you guys over….so does Hope."
They walk to the door and Jason tries to take Jake from Elizabeth but she moves so he can't reach him.
"I've got him," she says, walking past him.
Jason smiles and glances at Brenda. "Thanks for dinner, it was a nice evening."
Brenda reaches up and hugs Jason. "Thanks…for everything, Jason. I mean that."
He kisses her forehead. "You're welcome. I can wait with you during the surgery next week, if you want."
"Would you? I'd like that," she says.
Jason turns to leave and practically walks into Jax.
"Jax?" Brenda says. Her heart starts doing flip flops.
"Jax," Jason states, not moving out of his way.
"Jason. I need to speak with Brenda….alone," he says.
Jason glances down at Brenda. "Is that okay with you? Elizabeth can go ahead and take the boys home…"
"No, it's okay," Brenda says, touching Jason's arm. "I'll be fine."
He keeps looking at her.
"Really," she nods.
Jason stares at Jax as he passes by him. His glare basically saying that he better not hurt Brenda.
Jason gets into the car and watches as Jax goes inside and the front door closes behind him.
"Do you think we should stay?" Elizabeth asks him.
"He knows…" Jason says.
Elizabeth nods.
{thanks to marj for help with the direction of the story, I kinda got stuck }