If his lovely wife had had her way, they would have never left Maui. Work had been at the front of his brain after the first week of their honeymoon, but it had taken another two weeks to convince her that they should return home to their real lives. She had been hesitant to return to Port Charles, her excuse being that the town held too many memories for her, bad memories, that she would rather forget. He had a feeling Corinthos' suicide was the force behind her insecurities, but he had decided not to voice his supposition. Corinthos might have interfered with their lives in life, but Jasper Jacks would be damned if he did so in death as well.

The City was crisp and cool for his short visit and he took a moment to stand in the middle of the sidewalk—something he had always taken for granted in Port Charles—and let it whip across his face. His stillness set the natives on edge and they smacked right into him, knocking him off balance. Swearing under his breath, he decided to get his head out of the clouds and down to business where it belonged. Time was most definitely money and there was a reason he had so much of it. If asked, Brenda would say to spend. He knew differently. Money was made to invest.

With every investment, there were always a certain amount of risks. Risks were his bread and butter, his oxygen. He thrived on taking chances, keeping his head in the right place, and relying on his instincts. That was how he had ended up in New York City, several hours from his base of operations. He was here to make an offer to the one person who could back his decision to invest in a long-struggling company, a woman who was an investment in herself.

As a rule, he went out of his way to keep women out of the business world. In his experience, the women he had had to deal with in nail-biting situations could not be objective. Their emotions always managed to clog the issue and he had seen firsthand how well that turned out. He could never say such a thing aloud and, from what he had seen, this particular woman was in a league all her own. She had climbed the proverbial ladder in less time than most men he knew in the same profession and it had nothing to do with her sex. She kept things matter-of-fact, unclouded, and most importantly, anyone who had ever taken a chance on her had never ended up regretting it. Jax walked through the double doors of one of his favorite restaurant, Gilberto's, and handed his coat to the maitre di, Alfonzo.

"So nice to see you again, Mr. Jacks." Alfonzo greeted him, handing the coat to one of his employees almost unconsciously.

"Is my lunch associate here yet?" Jax wanted to know.

"Yes, sir. She is at your table as we speak. Right this way." Alfonzo rounded the small podium and led Jax to his special table. As soon as Jax took his seat, Alfonzo asked, "What may I get you to drink?"

"I'll have whatever Ms. Howard is having." Jax replied, nodding toward his lunch guest.

"Martini. Very dry." Kate informed him.

"I'll be right back with your martini, Mr. Jacks." Alfonzo promised, sauntering off to put his words into action.

"I didn't think you were a martini kind of man." Kate told him.

"I like to keep people on their feet. Besides, I knew I could trust you." Jax smiled courteously.

"And how's that? We've never officially met before today, Mr. Jacks." Kate reminded him.

"Your reputation precedes you." Jax explained. "Shall we get down to business?"

"Now that we've run out of pleasantries you mean? Please. I was quite surprised by your call. Last I heard you were on your honeymoon Mr. Jacks." Kate took a quick drink of her martini.

"You were surprised?" Jax accepted his drink from Alfonzo but set it down.

"Your wife must be more understanding than I am. Cutting your honeymoon short to go on a wild goose chase isn't something I would appreciate in a husband."

"Had a lot of experience in that area, Ms. Howard?" At her flinch, he regretted the question. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to be so nosy."

"It's fine. Now, should we move on to the part where I thank you politely and refuse your sure to be generous offer?"

"You don't know what my offer is. How can you so readily reject it? I could be offering you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for all you know." Jax's drink sat untouched. He had ordered it to be polite, but would not drink it. It was a promise he had made to Brenda before they got married.

"I'm quite happy in my current job." Kate calmly took a sip of her own drink. "I decide what stories I'll cover. I have control over the crew I use and how the story runs when it goes to air. You have nothing to offer me."

"I have plenty to offer. What if I told you that nothing but location would change with this new position? And money, of course. Your salary would be greatly increased."

"I hate to move."

"What ties you to New York if you don't mind me asking?" Jax treaded carefully.

"I do mind." Kate replied quickly. The main attraction to New York was the fact that right now Ric wouldn't set foot in it. The more distance they kept between themselves for the time being the better.

"Fair enough. I didn't mean to cross a line with you. The last thing I want is to upset you." Jax assured her. "What I mean is, for a woman who boasts about seeing the world I guess I'm just surprised you're still in New York after so many years. This new position would definitely expand your options. The base may be in Port Charles, but that is sure to change as well." It was a lie, Jax thought wryly, but she didn't have to know that. He had had his eye on the company long before now.

"New York makes traveling easy. And I'm sorry you wasted your time Mr. Jacks, but the answer is still no."

Jax didn't tense as she must have been expecting. They always said no in the beginning. He would have to probe, sway, or perhaps even manipulate the mouse in order to coax it into the maze. Sometimes he just had to figure out which type of cheese to use. "I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, Ms. Howard. I'll leave my card on the table in case you change your mind." With that, Jax signaled the waiter and paid the bill.

"I won't call." Kate warned him.

Jax smiled as he stood up. "I'll be sure to tell my secretary not to wait by the phone then. Enjoy the rest of your day, Kate." And then he was gone.

*****

If there was one thing Majandra had inherited from her father, besides his coloring, it was her curiosity. Only a few weeks ago she had figured out crawling and now nothing on the floor was off limits. The number of times Bobbie had found her daughter happily lifting a toy, edge of a rug, or in one instance, a coffee bean that had been missed under a cabinet, to her mouth increased dramatically. Majandra would just laugh and scoot herself over to the next object that caught her eye. Right now she seemed to be content with the toys that lined up to create a makeshift playpen on the floor. It looked strange to anyone who entered her living room, but it was the only way Bobbie could get any work done these days. Of course there were days like today, when she spent most of her time laughing at her daughter, instead of working but that was another matter.

The hesitant knock at her front door broke through Bobbie's musings about what toy Majandra was going to taste test next. She had been leaning towards the ball, but there was always a chance for the Teddy Bear to take the prize. Opening the door, Bobbie couldn't help but blink in surprise. "Robin?"

Apologizing was not something that came easily to Robin. She had done her best over the years to avoid a situation such as this one for most of her life. Call it her pride, which it probably was, but she always felt worse after apologizing than before. It meant that she had made a mistake, something her parents had cautioned could one day cost her or any number of people she cared about their lives. "Hi Bobbie." Robin said slowly. "May I come in?"

"Of course. Of course." Bobbie stepped aside to allowing Robin to pass her. "Please forgive the mess. Majandra is figuring out crawling and I'm still adjusting to cleaning up after her."

"It doesn't bother me. We all make messes when faced with new opportunities, don't we?" Robin handed Majandra a plush toy she had been admiring.

"True. Some of us make bigger messes than others." Bobbie took a deep breath. "Robin I'm glad you came over. I wanted to apologize to you."

"That's not necessary." Robin countered. "It wasn't fair to spring the engagement on you and then make you feel bad for your immediate reaction."

"But I shouldn't have acted as if you decided to re-marry Logan. You marrying Patrick is what we all have been wanting since you two started dating and it wasn't fair to treat you both as if you were making a major mistake."

"Maybe at the time we were. Our reasons for entering into such a decision were premature." Robin admitted. "I've always been able to express my honest opinion, but denied you that."

"And for that I hope you forgive me some day. I was shocked and hurt by the way you announced the engagement. And then when I figured out you were pregnant and hadn't told anyone, well I didn't understand fully your reasons until Patrick explained it to me."

"Patrick? When?" He hadn't said anything to her. For all she knew, Bobbie's appearance at the dinner had been her first step toward forgiving them.

"While you were in Paris." Bobbie admitted. "I went over to your place to talk to him."

Robin tried not to let her hurt feelings show in her face. It made sense that Bobbie would break her silence once Robin was out of the immediate area. "I'm glad. This has been breaking Patrick's heart. I know how much he loves you."

"And I love you as well. The only reason I went to talk to my nephew was because I was convinced he had let you leave the country over something silly. I don't know if you've picked up on this, but he can be stubborn. I didn't want him to miss any more of your pregnancy over something as ridiculous as pride."

"Patrick? Stubborn? Whatever can you mean?" Robin placed her hand over her heart in mock surprise.

"I though it best to warn you before you set the wedding date."

"That's another reason why I stopped by. I was wondering if you would be interested in helping us plan the wedding."

"Plan the wedding? Robin." Bobbie laughed. "Who do you think has been helping Laura since the boys were sixteen?"

Robin blushed deeply. "I always thought Lucky was being slightly paranoid."

"It's what his father wants him to believe."

"We're in kind of a time crunch. We want to be married before the baby gets here." Robin explained.

"Of course. Now the most time efficient way to do this is to start with the nos. What is completely out of the question?"

"Pink tuxedos. Daisies. Going into labor while walking down the aisle."

"So you are totally open to location?"

"I was thinking of something near water. Not the beach. Maybe a lake?"

Moving toward her desk, Bobbie rifled through a collection of brochures she kept in one drawer. Finding the one she had been thinking of, she smiled as she moved back towards the couch. "I think this might be just the place you are looking for."

Previews:

"I thought so. But it wouldn't be the first time I was completely wrong about something." Lucky shrugged as he paced in the hallway outside the courtroom.

"Can't you do anything with him?" Dara exasperatedly asked Elizabeth. "Force him to look on the bright side? As a lawyer I'm supposed to be the downer. Not my client."

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I've been trying since this whole thing started. This is about as positive as he gets when it comes to this."