Alexis was sitting at the table trying to work on some legal paperwork for the Metro Court but her attention kept drifted over to the sitting area where Sam and Jax, who had Krissy in his arms, were sitting around the coffee table playing mahjong. It was just an ordinary scene, one she'd seen repeatedly over the years, Jax loved playing games with Sam. But it still struck her sometimes as something so strange and wonderful, the sight of her family together, happy and laughing. Sometimes it still felt like a dream that she expected to wake up from. She wasn't use to dreams coming true, so she woke up every morning and went to bed every night grateful that this one had. Alexis smiled and turned her attention back to her work until another clatter of ivory tile on her glass topped coffee table drew her attention back to her 'husband' and children. She laughed at the sight. There was nothing calm about the way Jax and Sam played games, the only things more aggressively played than mahjong were dominos and monopoly.
"Jax, do not let Krissy put that tile in her mouth." Alexis scolded. She grinned as Jax easily slipped the tile from the baby's hand, only to get a disgusted look from Krissy for taking it.
Once the game was over Alexis took Krissy so she could give her a bath and put her to bed. When she came back out to the living room with the baby monitor in hand she said, "Sammie, half an hour then it's time to start getting ready for bed." She looked around the room, noticing that Sam was alone. "Where's Dad?"
"He got a call and went out onto the deck." Sam answered, her gaze never once leaving the television screen.
Alexis stopped to drop a kiss on top of her daughter's head before stepping out onto the deck to find Jax standing there gripping the railing so tightly his knuckles were white. His shoulders were hunched, his head bowed. Walking over to him she put her hand on his back. "Jax?"
It took a moment. She had to repeat his name. Finally he lifted his head to look at her. "There's been an accident." He told her. "The plane Jerry and Luke were on. It went down."
Alexis gasped, her hand flying to her mouth for an instant before she dropped it. "Are they, are they alright?"
"They don't know." Jax answered honestly.
Luke was her friend and the sudden thought that something might have happened to him stuck her like a blow. "What happened?"
"There was a distress call, three days ago." Jax said. "It was picked up by an airfield in Yemen. They think the plane went down somewhere along the coast of the Arabian Sea."
"Oh Jax." Alexis said softly as she moved closer to him, offering him comfort.
Jax was quiet for a several long moments before saying; "I have to go look for him, for them."
Alexis hated it. She didn't want Jax to fly off yet again to rescue his brother. She wanted him home with her and their girls, but one of the reasons they worked so well was because they didn't try to change the things that made them who they were. Plus, this wasn't just about Jerry. Luke was lost, and he had family waiting on him to come home. "Please be careful."
He gave her a weak smile and nodded. "I will." Drawing her close Jax kissed her and then just held her in his arms for a long time. He put Sam to bed that night, spent some time with Krissy, made love to Alexis, and was gone by the time she woke up the next morning. As she explained to a sleepy Sam that her Dad had to go on a sudden business trip Alexis wondered if this is how it would always be? She loved that Jax was so loyal to those he cared about, but would he always put his own life on hold to run off to play the shinning knight? Leaning back against the counter with her hands wrapped around a coffee mug she let her mind drift from Jax to the two men he went out to look for. Her unlikely friendship with Luke meant a great deal to her. He had given her the first real information on her mother outside of her fuzzy resurfacing memories. He'd give her a photograph of her mother, and the cassette with her mother singing on it. He'd given her someone to talk to when no one else knew the truth but the two of them. True, he had been a pompous ass at the time and was always trying to use and manipulate things so she'd help him take down Stefan, but at some point along the way they'd become true friends, and the thought that he might be gone, it hurt, it hurt a lot.
And than there was Jerry. Her first interaction with him had been trying to get him and John Jacks out of jail because of Jax, because he'd asked her too. She'd managed to do it but it had cost Jax everything, his company, his reputation. Jerry's actions had hurt Jax and that had put a black mark on the man as far as Alexis was concerned. Then he showed up in Port Charles, stirring up trouble not only for Jax but the Quartermains. He wasn't a man to be trusted and yet there had been something instant between them, something almost but not quite familiar, when they'd finally met in person at the PC Grill. He had been charming and suave, and Alexis had spent the whole time rolling her eyes at him. If he had been anyone else she would have written him off after that first meeting, but she hadn't, for Jax's sake she did want she could to keep him out of trouble legally until he up and disappeared. Seeing him with Jax and Luke at the estate had been the first time she'd laid eyes on Jerry Jax in years. If something bad has happened, if Jerry was dead, Jax would be crushed and that would hurt Alexis. So she was hoping, maybe even doing a little prayer that both Luke and Jerry were all right.
Jax was gone for weeks, and when he returned it wasn't with good news. They had found charred pieces of Jerry's plane alone the southeast coast of Africa, but Jax continued to hold out hope. The plane broke apart but Jerry was a skilled pilot, he could have landed somewhere. That hope slipped away when they founded the burned out cockpit with the remains of two men. He looked a little longer even after that but in the end he brought the bodies back to Port Charles. He stood with Alexis, Laura, Bobbie, and Carly as they waited on the medical examiner's findings. It was Alan Quartermain who came to them, "I'm sorry." He said softly. "I'm so very sorry."
Carly went to her mother, wrapping her arms around her, startled to find Bobbie's body trembling. Carly was feeling the loss of her uncle deep in her heart, she could only imagine that her grief was a fraction of what her mother was feeling, what Laura was feeling.
Bobbie was in shock, she was numb, there was no way her brother was dead. Luke Spencer was unstoppable, he was strong and smart, nothing stuck to him, he was one lucky SOB, and if it came down to him and the devil her money would have been on Luke. But the tests, the medical tests she had put her faith in all these years as a nurse, said differently. The dental records said her brother had been just a man, a simple mortal man, who died in a fiery plane crash while on one of his stupid adventures. She couldn't believe it, she wouldn't, Luke wouldn't leave Laura or their children behind, and he wouldn't leave her behind.
Slowly the reality began to settle in. Laura and Bobbie held out as long as they could but Laura realized she needed to help her children deal with the truth, their father wasn't coming home to them this time. So a memorial service was held, just about the whole town showed up and shared stories, and the people closest to him began dealing with the fact that Luke's larger than life presence in their lives was gone. Their lives would have to go on without him.
He stood in front of the mirror looking at his new face. After weeks of recovery the doctors had finally removed his bandages to reveal a total stranger. It was a little jarring but Jerry had to admit, he liked it. If he were honest with himself this face made him look more like a Jacks, with his light hair, and blue eyes. His own mother wouldn't know him if she passed him on the street, but for once he actually looked like his mother's son. He continued to admire himself until he heard the door to this room open. He smiled as he turned to face the man who'd joined him. "So what do you think?"
Mikkos looked the man over and nodded his approval. "Even the voice is different."
"Yes, impressive isn't it?" Jerry said as he walked over to sit on the sofa. For the last several months he'd been kept secluded in this private hospital in Copenhagen under going extensive plastic surgery to completely erase Jerry Jacks.
"Worth the money, clearly." Mikkos said.
Jerry smiled a bright new smile. "Glad you think so since it was all your money."
"There is one final step." Mikkos said as he took a seat in a chair close to where Jerry was sitting. "Since Jerry Jacks died along with Luke Spencer in that crash you'll need a new identity. Do you have a preference?"
"I do." Jerry replied as his smile brightened. "I've always had a sweet spot for the name James."
Mikkos lunged forward, slamming his hand on the coffee table. "You would not dare!"
"Relax old man." Jerry replied as he sat back with a relaxed ease about him, a show that Mikkos didn't frighten him. "James Brosnan died years go, and it's best that way."
"Glad we agree." Mikkos replied as he continued to glare at the man.
Jerry couldn't help but laugh. "You hate me, don't you?"
"I loath you." Mikkos replied. "With good reason."
Jerry stared at the man before saying, "Because of Alexandra." He sighed, his mind flickering to old memories.
"You ruined her." Mikkos spat.
"I loved her." Jerry argued. He paused before adding, "As much as any twenty year old boy can love a girl. I loved her."
"You lied to her." Mikkos reminded him. "She had no idea who you true were."
"So did you." Jerry said angrily. "You lied to me as well. You told me she went back to Greece because she couldn't face what we had done, the shame of it. I never knew!" Now it was Jerry slamming the table. "You hid it from me!"
"And if you had known?" Mikkos asked as he looked into the man's new eyes. "What would you have done? Married her? Made things right for her and the child?"
"I would have taken them home." Jerry said honestly. "I would have taken them to my mother where they would have been loved, looked after, and together. My daughter would have been raised by her mother, knowing her mother's love, and never would have suffered. But you wouldn't let that happen, you had to control everything about her life, you forced me to walk away!"
"And here I am pulling your strings yet again." Mikkos said.
"For now." Jerry replied. He stared the man down, showing him that he wasn't the same boy he'd been so many years ago. "So, James Craig at your service Mr. Cassadine."
Alexis looked up as Jax and Sam made their way towards the door. She smirked as she pulled her glasses off, tangling her fingers in them as she folded the arms down. "Where are you two off to?"
They stopped; Sam smiled as she peeked around her dad to look at her mom. "Father Daughter Time."
"Oh?" Alexis asked as she leaned forward a bit so she could see Sam better.
Jax nodded, a dashing smile on his lips. "Yeap, Father Daughter Time."
"And what will this Father Daughter Time consist of?" Alexis asked. She knew when these two were up to something, she could just tell, and right now they were all but screaming it.
"Just, ya know, stuff." Sam answered.
"Yeah, stuff." Jax echoed. He gave Alexis a reassuring look that told her it would be fine. He wasn't going to take Sam off on some great grand adventure that would get either of them hurt.
Alexis looked at the two, the goofy grins and puppy dog looks and laughed. "Oh alright, have fun, and stay out of trouble!"
Sam ran over and hugged her mom before dashing for the door. "Come on Dad! Quick! Before she changes her mind!"
Jax laughed before giving Alexis a kiss and then running out the door after his daughter.
There was a happy, content smile on Alexis' face. She'd done a lot for Sam since getting her daughter back, but one of the best things she'd done for her girl was to give her Jax as a father. She couldn't have asked for a better man to fulfill that role. Though she thought of Sam's biological father, she had loved him and he had given her the gift of their beautiful daughter, she couldn't picture him as anything but the charming young man she'd met in a bookstore and spent a wonderful summer with. When Sam first came back into her life Alexis had discreetly looked into what happened to him only find out he'd been killed a few years after their romance. So in her mind James would always be that charming young man who'd spotted her with copy of the collected works of Aleksandr Pushkin and recited a poem in god awful Russian to get her attention. Alexis smiled at the memories but then shook them off. She felt bad that James would never know his daughter, and even over the fact that Sam would never know him, but as far as she was concerned Sam had the only father she could or would ever need. Jax was a wonderful father to both of her daughters, and she had no doubts that he always would be.
The End