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"Don't tempt me Brenda. Times
like this and I wish Mike was still
around." Joe Scanlon glared
at his 'sister'.
"Why?"
"Because he was the only one in this family that you listened to."
"Not true. I listen to Lark."
"That little bit of info has me
seriously worried about your mental
health." Brenda smiled despite
herself and looked at Joe. She had
gotten close to the Scanlon bunch
when Mike had married Mary. She loved
having Joe and Frank around.
They were like brothers to her.
Overbearing, bossy, and fiercly
protective.
"Don't you know by now? My
mental health's been shot to hell for
years."
"So what happened?"
"Well we did the deed last night,
I woke up this morning and left him
lying in my bed."
"Ya think he's still there?"
"I don't know. He'll most
likely wait all day for me to come home and
when I finally do go home he'll
want to talk about last night."
"Listen do you want to stay here
for awhile? I don't have to go to the
hospital today and I'm not on call.
In fact I was gonna go to the
Recovery Room. It's my day
to run it. Wanna help?"
"Yeah sure. I haven't waited tables since high school and Kelly's."
"I'll take my chances. Whadda ya say?"
"Sure. Ma's got the kids so I'm free."
"Let's go then." The two headed out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You did what?" Jason looked at his friend increduously.
"We made love."
"And then?"
"And then I woke up this morning
to an empty bed. I guess I deserved
it. I gave her an empty bed
for six years." Sonny looked down at his
hands and Jason frowned at his
friend.
"So I take it that you didn't get
the grand reunion you were hoping
for?" Carly asked handing Sonny
and then her husband a cup of coffee.
"Not even close. Last night
it was like nothing had changed but this
morning when I woke up I realized
just how much had. Tell me the truth.
Do you guys think I'm wasting my
time trying to get her back?"
"No. But Sonny she loved you
more than anything in this world and she
trusted you. You broke that
when you didn't show up at the church."
"I know Carly."
"Do you? I mean do you really?"
"Look I could get this from Mike.
In fact maybe I should pay him a
visit. I'm sure he's dying
to lecture me." He noticed the looks on
Carly and Jason's faces.
"What?"
"Nobody told you?"
"Told me what?"
"Sonny about three years ago Mike
had a stroke. He's dead."
Sonny stared miserably down into
his brandy. He had just spent the last
three and a half hours crying his
eyes out after learning that his
father was dead. Mike was the only
person left in the world who loved
him, no matter what. Sure,
Jason loved him, and even Carly did too. But
Mike. . .Mike believed in Sonny.
Mike wanted the best for Sonny, no one
ever had before since his mother.
Now he was gone, both of them.
Sonny looked around the quiet, empty
penthouse. He had convinced Jason
and Carly to leave him alone,
and take the kids to the zoo, and then
out for some pizza and maybe a
movie. There was a knock at the
door. When he didn't go to answer
it, the knocking persisted. Until,
finally, he heard a key turn in
the lock and the door open.
"Carly? Jason?"
Sonny looked up at the voice and
saw Brenda standing by the door. She
was wearing a dark blue dress that
fell to mid-thigh, knee-length black
leather boots, and a black, wool,
fitted jacket that was the length of
her dress. Her hair was up in a
sloppy ponytail and a pair of sunglasses
were perched on top of her head.
She looked beautiful.
"They're not here," Sonny whispered.
Brenda saw him sitting on the couch,
saw the tears in his eyes, and
frowned. "Oh my God, Sonny what
happened?" She threw her keys down onto
the desk and shut the door.
Walking towards him, she shed her coat.
"How'd you get in?" He asked her hoarsely.
"Jason gave me a key a few years back. Sonny, what's wrong?"
"My father died," He whispered,
still in shock. "Jason said he had a
stroke and. . ."
Brenda looked down at her hands.
"Sonny, I'm so sorry. It was pretty
awful, we were at Luke's celebrating
Carly's pregnancy and he just. .
."
Sonny sniffled loudly. "He probably died thinking that I hated him."
Hearing Sonny say that broke her
heart. "No! No, Sonny, he could never
think that! Never! He knows that
you loved him. You told him, he knew
it Sonny. Don't do this to yourself."
"Where was he buried?" Sonny asked softly.
"Sonny-"
"Where!?"
"Charles St. Cemetary. . ." Brenda
looked down at her hands. "Want me to
take you there?"
"Yes. Please."
************
Brenda led Sonny through the maze
of tombstones in the cemetary, until
they reached Mike's, a grayish
arch sticking obscenly out of the ground.
Fresh flowers lay at the base.
Sonny knelt down in front of it and
silently read the face:
"Michael Corbin Sr.
Beloved Father and Friend
January 6, 1945 - August 19, 2000
The Lord giveth and taketh away"
Sonny placed his finger against
the cool stone and traced the words
"Beloved Father".
"He died on Stone's birthday?" Sonny asked.
Brenda nodded, wiping away a tiny
tear. "He was. . .so young, and so
full of life. But he also was hurting
a lot, Sonny. He lost his only son
and the only woman he'd ever loved-"
"See, we had something in common
right there." Sonny looked up at Brenda
just as she knelt down.
"What do you mean?"
"He lost my mother, and I lost you. The only women we've ever loved-"
"Sonny-"
"Did he suffer?"
"Huh?"
"Did he die quickly, or did he suffer?"
Brenda bit her lip. "He died instantly.
The stroke attacked his central
nervous system, the most inner
part of the brain, that carries
information to other parts of the
body, telling them to do things like.
. .take in air, breathe it out.
. .pump blood through the body. . .he
went quickly, Sonny."
He nodded. "Good. He was too great of a man to die any other way."
"Maybe we should go."
"I'm so glad you're here," Sonny
spoke truthfully. "I don't know how I
could've gotten through this day
without seeing you."
"Sonny," Brenda whispered breathlessly, her eyes filling with tears.
"I love you, Brenda." When
she opened her mouth to speak, he put his
finger over it and shushed her.
Looking tearfully back down at his
father's grave, Sonny leaned down
and kissed the tombstone. "I love you,
Pops," Sonny whispered sadly. "I
know for a while I didn't act like I
did, but I do. I love you. And
I'm so sorry for everything that I said
to you, and everything that I did.
You made your mistakes, and you paid
for them. And I forgive you. Now
I need you to forgive me."
Brenda could see and feel how terrible
Sonny felt, and slowly reached
out to take his hand. Sonny looked
down and saw her beautiful hand
embracing his, and he smiled, squeezing
it.
"Hello?" Brenda said, answering the phone.
"How's my favorite brunette?"
"Fine Jason. What's up?"
"It's Thursday."
"Oh right. Okay so where are we
going to clog our ateries up this
afternoon?"
"Kelly's?"
"Ruby's on vacation. Liz is
cooking. Do you feel like spending the
afternoon in the ER for food poisoning?"
"Moving on. Outback?"
"Still closed for renovations."
"Luke's?"
"Since Bruno quit the food's been awful."
"Good point. The Grille?"
"Quartermaines'."
"Recovery Room it is then."
"Twelve-thirty?"
"See ya there."
"Bye Jason."
"Bye Bren."
Brenda hung up the phone and went
into the kitchen. She picked up the
lunch boxes for Morgan and Scorpio
and then went back out into the
living room. "Let's go guys!"
she shouted and a few minutes later they
were all in the car headed for
Charles Street Elementary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Joe, what's up?" Brenda called
as she walked into the Recovery
Room.
"Hey Bren, how's my favorite sister?"
"Your only sister is fine." Brenda
shot back. She looked around,
smiling at the regulars and spotting
Jason at the corner table. She
walked over. "Hey buddy."
"Hey Bren. You're early. For a change."
"Very funny." She took off her jacket and sat down. "So what's up?
"You tell me."
"I assume you're talking about what
happened the night of Robin's
funeral."
"Jax first. Did he find anything?"
"No. The keys to my filing
cabinet are in safe places and the filing
cabinet is the only place he could
find anything."
"What about the laptop?"
"Password protected."
"He couldn't get the password?"
"No way. The guy who invented
the Rubix cube couldn't get the
password."
"Alright but Bren, will you think about putting security cameras?"
"Already done. I had Carly
get the name of the guy who put yours in.
He's coming by tomorrow at three
to give an estimate. I also started
looking into bullet proof glass."
"You think Jax is gonna shoot at you?"
"I don't know what to think anymore.
I do know that no one and nothing
is ever going to hurt my children.
Any of them."
"Fair enough. Moving on to what happened after Jax broke in."
"I would've eventually told you, you know."
"Brenda don't lie to me."
"Okay if he hadn't told you I never would've. Happy?"
"At least you're being honest. Bren can I ask you something?"
"You will anyway so go ahead."
"Are you in love with Sonny?"
Brenda frowned. "I wish I knew how to answer that."
"What do you mean, you wish you
knew how to answer it?" Jason asked
incredulously. "It's a simple
answer: yes or no."
Brenda shook her head and ran a
finger through her hair. "No, no, it's
never been that simple with Sonny
and I."
"Why not?"
"Because we're not simple people."
Brenda rationalized. "I'll always
love Sonny because of Morgan and
Scorpio, and he'll always be my first
love, he'll always be the great
love of my life. Maybe we're
even...'soulmates', if there is
such a thing..." Brenda sighed and shook
her head. "Yeah, I loved Sonny.
But he broke my heart, Jason, and it's
still broken. I don't know if I'll
ever forgive him for inflicting that
kind of pain on me."
"He told me the two of you had sex," Jason replied back bluntly.
Brenda laughed and raked her fingers
through her hair again, pushing it
out of her face. She sat back in
her seat. "You sure are straight to the
point, aren't you? Sheesh, Jase."
"What I'm saying is, why would you have sex with a man you don't love?"
Brenda smiled. "I've done it plenty
of times before, Jason. Jagger,
Miguel, Jax. Actually, I convinced
myself that I loved Jagger and Jax,
but I was just stupid. Yeah, I
was really stupid back then. The only
real love I'd ever known was the
destructive love I'd shared with Sonny.
And I don't want to live like that.
I want to be able to love a man
without- I don't want my children-"
"They're Sonny's children too," Jason whispered softly.
Brenda looked down at her hands. "Jason?"
"Yeah?" He knew that tone. That
was the tone she used with him when she
was about to tell him something
extremely confidential.
"Um. . .Sonny and I didn't use protection.
And I was, uh, ovulating at
the time that we made love."
"So, in layman's terms, you're saying
that there is a very good chance
you could be pregnant again," Jason
whispered.
Brenda bit her lip and nodded. "Yup.
We were just so. . .I can't
remember the last time I had sex
like that. I was just soooo into it, I
couldn't make him stop, and I hadn't
slept with anyone since Jax. .
.since that night, so I wasn't
using birth control or anything, and you
know I don't believe in that stuff
anyways. It's just, Sonny and I
hadn't been together for YEARS,
almost seven years since we'd last been
together that way, and I wanted
him so badly..."
"If it's any consolation, he felt the same way."
"I know how he feels about me. I
just...I just don't know if I feel the
same way. Or if I want to go down
that road again. But being pregnant
with his baby would change everything.
God, it would change
*everything*."
"If you were pregnant Brenda, you
know you'd have to tell him the
truth."
"About what?"
"Everything. Morgan, Scorpio, Alexandra-"
"No!" Brenda hissed. "I'm not going to do that, Jason!"
"Why not? Don't you think Sonny
has a right to be with his children? All
of them!? I hate keeping this from
him. He's the best friend that I've
ever had, and he has a right to
know that he's a father."
"WHEN I'M READY!" Brenda snapped
back. Now they were arguing. She hated
it when they argued. But
part of the reason why she didn't want to tell
Sonny was because if she ever did,
or if she still was and didn't
realize it, fall in love with him,
it'd only push him away. He'd never
forgive something like that. And
for that reason, he could...never,
ever know. "I'm sorry, Jase. Can
we please just not fight?"
Jason smiled. "Do me a favor? A huge one?"
"What? Anything?"
"Get a pregnancy test. And if you are pregnant, you tell Sonny-"
"Jason-"
"You tell Sonny that you're pregnant
with his baby. I didn't say
anything about Morgan and Scorpio,
although you know what I think is
right."
Brenda nodded. "Yup. I know."
************************
Sonny sighed as the doorbell to
the penthouse rang. "I'll get it,
Carly!" He called.
"Thanks!" Carly called from the
kids bedroom, where she was getting
Michael dressed.
Sonny slowly walked towards the
door and pulled it open. He was greeted
with air, and looked down to see
a large, white envelope. Sonny rolled
his eyes, bent down and picked
it up. He slammed the door just as Carly
came rushing down the stairs with
Spencer Jean on her arm and Michael
right behind her. "Who was it?"
"I dunno, but they dropped this.
It has my name on it..." Carly sent
Michael and his sister into the
kitchen for some food, and then peeked
over Sonny's shoulder as he opened
it. Carly stifled a gasp when she
saw the contents. A picture of
Morgan & Scorpio taped to a piece of
paper, and on the other side, a
picture of Sonny. "What the hell is
this supposed to mean?" Sonny asked.
He spun to look at Carly.
"C-can I see that?" Carly asked,
and then grabbed it from him. She
picked up her purse and jacket
and then said, "Sonny, if you could just
watch Michael and Spencer for me
for a few minutes, that'd be great. I
gotta...take care of something.
Thanks!!!" Taking the envelope and
pictures with her, she bolted.
Sonny stared after her, a suspicious
look on his face. Something was
going on, Carly was keeping something
from him, she didn't want him to
study that picture. And Jason had
been secretive for weeks. Something
fishy was in the air, and Sonny
was going to find out just what the hell
it was.
*******************************
Brenda and Jason were standing outside
the Recovery Room when they heard
tires squeal. They looked up to
see Carly driving like a madman down the
street, and then pull over in front
of the restaurant. She was panting
furiously as she got out of the
car, an envelope flapping wildly in her
hand.
"We've got trouble!" She gasped, stopping in front of them.
"What the hell do you mean, trouble?
What is that?" Jason asked his
wife.
"Sonny recieved a present in the
mail. Look-" She shoved the paper into
Brenda's hand. She gasped when
she saw what it was.
"Does-does he know?"
Carly shook her head. "No. But...he
has to know now that something is
going on. I left there so fast,
he has to know. I think we need to tell
him."
"Yeah, so do I," Jason said.
"NO!" Brenda hissed. "I'll take
care of this. I will." She added, when
Jason and Carly looked at her skeptically.
"I'll take care of this once
and for all." She stalked down
the lane, hopped into her car and sped
off.
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