This little Jaxis jaunt is set just after Alexis and Jax were married, right after Sonny was arrested by the Feds, Jason asked Alexis to defend Sonny, and Jerry was injured in a car accident.

Husband and Wife

She had meant to go, she really had. Sonny was in lock up at the PCPD waiting for her, and Chloe had offered to stay and look after Jax. But for some reason, Alexis couldn't make herself leave. She'd made it all the way to her car before she turned around and wandered back to the waiting room where Jax stood in the same place, in front of the observation window, his eyes fixed on his wounded big brother.

It wasn't very Jacks like to admit how much his brother meant to him, though it was clear Jerry was the world to Jax; Alexis had already learned that about her new husband. Husband -- she was still trying to accept that their "marriage" had happened at all, and now here she was, knee deep in a family crisis. And already they felt so much like her family. John and Jane's eager welcome had been both overwhelming and heartwarming, especially to the little girl who still lived inside Alexis and who remembered what it was like to beg for crumbs of attention.

And Jax -- they had already faced so much together. The partnership that had begun so long ago had cemented into friendship as they faced death together in the desert. Now they were even closer, united in a fight to protect Chloe's business. Marrying him certainly hadn't been a part of the plan, but if she had to be married to anyone, sharing a life with Jax was probably as good as it could get. He laughed at her jokes, he ate popcorn with her, and he made her feel safe. Again, this was something she wasn't used to, and something their friendship had brought into her life.

So when she walked back into the waiting room and saw him still standing there, Chloe's attempts to pull him away failing, Alexis knew that she had to do something to distract him, even for a moment, from the intense worry he was feeling right now. She started to walk toward him, the clicking of her heels on the floor drawing Chloe's eyes her way.

"Alexis, I thought you'd left."

"I was about to, but I decided I'm not leaving without him." Alexis pointed at Jax as she spoke. Chloe opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it might have been disappeared in the sound of Jax' voice.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Jax, your parents will be here soon. You don't want them to be worried about both of you, do you?"

"My parents..."

"Are going to walk in here, take one look at you and realize you haven't slept or eaten anything. They're parents, Jax, and while I'm not all that familiar with how parental concern works, I have a feeling your current appearance is going to trigger it."

Jax looked toward Alexis to start arguing when he caught sight of himself in the reflection of the glass. He looked like he'd spent the night out in the bush, and Alexis was right, Lady Jane was going to be all over him with worry the moment she saw him.

"A hot shower and a quick breakfast, it'll do us both some good. I'll bring you back here right after, I promise."

Alexis was careful not to mention the PCPD. Reminding Jax that she was going to be spending this morning trying to get Sonny out of yet another bind was the last thing she needed to do, especially because she could see Jax' resolve weakening.

"Chloe, you can stay here with Jerry, can't you, until Jane and John arrive?"

"Of...of course I can," Chloe answered, trying to hide the upset she felt that all of her pleas had fallen on deaf ears while Jax seemed ready to listen to Alexis.

"See, we have all the bases covered. Jerry has someone we trust to watch over him and you have me. Now let's go."

Alexis gave a gentle tug on his arm, and Jax smiled as he finally turned to face her.

"All right, all right. Who knew I had such a bossy wife?"

"Who knew I had such a stubborn husband? Let's go, now, car."

Alexis pushed him square in the back toward the elevator. The two were so involved in each other that they didn't even realize they had walked off without bidding Chloe a proper goodbye.

The ride home was quiet. Alexis drove, her eyes stealing small sideways glances to make certain Jax was all right. Of course he wasn't, nowhere close. Jax was terrified he was going to lose his brother, and Alexis knew there was little she could do to alleviate his fears. Still, at least she'd managed to get him home for a few minutes. Maybe she could even con him into a nap if she played her cards right.

"Why don't you go ahead and shower and I'll order room service," Alexis said as they walked into the penthouse. Jax closed the door as he watched her make her way to the phone. He quickly followed and wrestled the receiver from her grasp.

"Why don't I order room service, otherwise we'll end up eating every unhealthy thing on the menu."

"Jasper Jax, I resent that. I brought you home to take care of you not torture you with junk food." Alexis grabbed for the phone, but Jax, despite his heavy mood, pulled it further away playfully. "Jax, I swear, if you don't hand me that phone right now..."

"You'll what?" he asked.

Alexis' brow wrinkled a bit as she considered her answer. Keying on it, she stood up a little straighter and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'll tell your mother that you want her to stay in Port Charles and redecorate the entire penthouse."

"I don't own this penthouse, Alexis, I rent it. Hence, no redecorating."

"Ned owns it, or rather the Quartermaines do, and I think that he would be more than happy to let Lady Jane run amuck in here if it will keep her from catching us together on a romantic evening."

Jax narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, trying not to laugh. How on Earth was it possible that as heartsick as he was over Jerry, Alexis was actually about to make him laugh?

"You wouldn't dare?"

"Wouldn't I?" Alexis responded, her right eyebrow arching for emphasis.

"She'd make you hike every day."

"Small price to pay for watching you drown in swatches and paint samples."

Jax stared his wife in the eyes and knew that Alexis would do as she threatened not to punish him, but to simply prove that her resolve was stronger than his own. The Jacks', it seemed, had reached a standoff.

"Fine," Jax said, handing her the receiver, "you can order, but Alexis some sort of fruit really should be on the menu."

Alexis punched in the numbers to room service and she smiled brightly at Jax as the other end was answered.

"Yes, this is Alexis Davis-Jacks. Could you please send up two western omelets, coffee, orange juice and a large fruit bowl, please, with extra kiwi? Thank you."

Jax finally felt his face form a real, true smile as Alexis hung up the phone. "She knows they have a large fruit bowl -- who would have imagined."

"See, life with me is just full of surprises."

"That it is, Mrs. Jacks, that it is."

Alexis walked over and moved behind him, her hand taking the collar of his coat as she started to pull it off.

"Now, you, Mr. Jacks, to the shower. I'll let you know when breakfast is here."

"I should let you go first."

Alexis thought the offer very sweet, but she wanted to make some calls regarding Sonny's case, and knowing Jax was safely in the shower was the best way to avoid another argument about her representing her notorious sometimes-client. "I have some messages I need to return. You go ahead."

Jax nodded and started to go, but he stopped suddenly and turned back to Alexis. She was caught off guard when he pulled her close to him and quickly placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you," he said, his voice low, and then he headed off toward the bathroom, leaving Alexis to wonder what it was she felt in the pit of her stomach every time her pretend husband held her against him.

Her calls made and breakfast arrived, Alexis realized she hadn't heard a peep out of Jax since he'd left the room. She made her way back toward his bedroom, her ears picking up the sound of the shower still running. She cautiously made her way into the bedroom, her eyes glancing toward the bathroom door to make sure it was closed all the way. When she was sure it was, she strode over to it and knocked on the door.

"Jax, breakfast is here."

No answer. She thought perhaps he hadn't heard her.

"And men have the nerve to tease women about how long they stay in the shower. Well, breakfast is here, Mr. Jacks."

When he still didn't answer, Alexis felt a minor well of concern. Surely he was all right? Maybe he simply couldn't hear her through the muffling of the door and the water. She had almost convinced herself when she heard a sound that she recognized through both the door and the water as the sound of a sob -- a deep, gut-wrenching sob.

Alexis opened the door without any worry about modesty or propriety. Her eyes fell on the glass-blurred image of Jax huddled on the floor of the shower. She could hear now that the one cry that had caught her attention wasn't isolated. Jax was in tears.

"Jax," she called out as she grabbed a towel and headed toward the shower. She opened the door and turned off the water as she sank to her knees, wrapping him in the large, plush cotton cloth she had pulled from the rack.

"Jax, it's okay."

He knew he should be mortified...he hated, hated for anyone to see him weak and certainly to see him crying -- it was unthinkable. Even when Brenda had died he had fought his tears when they threatened to fall where someone might see them. But somehow he couldn't stop, especially not when the depth of concern and care in Alexis' voice seemed to welcome him to continue and release the terrible dread he had felt inside of him all night.

"It's okay, Jax. I'm right here."

Alexis didn't even notice that she was getting soaked in the water that remained on the shower floor. She simply settled in beside him and pulled him against her as his tears continued to flow.

"I can't protect anyone, Alexis, no one. Not Brenda, not Jerry...what good is everything I have if I can't protect anyone I care about."

She knew there were no arguments she could offer he would listen to now. And she knew that what was hurting Jax went far beyond his fear for his brother. The confrontation with Sonny at the Grille last night had reawakened his grief for Brenda after he had fought so long and hard to push it down and control it. Then to know he might lose Jerry, too...it was just too much for one 24-hour period, even for a man as strong as Jax.

He was almost surprised at her silence, yet he welcomed it. Alexis just being there, just letting him hold tight to her and lean against her was more than he'd had in so long, more than he'd had since Brenda had gone away, and it felt so good to simply let someone hold him and try to take some of the pain away. Unconsciously, he turned, deepening their embrace and increasing the contact between their bodies as he yielded to the strength and warmth he found in her.

Alexis felt Jax surrender to the comfort she could offer him, and as he did so, as their bodies began to blur from two to one with the closeness of their contact, Alexis felt that odd something she always felt when she was this near to him. It was impossible, of course, that she could let herself feel anything toward Jax. He was her friend, and she was in love with Ned. There were boundaries in place and she couldn't let some silly schoolgirl romantic feeling creep in and make those lines murky. She and Jax were pretend. The friendship was real, the rest wasn't. The rest wasn't real.

Which didn't explain why it felt so good to her to hold him like this, to offer back some of the feeling of safety he had given her during those terrifying hours in the desert. Jax had made her believe they would survive. She would always hold him dear for that, but she couldn't let herself think it was more. It wasn't more.

Jax felt his heartbeat quickening as he sank even more against the warmth of his wife's body. His wife -- he remembered the possessive tone in his voice as he'd told Jason tonight that "his wife" wasn't going to be sacrificed to Sonny Corinthos. Calling her that was part of the public display required of their "marriage," and yet it had come from somewhere primal and real inside of Jax, and he knew it.

He also knew that feeling this way, this excitement at being close to her, wasn't right. She was his wife in name only, and though a treasured friend, she belonged to someone else. And yet there was no denying that every time he kissed her to keep up their "act" of husband and wife, the contact of their lips always lasted just a moment longer than was needed. He had also noticed that he had taken to holding her hand even when no one they were trying to fool was around. He had also noticed that Alexis didn't try any harder to pull away from that contact than he did.

But it was pretend. He knew it and yet he had to force himself to remember. Anything beyond friendship between them was just pretend.

They were both focused on that, on the strict reality of the lines they should not cross when their eyes locked. There they sat, soaking wet, him in a towel, she in the wet mess that had become her clothes, their eyes so focused on what they saw in one another that all thoughts of everything else in the world disappeared.

She saw his need, his need to feel safe and alive and loved, and he saw in her the need to give all those things. It was a moment of magic weaved out of a day filled with confusion and pain and worry, and neither of them seemed to have the power to fight it any longer.

And so he kissed her. And she kissed him back. It was the kiss that was growing familiar to them, the one they used when their union was challenged in public. But it quickly grew into a different kiss, one charged with that thing that always hovered just below the surface for them...just below the layer of "pretend" it had stayed hidden in until now.

In memory Jax would regret that he hadn't swept her into his arms and carried her to his bed, but the truth was they couldn't have made it that far if they'd tried. The eruption of emotion and passion was simply too strong to be pushed aside for even that long. As their kisses grew more and more heated, he reached out to dampen their landing on the bathroom floor as they tumbled from the shower to the chenille carpet that lay against the white marble surface. The towel and her water-soaked clothes were discarded as Alexis and Jax became more and more intoxicated by the feel of each other's skin, its revelation to each coming with no embarrassment or hesitation.

They both felt a sense of losing control, of giving in to something stronger than them as they finally joined together. Alexis' breath caught in her throat at the sensation, and Jax was sure that his heart would explode, it filled so completely with want and care for the woman in his arms. They moved together, their minds lost in the whirlwind of their passion for each other, until they found a release that left them both gasping for breath and clinging to the person who had taken them to such a powerful and awe-inspiring place.

They lay there together silently until Jax stood, his body rising up above hers. He reached his hand down to her, and she took it, standing against him, their eyes never breaking contact as they came as close to face to face as their height difference would allow.

Jax dipped his face down to hers and kissed her. It was a kiss different from all others they had shared. It spoke of thanks and of love and of a place that only Alexis would ever occupy in his heart. When he pulled away, he stepped back into the shower, moving slightly as an invitation for her to join him. She smiled, no shyness evident despite their mutual nakedness or what had just occurred between them, and she accepted his invitation, moving into the shower in front of him.

The warm water washed away the physical traces each had left upon the other, but the memory of the moment was burned into both their memories. They parted briefly to dress, and then reunited in the hallway between their bedrooms, still no words spoken between them. They wandered out to the living room where the breakfast Alexis had ordered still sat untouched.

"I should get back to the hospital," Jax said, his worry about his brother returned, but lessened by the closeness he and Alexis had shared.

"You are going to eat, and then you can go back to the hospital," Alexis said, her tone as wifely and pushy as it had been earlier that morning.

They sat. They ate. They spoke about Jerry and about what should happen next with his care and what Jax needed to do to watch over his brother's business interests until Jerry was well enough to do so himself. To Alexis' surprise, they even spoke of Sonny briefly, Jax bidding her to "be careful when you see your client today." He kept his loathing of Sonny in check for her benefit, and she smiled at his effort. His hand crept across the table and took hold of hers, and they ate the rest of their meal as they chatted easily as their friendship allowed them to do.

They did not discuss Chloe or Ned. They did not discuss what had happened between them. It needed no words to cement it in their reality. For Alexis and Jax, the day had proven that were they ready, what they shared was far more than "pretend," and though neither of them could surrender to it forever, for today, they had been what they appeared to be to all the world...

husband and wife.

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