Secrets Revealed
Chapter 24 Answers
Part Two

New York
The hotel
The first bedroom


Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

“I know I can’t spend the rest of my life with you, but do you think I can spend the rest of the night with you?” Maxie held her breath and waited for his answer.

Jason Morgan looked at the woman he loved with solemn eyes. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said shakily although every nerve ending in his body screamed out with need for her. “It wouldn’t change anything. It couldn’t,” He caresses her cheek with his thumb, reveling in the softness of her skin under his touch.

“I don’t expect it to,” Maxie says with a shudder as her body reacts to his nearness, the surety of his touch. It’s one thumb on her cheek, one simple touch, but she feels like he has branded her. She hesitates, maybe he is right. Maybe one more night with him will just make it harder for her to leave and walk away. Look at how long it took her to forget their first night. Yet looking into the blazing blue warmth of his eyes, she knows inside that nothing can make leaving him harder. She wants this night. One night to hold on to for all of the cold and empty nights to come. It wasn’t too much to ask. “I don’t expect it to,” she repeats softly forcing herself away from a contemplation of his chest to focus on the issue at hand. “I told you, I’m not asking for a lifetime. All I want is one night.” All the while she hears this voice inside her whispering that she is a liar and she knows its true. She wants so much more than one night, but one night is all she can have.

He reads the truth in her eyes, those beautiful green eyes that have seduced him since the moment they met. “God Maxie,” he finds himself pulling her closer almost without thought, as if their bodies know where they belong more than their minds do. “I want more. I want to spend more than one night with you. I want to pass every night making love to you and greet every sunrise in your arms.” He draws a deep breath, fighting for a control that he desperately wants to surrender. “But I can’t. You and I can’t ever be.”

“You’re wrong, Jason. We can be. Here and now we can be everything to each other that we want to be. For the next ten or so hours we can be in love and we can make love. We can be. Maybe its not the forever that we both want but if its all that we’ve been given , I’m not willing to turn my back on it just because it might hurt more tomorrow if you love me tonight. I don’t see how it can hurt more tomorrow, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take if it means loving you tonight.”

It’s a losing battle and Jason knows it, but still he tries to put up a good struggle. “Maxie, I....”

Maxie silences him with a kiss, a kiss that is long and hard and just tinged with desperation, when she draws back there are tears brimming in her eyes. “Please, Jason,” she whispers unsteadily. “Don’t make me beg.” She lowers her eyes.

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance


Holding you I held everything
For a moment wasn't I a king
But if I'd only known how the king would fall
Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all

Jason gently lifts her chin and drowns in the love he sees in her eyes and closes his own, surrendering both of them to the night. He gives a silent prayer that he doesn’t cause her more pain by this decision. “I won’t make you beg.” He returns the kiss and maneuvers her to the bed, smiling at her as he presses her back against the silken sheets, his greedy hands exploring every inch of her as his mouth devours her.

“I love you,” he whispers hoarsely, the words hot against her mouth as he slips his tongue in and out to dance around with hers and drive her crazy. “I want you. God I want you so much.” He draws back a moment to look into her eyes. “You will never know how much you mean to me. I can say the words over and over but they barely begin to express what I feel when I look at you.”

“Jason,” she breathes his name on a seductive whisper. “I love you too. Now please stop talking and just make love to me.”

He grins and lowers his mouth away from hers to nuzzle the v of her neck as his hands begin to slowly unbutton her clothing. He smiles softly as she returns the favor and he finds her hands on his chest, even through the light silk of the material, an incredibly erotic feeling.

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance


Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance

Suddenly he pulls away and stops, his heart thudding as he tries to bring his breathing under control.” We can’t do this,” he blurts out.

It takes Maxie a second or so to realize that he’s stopped and she tenses, confused and hurt. “Did I do something wrong?” She asks her heart breaking as she starts coming down from the dizzying heights his lovemaking brought her too.

Jason looks at her in shock. “No,” he says immediately and firmly, kissing her for reassurance and smiling when her look hurt vanishes. “I don’t have any protection,” he tells her softly, trying and failing to keep any hint of embarrassment out of his voice.

Maxie looks at him and suddenly giggles.

Jason looks at her with a gleam in his eye. “You find this funny?”

Maxie tries to control herself and fails miserably. “Jason there are four armed men in the other room ready to do whatever you ask and you have no protection. I’m sorry. I know what you mean. But it’s too....”

“Ironic?” Jason grinned ruefully. “Somehow I can’t see using James or one of the others for the kind of protection I was talking about.” He pauses as an idea hits him. “Still I can send one of them to the drugstore for some....”

“Jason?” Maxie interrupts a little self-conscious. Jason turns the full force of his attention onto her and for just a moment Maxie forgets to breath.

“Yeah?”

“I have some.”

“Some what?” Jason asks distractedly and then stops, “YOU have some protection.”

Maxie nods, embarrassed beyond words and wishing the bed would open and swallow her whole. “In my bag there are some condoms.”

“Really?” Jason smiled, enjoying her embarrassment.

Maxie looked at him, a flash of annoyance in her brilliant green eyes. “It is 2015 you know.”

“I know.” Jason continued to smirk.

“You know its perfectly acceptable for the female to take responsibility for these things.”

“Absolutely.”

“It’s just when Emily told me her plan I pretty much knew that you’d come after us at some point and it wasn’t that I planned on anything happening between the two of us I mean maybe I hoped it would but I didn’t plan on anything but I promised Robin...”

She stops. Great Maxie. Not only do you totally humiliate yourself but now you have to bring up Robin in the process. “I promised Robin I’d always be careful. Always.” Maxie finished quietly.

“Maxie?” Maxie kept her eyes lowered, not daring to look up at Jason just now. Maybe she wouldn’t look up at him ever again.

“Robin was right. It’s stupid to take chances with your life. I’m glad you kept your promise to her.” Jason sighed when she still didn’t look up at him. “Maxie, it’s okay to talk about Robin. Maybe not in the middle of making love,” Jason’s heart leapt as he saw her almost smile, “but it’s okay to talk about her. She was someone we both loved and she meant a lot to each of us. I know that.”

Maxie gathers her courage and looks at Jason. “Do you still love her?”

Jason smiles in remembrance. “There was a time,” he said reflectively, “when I couldn’t think about Robin or hear her name or remember her smile because of the pain it caused. I loved her. I screwed things up badly and I hurt her badly, but I loved her. Losing her hurt more than I ever imagined it could.” He gathers her close, seeking comfort where a minute ago he sought passion. “When she died, I never thought that I could feel anything for anybody much less fall in love again. Then I met this beautiful blonde in a bar on Christmas Eve of all things. She was cool as ice on the surface, but I knew that underneath the surface was a fire that would scorch my soul. I looked into her eyes and suddenly my heart that I never thought would feel again, started feeling things. Admiration. Desire. Pleasure. Protectiveness. Need. And before I knew it, love. I loved Robin. I’m not going to lie or pretend differently. It took a long time to get over that love, but I did. And when I let myself realize how much I loved you, it was like I let Robin go at the same time I got her back because loving you allowed me for the first time to remember Robin without the pain and the hurt, because loving you there was no room in my heart for anything but love.”

“Maxie?” Jason waited for her to look at him and after a second she did so. “I love you,” he repeated as he kissed her tears as the trailed down her cheeks.

Maxie took a deep breath and said a gentle goodbye, once and for all time, to the ghost of Robin Scorpio. She moved so that she kissed Jason full on the lips with a sweet passion that was building in both of them again. A passion made somehow more intense by the emotional closeness they had just shared. Smiling with relief, Jason shifted his attentions from providing comfort to spurring passion as he began to make love to her.

After a few moments, he pulled back again. “I think I should send James to that drugstore,” he whispered heavily.

Maxie looked at him puzzled. “Why? My bag’s on the floor?”

Jason smiled at her. “The way that I feel now we are going to need more than a couple of condoms by the time the night is through.”

Maxie smiled. “I brought more than just a few.”

Jason raised an eyebrow. “How many did you bring?”

Maxie told him.

Jason grinned. “I guess we’d better get busy if we plan on using all of those.”

Maxie’s eyes grow wide. “In one night? Impossible.”

Jason only smiled seductively and proceeded to show her just how possible it really was.

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
Yes my life is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance


Sometime after midnight
The Hotel
The living room


Come stop your crying
It will be all right
just take my hand
Hold it tight

I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry

For one so small
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry

You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here
in my heart always
Always

Lucky Spencer walked into the living room, after waking up and reaching for his wife and realizing that she wasn’t there. He smiled at the two guards who stood on duty and then ignored them as he went to his wife, who sat by the equipment that Frisco had delivered earlier and that they were using to keep track of what was going on in Helena’s penthouse. She had the headphones on that allowed her to tap into the microwave listening device and was watching the screen that was hooked up to the imager. So caught up was she in what she was hearing and seeing, that she didn’t hear him come up behind her until he knelt beside her on the floor.

She smiled at him, her beautiful brown eyes shining and he was struck once again by the realization of exactly how important she was to him. He loved her more than life itself and it was a love that was growing every day they spent together.

“You should be sleeping,” he says gently, his arms curving around their child, the child he had felt moving earlier today. “I missed you when I woke up.” He feels her settle against him in complete and utter trust. “Are you okay?”

Emily nodded than realized that he could see her nod when he was holding her from behind. “I’m fine.” She whispered softly. “You’re here and we’re going to get our son back. I’m better than fine.”

“Good,” he says in satisfaction, her happiness is the cornerstone upon which his world is built. “What are you listening to?”

She turns slightly in his arms and smiles. Taking off the headphones, she gently places them on her husband. “Listen,” she urges.

Lucky does listen and after a moment, he realizes what he is hearing and smiles.

“Is that?”

Emily nods. “It’s Jonathan sleeping.” She points to the screen where the thermal images of the occupants of the apartment are viewed. He can see the guards and what he thinks is Helena, but Emily points to a figure lying in a bed in one of the rooms off to one side of the apartment. “That’s Jonathan,” she whispers, smiling briefly at one of Jason’s men, thanking him without words for pointing out to her which of the images on the screen was her son.

Emily looks at Lucky. “I just wanted to watch him sleep.” She bit back her tears and made an effort to keep the pain out of her voice. It almost worked. “I just wanted to watch over him.”

An incredible wave of tenderness swept over Lucky. His wife. His son. His unborn child. His family. A gift he would never take for granted.

“I know,” he gently settled her into his arms as he leaned against the back of the couch. “Why don’t we watch over him together.”

Emily nodded and linked her hand with his. Together mother and father watched over the son they loved until they fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Come stop your crying
It will be all right
just take my hand
Hold it tight

I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry

For one so small
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry

You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here
in my heart always


Song Credits The Dance by Garth Brooks (thanks Lane for the suggestion)
“You’ll Be In My Heart” Phil Collins (Tarzan)