He wasnt sure what his intentions were

He found himself on the edge of his seat fumbling between his fingers, a piece of paper with the address to her Manhattan apartment

He had kept the piece of paper in his pocket for almost two weeks from the day he called Nicolas asking him where he could find her

He didnt want to impose, he didnt want to give away where she had gone... he didnt want to interrupt the new life she so desperately wanted for herself and Kristina

He wasnt sure what his intentions were

He knew that he couldnt take his mind off of her

He knew that he worried day and night where she was, what she was doing...

But he wasnt sure why

She didnt need someone protecting her or trying to take of her. She could do that on her own. She always had...

"Mr. Jacks we will be landing in 15 minutes"

Jax raised his head to understand the captain clearly and then began fumbling again with the slip of paper

*************************************

Good old reliable Cherios

Kristina held as much as her little hand could hold while occupied with cartoon characters on the TV

She pointed at the TV and gibberish followed with only a few coherent words

Alexis looked up from her notepad she was scribbling on and grinned at her little girls intrigued face

"Hey" Alexis said getting Kristinas attention "Can I have one of those?" She said referring to the Cherios in her hand

Kristina held one to her mommys lips and Alexis pretended to bite her fingers along with the Cherios making Kristina burst in to giggles

Alexis grabbed her baby girl in to a big hug and gave her kisses one after the other

"Youre my silly monkey!" Alexis said giggling right along with her

He could hear the sound of laughter from the hallway

Jax wondered if he could be satisfied by just hearing the sound of her voice, or hearing Kristinas laughter... without having to interrupt their obviously now comfortable life

He backed away from their door

And before he could hide around the corner the door swung open

He watched as Kristina took steps outside the door to the newspaper and Alexis came right behind her to pick it up

She was preoccupied with her daughter and didnt notice him standing there at first

"JAX!"

Jax looked stunned, caught

"What are you doing here?"

"I, I uh..."

"Jax?"

"Im not sure what Im doing here"

Alexis looked at him confused

"I know..." Jax began

"Come in" Alexis said holding her free hand out

Jax followed she and Kristina in and Alexis wrapped her arms tightly around him. He couldnt explain at that moment how good it felt to have her in his arms. When he let go he went straight for a waiting Kristina

"Ive really missed you both so much"

"Weve missed you but did something happen? Why are you here?"

"You left"

"What?"

"You left, thats why Im here"

"I dont think I understand"

"Im not sure if I do either. But Im trying to make sense of it all, because all I know is the day you left I became envious that you were starting a new life, that you could walk away. The next think I know, Im wondering where you are. What youre doing... I just kept missing you"

Alexis still had a completely confused look on her face

"Alexis its what you said"

"I said?"

"About love always breaking your heart"

"Jax I was upset, and tired and..."

"You were telling the truth"

She didnt argue, she couldnt argue

"Jax"

"I called Nicolas weeks ago asking where you were. I didnt want to interrupt your life. I didnt want to run the risk of butting in where I didnt belong... but the day you said goodbye you were clearly tired of your heart aching. You left me thinking about all the times love had broken your heart, all the times it had broken mine"

"Isnt that life?" she interrupted

"No, no its not just life. You deserve more, I deserve more. We deserve to know what its like to love and be loved unconditionally"

"Maybe that just doesnt exist for everyone"

"Alexis" he paused for a moment wanting his words not to be lost in his rambling. "Alexis I had that with you. Your friendship, your love, everything you have ever given me has been beautiful and unconditional"

"Because you and I both protect that and..."

Jax leaned in and kissed her

Not their usual innocent kiss

His lips devoured hers and she easily got lost

When he pulled away she didnt looked stunned she now only held the palms of her hands to the sides of his face

"I love you, you know I love you but you want someone to promise you theyll never hurt you again. I will"

"You never have"

"Weve never had that kind of relationship"

"That just the thing you wouldnt promise me that you would never hurt me..."

"Jax my track record isnt so good"

"I cant apologize for coming to these conclusion, for realizing how much I do love you"

"Its not that I dont love you , its not that Ive never thought we could be more. But youre my best friend. Youre the one person I have left that I know that I can love and trust, like you said unconditionally. I cant risk what I have with you"

Jax backed away and seeing the curly headed little girl that was eyeing him

"Jax!"

His name slipped easily from between her little lips

He reached down picking her up

Alexis watched for a moment and then walked towards them, reaching to rest her chin on his shoulder

He held Kristina in one arm and Alexis in the other

"I dont want "us" to have rules and conditions... thats what Im afraid of"

Jax pulled away to look her in the eyes

"No rules, no conditions... Im in this for you"

Alexis looked as if her breath had been taken away

"And Im in this for you" she said as a shy smile appeared across her face

End of Ch. 2