“Kisses Goodbye”

Pictures scattered across the living room floor

Pictures of Davis from the day she was born until now

So many pictures they seemed to document how each ringlet of hair grew longer and longer until they fell into waves down her back

Pictures from horseback riding and swimming and dances on the kitchen floor

Pictures of sight after sight from their travels

“What are you going to do with all of these pictures?” Davis asked finding a spot on the floor beside her mother

“I swore I was going to at least try and organize some of these when I got home and this seems to be my futile attempt”

“You’re just making stacks”

“Organized stacks” Alexis corrected

“My cheeks! They were so chubby!” Davis shrilled holding up a picture of herself as a baby

“You were beautiful and everyone adored those cheeks” Alexis said grinning as she took hold of Davis’ cheeks

“Hey look at this picture of you and dad” Davis said seriously as she took one last mesmerizing glace at the picture before handing it over

His arms wrapped around her so tightly they seemed as if they would have wrapped around her twice

The smile on Alexis face matched the one on Jax’s face

They looked happy and in love and picture perfect

They were happy and even picture perfect but at that time in love with other people

“Where was that one taken?” Davis asked curiously

 “Um” Alexis hesitated and Davis quickly noticed “It was taken a long time ago in the penthouse where Jax and I lived when we were married for the first time”

“In New York?”

“Yeah” Alexis answered wanting to change the subject

“And you weren’t in love yet?”

“I was in love with someone else at the time”

“But you did love daddy right?”

“I always have”

“That’s more than a little strange don’t you think? I mean being married to someone you weren’t even in love with”

“Without question!”

“Well I’m glad you guys finally got it together” Davis said grinning

Alexis laughed out loud “Yes me too”

“What are you two carrying on about out here?”

Alexis handed Jax the picture and a smile covered his face

“It’s when you and mom were married the first time” Davis said smartly

Jax looked at Davis and raised his brow to her and then looked at Alexis

“It’s when I should have told your mom I was in love with her”

Alexis blushed slightly as she swallowed the lump in her throat

“You were in love with her then?” Davis asked intrigued

“Yes I was. I just didn’t know until it was too late how much”

“Jax” Alexis said softly

Jax looked at her completely serious as to let it sink in and then smiled in satisfied it had

The telephone rang throughout the house

“I’ll get it” Davis said leaping up

Jax shuffled pictures and sat down next to Alexis

Alexis looked at him

“What?”

“Did you mean that?”

“Mean what?”

“Jax!”

“I did. By the time that picture was taken I had fallen in love with you. But you were in love with Ned. You wanted to marry Ned. I loved you enough not to interrupt your life”

“But Chloe? And you never said…”

“Looking back I realized I was infatuated with Chloe and the thought of her or at least who she could be to me. I had fallen for her but not the way I was in love with you”

Alexis looked at him speechless

“I can’t even make sense of all of that”

“I was meant to love you that’s all that means”

Alexis grinned and began to kiss him

“Hello!” Davis said standing before them “You two can stop now!”

Alexis and Jax both snickered at Davis’ annoyance that she caught her parents kissing

“Who was on the phone?” Alexis asked

“Sarah”

“So have you two made plans?”

“She and Elizabeth are at her house”

“And you don’t want to go?”

Davis stood there in front of Jax and Alexis fidgeting

“I want to stay here with you since dad is leaving. I don’t want you to be alone”

“You don’t have to stay here with me I’ll be fine. Go be with your friends”

Davis was more than close to her mother. And at times it was more than apparent how overly protective she was of her mother just as her mother was of her

“I’ll be fine. I have lots of work to do…” Alexis assured as she looked at Jax “Tell Sarah I will drop you off when we go to the airport”

“Are you sure? I mean I’ll just be there the afternoon” Davis said convincing herself

“Ok” Alexis said perfectly wiling to let her stay the night at her friends house if she wanted to… but Davis didn’t want to not while her mother would be alone

“I’ll go call her back” Davis said halfway out of the living room

“She’s worried about leaving you alone”

“I know but she has no reason to be and besides once she sees her friends I’m hoping she’ll forget all about not getting to go to New York”

“Has she mentioned it again today?”

“She begged me last night. She hasn’t said anything about it today”

“She’ll get around her friends and forget about it all”

“I think she will too… Hey shouldn’t you start packing your bags?”

“Trying to get rid of me?” Jax said making his way to his feet and pulling Alexis up beside him

“I keep trying!”

Alexis followed Jax in to the bedroom where his half packed bags sat on the bed

Alexis crawled in between the bags

“I could try and fit you into my carry on” Jax grinned

“Very cute” she said making a face

Jax put a few more things in his bag

“Only a week right?” Alexis asked as it was now settling in he was leaving

“Not even a week and I’ll spend most of that time on the plane”

Alexis looked more sad than usual that he was leaving

“Are you ok?” Jax said pulling her in his arms

“Yeah I’m fine”

“Did you want to go to New York? You can if you want to”

Alexis looked at Jax as if she were thinking about it

“No, we’ll be fine. I just want you here for myself so I don’t want you to go”

“Are you sure that’s it?”

“Yeah… you should finish packing” she said changing the subject

Jax pressed his lips to hers “One week ok”

She shook her head

The truth was she didn’t feel good about him leaving

+++++++++++++++

Jax kissed Davis and held her tight for what seemed like the longest time

“Dad you’re squeezing me to death”

“I’ll miss you”

“They’ll be nothing left of me to miss!”

Davis gave Jax one last kiss

“You have everything? Your phone? Palm? Socks?” Alexis questioned

“All of the above” Jax answered feeling in his pocket for his phone

“We’ll see you next Saturday”

“Alright bye you two”

“Bye” Alexis and Davis said in unison

One last kiss from the both of them and Jax made his way through airport security

++++++++++++++++++++++

“I should be home by 7:30”

“Do you want to have dinner or…”

“Yeah”

“Pasta and maybe a little chocolate cake?”

“Yeah!”

“If you need me to come and pick you up I will”

“Sarah’s mom said she would bring me back but I’ll call if I need you to”

“Ok. Have fun!”

“I will”

Alexis leaned over to the passenger seat of the car and gave Davis a quick kiss

A quick kiss goodbye

“Love you”

“Love you too” Davis said as her feet hit the grown

“Bye baby”

“Bye Mom”

+++++++++++++++

Alexis found herself an hour later in silence

Actually not in complete silence

Sounds of quiet chuckles and even hardy bouts of laughter rang throughout the room. Even her own sighs from tears rolling down her cheeks at moments of sentimentally reliving the good parts of her life seemed to be alive against the living room walls

She had sat there for hours

Birthday parties and pictures of John and Jane and even pictures of Stefan that Alexis made sure she put in a safe place

“Ms. Alexis all you have to do is cook the pasta everything else is ready” 

“Thank you Ann. Are you leaving?”

“I am. Do you need anything else?”

“No and please enjoy your evening”

“I certainly will and I’ll see you in the morning”

++++++++++++++++++++++

Like clockwork Alexis’ eyes began to strain as the living room became darker

The window showed darkness

The clock 

The clock

The time 8:00

She had lost track of time

Davis was suppose to be home at 7:30

Traffic

There must have been traffic

No one had called

But Alexis didn’t worry

There must have been traffic

8:10

Her cell phone

Sarah’s mom’s cell number

Busy signal

Maybe she was trying to call her

Alexis calmed down

8:15

No call

All the bad things that could have happened

Traffic… an accident

Alexis tried her cell again

Busy signal

She panicked

8:20

8:23

She called Elizabeth’s house

Elizabeth was home, dropped off first

8:32

8: 37

8:44

The doorbell rang

“Oh thank God!” she said aloud as she ran door the door swinging it open

“Mrs. Jacks?”

“No” she said calmly but shaking her almost violently

“Mrs. Jacks?”

She continued to shake her head

“There’s been an accident”

“She’s ok? Where is she? She’s ok, tell me she’s ok!”

“Mrs. Jacks…” The officer said trying to calm her “We don’t know if she’s ok”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Alexis asked confused “What does that mean?”

“Ma’am she wasn’t in the car”

Alexis took a step back from the officer

“I don’t understand”

“The car was in an accident. A woman who was in the driver seat is still unconscious. Her daughter, Sarah came to at the scene. From the information she gave us she said there was another girl in the car… there was no other girl”

Alexis hands went through her hair, her eyes darting back and forth

Thinking

Thinking

She was thinking

“Your daughter’s handbag with this address was found in the car”

“Oh my God! Oh my God!”

“Mrs. Jacks, we’re looking for her”