“Oh come on John.” You have to admit there is some kind of resemblance there.

“Besides the fact that they are both African-American woman they look nothing a like. So let’s drop it before she hears us talking about her.”

The door bell rang as soon as John finished his statement. “Hey Antonio, glad you could make it.”

“Ah, my pleasure John.” Antonio said walking into the place. “Is Evangeline here I have a favor to ask her.”

“No, she is meeting with Jax.” He said with an attitude that Antonio caught.

“Jax, as in Jasper Jax multi-millionaire?” he asked taking a seat across from Michael and giving him a head nod in acknowledge which Michael returned.

“Yes, that would be the one.” Michael said interrupting the conversation.

Antonio turned his attention to Michael, “What is Evangeline doing with a guy like that?”

“Working! Antonio and that is all.” John said getting defensive.

“Ouch, Someone is a little testy.” Antonio said watching John’s eyes start to squint at the mere mention of Jax’s name. “Sorry didn’t know this Jax guy was a touchy subject.”

“Well you know John and his protective nature, he doesn’t want any good looking guy like Jax to be working with his woman.” Michael said teasing his brother.

“That I know Michael. So if Evangeline is not here then who is in the kitchen cooking?” Antonio said looking over his shoulder into the kitchen. He saw Alex step out of the kitchen into the living room and a smile crossed his face as he slowly stood up from his seat, “Alex…” he said as he walked around the couch and stood in front of her smiling.

“Antonio.” She said bowing her head slightly.

“It is nice to see you.” He said in a low voice that shook her body.

“You too.”

“So you are the one that is making that beautiful smell come from the kitchen huh?” he said as they walked over to the couch and took a seat.

Both John and Michael saw Antonio’s eyes grow bigger and bigger as they continued to talk about nothing. Antonio’s face now had a smile on it like nothing either of them had seen before. Michael elbowed John in the ribs and nodded at him towards Antonio and Alex’s direction.

“So, I take it you two know each other?” John said interrupting their conversation.

“Yeah, we meet last night at Capricorn.” Antonio said keeping his eyes locked on Alex.

“Ohh Capricorn? Ehy? That is a great place.” Michael said trying to make conversation with the two.

“So how is the food coming along, sorry Evangeline won’t be here in time for dinner but we have to make sure we save her some food okay?” John said directing his last comment to Michael.

“What, you think I am going to eat everything.” Michael asked innocently.

“Well if the food tastes as good as it smells then yes Michael I think you are going to eat everything.” John shot back at him.

“Boys, come on now stop fighting. Let’s eat by the time we make our salads the food should be cool enough to dish out.” Alex said rising from the couch.

“Great I am starving.” Replied Antonio as he placed a hand on the small of her back and ushered her into the kitchen.

They all got their food and sat down at the kitchen table talking about life and work. Alex told Michael and Antonio about how she ended up in Llanview of all places and Michael learned a little bit more about her that peaked his entrance.

“So you say you are form Philadelphia?” he asked in between bites.

“Yeap, born and raised.”

“Wow what a small world. That is where Evangeline is from.”

“It is a small world.” She replied with a smile.

“So what do your parents do Alex?” Michael asked.

“Well, my mom just recently passed away from a long battle with breast cancer. My dad, well I don’t know much about my dad. He wasn’t around while I was growing up.” She said placing her fork down and trying to hold back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. The pain of her mother’s death was still fresh in her mind and never getting to know her father was painful throughout her childhood.

“I am sorry to hear about your mother.” Antonio replied placing a hand on hers and squeezing a little in comfort.

“It is okay, we knew it was coming, just still a little hard to talk about that is all. Let’s change the subject to something more exciting. So John tell me about your wedding.”

Michael rolled his eyes and John took a big swig of his beer. “There isn’t much to tell, we just got engaged a while ago. Evangeline and I are just enjoying being in engaged right now.”

“So, you guys haven’t set a date yet?” she asked in between bites hoping to he would say no.

“Nope, not yet. Between her work schedule and my work schedule it might take us a while to do that.” He said with a laugh.

“Is there dessert?” Michael asked rising from the table and picking up everyone’s plate.

“No, Michael you and Marcie were supposed to bring dessert.”

“Ohh…” he said taking the plates and placing them in the sink.

“Yeah, Ohh… is right Michael. Thanks to you we have nothing sweet to wash down this great meal with.” Antonio said with a hint of sarcasm.

They all made their way into the kitchen and proceeded to clean the dishes and place them in the dishwasher. “This is odd. What are you all doing?” Alex said staring at amazement as the men did the dishes.

“Well, it is our Wednesday night ritual. The guys do the dishes while the woman finish clearing the table and get dessert ready.”

“Really, I take it this was Evangeline’s idea.”

“That it was.” John said laughing at her statement, “Why don’t you go relax in the living room, since you did all the work and Michael forgot to bring dessert you can just chill.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Alex said walking into the living room and taking a seat where Michael and John had been sitting earlier.

Her eyes wondered around the room, looking at the pictures of John and Evangeline in all different places and in all of them John had a huge grin on his face from ear to ear. She noticed a picture hidden behind some of the others, so she went up to the mantle where the picture was sitting and picked it up.

It was a picture of a man and a little girl sitting on a swing in the park. The little girl was on the older man’s lap and they both had a huge smile on their faces. She assumed the girl was Evangeline and her father and Alex started looking around the room for other pictures with the man in it. She found one other across the room on the window ledge and picked it up. This one was a better picture of the man who was holding a baby. She assumed the baby was Evangeline again and looked closely at the picture. Something familiar about the man in the picture made her stomach turn in knots.

“That is Evangeline when she was a newborn. That is her father holding her.” Antonio said stepping up behind Alex.

“He is a nice looking man.” She replied placing the picture back on the window and turning to face him.

“Yeah he is.”

“Are there any more recent pictures of him?” she asked looking around the room for more pictures.

“Umm, no I don’t think so. Her father died about a while ago, after she won her first case.”

“Ohh, that is too bad.” She said taking a seat on the couch.

“Yeah, from what Evangeline has told me he seemed like a really intense guy. Kind of like John as a matter of fact.” He said sitting next to her and placing an arm around the back of the chair.

Antonio and Alex sat in the living room while Michael and John finished up the cleaning in the kitchen. Antonio and Alex talked about their childhood and found they had a lot in common, “So this may seem a little forward on my part, but would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow?” he asked her.

“I would love to.” She said with a genuine smile on her face.

“Great!”

“Yeah.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“Where ever you want to take me. Seeing as I am new, anything but the Palace would be new to me.” She said inching closer to him.

“Okay, well let me think about it and I will give you a call tomorrow night. I have to get going, have to get to Capricorn and check on things over there.”

“Oh, why?”

“I own it. I thought you knew that.”

“No, I didn’t but I do know. You can just call me at the Palace so we can formalize everything.”

“Formalize what!” Michael asked coming out of the kitchen with John following him.

“None of your business Michael. John I have to get going. Telling Evangeline to give me a call when she gets in. I will be at Capricorn for a while.” He said opening the door. “Thanks for dinner.” He said quietly to Alex.

“No problem man. See ya next week if not sooner.” John said from across the room.

Michael’s pager went off and he looked down at it, “Sorry John, Alex I have to go too, it is the hospital 911 page.” He said kind of disappointed. “Thank you for dinner Alex.” He said shaking her hand and hitting John and Antonio on the back before they both left the apartment.

“Well, that went well.” John said flopping down on the couch and kicking his shoes off.

“I should get going too.” Alex said standing by the door.

“Ohh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Evangeline should be here in a little while. I would love for you to meet her.” He said with a smile.

“Are you sure it is okay?” she asked stepping further into the room.

“Fine with me, if you don’t mind watching baseball.” He said flipping on the television.

“Are you serious I love baseball?”

John shot her a shocked look, “You like baseball?”

“Yeah, my uncle worked at Citizens Bank Park, the new one that is. We use to go to the stadium every summer and watch the games for free.” She said getting comfortable on the couch.

“Wow that is amazing.” John said turning down the television to hear what she was saying.

“Yeah, it really was. Some of my best memories are from hanging out at the baseball park. I even got to run the bases a couple of times. I go back every once and a while and see some of the people that still worked with him. We get amazing seats and just spend the whole day at the park. If you ever want me to get you some tickets just let me know. I can get you some great seats.” She said turning to watch the game.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I don’t kid Lieutenant.” She replied with a smile.

“That would be great.”

“Hey it is the least I can do with everything that you have helped me with.” She said as her.

They settled into the couch and watched the game. John noticed that Alex really did know about baseball, she was calling balls and strikes as soon as the pitcher threw the ball down the lane. They talked about baseball, favorite teams, players, and everything baseball related. They went back and forth quizzing each other on baseball stats as the game continued. If they were keeping score Alex was kicking John’s butt big time.

* * * * * * * * *

Jax pushed Evangeline up against the desk and started running his hands through her hair.

“Get your hands off of me right now, or so help you Jax.” She said in a forceful tone.

“Or what? Your going to call your cop boyfriend and have him beat me up!” he said with an attitude.

“I don’t need him to fight my battles, I can do that myself.” She said and kneeing him in the groin, causing him to double over in excruciating pain. He held his groin and she stepped back and tightens her left hand into a fist and gave him an upper cut to the jaw.

Her hand started throbbing as soon as she made contact and she screamed out in pain holding it with her other hand. Jax fell down onto his back and hit his head on the ground. Evangeline walked over to where Jax was laying on the ground in the fetal position holding his mouth. She turned him over on his back with her foot and placed her foot on his chest and behind down to his level.

“If you think you can treat me like a piece of meat because I happen to be woman, you are sorely mistaken. I suggest you readjust those meat goggles that you seem to where and clean out your ears. When a woman says no, she means no, not yes. I suggest you come correct with me or I might just accidentally tell my cop fiancé what you tried to pull here tonight. I really don’t think you want to mess with police officers soon-to be wife, if you know what is good for you.” She said and pushed him down with her food into his chest hard.

She turned to leave, picking up her briefcase, “You will either respect the boundaries that I have, or I will bring you up on formal sexual harassment charges in a heart beat. I will be doing any work for you from my office in Llanview from now on.” She said looking back over her shoulder as he was moaning and groaning on all fours.

He raised one hand and waved her off with a disgusted look on his face, “I thought so.” She said as the elevator arrived and she stepped in and turned to face him smiling. When the door closed she dropped her briefcase on the floor and fell back against the elevator and tears started to pool in her eyes. She still hadn’t pushed the button to the elevator and it started to reopen on the penthouse and she quickly pressed the button to the roof trying to make the elevator close before Jax could see her.

The elevator made its way to the roof in a few seconds and she stepped out, “Ms. Williamson I was just about to call down to the office and tell you we would be ready in ten minutes.”

“Okay, do you mind if I wait in the helicopter?” she asked the pilot.

“No, of course not, I just have to get some things from my office down stairs, I will be right back.”

Evangeline made her way to the waiting helicopter, and stepped into the seat as she watched the pilot get in the elevator and go down to his office. She looked around and found her cell phone right where her briefcase was on the ride up to Port Charles. She checked the phone for any missed calls and there was only a couple from her office, she decided to check the voice mail messages later. There was only one thing, one voice she needed to hear right now and that was John’s.

“Hi.” She said in a quite voice.

“Evangeline baby, what’s wrong.” He asked rising from the couch and walking out of the room into the bedroom, leaving Alex alone in the living room. He could hear there was something in her voice he didn’t like.