"Hey."

Dara jumped and the kettle she was filling with water for tea came crashing into the sink. She covered her racing heart with her hand.  "Mac, you scared me."

Coming up behind her, he placed a kiss against her neck. "I’m sorry," he said wrapping his arms around her waist. "Why are you so jittery?"

She turned to face him and saw the answer to his question clearly in his eyes. "Maybe because I was worried about you," she answered, attempting to deflect the conversation from her and her unwelcome visitor.

"Come on, Dara. I know Felicia was here. What did she want?"

Dara scoffed. "You don’t know?" she remarked in derision before attempting to refill the kettle.

"Let me do that," he said taking the kettle from her hands. "Are you going to tell me what happened or not?"

She took a seat at the table as Mac placed the filled kettle on the stove. "What always happens when Felicia is around? She made some idle threats, reminded me that you’re still punishing her by being with me, and you’ll come to your senses soon." She shrugged her shoulders. "See, same old same old."

Mac took the empty chair across from her. "Not quite. When you make tea at this hour, it usually means you’re upset." He took her hands in his. "Tell me what’s wrong."

"It’s nothing. If I seem upset it’s because I was worried about you." She examined his hands. "I don’t see any bruises. Should I take that to mean you didn’t strike Sonny when you saw him, because I know you saw him."

He pressed a kiss on each of her hands. "You have wonderful instincts. Yes, I saw him, and no, I didn’t lay a hand on him. It wasn’t necessary."

Her mind raced at his words. "What does that mean?"

"Just what it means. I don’t wanna talk about Corinthos." He kissed her cheek and moved over to the stove and retrieved the whistling kettle while Dara rummaged the cabinets for her lemon mint tea. "I want to talk about Felicia. What did she say to you?"

"Mac, I already told you," she said bringing the boxed tea, honey, and lemon wedges to the table. "We need cups."

He covered her hands before she could leave. "Specifically," he said, pulling out the chair and motioning for her to sit. "I’m not gonna drop this, so you might as well tell me."

She rubbed her temples and sighed. "Fine. I usually pay very little attention to what Felicia says. She’s scorned, and I know that, but…."

"But? But what?" His voice was anxious as he eased closer to her and tightened his hold on her hand. "Tell me, Dara."

"There was something different in her words. They chilled me. I hate to admit this, but she actually got to me this time."

The look in Mac’s eyes was one she had never seen before and it worried her more than Felicia’s words did. He stood from the table and cleared his throat. "I’ll take care of this."

Dara rose and placed her hand on his shoulder. "No, you won’t."

"It’s clear her words upset you. I won’t let her get away with that."

"What did she get away with?" Dara brushed her fingers through Mac’s curly locks. "It was only words. That’s all she has. I have you. That’s what’s bothering her, and that’s why she’s trying to rattle me."

"She succeeded, Dara."

"Hey, you drive women crazy," she said with a chuckle. "It’s my cross to bear as your wife."

His face was serious. "This is not funny."

"Maybe not, but it’s also not worth you landing behind bars over. It’s enough that I’m worried about this visit you’ve had with Sonny, let’s not add more to that. With everything that happened today, Felicia caught me at a weak moment, that’s all. I’m really not afraid of her and I don’t want you doing anything foolish, okay? Mac?"

He released a breath. "Fine. I’ll drop it…for now."

Dara groaned. That wasn’t the response she wanted, but she was too tired to debate with him. "Whatever. I don’t want the tea now. It’s been a long day, let’s go to sleep."

He took her hand as she headed out the kitchen. "Dara, I love you, and I’ll do anything to protect you and our family from any and everyone."

She nodded her head, his reaction to her encounter with Felicia and his earlier comments about Sonny still lingering on her mind. "I know this, and that’s what concerns me."

~*~

Eve jumped to her feet when Chris finally arrived at his apartment. "Where have you been?!"

"Out, mother," was his sarcastic reply. "There are still a few women in Port Charles that like my company. What are you doing camped outside my door?"

"Waiting for you, obviously," she snapped. Her back was aching and her butt was numb, which didn’t make for a pleasant disposition. "Do you not check your cell phone? I have must have left you at least five voice mails. Not to mention the messages I left on your phone here."

"I was out." Chris gave her a curious look. "Why were you trying to reach me?"

"Have you heard from Jack?"

Chris chuckled. "Yes, Jack. He left a message for me. He dropped Allison Harmon like a bad habit and now he’s kicking up his heels. He said he would tell me all about it when he gets home tomorrow."

Eve released a breath. "Is that what he told you? He specifically said ‘I broke up with Allison’? "

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, not specifically, but I know that’s what he meant. He’s going to flip when I show him his new bank book."

"He’s not the only one who’s going to be flipping," Eve said under her breath. She had no idea how she was going to tell him about Jack and Ally’s marriage, but he definitely had to be told.

"What did you say?"

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Chris, let’s go inside. There’s something you need to know."

~*~

MJ walked Jensyn to the door of Kelly’s Restaurant. "See, you managed to make it home from a date with me still intact. It wasn’t too painful, was it?" he said with a little smirk.

He detected a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips as she brushed a wisp of hair from her cheek. "I guess it could have been worse," she answered. "Telling me that you’ll drop this Mancusi thing you’re working on will end it on a very high note."

He nodded. "Okay, I’ll drop the Mancusi thing."

Jensyn’s head snapped back in surprise. "What?"

Her reaction was just as he expected. "Yeah. Actually, I was trying to tell you this before at the restaurant but you insisted that you wouldn’t talk about your case with me, then you got all worked up and I had to calm you down. By then I wasn’t willing to risk raising your ire by mentioning the dreaded "M" word again, so I didn’t."

"You’re really dropping this investigation?"

"Yep."

She crossed her arms against her chest and gave him a suspicious glare. "Why?"

MJ sighed. "You and your suspicion." He expected her to question his sudden one-eighty, so he had no problem with explaining his decision. "My baby sister got married today. That is all the drama my family can handle right now. I’m going to have my hands full keeping my father calm. You saw how many times he called me during dinner. I haven’t heard from Sal, and I doubt I will. I won’t interfere and I won’t divulge your involvement with the WSB, but I do want to be the reporter to break this case. That’s all I want."

"That’s all?" she repeated.

"Well," he said, his heart rate increasing as he eased closer to her, "I wouldn’t say no to a kiss goodnight." He took a sudden step back. "So long as you don’t deck me when it’s over."

Jensyn chuckled. "Okay, I think I can do that."

"Uh-huh! I knew you wanted me." He couldn’t help laughing when she turned to the door and started mumbling her string of Australian slang. He was getting good at anticipating her reactions.

MJ put his arm on her shoulder and turned her to him. "Jensyn? Hey, Jensyn?" he said lifting her chin so their gazes met. "I was just kidding." His eyes trained on her mouth that was set in a slight frown. "I was just kidding." He tilted his head forward and covered her lips with his. When his arms closed around her slender waist, she pressed her body against his and parted her lips.

The growing intensity of the kiss was halted when MJ’s cell phone rang. Jensyn broke the kiss and took a step back as he whispered an expletive. He flipped open the phone and jammed it to his ear. "Dad, will you stop…"

"I’m not your dad. This is Sal Mancusi," the voice said interrupting MJ’s words.

"Sal?" The surprise in his voice matched the look on Jensyn’s face as she heard the man’s name.

That’s right," Sal answered. "You said you wanted to get to know your family-- I’m going to give you the opportunity to do just that."